蓝迪·艾库恩
想象你是美国国家航空航天局（NASA）一个团队的成员，正为一项前往火星的五年任务做准备。在一系列紧凑的训练后，终于到了出发的那天。随着火箭升空，你的其中一位宇航员同行问：“你对火星的认识有多少？”
想象一下，你耸了耸肩说：“没多少。我们从来没说过。我想我们到那里就知道了。”这肯定会难以置信，对吗？难以想象你的培训竟然不包括对最终目的地的深入研究以及准备。可是，在世界各地的神学院，圣经学校和教会里，就很少教导我们自己最终目的地：新天新地。我们知道如何去天堂，也知道那是一个比地狱更好的归宿，但我们对天堂本身的了解却甚少。
如今的天堂和永恒的天堂是否不同？
使徒保罗认为对我们来说，知道我们死的时候会发生什么至关重要：“论到睡了的人，我们不愿意弟兄们不知道，恐怕你们忧伤，像那些没有指望的人一样”（帖撒罗尼迦前书 4:13）。
人通常以为“天堂”就是基督徒死后会去的地方，但这其实拦阻了我们无法明白圣经中一些重要的区别。更好的定义应该是说，天堂是神的中心居所，是他统管全宇宙之宝座的所在。
如今的天堂的确切位置是未知的，但我们知道未来的天堂会是在新天新地，也就是神要降临与他的子民同住之地（启示录 21:3）。如今的天堂是信徒在度过世上的年日之后以及去到将来复活之后的新天新地之前的暂住之处。
与活在咒诅之下的地上，远离神直接同在的日子相比，我们死后在天堂里的生活“好得无比”（腓立比书 1:23）。可是尽管那会是个美好的地方，如今的天堂也不是我们受造要前往，也不是神应许我们在重生之后要永远居住的地方。神的儿女最终的归宿，是以复活新造的人的身份所住的复活之人的新天新地。
启示录 21:1说：“我又看见一个新天新地，因为先前的天地已经过去了，海也不再有了。”只要我们不再以为天堂是不会改变的，那一切就能够理解了。神不改变，他是永不改变的，但神清楚地说，天是会变，会慢慢迁移到那新天新地。
新天新地以及其中的生活将会是什么样子的？
以弗所书 1:10说神的计划是：“使天上地上一切所有的，都在基督里面同归于一。”就像神和人会在基督里永远联合一样，天和地也将永远地在有形有体的新宇宙中联合，我们也将作为复活之人在其中居住。
在新天新地里，神会与我们同住。那就会使天上，地上一切所有的都同归于一。“我听见有大声音从宝座出来说：‘看哪！神的帐幕在人间。他要与人同住，他们要做他的子民；神要亲自与他们同在，作做他们的神’”（启示录 21:3）。我们将与我们的主耶稣，那一切喜乐和幸福的源头，同住，同做王和同侍奉。
在复活之人的新天新地，在复活之人的情谊中，我们将在复活的身体当中享受复活的文化与复活的耶稣——而那就是最终极的聚会！每个人都将成为神心意创造的样式——我们也不再会有人受苦或死亡。
人受造就是要活在地上来荣耀神。这正是基督的道成肉身，受死和复活所要达成的——新造的人，住在新天新地。
人们对永恒天堂的普遍误解，就是以为那会是个陌生的地方，但事实远非如此。当我们听到说我们在天堂会有新的身体并住在新天新地，我们应该这样来理解“新”这个词——我们所熟悉的身体，我们所熟悉的地球，我们所熟悉的关系，但一切都得以修复，变得完美。
盼望我们永恒的居所如何影响我们的现在？
在说了我们“盼望新天新地，有义居在其中”之后，彼得立即补上说：“亲爱的弟兄啊，你们既盼望这些事，就当殷勤，使自己没有玷污，无可指摘，安然见主”（彼得后书 3:13-14）。
知道我们作为复活之人要永远住新天新地，会帮助我们明白今天所做的选择，包括个人圣洁的选择——以及我们如何对待别人——都会在永恒里留下永远的印记。神在看，在记录。耶稣说，在天上他会因为我们对他忠心的行为奖赏我们，甚至是我们奉他的名给有需之人的每一杯凉水（见马可福音 9:41）。
我们在地的生活是重要的，并非因为这是我们一生只有一次。确切来说，正好因为不是如此，节省只是我们将在新天新地里永不完结之生命的开始。神关乎我们的未来所说的一切，使我们能够去解释自己的过去，也让我们能在现在侍奉他。
不管你是指导一个团队，督导年轻人，为寡妇除草，保护未出生的小孩，促进种族和解，参加短宣之旅，或是将自己收入的一大部分奉献给宣教或城市内部工作，你若是藉着基督的大能来做这些事，那你就是让现今这个满目疮痍的地球预尝那即将到来的新天新地的滋味。
我们不应忘记这个引人深思的现实，我们在这两处都是臣民，有一天它们将合而为一，在新天新地里不可分割，并且归于基督永恒的统治之下。在那个新天新地里，我们回望便会满足和感恩，我们藉着神的恩典在这地上还是产生了一些影响。
我们今天的眼光乃是基于一个现实——神的儿女要复活。这意味着我们不可能错过自己的巅峰，因为最好的还没到来！我们不需要遗愿清单，因为在新天新地等着我们的冒险将远超今生一切激动人心的时刻。就在我们认为“已经不能更好”的时候……事情会变得更美好。
Our Best Life Yet to Come: The New Earth, Our Eternal Home
Imagine you’re part of a NASA team preparing for a five-year mission to Mars. After a period of extensive training, the launch date finally arrives. As the rocket lifts off, one of your fellow astronauts asks, “What do you know about Mars?”
