BY HAL FLEMINGS - "Jehovah's Witnesses United" http://jehovah.to/exe/general/earth.htmSome individuals who formerly associated with Jehovah's Witnesses feel quite strongly that no True Christian is destined to live on the earth forever. For them, the Bible's comments about a "new earth" apply to faithful Pre-Christians like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Hezekiah. They are not at cross purposes with Jehovah's Witnesses on the issue of two classes, a heavenly class and an earthly class; they differ on who constitute those two classes. Moreover, they would argue that this difference can not be trivialize since if their position is correct every Christian should be partaking of the Memorial emblems, a significant affair.
On the heels of this stand, some of them say that the "other sheep" of John 10:16 are not the members of the earthly class but represent Gentile Christians who were invited into the Christian Church after the invitation went out to Jewry first. We will address both issues.
SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES OF A CHRISTIAN EARTHLY CLASS
A revealing set of information is found at Isaiah 66:19-24 that helps resolve the problem at hand. We read:
"and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." - REVISED STANDARD VERSION
Now, at 2 Peter 3:13,14 the Apostle Peter gives this Isaian prophecy a Christian application. There the Apostle says:
"But ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."--REVISED STANDARD VERSION.
What can be extrapolated from Isaiah's words that would be helpful?
Since the context of the passage places us in a period in which the faithful are 'declaring God's glory among the nations' leading up to the destruction of the wicked and the establishment of the promised 'new heaven and new earth,' we are not jumping to conclusions in stating that it involves the Biblical "end times."
The text specifically states that among those gathered to God's side 'SOME will be taken for priests and Levites.' That ipso facto means that the OTHERS would not fall into that category. The New Testament associates the Christian heavenly class with the new priesthood. Revelation 20:6 declares: "Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be PRIESTS of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years." The "others" in Isaiah 66 are not seen in this role. What else is available to them besides ruling with Christ as kings, judges and PRIESTS? Does not this give us a Christian 'new earth class'? To further emphasize this point, the Isaian prophecy shows that after the wicked are destroyed survivors in the "FLESH" will view their dead bodies and carry on worshipping God from week to week [sabbath to sabbath] and month to month [new moon to new moon] in the 'FLESH' and the setting is clearly here on the earth. . This clearly excludes them from being members of the heavenly class of whom Paul explicitly states will be serving God as spirit beings. (I Corinthians 15: 42-55)
Revelation 14: 1-5 is also helpful in settling this dispute. John writes:
"Then I looked, and lo on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And, I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are chaste; it is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless."--REVISED STANDARD VERSION.
The text is absolutely clear that just 144,000 are redeemed from the earth to be with Jesus on heavenly Mount Zion. (See Hebrews 12:22-24) Then, given that fact, who are the saved souls in Revelation 7:9 who live through the Great Tribulation? If they are not pictured in the heavenly tableau of Revelation 14:1-5---and do not know the new song mentioned there, who are they? And, where do they wind up in a saved state? There are only two venues: a new heavens and a new earth. Revelation 14 does not list them in the heavens with Christ. This delivers to us another evidence of a Christian "new earth" class.
The end time vision at Revelation 19:11-21 was clearly foreshadowed by the highly metaphoric Ezekiel 39:1-21. If so, we are provided clear evidence of survivors of the Armageddon experience who continue to live on the earth, cleaning things up after the destruction. That would have to mean a surviving group of Christians who will not spend eternity in heaven but on the earth.
Yes, the passage at John 10:16 is usually understood by non-Witnesses to be discussing Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians rather than a new heavens class and a new earth class. In a way, the material seems open to either interpretation or application. If the former view is correct it would seem to correspond with Paul's discussion at Ephesians 2:11-22. If the latter view is correct, it would certainly correspond with the arguments we have presented above. But, however John 10:16 is to be understood, it does not remove the clear evidence of a Christian earthly class and Christian heavenly class.
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Is heavenly life set out in the “New Testament” as the hope for all Christians?
John 14:2, 3: “In the house of my Father there are many abodes. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going my way to prepare a place for you. Also, if I go my way and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you home to myself, that where I am you also may be.” (Jesus here shows that his faithful apostles, to whom he was speaking, would, in time, be in his Father’s “house,” in heaven, with Jesus. But he does not here say how many others would also go to heaven.)
John 1:12, 13: “As many as did receive him [Jesus], to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name; and they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” (Notice that the context, in verse 11, refers to Jesus’ “own people,” the Jews. As many of them as did receive him when he came to them in the first century became God’s children, with heavenly life in view. The verbs in the text are in the past tense, so this passage is not referring to all people who have become Christians since then.)
Rom. 8:14, 16, 17: “All who are led by God’s spirit, these are God’s sons. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. If, then, we are children, we are also heirs: heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ, provided we suffer together that we may also be glorified together.” (At the time this was written it was true that all who were led by God’s spirit were God’s sons whose hope was that they would be glorified with Christ. But this had not always been true. Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptizer would be filled with holy spirit, but Matthew 11:11 makes clear that he will not share in the glory of the heavenly Kingdom. So, too, after the gathering of the heirs of the heavenly Kingdom, there would be others who would serve God as followers of his Son and yet not share in heavenly glory.)
What specific references are there in the “New Testament” to a provision for Christians to be rewarded with eternal life on earth?Matt. 5:5: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.”
Matt. 6:9, 10: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (What is God’s will regarding the earth? What do Genesis 1:28 and Isaiah 45:18 indicate?)
Matt. 25:31-33, 40, 46: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. . . . The king will say to them [the sheep], ‘Truly I say to you, To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ And [the goats] will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones [the sheep] into everlasting life.” (Notice that these “sheep” are not the same as the King’s brothers, who are “partakers of the heavenly calling.” [Heb. 2:10–3:1] But these sheeplike ones would be alive during the time that Christ was on his throne and during the time when some of his “brothers” would still be experiencing hardship on earth.)
John 10:16: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Who are these “other sheep”? They are followers of the Fine Shepherd, Jesus Christ, but are not in the “new covenant” sheepfold, with hope of heavenly life. Yet they do come to be closely associated with those who are in that sheepfold.)
2 Pet. 3:13: “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (Also Revelation 21:1-4)
Rev. 7:9, 10: “After these things [after the apostle John saw the full number of “sealed” ones who had been “bought from the earth” to be with Christ on heavenly Mount Zion; see Revelation 7:3, 4; 14:1-3] I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” - Reasoning From the Scriptures, published by the WTB&TS
Additional Reading: http://pastorrussell.blogspot.com/2010/01/controversy-over-great-crowd-of.html
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Click on the photo to read: "Do all faithful Christians go to heaven?
