OK...half the job done outside and I ran out of puff.....so....I'm back.
Good question.....
When Jesus was born as a human, he was alive in the flesh for thirty three and a half years....only three and a half years as Messiah....an assignment he took up willingly at his baptism.
After his death, he was in his tomb for three days and nights as he himself prophesied. (Matthew 12:38-40)
When he was resurrected, he was raised as a spirit, not in the flesh. (1 Peter 3:18) Like other spirit beings he was able to materialize "flesh and bone" as he said. (Luke 24:39) Angels always materialized because it was against God's law to communicate with 'spirits' (demons) who could impersonate others. (Deuteronomy 18:90-12) They are deceivers. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)
So Jesus materialized too. He even disappeared (dematerialized) right before their eyes on one occasion. (Luke 24:30-31)
So now we have a spiritual Jesus who has returned to his Father in heaven to carry out a promise....
John 14:2 NKJV...
" In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
Not my favorite translation because there are no "mansions" .....the word in Greek is "
monē" which means a dwelling place. Dunno where they got mansions....wishful thinking maybe?
Anyhow, the promise was that he was going away to prepare a place for them in his Father's house. So at best "rooms" where they would dwell. (giving them an earthly or figurative definition of heavenly things). No human really knows what heaven looks like, except maybe in visions.
During the 40 days that he stayed on earth to encourage and strengthen his apostles, he "appeared" to them many times....but he did not stay with then as he had done for the previous three and a half years.
When it was time for him to ascend into heaven to rejoin his Father as the Logos (which means "one who speaks for another", hence he is called the "Word") he was going back with another assignment....that of setting up the heavenly Kingdom. All the promises he made to his apostles and disciples were in connection with a death and resurrection like his, so that they would join him later, when he was to come back for them. (John 13:36; John 14:3) They would then be resurrected like he was....in the spirit.
The rest of mankind in their graves would be resurrected later. (John 5:28-29)
So the picture thus far is that of Jesus promising his disciples a place in heaven that he would prepare for them on his return there. They did not fully understand the implications of the Kingdom or their place in it as yet because the promised holy spirit would come, and with their anointing they would fully understand where they were going and why. That happened at Pentecost. But their heavenly resurrection would have to wait till he came back for them. When was that to be? No one knew....and it really didn't matter because thousands of years would pass before he was to return. Those in their graves would all sleep peacefully until then. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
Since his promises were to the collective of his disciples at the time, those chosen for heavenly life were a limited number....they were to be "kings and priests" as co-rulers with Christ in his Kingdom (Revelation 20:6) which was to "come" at God's pre-determined time. It would cleanse the earth of all wickedness, and replace failed and corrupted human rulership with the one we should have had at the beginning. (Daniel 2:44)
I believe that Christ has indeed returned already because he gave us certain events within a time period which would identify the time of his "presence" not his "coming". (Matthew 24:3-14)
By mistranslating "parousia" as "coming" the churches are looking for a physical manifestation of Christ himself, but that was to come after all the other signs that he gave were in evidence....as they are now. Jesus is already ruling and he is guiding his disciples in the work that he assigned them to do before he left. (Matthew 28:19-20)
We are in "the last days" of increasing turmoil where the planet and all its inhabitants are under assault from so many sides. As Paul wrote....
2 Timothy 3:1-5...
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" (NKJV)
These traits in humankind have never been in clearer evidence, with less excuse for any of them in this 21st century. We are not uneducated savages and yet mankind are still behaving this way, and its getting worse, just as Jesus said...
Matthew 24:37-39.....
"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."
The heavenly Kingdom will rule earthly subjects because it is a governmental arrangement....a "king" and his "dom"ain. Jesus is the King and the earth is his domain. He has those who were chosen to be his assistants, every one of whom has lived as a human being on earth, so they understand the human condition and will lead humankind back to God in reconciliation, like Jesus in a kind and compassionate way. (Revelation 14:1-4)
Revelation 21:2-4...
"Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
This is an earthly setting because God is with mankind....eliminating all the woes and stresses of this world and ushering in a "new world" of righteousness.
Since the Bible does not indicate such a thing, where did you get that idea?
The "new heavens and new earth" are spoken about four times in the scriptures.....twice in the prophesies of Isaiah...foreshadowing the paradise conditions when the earth is restored to its original state, (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22) once in 2 Peter 3:13 and again in Revelation 21:1. All looking forward to the future paradise on earth as it was meant to be in the beginning. Its not a new planet. (Ecclesiastes 1:4) Its a new beginning....
The physical earth isn't going anywhere.....it is going to receive a cleansing and new tenants who will love their Creator and each other as well as looking after all the creature who will be under their care.
This is what God purposed in the beginning and he always finishes what he starts. (Isaiah 55:11)
All genuine Christians are "oddballs"
Join the club.