Though there are disputes among Christians about the exact timing and events surrounding the end times, all orthodox Christians believe that ultimately Christ will return and usher in the eternal state—the heavenly realm in which all believers will ultimately dwell.

But it might surprise you to know that the Bible’s description of this reality is far different than the vision adopted by many today. What does the Bible really teach about your ultimate dwelling? And how might it affect your daily life?

Mistaken views of the Bible’s teaching on what we have to look forward to when Jesus returns have caused many Christians to adopt a laissez-faire view of the world around them. “This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through,” as one 20^th century gospel song sums it up. They picture clouds and spirits and a hazy future which will assuredly be wonderful—though we have little idea of what it will look like.

But the Bible presents a far richer reality. And it is vitally important to grasp that reality, because the way we view the future and the culmination of all things directly affects the way we behave and live now. It determines whether the activities we spend most of our lives engaged in are meaningful, or just empty distractions from our ultimate purpose.

The prolific Puritan hymn-writer Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics to one of the world’s most popular Christmas carols: “Joy to the World.” Though sung at Christmas where we celebrate Jesus’ first coming, Watts’ hymn actually celebrates Christ’s second coming. In that classic composition, Watts writes:

Watts correctly understood that Jesus’ ultimate mission was not to come take His people away from earth to some other realm. That happens for a time, of course, between our deaths and Jesus’ return—a period referred to by many Christian theologians as “the intermediate state.” During that period, our dead bodies go into the ground (metaphorically and often literally) and our spirits are ushered into the heavenly presence of the Lord. Thus, as Paul writes:

We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:6b-9 ESV)

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord—but we will not always be absent from the body. This state of affairs for the believer is but for a time. One day, Christ will return, our bodies will be raised. “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable . . .” (1 Corinthians 15:52b ESV).

And thus, rather than taking His people away to Heaven (which is only for a time), Christ’s ultimate mission was to, as Watts writes, “make his blessings flow, Far as the curse is found.” Creation fell into a curse with Adam’s sin; Christ fully undoes the curse at His return.

If creation were merely destroyed at the end of time, as many Christians picture it, then Satan and sin would have won a great victory. Whereas the Lord God pronounced His creation good in Genesis 1, Satan would have succeeded in irretrievably destroying it. However, that is simply not the biblical picture. In the biblical account, Watts’ conception in “Joy to the World” is exactly correct. Note what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21 ESV).

Jesus did not come only to redeem the souls of human beings. He ultimately cam to redeem their souls and their bodies—along with the entire creation! This is the Apostle's unambiguous teaching.

Many Christians have misunderstood this great truth because they have misinterpreted Peter’s words concerning Christ’s return. Peter writes:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed . . . the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (2 Peter 3:10, 12b ESV).

According to many evangelical commentators on this passage, the word translated “burned up” in verse 10 means “will be brought to judgment” or “will be disclosed.” What Peter is describing is not a fire of annihilation, but a fire of purification.

The great Reformed theologian John Calvin says on this passage:

Of the elements of the world I shall only say this one thing, that they are to be consumed, only that they may be renovated, their substance still remaining the same, as it may be easily gathered from Romans 8:21, and from other passages.[1]

Indeed, if Peter meant to say that there would be an utterly destructive fire of annihilation, then he would be in direct contradiction to Paul, who teaches that the creation will be set free from its bondage to corruption. But we know that God’s Word does not contradict itself. Dr. D. James Kennedy, commenting on the Scriptural promise of a New Heavens and a New Earth to come (in Revelation 21:1), observed:

There are two Greek words for ‘new.’ The word neos, which means something new in time. But that is not the word that is used here. Rather, the word kainos, which means something new in quality, is used. This world will be destroyed by fire but it will be refurbished into its paradisiacal state. It is in this new earth and this new heaven, this universe, that we will spend all eternity.[2]

This reality casts all of our endeavors in a new light. We are not merely here on earth biding time until Christ’s return. We are not merely passing through. We are to be active about His business, knowing that what we do here now has eternal consequences. This earthly creation will one day be purified, redeemed, and glorified—and will be the ultimate abode of those raised incorruptible in Christ.

Note well the prophecy of John in the final chapters of Revelation as he describes the eternal state:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them (Revelation 21:1-3 NASB).  

Rather than the people of God going up, the picture is of the city of God coming down—as the presence of God descends to the glorified, perfected earth to dwell among His people. Christ wins the entire victory. Satan and his work, including sin, are vanquished. And God is victorious in redeeming His good creation—as far as the curse is found. 

As Dr. Kennedy noted: 

The new heavens and new earth (for that will be the abode of the righteous, as the greatest of theologians have always maintained)—are not merely in some Heaven above, but upon the reconstituted and paradisiacal Earth, and throughout a whole new universe will be the home of the redeemed. The Holy City, New Jerusalem, will descend from Heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. What a glorious city that will be![3]