It’s been a fun Summer of learning and growing at Redeemer. We have offered several different Redeemer Equip classes this month, ranging from book studies like Romans, 1 Peter, and John to topics like Lament, Discipleship Basics for Teens & Parents, and Heaven + Earth. It’s been such a joy to see so many people participating, investing in their discipleship and growing in community. Most of all, just about all of the classes have been led by lay people in our church. Really cool!
Last week, I was invited by Chase Stubblefield, who is leading the Heaven + Earth class, to join in for a Q&A. The class had been spending six weeks reevaluating what the bible really teaches about Heaven and Earth. Chase has done a great job bringing Biblical clarity to an often confused topic.
Here are some of the questions and answers we discussed.
First of all, I want to be really clear about what is scripture and what is something I hold loosely. So, with each answer, I will clearly identify which is which before answering the questions.
1. Where are the dead right now? (Scripture)
The moment a believer dies, they’re immediately with Christ – theologians call it the “intermediate state”. They’re reigning with him, safe, at rest, awaiting the final resurrection.
- Philippians 1:21-23: Paul writes, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:8: Paul states, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
- Luke 23:43: Jesus tells the thief on the cross, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
- Revelation 6:9-11: The Apostle John sees the “souls of those who had been slain” resting under the heavenly altar, actively communicating with God.
But that’s a waypoint, not the destination. The hope was never disembodied souls floating forever; it’s bodily resurrection into a renewed earth when Christ returns.
2. Same body, or a new one? (Scripture)
Same body – transformed, not replaced. Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 15 is a seed planted in the ground: what’s sown is the same thing that’s raised, but it comes up utterly changed. Jesus’s resurrected body is the pattern; still his body, still bearing his scars, but gloriously renewed. This is resurrection, not reincarnation.
3. What will our body be like – a “spiritual body”? (Scripture)
“Spiritual body” doesn’t mean non-physical; it means a body fully empowered and animated by the Spirit, no longer limited by weakness or decay (1 Cor 15:42-44: raised imperishable, in glory, in power). Look at Jesus after the resurrection: he ate fish, people touched him, and yet he also walked through locked doors. Same category – fully physical, fully renewed, no longer bound by the limits of a fallen world.
4. Will we retain identity and memory?
Yes, identity is retained; that’s the whole point of resurrection. Jesus’s disciples recognized him after he rose.
As for memory, I’ve used Ray Ortlund’s line: “Hey, did we call it cancer? I can’t remember. Oh well, off to glory we go.” That’s not erased memory; it’s that specific pain will no longer have any power over us, even as we remain fully ourselves. Revelation 21:4 promises he’ll wipe away every tear, not erase our story.
5. Will we become angels? Will we have wings? (Scripture)
No. Scripture is fairly clear: angels and glorified humans are different orders of being. Jesus’s statement that the resurrected “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels” (Matt 22:30) is about that one point of comparison, not marrying, not a claim that we become angelic beings. We stay human; glorified, resurrected humans, ruling the renewed earth (which, per 1 Cor 6:3, is actually a role above the angels, not a demotion to one).
6. Will we fly, teleport, walk through walls — superpowers?
I can’t guarantee you’ll have superpowers, but I can guarantee you’ll have all the power you need to do everything God has gifted you to do, unhindered by weakness or limitation. Jesus walking through a locked door post-resurrection is “superhero stuff” – but hold the specifics loosely. The trajectory is real: no more limitations, no more fatigue-of-body getting in the way of what God’s called us to.
7. Will we sleep? Get tired? Have needs? (Hold loosely)
Scripture doesn’t spell this out directly, but a few threads point somewhere. Revelation 22:5 says “night will be no more” and God’s people “need no light of lamp or sun,” which suggests the fatigue/rest cycle tied to a fallen, dark world is gone. Bodies “raised in power” (1 Cor 15:43) implies no more depletion. Eating seems to continue – Jesus ate after his resurrection, and the tree of life bears fruit every month (Rev 22:2) – but out of delight and communion, not deficiency.
8. What age will we be?
I’ve said this in several sermons: some scholars believe we’ll experience “a youthful renewal” – not childish, but youthful strength and beauty, freed from the decay of aging. I hold this loosely, but the direction is clear: no more decay, no more running out of strength.
