Question from a reader:

In your book Heaven you say that our bodies on the New Earth will be the same bodies that we have now, but they will be “upgraded” and “glorified”. But 2 Corinthians 5:1 talks about our earthly tents being destroyed. How does this harmonize with your thoughts about our eternal bodies?

Answer from Randy Alcorn:

Our earthly tents that will be destroyed are our present bodies, which are under the curse and will die. That's the destruction, but it will be followed by resurrection. Nothing can be raised without dying first--if resurrected bodies had no continuity to our present bodies, there would be no resurrection at all, simply a brand new creation of something that never before existed. That's not what resurrection means. Just as the body of Jesus that died was transformed into his resurrection body (otherwise the tomb wouldn't have been empty), so God will raise our bodies that die so that they are ours forever, but no longer subject to death. Likewise with the earth. The old earth will be destroyed as 2 Peter 3 makes clear, but v. 13 also makes clear that there will be a New Earth. So as our new bodies will be our old bodies made new, it logically follows that the New Earth will be the old earth made new.