The book of Revelation marks the end of the Bible and the world as we know it. It’s not hard to understand why many people get so caught up in the Tribulation and Second Coming that they miss the happy ending. Even the Millennium is not the end of all things. God’s people—those who experience the Rapture and those who convert during the Tribulation—will live with Him forever in a renewed and restored world.

The Old Testament prophets saw a new heaven and new earth that would last forever, so incredible that it would cause us to forget the former world (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22). In the New Testament, we find the same hope: “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13; see also Hebrews 1:12; Revelation 21:1). The earth will be our home forever, but its future majesty will exceed anything we can imagine.

Won’t the Earth Be Burned Up?

Peter describes what will happen after Christ’s Millennial Reign and the Great White Throne Judgment: “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

This world will be uncovered—not destroyed, purified—not burned up. 

These words about burning and fire certainly sound like, well, burning and fire. But the original Greek does not suggest that interpretation. The New International Version gives a more accurate rendering: “The earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” This world will be uncovered—not destroyed, purified—not burned up. The material elements of the current earth will disintegrate and fall apart, and God will create something new out of what remains.

The Greek word Peter uses for the word “new” refers to newness of quality, not something that has never existed before. God never revoked His original declaration that the earth was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Rather than destroying His original creation, He will restore it by eliminating the decay, corruption, disease, destruction, and wickedness. At the end of the Millennium, the present earth will be cleansed, purified, and made new.

Won’t We Go to Heaven?

Today a great division between heaven and earth separates God and man. But Ephesians 1:10 tells us that, in “the fullness of the times,” God will “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” All things will unite under Christ’s headship in the new heaven and new earth. The wall between heaven and earth will be no more.

The wall between heaven and earth will be no more.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). Have you ever wondered when and how this prayer will reach its fulfillment? When God destroys sin and death, the Lord’s Prayer will find its satisfaction.

Some Christians are disappointed when they find out they’re going to spend eternity on earth instead of “in heaven.” But what would be the purpose of God’s renovation if no one was going to live in it? While it requires a shift in thinking for many believers, we can look forward to “heaven on earth” finally becoming a reality after the Millennium.

What Will the New Heaven and Earth Be Like?

Just think, the beauty of today’s starry skies and lush rainforests cannot compare with the splendor we will one day experience. In the new heavens and earth, we will have laughter without tears, life without death, singing without mourning, contentment without crying, and pleasure without pain. We will spend each day in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as well as our Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. The crown jewel of God’s restored creation will be a glorious, brilliant, and sparkling city; God’s Word calls it “New Jerusalem,” but we will call it “home.”

Only in God’s great plan of redemption can we find rest for our souls and the satisfaction of our heart’s deepest desires.

Each of us longs for the untarnished perfection of the Garden of Eden because God has placed the desire for something eternal in our heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Humanity’s failed attempts to establish heaven on earth fill the pages of history, but eternity is a God-sized problem. Only in His great plan of redemption can we find rest for our souls and satisfaction for our heart’s deepest desires.

Questions like this prompted me to write my new book, After the Rapture. Chapter eight, “How Will It All End?” sketches out the world of tomorrow, beginning with the Millennium and continuing through the New Jerusalem.