Question from a reader:
In Randy’s article Meet the Resurrected You, he states, ”On the New Earth, we’ll still be finite but no longer fallen …” Please explain this to me, as I believe I will live forever, in heaven.
Answer from Stephanie Anderson, Eternal Perspective Ministries staff:
Yes, absolutely, those who know Jesus as Savior will live forever with Him. That’s His promise: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
I think you might be confusing the word “mortal” with “finite.” We will no longer be mortal (subject to death) on the New Earth like we are presently. God’s gift of eternal life in Him means we will be immortal and live forever with him. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’” (1 Cor. 15:54).
However, finite means “having bounds or limits; not infinite; measurable” or “subject to limitations or conditions, as of space, time, circumstances, or the laws of nature.” Because we are human, we will always be finite, limited. For example, we cannot be everywhere at once; we cannot know everything. Only God is infinite. In other words, he is without any limits. This article helps explain more.
Randy Alcorn writes in his book Heaven, “The promise of heaven is not that we will become infinite—that would be to become inhuman. It’s that we’ll be far better finite humans than we have ever been.”
This article originally appeared on epm.org and is reposted here by permission.