Louis Armstrong sang, “It’s a beautiful world”. It’s true, it is. Even in face of all the horror, injustice, pollution, disaster, evil and death! There is an irrepressible beauty that can still be seen following, and even in the midst of, all of these things.
God originally declared of His whole creation, “It is very good” (Gen 1:31). God bound Himself in love to His creation, so that ultimately He would cleanse, heal, renew and make it glorious, forever (Ro 8:21-25) – “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:1; Is 66:22-23).
In the resurrection, in the new heaven and earth, we will have bodies, the same recognizable “us”, but much, much better, greater and more glorious than our present bodies, in particular free of pain and sickness, and deathless. And we will walk on dirt and grass, in forests and mountains, sky above us, rain and sunshine falling on us, birds and beasts around us.
That is a kind of eternity that I can look forward to! It kicks the idea of eternity as a spirit in a non-physical heaven out of the park! This hope also makes us positive about our world and its future, and motivates us to happily look after it as best as we can.
Grace upon grace, Jonathan.