Will it be the same creation? Yes, in an important sense. Like Jesus’ resurrection body, the new creation will still be the same creation, continuous with the old. When Jesus was raised, he didn’t come back as a Brazilian woman, a Japanese sumo wrestler, or a twenty-first-century hipster. His friends recognized him; they talked with him, ate with him, felt the nail wounds, and put their fingers into his pierced side.19 Similarly, when God resurrects his world, we’ll recognize it. It will be the same world, familiar, known. God doesn’t dump creation in a cosmic wastebasket and start over. Like
...more
