PMW 2025-013 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
The immediate entrance of our souls into heaven upon departing this life is a glorious expectation. But heaven is not our final destiny. God has more in store for us in the new, renovated earth which he will establish after the Final Judgment.
Scripture teaches that we may expect a reconstituted, material new earth for a variety of reasons. Consider the following evidence in this direction.
First, the biblical analogy
We may expect a renewed earth on the analogy of the transformation of the individual’s body in the resurrection. When Jesus returns he will resurrect the dead into material bodies. Paul teaches that Christ’s own resurrection is the “first fruits” of the full resurrection at the end. So then, whatever Christ’s body is like at his resurrection is a sample of our resurrection bodies (1 Cor 15:20). In Philippians 3:21 we read that Jesus “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
We know that Jesus dies in his physical body then comes back to life from the tomb (John 20:1–9). Jesus proves to doubting Thomas that his resurrected body is material: “Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing’” (John 20:27). Later he presents himself to the disciples who are surprised when he approaches them: “‘See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet’” (Luke 24:39–40).
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See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Thus, the Bible clearly teaches that we will receive a renewed physical body at the resurrection. And so, just as we receive a new body at the resurrection, so we will inherit a renewed earth on which to dwell with that body. As Paul teaches us:
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. And not only they, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption [resurrection] of our body.” (Rom 8:19–23)
The comprehensive nature of sin and redemption (involving both soul and body), demands a comprehensive new earth (involving both spiritual and material aspects). Why else would we return to our physical bodies by means of resurrection, if we are to remain solely and forever in the spiritual, heavenly realm?
Indeed, we know that even the unbeliever will undergo a resurrection so as to endure a fuller judgment. Jesus warns his followers: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28).
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(paperback by Kenneth Gentry)
A classic, thorough explanation and defense of postmillennialism (600+ pages). Complete with several chapters answering specific objections.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Second, the biblical calling
Scripture seems to present our temporal labor in the physical earth as a training ground for eternity. As we strive to subdue the earth in a holy and spiritual fashion we are living up to God’s design for us (Gen 1:26–28; Psa 8:5–8). In addition, our present cultural labors are clothed with eternal significance in that Scripture commands us in light of Christ’s bodily resurrection to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58).
Theologian Anthony Hoekema explains: “We may firmly believe that products of science and culture produced by unbelievers may yet be found on the new earth. . . . Our mission work, our attempt to further a distinctively Christian culture, will have value not only for this world but even the world to come.” This comports well with the biblical calling to cultural and spiritual activity by the redeemed, who are images of God renewed by grace.
Third, the biblical assertion
We find the key passage presenting the consummate new heavens and new earth in 2 Peter 3:10–12:
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
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See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
This text points to the final, eternal order which follows the resurrection and the final judgment. Peter is not presenting us with the spiritual transformation that results from the gospel and is already occurring in history (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15). In fact, the current spiritual realities themselves point to a final physical reality — much like our current spiritual resurrection in Christ (Eph 2:6; 1 John 3:14) points to the future physical resurrection at the end of history (John 5:24–29). Note the following arguments.
(1) Peter’s whole thrust in his second epistle promotes a spiritual perseverance for the historical long run. That is, he writes about a long period in history that finally ends up in the eternal new creation. We see this in his urging his readers to persevere (2 Pet 1:6) and warning against short-sightedness (1:9). He states that Christians may have access to the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ only through long-term perseverance (1:10–11, 19).
In fact, he does this by presenting Noah and Lot as examples of saints who persevere through evil times (like the evil times his faithful readers are facing). By persevering against their ungodly cultures, Noah and Lot come out on the other end of God’s judgment still upon the earth (2 Pet 2:5, 7, 9). So Peter’s readers should expect to come out on the other end of the chaos surrounding them (2:9a) — still on the earth because of God’s power to deliver. God delivers Noah and Lot so that his name will continue on earth through their witness (2:6b; cp. 1:8) and offspring (2:5b) to live into the distant future.
