When I was answering a question about animals and the New Earth, a comment was said about cats. I have to shake my head at this often-repeated joke, because I’ve been in three different churches where the pastor said from the pulpit that he thinks all dogs go to Heaven, but not cats. It’s good for laughs, but not funny to people who love their cats.

The presence of God is the essence of Heaven. John Milton put it, “Thy presence makes our Paradise, and where Thou art is Heaven.” Heaven will be a physical extension of God’s goodness.

Randy does think that on the New Earth, in the ages to came, we’ll learn how God answered our prayers. He writes: “We anticipate Heaven, where we’ll learn God’s breath-taking answers to our prayers, including many that seemed unheard and ignored.”

Randy Alcorn had a conversation with Josh Lewis & Michael Rowntree on The Remnant Radio to discuss what Heaven will be like. He shares how, through studying Scripture, he discovered what God's Word says about Heaven and the New Earth. Randy also addresses what Scripture tells us about the experiences of believers and non-believers after death.

In this clip from his interview on the Love the Bible podcast, Randy shares some thoughts about oceans on the New Earth, the symbolic meaning of the seas in the Bible, as well as the surprising image of Leviathan.

God isn’t going to abandon His creation. He’s going to restore it. Earth’s destruction will not be permanent but temporary. Just as our destroyed bodies will be raised as new bodies, the destroyed Earth will be raised as a New Earth. 

Two years ago, I did an interview with Davey Blackburn, who hosts the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast. I think because the conversation was between two people who have experienced suffering and the death of a spouse, I felt like God's Spirit was present in an unusual way during the interview.

I interpret “every race and nation and language” literally. God has chosen people in even predominantly pagan nations and reached them by sending men and women or angels, dreams, and visions. 

In my book Heaven, I share how years ago, Nanci read me letters we’d never before seen translated, written in 1920 by her grandmother Anna Swanson to her family in Sweden. Anna’s letters reflect her broken heart, her nagging guilt . . . and her faith in God.