(upbeat music) - We're joined again by author and speaker, Randy Alcorn, sitting in this week for John Piper. We're calling it Heaven Week. And in Monday's episode, number 359, Randy, you said this, "If there's a new Jerusalem, why not a new Los Angeles? Why not a new Chicago? Why not a new Paris?

Why not a new London?" End quote. So I wanna pick up on this today and ask about travel. Will we travel around leisurely and explore the new earth? Assuming there'll be cities, will we travel to these cities and will we travel to other planets and explore the universe? - Given the reality that the new earth will correspond to the old earth in the same way that our new bodies will correspond to our old bodies, a better version of the same, but not fundamentally different, except in the sense of perfected, glorified, always healthy, not subject to death and suffering and all of that, because we're no longer under the curse.

Therefore, I think the natural understanding would be that travel on the new earth in the resurrection would be similar to travel as it is now. We can walk. The new Jerusalem has streets. Streets are made for walking. They could be also made for riding horses. There could be automobiles.

There could be jet engines and air travel. There could be space travel. All of these things that in fact, there's no reason at all to think there wouldn't be because this is not the new earth, what we see in Revelation 21 and 22, and for that matter in Isaiah 60 and 65, 66 and other new earth passages, is that you would expect people to do what they've been able to do, except do it better.

Our minds will be better. Our bodies will be healthier. So will we run? We'll probably faster than we've ever been able to run. Not getting as tired, of course, will still be finite. So some people suggest that they see Jesus in the resurrection appearing suddenly in rooms where the disciples are present.

And so people speculate, well, maybe we'll be able to do that, transport Star Trek, like, you know, without the transporter to another location. That's possible, although that's also possible that that's something limited to Jesus, that he, the God-man who has a fully human body, yet at the same time still has properties of deity that we don't have.

Maybe he'll be able to do that and we won't, but whether we would travel someplace, even space travel to explore the universe, 'cause it's new heavens and new earth. There's the old heavens, and we're not just talking about, we're not talking primarily about heaven, the dwelling place of God.

We're talking about the physical celestial heavens, what we think of as outer space. And I remember as a young Christian, as a teenager, having a telescope and looking at the great galaxy of Andromeda, 3 million light years away, and all these billions and hundreds of billions of stars, and thinking, wow, wouldn't it be great someday to go there?

And then later I became a Christian, and I was looking through it, and I thought, and I'd read about the new heavens and new earth, and I thought, maybe one day I will go there to the praise and glory of God. - Fascinating. Well, then what about bucket lists?

I mean, so many people say, before I die, I wanna see Paris, I wanna see Rome, I wanna see London. I've never heard anybody put Chicago on their bucket list, but assuming they do, if what you're saying is true, it makes these bucket list aspirations seem a bit lame.

- I think the whole concept of a bucket list is entirely understandable for people who believe that this is the only life they will ever live, that after they die, they no longer exist, or who believe that after they die, okay, maybe they'll still exist, but they'll be a ghost forever and won't have actual bodies, which means for us as Christians, we should be the last people to think in terms of the bucket list.

Now, there's a distinguishing between the bucket list and having some things I would like to do with my wife and family. Okay, well, that's fine, of course, but if it's the bucket list in the sense of, hey, I'm gonna kick the bucket, and this is my only opportunity as a physical person to do things in a physical world, that is utterly and completely unbiblical, contradicted start to finish from 1 Corinthians 15 and every passage that speaks of the resurrection and eternal life.

- Fascinating. There's some food for thought. That's especially hope-giving for people like me who cannot afford exotic travel destinations. Thank you for that, Randy. And for more on this and so many other topics, see his best-selling book simply titled "Heaven." Also check out Randy's ministry, Eternal Perspective Ministry online at epm.org.

And speaking of heaven, perhaps the biggest question is one we haven't covered yet. Sex, will there be sex in heaven? We'll put Randy on the spot with that question tomorrow. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. (whooshing) (whooshing) (whooshing) Thanks for watching.