Envision shrugging your shoulders and saying, “Nothing. We never talked about it. I guess we’ll find out when we get there.” It’s unthinkable, isn’t it? It’s inconceivable that your training wouldn’t have included extensive study of and preparation for your ultimate destination. Yet in seminaries, Bible schools, and churches around the world, there's very little teaching about our ultimate destination: the New Heavens and New Earth. We’re told how to get to Heaven, and that it’s a better destination than Hell, but we’re taught remarkably little about Heaven itself.
Are the Present Heaven and the Eternal Heaven Different?
The apostle Paul considered it vital for us to know what happens when we die: “Dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, NLT).
People usually think of “Heaven” as the place Christians go when they die. But this keeps us from understanding important biblical distinctions. A better definition explains that Heaven is God’s central dwelling place, the location of his throne from where he rules the universe.
The exact location of the present Heaven is unknown, but we’re told the future Heaven will be located on the New Earth, where God will come down to live with his people (Revelation 21:3). The present Heaven is a place of transition between believers’ past lives on Earth and future resurrection lives on the New Earth.
Life in the Heaven we go to when we die is “far better” than living here on Earth under the Curse, away from the direct presence of God (Philippians 1:23). But although it will be a wonderful place, the present Heaven is not the place we’re made for, the place God promises to refashion for us to live in forever. God’s children are destined for life as resurrected beings on a resurrected Earth.
Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.” Once we abandon our assumption that Heaven cannot change, it all makes sense. God doesn’t change; he’s immutable. But God clearly says that Heaven will change. It will eventually be relocated to the New Earth.
What Will the New Earth and Life There Be Like?
Ephesians 1:10 says that God’s plan is “to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Just as God and man will be forever united in Jesus, so Heaven and Earth will forever be united in the new physical universe, where we’ll live as resurrected people.
God will live with us on the New Earth. That will bring all things in Heaven and on Earth together. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’” (Revelation 21:3). We’ll live and rule and serve with our Lord Jesus, the source of all joy and happiness.
To be in resurrected bodies on a resurrected Earth in resurrected friendships, enjoying a resurrected culture with the resurrected Jesus—now that will be the ultimate party! Everybody will be who God made them to be—and none of us will ever suffer or die again.
Mankind was designed to live on the Earth to God’s glory. That’s exactly what Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection secured—a renewed humanity upon a renewed Earth.
A common misunderstanding about the eternal Heaven is that it will be unfamiliar. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. When we hear that in Heaven we’ll have new bodies and live on a New Earth, this is how we should understand the word new—a restored and perfected version of our familiar bodies and our familiar Earth and our familiar relationships.
How Does Longing for Our Eternal Home Affect Us Now?
After saying “we are looking forward to a New Heaven and a New Earth, the home of righteousness,” Peter immediately adds, “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Pet. 3:13-14).
Knowing we’ll live forever as resurrected people on a New Earth helps us realize that the choices we make today, including choices of personal holiness—and how we act toward others—will make an indelible mark on eternity. God is watching. He’s keeping track. Jesus said that in Heaven He’ll reward us for acts of faithfulness to Him, right down to every cup of cold water we’ve given to the needy in His name (see Mark 9:41).
Life on Earth matters, not because it’s the only life we have, but precisely because it isn’t—it’s the beginning of a life that will continue without end on a renewed Earth. What God says about our future enables us to interpret our past and serve Him in our present.
Whether it’s coaching a team, mentoring young people, mowing a widow’s lawn, standing up for unborn children, working for racial reconciliation, going on short-term missions trips, or giving a large portion of your income to missions or inner-city work—If you’re doing it through Christ’s power you’re bringing a foretaste of the coming New Earth to this current, hurting Earth.
We shouldn’t forget the compelling reality that we’re citizens of two realms, which will one day be consolidated into one—a New Heaven and a New Earth, indivisible and under the eternal rule of Christ. On that Earth, we’ll look back with satisfaction and gratitude at the difference, by God’s grace, we were able to make on this Earth.
Our perspective today is informed by the reality that resurrection awaits God’s children. This means we’ll never pass our peaks. The best is yet to come! No need for bucket lists, because the adventures awaiting us in the New Heavens and on the New Earth will far exceed the greatest thrills of this life. Right when we think “it can’t get any better than this”…it will.
Photo: Unsplash
