For some followers of Greek philosophy, the idea that something is physical means that it is bad. That’s why for them it is unconceivable to think of a real heaven with real people in the future. In this thinking, for it to be heaven and to be good, it must be a purely spiritual state, free from the blemishes found in the physical world here. If something is material, they assert, it cannot be spiritual; and if something is spiritual, it cannot be material. By contrast, the Bible speaks of heaven in concrete terms but without the limitations imposed by the presence of sin.

 Read Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 66:22, 23; 2 Peter 3:13; and Revelation 21:1-5. What is the ultimate message of these passages?

 The book of Isaiah provides interesting glimpses on how the earth would have been if Israel as a nation had remained faithful to their covenant with God (Isa. 65:17-25; Isa. 66:22, 23; compare with Deuteronomy 28). The whole environment with its various expressions of life would have grown more and more toward God’s original plan, that is, before the entrance of sin.

 However, that plan did not materialize as expected. Then a new plan was established, but now with the church, composed of Jews and Gentiles from all nations (Matt. 28:18-20, 1 Pet. 2:9). The prophecies of Isaiah, therefore, have to be reread from the perspective of the church (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1-5).

 “In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called ‘a country.’ Hebrews 11:14-16. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 675.