A thoughtful reader asked me, “When the New Earth arrives, do you believe there will remain a Heaven that is distinct from the New Earth? Or will the ‘merging’ of Heaven and Earth be total?”
The Heaven that now exists, called the present Heaven, is where God dwells with His people and angels and the living creatures. It is where His throne is located, and hence, it is the location from which He governs the universe. The present Heaven is a place free from the curse, without sin, death, and suffering.
We are told three times in Revelation 21:3 that God will come down to dwell with His people on the New Earth. We are promised there will be no death or suffering on the New Earth (Revelation 21:4). We are also told the curse will no longer exist on the New Earth (Revelation 22:3).
Scripture is clear that the New Jerusalem will be relocated from the present Heaven to the New Earth: "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1).
Ephesians 1:10 says, “And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.”
All this seems to clearly indicate that God will relocate Heaven from a place outside our universe, and make it part of the restored/resurrected New Heavens and New Earth. The New Earth will be capital planet of the New Heavens, and the New Jerusalem capital city of the New Earth. By bringing His dwelling place and throne and the perfections of the present Heaven to the New Earth, God will make it His eternal Heaven.
I think that God has one Heaven at a time, and that in ages to come He will not have a different Heaven He retreats to, as someone might do who owns a second home at the beach. Rather, the New Earth will be a true merger of Heaven and Earth, making it literally “Heaven on Earth.” This means no one will leave the New Earth to visit Heaven, because everything on the New Earth (and I believe everything in the New Heavens) will be part of Heaven, the eternal dwelling place of God.
The New Earth will be a physical, tangible place where believers will dwell after the final resurrection. The New Heavers and New Earth will together constitute the New Universe, which will be the eternal Heaven, a permanent renewal and restoration of God’s original creation, forever free from sin and suffering.
I don’t think there anything that’s presently in Heaven that will be incompatible with its relocation to the New Earth, nor anything on the resurrected Earth that will be incompatible with Heaven: “He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” People, angels, animals, and living creatures on the New Earth will be fully able to worship God as much—and in fact, more than ever—because of the final end of sin and suffering, and because the “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
