Perhaps one of the life-altering discoveries I encountered in biblical theology is in eschatology, or the study of “last things.” For years I accepted the popular version of Christian eschatology — Jesus’ followers would go to heaven when they died or when he raptured them to heaven while God would punish the rebellious and destroy the physical world.

In other words, in the popular version of Christian eschatology, the ultimate hope was a place away from this world called heaven.

However, Jesus summarizes the biblical eschatology in the Lord’s prayer — Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the Bible, heaven is not a future destiny, but the other hidden dimension of our current ordinary life. So in biblical eschatology, God will renew both dimensions of heaven and earth and fully join them together as the New Creation.

So, true biblical eschatology is in this world, not away from it. Simply put, true biblical eschatology is the New Creation, the renewed heaven and earth that were launched by Jesus at his resurrection, implemented in the present by his followers and fully established at his appearing in the future. At Jesus’ appearing, the same power that resurrected and transformed his physical body will do the same for ours as well as all of creation. And within this New Creation, Jesus’ followers will physically live and serve as God’s royal priesthood. For the New Creation, this world renewed, is the place where heaven and earth are joined — God’s Temple.

This biblical eschatology is a major theme begun in Genesis and continuing through to the last chapters of Revelation.

The first chapter of Genesis describes God fashioning the material world into his temple, a place in which he dwells and where the two dimensions of heaven and earth merge. Within this “cosmic” temple, God creates humans as his image, to be the points where the two dimensions of heaven and earth interacted.

Despite humanity’s failure in their vocation, God continues his project of fashioning this world to be his temple. After calling Israel, he gifts them with the tabernacle (and subsequently the temple). The tabernacle was a mini version of what creation is to be. God dwells upon the mercy seat, the place where heaven and earth merge. And Israel is called to be God’s royal priesthood, a nation commissioned with an amplified image-bearing vocation.

Ultimately, Israel fails in their vocation, God’s presence leaves the temple and Israel is exiled from their land. Later a remnant of Israel eventually returns to the land and rebuilds the temple. But God’s presence never returns.

Generations later, Jesus begins his ministry as Israel’s Messiah, their king. He realizes that his vocation is to replace the temple. He is the embodiment of God. He is the place where heaven and earth merge.

Jesus trains his followers to be living embodiments of the temple. He teaches them to pray and live their lives as the place where heave and earth interact — where God’s name is hallowed, God’s kingdom comes, and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is the climactic moment in history where God’s New Creation is launched in the midst of this present creation.

The Book of Acts documents Jesus’ followers as they learn to be the royal priesthood in God’s inaugurated New Creation. They create communities where heaven and earth merge through their worship and witness.

God’s New Creation is a constant theme in Paul’s writings. He declares in Ephesians 1:10 that God’s purpose is to sum up all things in Christ, things both in heaven and on earth. In Philippians 3:20-21, he states that we await a Savior from heaven, who will come to earth to transform his people. In 1Corinthians 15:28, Paul declares the ultimate goal is that God will be “all in all.” He also states in Galatians 6:15 that the New Creation trumps the now-irrelevant discussion of ethnic boundary markers.

Finally, Revelation 21 and 22 depict the ultimate Christian hope as the New Creation that began at Jesus resurrection is fully and finally completed. Heaven and earth are renewed. The New Jerusalem, which is the Church, links together the dimensions of heaven and earth. Absent in the New Creation is a physical temple, for the New Creation is God’s Temple as he fully dwells within this renewed world. And God’s people continue their vocation as the royal priesthood, God’s image-bearers, taking God’s life and healing to the nations.