This is a blast from the past, at least for those of us old enough to remember Dallas Holm and Praise, and his 1977 mega-hit “I Will Rise Again.” I have listened to it multiple times recently, and it takes me back to a crucial time in my life.

Here is what the excellent ESV Study Bible says: "The wording suggests that these saints were not merely brought back to life (like Lazarus; John 11:44) but were 'raised' (Matt. 27:52) with new, resurrection bodies, a foretaste of what would happen to all believers at Christ’s return."

What will it be like on our resurrection day, when we return with Christ to this old Earth, when we are given new bodies in the knowledge that we will together colonize a New Earth? At the end of my novel Safely Home, I tried to catch a flavor of what it may be like.

The physical resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of redemption. Without it and what it means—an eternal future for fully restored humans dwelling on a fully restored Earth—there’s no Christianity.

John speaks to a time in the future when we are completely and eternally re-united with our physical bodies, finally glorified, and with the One we love best.

The central fact is that the resurrection will happen, and we will live forever with Jesus on the New Earth. That’s good news and should unite us all in our theology!  

In Randy’s conversation with Davey Blackburn from Nothing Is Wasted Ministries, Randy helps listeners understand the timing of the present Heaven, the resurrection. and the New Earth.   

Resurrection—Christ’s and ours—is a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Yet how many of us ponder what our resurrected selves will be like? You might think Scripture doesn’t say much. In fact, it tells us a lot, and gives us solid reasons to deduce much more.

Wishful thinking is not the reason why, deep in our hearts, we desire a resurrected life on a resurrected Earth instead of a disembodied existence in a spiritual realm. Rather, we desire it precisely because God intends for us to be raised to new life on the New Earth.