What Happens When You Die?
Glorified and Free on the
New Earth
Message by John Piper
For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the anxious longing of the creation waits
eagerly 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 that the
creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the
freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans
and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but
also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body.
For in hope we have been saved, but hope that
is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for
what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Why God
Revealed What Will Happen When We Die
The reason God revealed to us in the Bible
what will happen when we die is that knowing what happens to us when we die
takes away fear and fills us instead with hope and confidence and anticipation.
And when fear goes and hope in God overflows,
we live differently. Our lives show that our treasure in God is more precious
than the fleeting attractions of sin.
When
we relish the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2), we don’t yield to the sinful pleasures of the moment. We
are not suckered in by advertising that says the one with the most toys wins.
We don’t devote our best energies to laying
up treasures on earth. We don’t dream our most exciting dreams about accomplishments
and relationships that perish. We don’t fret over what this life fails to give
us (marriage, wealth, health, fame).
Instead
we revel in the wonder that the owner and ruler of the universe loves us and
has destined us for glory and is working infallibly to bring us to his eternal
kingdom.
We live to meet the needs of others because
God is living to meet our needs. We love our enemies, and do good, and bless
those who curse us and pray for those who despise us because our reward in
heaven is great and we are not enslaved to the petty pleasures that come from
returning evil for evil.
All
this flows from our unshakable hope. When you know the truth about what happens
when you die — and you believe it — that truth makes you free. Free from the
short, shallow, stupid, suicidal pleasures of sin.
I
am preaching these
messages to make you free to live for the
glory of God.
In this fourth message in the series I want to talk about the
final, eternal state. Where is it all going to end up? Before we look at our
text in Romans 8, let me give an answer from another place in the Bible and
pose a problem that I think our text answers.
Revelation
21:1–4
Let’s
look first at Revelation 21:1-4. John says that there will be a new earth and
that heaven will come down, as it were, and God will make his eternal dwelling
among men on the new earth.
And 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.
And I heard a loud
voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and
He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall
be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there
shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying,
or pain; the first things have passed away.”
This
is a beautiful picture of what is coming: a new earth, the people of God living
there with no death, no pain, no tears. And best of all, God will not be far
away, but will pitch his tent, as it were, in our midst, and dwell among us
forever.
“The First Heaven
and the First Earth Passed Away”
The question raised here is this: When John
says in verse 1, “The first heaven and
the first earth passed away” (cf. Matthew 24:35), does he mean that the earth we live on and the sky over
our head will be totally done away with and that God will start over with a
totally new creation?
It’s a question concerning our resurrection bodies:
Will God raise us up or will he start over with a totally new creation of
different bodies for us?
I argue for continuity between our bodies
now and our bodies in the resurrection. And this is what I am going to argue for
concerning the earth.
The Present
Heavens and Earth Will “Be Destroyed”
But what does John mean, “The first heaven and the first earth passed away”?
Peter, in his second
letter says something similar, but even more graphic.
In 2 Peter 3:10-13 Peter describes how the present earth
and heaven will “pass away.”
But 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,
on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements
will melt with intense heat!
But according to His
promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness
dwells.
Peter
says that our great hope for the final state of eternity is new heavens and a
new earth in which righteousness dwells — the same as John in Revelation 21.
He also speaks of the heavens passing away (v. 10).
And he goes farther and three times says that
there will be destruction of the present world. Verse 10: “the elements will be destroyed with intense heat.”
Verse 11: “these
things are to be destroyed.”
Verse 12: “the
heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense
heat.”
The
question then is: Does this mean that the earth we live on and the heavens we
live under will be totally done away with? And will God start over with a
totally new creation?
What Does “Be
Destroyed” and “Pass Away” Mean?
First, I would say that when Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:10 say
that the present earth and heavens will “pass
away,” it does not have to mean that they go out of existence, but may mean
that there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes
away.
We might say, “The caterpillar will pass away and the butterfly emerges.”
There is a real passing away and there is a
real continuity, a real connection. Or we might say, “The tadpole passes away and the frog appears.”
And
when 2 Peter 3 says that this
heaven and earth will be “destroyed,”
it does not have to mean entirely “put
out of existence.”
We might say, “The flood destroyed many farms.” But we don’t mean that they vanished
out of existence. We might say that the immediate surroundings of Mt. St.
Helens were destroyed. But anyone who goes there now and sees the new growth
would know that “destroy” did not
mean put out of existence.
And
so what Peter may well mean is that at the end of this age there will be
cataclysmic events that bring this age and this world to an end as we know it —
not putting it out of existence, but wiping out all that is evil and cleansing
it, as it were, by fire and fitting it for an age of glory and righteousness
and peace that will never end.
