Getting Our Eschatology Right with the New Heaven and New Earth.
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Episode Description
We all are fascinated with the End Times. What is our final destiny? This is eschatology.
If we were to take a random survey of Christians in North America, we would hear something like this: Our destiny is heaven. When we die, we go off to our home with Jesus, worshiping God for all eternity in an otherworldly existence. We will finally shed this earthly life and live as God wants us to live, with Jesus and away from this earthly life. Most pastors still preach that the earth is not our home, that what God has for us is to live forever in another place, Heaven, and that Earth will be no more.
Our guest on this episode is J. Richard Middleton. In his book, A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014), he makes the case that the Bible teaches that the ultimate hope for the believer is not an otherworldly heaven. Instead, it is full-bodied participation in a new heaven and a new earth, brought into fullness through the coming of God’s kingdom.
Dr. J. Richard Middleton (Ph.D. (Free University of Amsterdam) is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary. He also serves as adjunct Professor of Theology at Roberts Wesleyan College and adjunct Professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica.
Richard was our guest on a previous episode (March 14, 2022) discussing his book The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos Press, 2005).
His most recent book is Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God (Baker Academic, 2021). He is also the co-author (with Brian Walsh) of The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview (IVP Academic, 1984) and Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP Academic/SPCK, 1995).
Purchase these books from independent booksellers Byron and Beth Borger at Hearts & Minds Bookstore. You can order online through their secure server or call 717-246-333. Mention that you heard about this book on the Reintegrate Podcast and get 20% off!
Thanks for listening!
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Music provided by Brian Donahue.
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