Author: Jeremiah, David
Genre:
Tags: Eschatology
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is a 2025 book by Dr. Jeremiah. I have been intersted in the subject of heaven lately and have read a number of books on it by well-known authors. I found this (and John MacArthur’s) one of the most satisfying. Of special interest to me has been the New Creation Model which, I believe, is over-worked when it comes to heaven. Yes, we will spend eternity in the New Jerusalem on the new heaven and new earth. But the problem becomes one of chronology when explaining where “heaven” is right now and where believers are now who have died. Alcorn’s book on heaven has left the chronology of heaven out of sync for unlearned readers. Dr. Jeremiah is a pretribulatinalist and a premillennialist and therefore is able keep the chronology of heaven straight. One doesn’t always have to agree with the details of the current heaven, but the over-all picture becomes much better.
I believe (and this coincides with Jeremiah) that there are/will be four stages of our heavenly existence. The first stage is the current heaven where believers are now while their bodies are in the grave. We know some things about that present existence but not as much as we would like. To say that the New Jerusalem is now the saints’ rest has little to no scriptural foundation. The second stage is the time during the tribulation period, when the church exists in heaven in resurrected bodies while the OT & tribulation saints are still in spirit form (albeit probably in intermediate bodily form). The third stage is life on the present earth during the millennium. Many premillennial writers have believed that the New Jerusalem will be circling the earth during this time, and some do not hold to that. But the saints will rule and reign with Christ, some (church and OT/Trib saints) in resurrected bodies, and some (living saints from the tribulation) in physical unresurrected bodies. The fourth stage is the New Jerusalem on the new heaven and new earth. The Bible speak little about the destruction of the old earth and heaven. It matters little whether that will be an entirely new form or a remodeled form, but it will be completely new. This will be our eternal heavenly home as desribed in Rev. 21 & 22.
I think Jeremiah and MacArthur keep these things straight better than others I have read.