Category Archives: New Creation

EARTH OUR ETERNAL HOME

New Creation, Resurrection March 15, 2024 Comments: 6

PMW 2024-021 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

As we have been witnessing in Internet discussions of late, hyperpreterism is inherently Gnostic in its basic outlook. They not only do away with our physical bodies by proposing a spiritual (i.e., immaterial) body at the resurrection (or at the point of death). But many of them also teach that even Christ’s own physically-resurrected body has dissipated and been replaced with a spiritual body. Along these lines I would like to speak to a related issue regarding our eternal destiny in the new heavens and new earth.

We need to understand that with God matter matters. God created the material universe. He created a material man to rule over the material earth. He sent his Son in a material body to save his people from their sins. He resurrected Christ in a material body. And we will be resurrected in material, re-constituted bodies. And we will do so in anticipating inhabiting a perfect, material, reconstituted new earth. Truly, matter matters in the biblical worldview. Despite the Gnostic elements in hyperpreterism.

From time-to-time I make the mistake of reading hyperpreterist literature. And on occasion someone will send me a quote from their musings. Often enough I see complaints directed against me that demonstrate they are not well read or theologically trained.

The matter about which I am speaking [1] at the moment is the frequent (and frustrating) complaint that “Gentry believes Christians will not live in heaven with Christ for eternity.” What they are complaining about is my fully orthodox, widely-held, biblical view that in the eternal, consummate order believers will live on the new earth in their resurrected bodies after the physical second coming of Christ and the final judgment. We certainly do go to heaven at death now, but in heaven we await the resurrection and final judgment before our final estates are fully entered into [2]. Despite hyperpreterists’ confusion, our dwelling on the new earth will not involve our being separated away from Christ. Of course, we do not know all the particulars, but we may rest assured that there will be direct communion between heaven and earth in eternity.

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WHERE DO WE GO AT DEATH?

Last Days, New Creation, Resurrection, Second Coming December 29, 2023 1 Comment

New earth

PMW 2023-100 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

A writer sent a note asking:

“One thing I’m a little confused about is the ultimate end of history. Does man remain on earth when Christ returns? After Christ has put all enemies under his feet and handed over the kingdom to the Father, does heaven and hell “merge” and man remains on earth for a lack of better words while Christ is present physically (assuming also still in some sense everywhere present because he’s God). I’m so confused as I feel like I always hear by and large from Christians is to just go to heaven and it seems many believe the present earth to be destroyed. Or is there something else beyond earth/heaven?”

Ken Gentry responds:

Basically, I believe that when we die now (in history) we go to heaven — as did the disciples, the thief on the cross, and Paul the apostle: Continue reading →

THE NEW CREATION TWO-STEP

New Creation March 31, 2023 1 Comment

PMW 2023-026 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Christianity affirms the material order. In creation God made the physical world (Gen. 1) and man with a tangible body (Gen. 2:7). In redemption God effects the incarnation of Christ (Heb. 2:14) and his physical resurrection (Luke 24:39). We should not be surprised, then, that even in the consummation we will once again inhabit physical bodies (John 5:28-29) in a material environment (2 Peter 3:13). God has created us as men, not angels. As redeemed vessels of mercy we will inherit a glorious, perfect, physical realm when God refashions the world in the new heavens and new earth.

We find the fullest explanation of the glory of the consummate new creation in Revelation 21-22. But we cannot simply leap to the closing chapters of the Bible and expect to understand it properly. Revelation is the capstone of prophecy, not the foundation stone. Without adequate preparation for interpreting it, it can become a stumbling stone. Continue reading →

CHRIST’S RESURRECTION IN 1 COR 15

New Creation, Resurrection February 25, 2022 Leave a comment

PMW 2022-016 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Awhile back a reader/listener of mine expressed some confusion with some statements I made. He asked me to clarify my point to clear up his confusion. Here is a part of the exchange, which might be helpful to others who may have had the same concerns.

Reader (1st inquiry):

I am currently listening to your lecture (sermon?) entitled “Ken Gentry on 2 Thessalonians 2 – The Man of Lawlessness”. In that message you state that “the second coming” will occur at the end of time. According to your understanding, what will the second coming of Jesus the Christ be like when it does occur? What will actually take place during that “second coming”? Continue reading →

THE NEW CREATION IN REVELATION

New Creation August 13, 2019 Comments: 9

PMW 2019-065 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

New CreationIn Revelation 21 we read of the glorious new creation:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:1–2).

Revelation presents God’s divorce of his old covenant wife Israel in AD 70 (Rev 5 presents the divorce decree). In Rev 6-19 (with interludes and asides) we witness his adulterous wife’s capital punishment. Now in the two closing chapters, we are witnesses to his marriage to his new bride, the new covenant church of Jesus Christ. The new creation is an image of the new covenant. This new Jerusalem-bride is the “Jerusalem above” (Gal 4:26), the “heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12:22) to which all believers in Christ belong. Continue reading →

THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION

Christ, New Creation, Resurrection June 7, 2019 Leave a comment

PMW 2019-046 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

The Scripture teaches that Christ arises from the dead in the same body in which he dies, though with certain super-added spiritual powers.1 His resurrection does not merely revivify a lifeless cadaver; but neither is it the creation of a new body. Just as he prophesies, the very body which dies also comes forth from the tomb (Jn 2:19, 22). As such, it miraculously attests the truth of his divine mission on earth (Jn 2:18–21; cp. Mt 12:39–41; 16:1–4; Lk 11:29.

This is why the tomb and burial clothing are empty: his physical body departs from them (Mt 28:6; Jn 20:4–11, 15). After the resurrection the Gospels show Christ in a material body that people can touch and handle (Lk 24:39), and which still has the wounds of the cross (Jn 20:27; cf. Rev 5:6). On other occasions he bids Mary Magdalene to quit clinging (haptomai) to him (Jn 20:17). Continue reading →

2 PETER 3 AND THE CONSUMMATION (2)

New Creation January 1, 2019 Comments: 18

PMW 2019-001 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

If your watch is set correctly, you will notice that we are in a new year. Thus, I thought it appropriate to offer a study of the new creation as we close out the old year and begin a new one. This is the second in a series on the new creation in 2 Peter 3. In my previous article I began a consideration of 2 Peter 3 and Peter’s reference to the new heavens and new earth. I will conclude the study in this article. I recommend your reading the earlier article first. Continue reading →