| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future” Our Bible verse for today: “Then I saw a new heaven … and the first heaven had passed away … I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Revelation 21:2 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Will it be two places or one?” For almost two months we have been reviewing the important doctrine of salvation from start-to-finish. We are considering it from the moment we professed our faith in Jesus until the moment we are finally the people we will be in eternity in the place we will be for eternity. We’ve covered a lot of ground and we are almost there. Today we will consider the relationship between the new heaven and the new earth. There is debate among Bible scholars regarding the question of whether the new heaven and the new earth are separate places or if they are different terms for the same place. There is some thought that in the new creation heaven and earth are merged by God into a single place. I personally don’t think the Bible gives us enough information about it to be dogmatic in our answer. We do know that the intermediate heaven (the place deceased Christians are at now), ceases to exist in that day. There will be a new heaven. We also know that there will be a new earth that will in many ways be a better and perfected version of the current earth. And from Revelation 21:2 we learn that as the new earth is being created, God will create a new city of Jerusalem which will occupy a prominent place on the new earth. Additionally, we know from Revelation 21:3 that God will dwell with His people where they are, “Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” Randy Alcorn takes the position that: “God will bring heaven and earth together into the same dimension, and with no wall of separation, nor armed angels to guard heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind. God’s perfect plan is to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head – Christ.” Whether the new heaven and the new earth are separate places or a single location created from the merging of the two may be open to debate. But what is clear from a careful study of Scripture is that our eternal existence will be very much like our life on earth, in a perfected earth-like place, we will be with God, and we will have perfected resurrection bodies. Tomorrow we will think about what those resurrection bodies will be like. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville |
| Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571 |
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 