Certainly, since God is all-powerful, and since He is likely to restore many good things that were taken as a result of the Curse, He’s certainly capable re-creating those things on the New Earth for our pleasure and His glory. However, He will not duplicate our idols.

I relate to your concerns because I too, want to watch my children grow up. I believe that ultimately, it is a matter of trust. Do we trust Jesus to return at exactly the right time?

When Jesus annihilates death, it shall be no more. We will not fear it, and it will have no hold on us. Don’t you long for that day? 

When we receive our glorified bodies and relocate to the New Earth, it will culminate history, not erase it. And nothing will negate or minimize the fact that we were members of families here on Earth. 

A reader, Tammy, sent me this touching message about her dad, and the pictures. 

Death is like a great ocean, and we are on this shore seeing people depart. But every ocean has two shores, and every person we see depart is seen as arriving on that other shore. Death is not the end. Just as birth was our ticket to this world, so death is our ticket to the next. It is less of an end than a beginning.

Contemplating Heaven is where my heart is at right now. In this excerpt from my novel Deception, I picture one of the characters entering Heaven.

Today’s blog is excerpted from my book We Shall See God. It’s the first of 50 entries drawn from Charles Spurgeon’s sermons on Heaven, and it’s entitled “Dying Is But Going Home.” It seems fitting to share right now.

Sean McDowell, who teaches at Biola/Talbot, has a self-described passion for equipping the church, particularly young people, to make the case for the Christian faith. Last year I was on his podcast to talk about Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife.