Will we spend eternity in heaven or on the new earth?

In the first century, the apostle Paul recognized that God’s plan from the beginning of time was to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ—Paul, Ephesians 1:10b. In the Greek, the idea of “all things” is incredibly broad; in other words, it is meant to be all inclusive, with nothing left out. This seems to indicate that the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1) will co-exist, and we will spend eternity in both. Certainly one of John’s visions toward the end of Revelation was of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband—Revelation 21:2. As Randy Alcorn expresses so well in his book, Heaven, “Christ will make Earth into Heaven and Heaven into Earth. Just as the wall that separates God and mankind is torn down in Jesus, so too the wall that separates Heaven and Earth will be forever demolished. There will be one universe, with all things in Heaven and on Earth together under one head, Jesus Christ.” As John foresaw in Revelation, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God—Revelation 21:3. In other words, God will live with us on the New Earth. There will be no more separation between the spiritual world of heaven and the physical world of earth. The two will co-exist in perfect harmony—forever. Theologian Anthony Hoekema said it this way: “The ‘new Jerusalem’ . . . does not remain in a ‘heaven’ far off in space, but it comes down to the renewed earth; there the redeemed will spend eternity in resurrection bodies. So heaven and earth, now separated, will then be merged: the new earth will also be heaven, since God will dwell there with his people. Glorified believers, in other words, will continue to be in heaven while they are inhabiting the new earth.” Jesus gave us a wonderful picture of that when He said, My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him—Jesus Christ, John 14:23b. That really pictures what it will be like—God living with us in the place He made for us.