One day God will create “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1, ESV). This New Earth is the consummation of the kingdom of God that Jesus brought to earth. This is what we now desire more than anything and the goal toward which God has been guiding his people for the entire history of humanity. It is very important to dwell on this new creation because this is the destiny that we live for every day; it is the end that makes sense out of everything we do and experience, and it gives us strength for Christformation. It is the context for our entire lives.
In this life we are fighting the good fight, dying to self, practicing sacrificial love for others and living as outsiders in the world. God has been purifying us, filling us, Christforming us and making us one with him. In our next life he will take us through the final progression of vision, Christformation, and spiritual marriage.
This kingdom, this nation, this culture will consist of righteousness, peace and joy (Romans 14:17). It will consist of all the other fruits of the Spirit: love, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith, self-control, hope, honesty, humility, meekness, mercy, holiness, harmony, passion, wisdom, and truth. This is the core nature of the kingdom, the New Creation, the New Eden and the New Adams because it is the core nature of God. His nature will radiate unspoiled and dazzling throughout creation so that God will finally be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). All of who he is will permeate all that is, and corruption will be no more.
The presence of the throne of God on earth means that God and the Lamb will install themselves as rulers of the earth without opposition. The Enemy will be gone as well as human corruption. Only good will prevail. There will be no danger to the saints, only joyful involvement in creation. This kingdom of heaven on earth is a glittering city in the form of a holy of holies hosting a garden world. It is our garden-temple-city.