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See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Thus, those first-century Christians should expect their offspring to continue into the distant future (cp. 2 Pet 1:15). They must persevere even against false teachers who will arise among them (2:1). He is urging the Christians toward a long term commitment, not a short-term expectation. So then, while contemplating God’s judgment cleansing of the earth in Noah’s day (3:6), Peter urges Christians to many “holy livings” and “pieties” (en hagiais anastrophais kai eusebeiais, 3:11). These Greek plurals occur only here in Scripture. They suggest many acts of righteousness over the historical long term. Consequently, the epistle also ends with a call to perseverance (3:15, 17), just as it opens with such (1:6, 9). He calls on them to glorify Christ now and until “the day of eternity” (eis hmeran ainos) begins — whenever that may be (3:18).
(2) Peter’s audience (including us!) should expect mockers who scoff at Christ’s promised second advent due to the long wait associated with it (2 Pet 3:3–4, 9). This waiting continues to our very day, and thus is truly long. Despite the trials coming soon (2:9), Peter warns that it may be thousands of years before Christ’s return: “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (3:8).
(3) The Lord’s longsuffering is due to a process that will take a long time. Nevertheless, they must understand that despite the long delay: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness [braduteta], but is longsuffering [makrothumei] toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9 NKJV). They must “account that the longsuffering [makrathumian] of our Lord is salvation” (3:15a). This process of calling “all” to “repentance” spans the entire inter-advental era and is still continuing to our very day. This “slowness” (braduts, v 9) of Christ’s second advent allows the kingdom to continue to grow unto full fruition. This comports well with the slow growth of the kingdom like a mustard seed (Mt 13:31–32) and with the necessity of “all the days [pasas tas hmeras]” for accomplishing the Great Commission (Mt 28:20).
(4) The destruction of the heavens and the earth that he envisions involves the current material creation. Peter expressly refers to the material creation order: “from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet 3:4; cf. Gen 1:1); “by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water” (3:5; cf. Gen 1:2, 9); “the heavens and the earth which now exist” (3:7). Thus, he defines the “heavens and earth” to which he refers and which God will replace with a “new heaven and a new earth” (3:10, 13). He is expecting the renovated, material new heavens and new earth at the second advent.
In conjunction with “the promise” of Christ’s coming (2 Pet 3:4, 9), we will enter the ultimate “new heavens and new earth” (3:13). Here Peter is obviously borrowing terminology from Isaiah `65:17 (which speaks of a spiritual reality). Yet as an inspired apostle he expands on that truth, looking to the ultimate outcome of the spiritual new heavens and earth in an eternal new heavens and earth.
The new creation, then, is the renovated material world that will succeed the present temporal order. God will purify and refashion it by fire. On this new earth the resurrected saints will dwell forever, engaging their activities and labors without the constraints of indwelling sin, a fallen environment, and the resistance of Satan and unbelievers.
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A defense of theonomic ethics against a leading Reformed critic. Engages many of the leading objections to theonomy.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Postmillennial Worldview 
In view of the concluding statement, “The new creation, then, is the renovated material world that will succeed the present temporal order. God will purify and refashion it by fire. On this new earth the resurrected saints will dwell forever, engaging their activities and labors without the constraints of indwelling sin, a fallen environment, and the resistance of Satan and unbelievers,” is this the time of fulfillment of Jesus’s teaching of the apostles reigning on thrones with Christ and of believers being given cities and countries to rule over (although all in the new heavens and earth are redeemed)?
Ultimately, that is so. But proximately and in anticipation of that, I believe it is a Now/Not Yet phenomenon that began in the first century and comes to perfect expression in the eternal state.
I’m so glad to see this and similar articles on your website. We would still definitely disagree on the so-called intermediate state and anthropology, but I’m glad to see you say what seems in stark contrast to what you wrote in He Shall Have Dominion (chapter 6):
That seemed to me, at least in isolation, a complete repudiation of the Christian hope of resurrection. Even though you elsewhere affirmed “the resurrection at the end of history”, what would be the point, if the “eternal state” and “eternal realm” were a “spiritual world” rather than a “material world”? I chalk it up to a blessed inconsistency and your tradition talking rather than your exegesis, at the time.
