God’s new world

Biosphere 2 was a state-of-the-art greenhouse built on about three acres in USA’s Arizona desert. This huge, sealed, computer-­controlled environment was planned to be a miniature version of the much larger Biosphere 1 we call Earth.

Completed in 1991 at a cost of $US150 million, Biosphere 2 had five ecosystem areas ranging from rainforest to desert, and was stocked with several thousand plants and animals. Eight scientists, aka “Biospherians”, were supposed to learn how to live off this land, physically isolated from the outside world, but allowed to communicate by phone and email.

The designers envisioned humans creating a perfect, self-sustaining environment. But the project met with unforeseen environmental and human complications requiring outside intervention. Oxygen levels dropped so low that emergency oxygen had to be pumped into the complex, and crop production was so poor that at times food had to be supplemented from the outside.

Some of the animal species died off, but one kind of ant thrived to the point that outside help was required to exterminate it! This proud vision of humans making utopia on earth became a joke.

Fortunately, God has a much better Biosphere planned for your future and mine.

A new world

The apostle John, who authored a number of New Testament books, experienced a prophetic vision of the future where he saw “‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away”. He also saw “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1,2).

The name Jerusalem means “city of peace”. The old Jerusalem on this earth today is anything but a city of peace! Followers of three major religions—Jews, Muslims and Christians—each claim it as a holy place, making it the most fought-over piece of real estate in the world. The walls of old Jerusalem are riddled with bullet holes. But God’s New Jerusalem will truly be a city of peace.

Perfect food and water

One thing we know is that this city will have a perfect water supply. John said that his accompanying angel showed him “a pure river of water of life” (Revelation 22:1, NKJV*). In today’s world, we have to add chemicals to kill the bacteria in water so that people don’t get sick. That won’t be necessary in God’s New Jerusalem.

Revelation also says that “on each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (22:2). I propose that this means spiritual healing. When we all gather together as one family under the tree of life, our divisions will be healed. We will be a united people. However, this verse doesn’t mean that people will get sick and use the leaves of the tree as an herbal remedy. Genesis 3:24 suggests that perhaps the leaves of the tree will have a nutrient that reverses the ageing process and makes immortality possible.

Perfect health

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah gave another description of God’s new earth: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:5,6). Blind people will see, deaf people will hear, and paralysed people will walk! John added that “‘there will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

In heaven, there won’t be any need of doctors, hospitals or funeral homes!

So, what will you and I do in that new earth that Jesus is preparing for us today? Isaiah gave us a glimpse into that, too. He said that heaven’s inhabitants “will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit”. Isaiah’s readers would have found that to be good news. In his time, warring nations or marauding tribes could at any time invade your country and take over the house you’d built and the orchard and farm you’d cultivated. Then someone else would live in the house you’d worked so hard to build and eat the food you’d laboured so long to grow. In that context, Isaiah’s promise is meaningful: “No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat” (Isaiah 65:21,22).

Even today, other people enjoy the products of our labour: Our houses get left to children or grandchildren when we die. Someone else gets to live in the home we worked so hard to build. But not in God’s new world! If you build it, you’ll live in it! If you grow it, you’ll eat it!

Perfect bodies

People have many misconceptions about heaven. Some people believe that when they die, they’ll turn into little cherubs who sit on clouds and play harps all day. Boring! No wonder so few people want to go to heaven—they think hell sounds much more interesting! They don’t realise that in heaven they will have real bodies and will do real things.

The Bible says that when Jesus comes, He will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). So, what is Jesus’ body like today? When He rose from the dead, He walked through a locked door where His disciples were gathered in the upper room. They were sure He was a ghost, so He said to them, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I, myself!” He invited them to touch Him, because, He said, “A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Then, to emphasise that He was real, He said, “Do you have anything here to eat?” Someone gave Him a piece of fish, and He ate it in front of them (Luke 24:36–43). Jesus wanted them to know that He had a real physical body.

So that’s the kind of body Jesus has today, and the Bible says that in heaven our bodies will be “like his glorious body”.

Will you be there?

Shortly before He left this earth, Jesus told His disciples that He would be leaving to prepare a place for them. Then He promised, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

I want to be with Jesus in that perfect biosphere where there’s no sickness or death, where there is no pollution and where terrorists can never frighten me. Do you? If your answer is also yes, then there’s a key question we need to ask ourselves: What does it take to get there? It’s actually very simple. Accept Jesus as your Saviour—the only One who can save you from your sin and its consequences. Tell Him you want to serve Him as a citizen of His new world. He’ll see that you get there.

I’ve done that; I invite you to do it too. Let’s make an appointment to meet there.

Doug Batchelor is the senior pastor of the Granite Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California, and president/speaker for Amazing Facts International.

* Bible verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.