Travel in Heaven?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - We're joined again by author and speaker,
00:00:07.000 | Randy Alcorn, sitting in this week for John Piper.
00:00:10.000 | We're calling it Heaven Week.
00:00:11.480 | And in Monday's episode, number 359,
00:00:13.920 | Randy, you said this,
00:00:15.440 | "If there's a new Jerusalem, why not a new Los Angeles?
00:00:18.760 | Why not a new Chicago?
00:00:20.040 | Why not a new Paris?
00:00:21.120 | Why not a new London?"
00:00:22.920 | End quote.
00:00:23.760 | So I wanna pick up on this today and ask about travel.
00:00:26.840 | Will we travel around leisurely
00:00:29.440 | and explore the new earth?
00:00:31.120 | Assuming there'll be cities,
00:00:32.200 | will we travel to these cities
00:00:33.600 | and will we travel to other planets
00:00:35.280 | and explore the universe?
00:00:37.400 | - Given the reality that the new earth
00:00:40.120 | will correspond to the old earth in the same way
00:00:43.760 | that our new bodies will correspond to our old bodies,
00:00:46.960 | a better version of the same,
00:00:49.400 | but not fundamentally different,
00:00:51.640 | except in the sense of perfected, glorified,
00:00:56.520 | always healthy, not subject to death and suffering
00:01:00.360 | and all of that, because we're no longer under the curse.
00:01:03.360 | Therefore, I think the natural understanding
00:01:08.360 | would be that travel on the new earth
00:01:12.040 | in the resurrection would be similar to travel as it is now.
00:01:16.280 | We can walk.
00:01:18.000 | The new Jerusalem has streets.
00:01:20.760 | Streets are made for walking.
00:01:23.760 | They could be also made for riding horses.
00:01:27.560 | There could be automobiles.
00:01:29.560 | There could be jet engines and air travel.
00:01:33.480 | There could be space travel.
00:01:35.840 | All of these things that in fact,
00:01:38.040 | there's no reason at all to think there wouldn't be
00:01:41.800 | because this is not the new earth,
00:01:44.520 | what we see in Revelation 21 and 22,
00:01:47.000 | and for that matter in Isaiah 60 and 65, 66
00:01:50.960 | and other new earth passages,
00:01:54.080 | is that you would expect people to do
00:01:58.680 | what they've been able to do, except do it better.
00:02:01.960 | Our minds will be better.
00:02:03.400 | Our bodies will be healthier.
00:02:05.120 | So will we run?
00:02:06.200 | We'll probably faster than we've ever been able to run.
00:02:10.120 | Not getting as tired, of course, will still be finite.
00:02:12.960 | So some people suggest that they see Jesus
00:02:16.880 | in the resurrection appearing suddenly in rooms
00:02:21.880 | where the disciples are present.
00:02:25.040 | And so people speculate, well, maybe we'll be able
00:02:29.480 | to do that, transport Star Trek, like, you know,
00:02:34.160 | without the transporter to another location.
00:02:39.000 | That's possible, although that's also possible
00:02:41.840 | that that's something limited to Jesus,
00:02:44.720 | that he, the God-man who has a fully human body,
00:02:48.280 | yet at the same time still has properties of deity
00:02:51.280 | that we don't have.
00:02:52.160 | Maybe he'll be able to do that and we won't,
00:02:54.280 | but whether we would travel someplace,
00:02:58.200 | even space travel to explore the universe,
00:03:02.720 | 'cause it's new heavens and new earth.
00:03:05.760 | There's the old heavens, and we're not just talking about,
00:03:08.360 | we're not talking primarily about heaven,
00:03:10.040 | the dwelling place of God.
00:03:11.480 | We're talking about the physical celestial heavens,
00:03:15.160 | what we think of as outer space.
00:03:17.280 | And I remember as a young Christian, as a teenager,
00:03:20.920 | having a telescope and looking at the great galaxy
00:03:24.680 | of Andromeda, 3 million light years away,
00:03:28.040 | and all these billions and hundreds of billions of stars,
00:03:33.000 | and thinking, wow, wouldn't it be great someday to go there?
00:03:37.360 | And then later I became a Christian,
00:03:38.760 | and I was looking through it, and I thought,
00:03:40.160 | and I'd read about the new heavens and new earth,
00:03:41.520 | and I thought, maybe one day I will go there
00:03:44.480 | to the praise and glory of God.
00:03:47.400 | - Fascinating.
00:03:48.600 | Well, then what about bucket lists?
00:03:50.040 | I mean, so many people say, before I die,
00:03:51.960 | I wanna see Paris, I wanna see Rome, I wanna see London.
00:03:56.240 | I've never heard anybody put Chicago on their bucket list,
00:03:58.960 | but assuming they do, if what you're saying is true,
00:04:02.400 | it makes these bucket list aspirations seem a bit lame.
00:04:07.480 | - I think the whole concept of a bucket list
00:04:10.360 | is entirely understandable for people who believe
00:04:14.280 | that this is the only life they will ever live,
00:04:18.280 | that after they die, they no longer exist,
00:04:20.480 | or who believe that after they die, okay,
00:04:24.200 | maybe they'll still exist, but they'll be a ghost forever
00:04:28.160 | and won't have actual bodies,
00:04:30.080 | which means for us as Christians,
00:04:32.680 | we should be the last people to think in terms
00:04:35.720 | of the bucket list.
00:04:38.360 | Now, there's a distinguishing between the bucket list
00:04:41.160 | and having some things I would like to do
00:04:42.760 | with my wife and family.
00:04:43.800 | Okay, well, that's fine, of course,
00:04:45.720 | but if it's the bucket list in the sense of,
00:04:47.640 | hey, I'm gonna kick the bucket,
00:04:49.040 | and this is my only opportunity as a physical person
00:04:53.040 | to do things in a physical world,
00:04:56.160 | that is utterly and completely unbiblical,
00:04:59.280 | contradicted start to finish from 1 Corinthians 15
00:05:03.360 | and every passage that speaks of the resurrection
00:05:06.400 | and eternal life.
00:05:07.840 | - Fascinating.
00:05:08.680 | There's some food for thought.
00:05:09.800 | That's especially hope-giving for people like me
00:05:12.160 | who cannot afford exotic travel destinations.
00:05:14.520 | Thank you for that, Randy.
00:05:15.960 | And for more on this and so many other topics,
00:05:18.600 | see his best-selling book simply titled "Heaven."
00:05:21.080 | Also check out Randy's ministry,
00:05:22.640 | Eternal Perspective Ministry online at epm.org.
00:05:25.680 | And speaking of heaven, perhaps the biggest question
00:05:28.200 | is one we haven't covered yet.
00:05:30.240 | Sex, will there be sex in heaven?
00:05:32.840 | We'll put Randy on the spot with that question tomorrow.
00:05:35.160 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:05:36.120 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:05:38.680 | (whooshing)
00:05:41.000 | (whooshing)
00:05:43.320 | (whooshing)
00:05:45.640 | Thanks for watching.