Well,
it may mean that. But does it really mean that?
Romans 8: Four
Evidences for a Renewed Creation
Now we are ready to read this morning’s test
from Romans 8 with this question
in mind.
There
are at least four reasons in these verses suggesting that the creation we know
and the earth we live on will not be annihilated but will be renewed for our
eternal joy.
1. God Subjected Creation to
Futility in Hope
In Romans 8:19-20 Paul
says, “The
anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of
God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but
because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
In
verse 19 he pictures the creation — the heavens and the earth — as having
longings and eager expectation. Something is coming that makes creation, as it
were, stand on tiptoe that something good is going to happen to her.
Then verse 20 gives part of the reason why
creation is so full of longing and expectation, namely, because the futility of
creation — the decay and disaster and disease and pain — is a temporary curse
that God put on creation, but there is a great hope coming.
“The creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected
it, in hope.” God did
not curse the creation with futility as his final word. He did it “in hope.”
This
means that creation is not appointed for annihilation but for restoration. He
subjected it in hope.
2. The Creation Will Be Set
Free from Corruption
The
second reason Paul gives for why we should not expect creation to be
annihilated is found in verse 21 (the content of the hope). “The creation itself
also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the
glory of the children of God.”
The
creation is not destined for annihilation. It is destined for liberation. It
will be set free from the “slavery to
corruption” — the futility that God subjected it to in hope.
This is the clearest statement of all that
the earth and the heavens will not “pass
away” or be “destroyed” in the
sense of going out of existence.
Paul says plainly, they will be set free from
corruption. The futility will be destroyed. The bondage to corruption will be
consumed in the purifying, liberating fire of God’s judgment.
But the earth will remain. And there will be
no more corruption. No more futility. No more crying or death or pain.
3. Creation Is Suffering Labor
Pains
The
third argument Paul gives against the annihilation of the present creation is
found in verse 22: “We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the
pains of childbirth together until now.”
What
he says here is that the upheavals of creation are like labor pains during the
last stages of pregnancy.
In other words, something is about to be
brought forth from creation, not in place of creation. Creation is not going to
be annihilated and recreated with no continuity.
The earth is going to bring forth like a
mother in labor (through the upheavals of fire and earthquake and volcanoes and
pestilence and famine) a new earth.
Jesus
used the same imagery of labor pains when he said in Matthew 24:7-8, “For nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will
be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of
birth pangs.”
This
earth is like a mother about to give birth to a new earth where righteousness
dwells and where God reigns in the midst of his people.
4. The Redemption of Our
Bodies
Finally,
Paul gives one last argument against annihilation of the earth in verse 23: “And not only this
[not only does the natural world groan], but also we ourselves, having the
first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
The
reason this is so crucial is that he connects the redemption of our bodies —
that is, the resurrection and restoration of our bodies after a lifetime of
groaning — with the restoration of the creation.
Our bodies are part of this present creation.
What happens to our bodies and what happens to the creation go together. And
what happens to our bodies is not annihilation but redemption: “we await the redemption of our bodies.”
Our bodies will be redeemed, restored, made
new, not thrown away. And so it is with the heavens and the earth.
Our Final
Habitation: This Earth Made New
So my conclusion is that our final habitation
will be on the new earth, which will be this earth made new.
In Matthew 19:28 Jesus
calls it “the regeneration when the Son
of Man will sit on his glorious throne.”
Creation will be “born again.”
In Acts 3:21 Peter
calls it “the times of the restoration of
all things of which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets.”
And
what did the prophets say about the new earth? Isaiah 11:6-11 gives
us an example.
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will
graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the
ox. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned
child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in
all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. (Cf. Isaiah 65:25; Micah 4:3.)
So
history as we know it will come to an end with God at the center. His glory
will be so bright as to make a moon out of the sun (Revelation 21:23).
And on the earth there will be a great sea of
knowledge reflecting the glory of the Lord back to him.
And just as the rejection of that knowledge
brought a curse on the creation, so the restoration of that knowledge will
bring blessing to the creation and the animals themselves will be free from the
curse and reflect the beauty of the Lord.
Would you want to have a
deeper relationship with God?
God has made it possible for you to know Him
and experience
an amazing change in your own life by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and have
eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a
sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
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For Your Name Is Holy +
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Paul Wilbur -
John Piper is founder and teacher
of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33
years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including A Peculiar Glory.
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/what-happens-when-you-die-glorified-and-free-on-the-new-earth
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