If I dream that a loved one has died, for example, and then wake up to realize she is in the kitchen eating breakfast and reading a magazine, I will walk up to her and hold her with a tighter, lengthier embrace than I would have otherwise. In the same way, in the new heaven and new earth, each one of us will “wake up” with relief and rejoicing to a new day—a day in which there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. For the old order of things will have passed away (along with opposition, violence, and persecution), and everything made new (Rev. 21:1–8). In a mysterious way, our
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