9. What about the children? Miscarriages? (Held loosely + pastoral care)
This is not abstract for a lot of people in the room. Scripture doesn’t give us a systematic answer, but it gives real grounds for hope: David says of his infant son, “I shall go to him” (2 Sam 12:23), and Jesus says, “let the children come to me… to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 19:14).
Salvation has always rested on God’s grace, not on a person’s cognitive ability to respond, which is exactly why the church has historically held real hope here.
I don’t overclaim certainty, but I do land firmly on God’s character: he is more compassionate and more just than we are, and Revelation 21:4’s promise of every tear wiped away, no more mourning – includes this grief too.
10. Will we have a lot to do? Will it be boring?
I’ve used N.T. Wright’s quote in three different sermons for this exact question: “Forget those images about lounging around playing harps. There will be work to do, and we shall relish doing it. All the skills and talents we’ve put to God’s service in this life… will be enhanced and ennobled and given back to us to be exercised to his glory in the new creation.” Eden needed tending, animals needed naming; the new earth will need working too. Work isn’t the curse; the curse on work is what’s removed (Rev 22:3).
11. Will we know ~all things? Learning & finitude (Scripture)
No, we stay creatures, not become God. Omniscience isn’t transferable; it’s one of God’s incommunicable attributes. If anything, expect eternal, ever-deepening learning and discovery rather than a ceiling.
12. Will there be a “history of the universe” theater? (Hold loosely)
Not a scriptural image, but it’s fun speculation, not doctrine. What Scripture does give us, from Revelation 20’s throne room, is that nothing stays hidden: “books were opened,” everything exposed and made right. So the truth of history will be fully known and rightly judged; whether that looks like a “theater” is imagination, not Scripture.
13. What about marriage — my spouse? (Scripture)
Jesus addresses this directly: at the resurrection, people “neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Matt 22:30) – the institution of earthly marriage doesn’t carry forward as-is. That’s not erasure of love or relationship; it’s completion. Marriage was always a signpost to something bigger; the marriage of Christ and his people, the Bride “prepared… adorned for her husband,” as in Revelation 21.
The reality eclipses the sign; whatever we shared with a spouse isn’t lost, it’s taken up into something fuller.
14. Animals & the new earth — dinosaurs? pests? new species? (Hold loosely)
I’ve used a Grudem quote before that says in the new creation there will be “no more poisonous snakes, no more bees that sting, etc.” The Bible tells us, “the lion will lie down with the lamb.” Creation is set free from corruption, not erased. That’s the clear biblical trajectory: a redeemed creation, not a blank slate.
Dinosaurs, brand-new species, the specifics of animal life – that’s imagination filling gaps Scripture doesn’t fill. Fine to enjoy the question, but it’s musing, not doctrine.
15. Will my pet be there? (Hold loosely + pastorally)
Scripture doesn’t promise your specific pet by name, so I can’t overpromise. But it also doesn’t rule it out.
God delights in animal life all through Scripture (Job 38-39, Psalm 104, end of Jonah), and since the whole direction of the new creation is renewal rather than discarding, there’s real reason for hope, held humbly rather than guaranteed.
16. Space, planets & the cosmos (Scripture)
Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:13 both say “new heavens and a new earth.” The renewal isn’t limited to planet Earth; it’s cosmic in scope.
Specifics about exploring literal planets or galaxies are fun to imagine, but the text doesn’t specify them.
17. Time, motion & change (Hold loosely)
Don’t reach for “timeless eternity”; that’s more Greek philosophy than Bible. Revelation pictures ongoing activity: reigning “forever and ever” (22:5), a tree bearing fruit “each month” (22:2), and continual worship and work. That implies some form of sequence and life continuing, just no longer bound to decay, death, or a fallen “night.”
Hold the metaphysics loosely; hold the picture of vibrant, unending life tightly.
18. What will seeing God be like? Is Jesus in only one place / still human? (Scripture)
Start with Revelation 22:4, which holds one of Scripture’s most staggering promises: “They will see his face.” Direct, unmediated, perfect relationship; everything we’ve ever longed for in closeness with God, and then some.
On Jesus: he remains fully God and fully human, forever — the incarnation isn’t temporary. In his glorified humanity, he is enthroned in one place, as you preached from Revelation 4-5’s throne room; in his deity, he’s present everywhere.
When he returns, we’ll see him, truly him, the same Jesus, scars and all, face to face.
This kind of thing gives us a “Trinity headache” now, but I believe we will understand it in glory.
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