PART I: A THEOLOGY OF HEAVEN

SECTION ONE: REALIZING OUR DESTINY

1

Are You Looking Forward to Heaven?

5

2

Is Heaven Beyond Our Imagination?

15

3

Is Heaven Our Default Destination . . . or Is Hell?

23

4

Can You Know You're Going to Heaven?

31

SECTION TWO: UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT HEAVEN

5

What Is the Nature of the Present Heaven?

41

6

Is the Present Heaven a Physical Place?

51

7

What Is Life Like in the Present Heaven?

65

SECTION THREE: GRASPING REDEMPTION'S FAR REACH

8

This World Is Not Our Home . . . or Is It?

77

9

Why Is Earth's Redemption Essential to God's Plan?

87

10

What Will It Mean for the Curse to Be Lifted?

101

SECTION FOUR: ANTICIPATING RESURRECTION

11

Why Is Resurrection So Important?

111

12

Why Does All Creation Await Our Resurrection?

125

13

How Far-Reaching Is the Resurrection?

133

SECTION FIVE: SEEING THE EARTH RESTORED

14

Where and When Will Our Deliverance Come?

143

15

Will the Old Earth Be Destroyed . . . or Renewed?

151

16

Will the New Earth Be Familiar . . . like Home?

159

SECTION SIX: CELEBRATING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

17

What Will It Mean to See God?

171

18

What Will It Mean for God to Dwell Among Us?

183

19

How Will We Worship God?

195

SECTION SEVEN: RULING ON THE NEW EARTH

20

What Does God's Eternal Kingdom Involve?

207

21

Will We Actually Rule with Christ?

215

22

How Will We Rule God's Kingdom?

225

PART II: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT HEAVEN

SECTION EIGHT: WHAT WILL THE RESURRECTED EARTH BE LIKE?

23

Will the New Earth Be an Edenic Paradise?

241

24

What Is the New Jerusalem?

249

25

What Will the Great City Be Like?

255

26

Will There Be Space and Time?

261

27

Will the New Earth Have Sun, Moon, Oceans, and Weather?

271

SECTION NINE: WHAT WILL OUR LIVES BE LIKE?

28

Will We Be Ourselves?

281

29

What Will Our Bodies Be Like?

289

30

Will We Eat and Drink on the New Earth?

301

31

Will We Be Capable of Sinning?

311

32

What Will We Know and Learn?

317

33

What Will Our Daily Lives Be Like?

329

SECTION TEN: WHAT WILL OUR RELATIONSHIPS BE LIKE?

34

Will We Desire Relationships with Anyone Except God?

339

35

Will There Be Marriage, Families, and Friendships?

349

36

Whom Will We Meet, and What Will We Experience Together?

359

37

How Will We Relate to Each Other?

367

38

What Will New Earth Society Be Like?

375

SECTION ELEVEN: WHAT ABOUT ANIMALS?

39

Will Animals Inhabit the New Earth?

387

40

Will Animals, Including Our Pets, Live Again?

397

SECTION TWELVE: WHAT WILL WE DO IN HEAVEN?

41

Will Heaven Ever Be Boring?

409

42

Will There Be Arts, Entertainment, and Sports?

419

43

Will Our Dreams Be Fulfilled and Missed Opportunities Regained?

431

44

Will We Design Crafts, Technology, and New Modes of Travel?

443

PART III: LIVING IN LIGHT OF HEAVEN

45

Reorienting Ourselves to Heaven as Our Home

455

46

Anticipating the Great Adventure

465

Appendix A

Christoplatonism's False Assumptions

475

Appendix B

Literal and Figurative Interpretation

483

Notes

493

Selected Bibliography

505

Scripture Index

513

Name Index

519

Subject Index

521

About the Author

535