It is so ingrained in our Christian culture and most forms of evangelism, this nonsense that we are immortal, immaterial souls and merely have a body, and that this physical existence only matters insomuch as we are going to one day shed this worthless body and go to one of two immaterial eternal destinies. So unbiblical, but so common. It’s in the air we breathe, culturally. Comments like so-and-so has “entered eternity” and “received his reward” when the person is dead in the ground. Comments like, “I can’t wait to leave my body behind for good!” Songs like:
The Christian hope is the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). Paul considers it a sine qua non; apart from resurrection, there is no hope and no point (1 Corinthians 15:17-19, 29-32).
The universal church needs a reformation in the area of anthropology, taking seriously what Genesis tells us – that we are dust and return to dust, because man was formed of the dust and subsequently became a living being when God brought the non-living dirt man to life. We need that understanding of anthropology for the hope of resurrection (coming back out of the ground) to even make sense.
Unfortunately, your comment is quite mistaken. In this article I have clearly and strongly argued for our material resurrection: “The immediate entrance of our souls into heaven upon departing this life is a glorious expectation. But heaven is not our final destiny. God has more in store for us in the new, renovated earth which he will establish after the Final Judgment.”
My statement in He Shall Have Dominion does not in any way serve as a “repudiation of the Christian hope of resurrection,” as you charge.
Man is a composite being, a unified body and soul. Though there is a temporary separation of the soul from the body at our earthly death. While we await the physical resurrection we still do exist. We are temporarily in heaven as a spirit separated from its body. As Paul says, we are naked. But again, that is only temporarily during the intermediate estate.
I know. That’s why I said I was “so glad to see this and similar articles on your website.”
I even said you affirmed “the resurrection at the end of history” elsewhere in the book. But, in isolation, what I had quoted does undermine the resurrection, because you spoke of entering “the eternal realm” “At death”, which you described as “the spiritual world”, which you contrasted to “the material world”, which you seemed to indicate was temporary, and only relevant “prior to our arrival in the eternal state”.
Please understand I hold you in the highest regard as one of the great voices in our age. My point was not to attack you, but to praise the increased clarity in your articles, compared to that one disturbing statement. We’re all quite subject to the influence of our personal traditions and cultures, and I think that was what was coming out in that one statement rather than your more considered statements on the subject.
It was also not my aim to goad you into any longer discussion/debate on the intermediate state. I think it’s important, and I’m certainly open to as in-depth of a conversation as you like on it, but it’s not definitional. But the resurrection is definitional to the faith, so I was pointing out how in our Christian culture, that has been so forgotten in the typical depiction of people going to heaven/hell forever when they die. That’s how I was taught to evangelize with Evangelism Explosion as a teen, even though there’s not one mention in Scripture of someone going to “heaven” when they die, and “hell” is just a bad translation for a handful of other biblical terms.
The most recent funeral we had in my church, I was very disturbed that there was not one mention of the resurrection. Well, one very passing mention of Christ’s resurrection in a poem, but nothing that would have given the deceased woman’s unbelieving family any indication we thought she would one day be raised again. The message they would have understood was that wherever she was now, that was her blessed eternity. That was with two pastors speaking, and a song service organized by a veteran missionary. I think we’ve lost the plot.
If you think I’ve misrepresented you or that I’m “quite mistaken” in any other regard, please do correct me.
Thanks for the additional note. Hopefully you will see that my HSHD statement alluded to the intermediate state, where our spirits go to await the resurrection. As Solomon says in Eccl. 12:7 regarding our death: “The dust of mortals goes back to the ground as it was before, and the breath of life goes back to God who gave it.” And of course in Luke 23:46 we read: “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And when he had said this, he gave up his spirit.” Body and spirit can be severed, even though they are unity and will ultimately be re-united.