Good point, not me! I like the fresh stuff anyway (most of the time).

Here goes Cricket again, off on a tangent:

I've been thinking about this for a while now. The Bible says that Jesus went to prepare a place for us; but it also says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are to live in Jesus and He is to live in us.

Is it possible then, that Jesus' death on the cross (a death where He shed blood for us) was the beginning of a New Body for us all to live in? Who's to say that the mansion He went to prepare for us is a something to which you are accustomed here on Earth? Perhaps, just perhaps it is a new physical body that He's been working on all these years--and not a mansion of wood and nails, bricks and mortar.

I'm going to have a rhinoceros, a hippo, a giraffe, and lots of Jack Russell Terriers. Plus a gym so Samson and I can train together!

Sorry..IMO no Jack Russell Terriers in either heaven or New Earth....
Original species such as lions,tigers, wolves......

Just for the record, it was because men on earth (mankind) were trying to get to heaven and escape other possibilities, contrary to the counsels of God, that various languages came into existence. It is more likely that the results of rebellious living here on this dark world will not pursue those who enter the promised land.

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. " Genesis 11:1,5-7 NIV

As to the food that we might eat and the place we might live, here is something that might be of interest from the Word.

"And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat" Isaiah 65:21 22 KJV

Now I haven't studied this enough to know all the answers to who this may refer,
but it may be to the inheritors of the earth.

"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Psalm 37:11 KJV

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Matthew 5:5 KJV

And perhaps this may give some clue as to the new bodies we might have upon being glorified.

"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
1 Cor 15:50 KJV

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Luke 24:39 KJV
Blessings!

(I like going off on tangents. I think we can learn a lot by not forcing ourselves to be in a box. )

Good thought, but I have a little problem with our bodies being the place Jesus is preparing for us to live in. We know that the Holy City Jesus describes in Rev. is a place with streets, a river, a tree, pearls, gates, foundations, stone, walls, etc. so I think it will be a real physical "city", not just a immortal body where we all live.

We also know that we personally will build houses and personally live in them, so I don't think our "bodies" are what is being refered to as the place Jesus went to prepare for us.

Interesting thought though.

Happy Giving Thanks Day everybody!

I was in a K-Mart this week looking for shoes and walked past a small water fountain that had little fountains with colored LED lights shining on each spurt of water. (You know, the kind you put on a shelf and plug in?) It was amazing to me to see how the light played on the water's surface.

I have been trying to understand and imagine what the River of Life will look like with light from the throne of God following it. And I imagine that there will be waterfalls and rapids that will catch the light in different ways.

Do you suppose that the "earth/rocks", that the water falls over, will be transparent as well as the streets? Light could flow through the rock and into the water as it falls and sprays. (I have always enjoyed seeing the rainbows in the spray around waterfalls anyway I guess.)

Anyway, hope your Thanksgiving is/was awesome. (Don't stop giving thanks just 'cause the day's over.)

Blessings,
Dan

What a pretty image.

Thanks Liz, heaven becomes more and more awesome the longer you think about it.

(I don't think I posted this here any place yet.) This last spring when the lilacs were blooming someone at work mentioned that it sure smelled good (from several yards away even) and that it would be nice if the air smelled that good all the time. Then they said, "I suppose that we would get tired of the smell after awhile though."

It got me thinking about the Tree of Life having 12 different kinds of fruit, one each month, and it dawned on me that if there is fruit there must be flowers and fragrances involved if things are simular to what happens now. If this is indeed the case, can you imagine the sights and the smells coming from that one tree?

If heaven is full of flowers and such I imagine that there will be lots of great smells for us to enjoy! Even the smell of the fresh fruit, wow!

Hmmmm! Don't know about that, Gladussee. I know on first reading of Revelation 22:15 it would appear that of all the animals it is the dogs that are kept outside, however my Bible cross-references that to Philippians 3:2 which reads, "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh....". Clearly speaking of humans, not animals. Following the cross-referencing from there took me to Psalm 22:16,20. In both of these verses I find that it is the HUMAN "dog" that is referred to, so I don't believe that the verse you have referred to is talking about the four-legged companions.

Will there be animals in heaven? I find nowhere in scripture that tells me that. I do find references to animals in the New Earth scene, though. Heaven will be our "stopping off" place while we wait for the devil and his angels and the wicked to receive their final end, THEN we find that God will create "a new heaven (sky??) and a new earth" and it is then that we will "build houses and inhabit them", etc. and it is then that this promise will be fulfilled:-

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." And -- as in Eden, they will ALL be vegetarians!!

I expect that the present flesh-eating animals (such as dogs, lions, etc) will be different, to the extent that they will need different teeth, and different digestive systems for eating the vegetation instead of flesh foods -- in other words, all species will be back to the Eden original diet as will humans. But, I firmly believe that if inspiration has led Isaiah to include snakes in the list of New Earth creatures, then I expect to find New Earth versions of my little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels along with the other animals!!

Beryl