We continue with the subject of,

The Millennium and the End of Sin

The New Earth? And who Adventist believe will dwell there

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise (Isa 65:17), look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Pet 3:10-13)

Our Adventist friend’s state:

“At Jesus’ Second Coming, the believers who are still alive will be joined by those who were raised from the dead, and everyone will be taken to heaven with Him. (1 Thess 4:17).

But that’s not the end of the story. Heaven is actually not our final destination.

In Isaiah 65:17 God says, “For I will create new heavens and a New Earth… (CSB)”

God will make a “new” earth out of the ashes of the “old” earth. The New Earth will be our eternal home, the way God intended it from the beginning.

The New Earth is made after we spend 1,000 Years in Heaven

Who will live on the New Earth?

The “saints” will live with God in the New Earth. In Isaiah 35:9-10 we are told, “But only the redeemed will walk there, and those who the Lord has rescued will return.”

The fire that destroys the wicked purifies the earth from the pollution of sin. Out of the ruins of this earth God will bring “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1). From this cleansed, re-created earth—the eternal home of the redeemed—God will forever banish mourning, pain, and death (Rev. 21:4). Finally, the curse sin brought will have been lifted (Rev. 22:3).”

So, is this true is the earth to be the eternal home of the saints?

What is the inheritance of God and of Christ in which the Church is to share?

“…the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His (God’s) calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Eph 1:18)

Is this inheritance to be an earthly inheritance or a heavenly inheritance?

What do the scriptures say?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet 1:3-5)

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Phil 3:20, 21)

What did our Lord imply when he stated?

“In my father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.” (John 14:2, 3)

What can we deduce from this text?

First of all, if as according to our Lord’s statement to Peter in John 13:36 that shortly he would be leaving them, and that one of the reasons he must go was to prepare a place for them then logic dictates that this place (this position of honor) did not presently exist at that time.

In my father’s house (place of residence, abode, home, Strong’s # 3614) are many mansions (habitations, dwelling places, an abiding, an abode, Strong’s # 3438; conditions or levels of being).

There is both a spiritual as well as a literal application to this thought as to the habitation of God, the spiritual application is that the glory of God’s inheritance is IN the saints.

In 1 Cor 3:16 we read, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”, and likewise in 2 Cor 6:16, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in (or through) the Spirit.” (Eph.2:19-22)

This text tells us that over the course of time the members of God’s true church were to become God’s habitation or dwelling place, through the spirit. Likewise, that is in “due time” i.e., during the millennial age, during the restoration stage of mankind when God will pour out His spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28), when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Him as Lord – God will be in all their hearts.

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Rev 21:3)

We will take a look at the literal application of our text in the next post.