Heaven and the New Creation

Scripture's final hope is not escape from a physical world into a purely spiritual one. It is a new heaven and a new earth, a city coming down, a resurrection body, a wedding supper. The Bible ends where it began, in a garden, except this time the garden is a city and God's dwelling is with his people permanently.

This week reads heaven the way Scripture actually presents it: as resurrection, as a renewed creation, as a dwelling place prepared, and as a hope that changes how a person lives now. It resists both extremes, treating heaven as neither a vague sentiment nor a distraction from present obedience, but as the destination that gives present life its direction.