As wonderful as the intermediate heaven is, our ultimate destiny is the new heavens and new earth, which Peter and John describe as a place of righteousness and restored innocence. Christ returns, resurrects and judges all people, establishes his kingdom in fullness, creates new heavens and a new earth, and gives us roles to play in the administration of his eternal kingdom.

In Daniel 7:9-10, Daniel's vision of the Ancient of Days expands our study of the book of life. That's because Daniel sees, not a single book, but "books" opened in judgment. This foreshadows what John witnesses centuries later in his vision of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15).

There are several theories that seek to explain alleged UFO and alien encounters. These include the skeptical view, since roughly 95 percent of reported UFO and alien sightings are explained naturally. But what about the other 5 percent? Perhaps one of the other theories best explains them.

Our resurrected bodies are destined to have many of the same capabilities that Jesus's glorified body displayed after he emerged from the tomb. Jesus refers to a future day when he returns to earth, sits on the throne of David, and ushers in "the renewal of all things" (Matt. 19:28). What can we know now about our future glorification?

While Daniel doesn't identify the books he sees in his vision of the Ancient of Days, we can glean several truths from Scripture about them, including: final judgment is certain; God sits as judge; and people are judged according to what's written in the books.

Vincent Tichenor is the newest member of the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network. He's a lay leader at First Baptist Church in Forsyth, Mo. And, as a physician, he's especially equipped to address such topics as abortion and gender identity from biblical and scientific perspectives. Learn more about Vincent and his apologetics ministry.

Five hundred years ago, William Tyndale completed translating the first English New Testament from Greek, rather than Latin, manuscripts. It didn't take long for his work to come under attack. Tyndale was later strangled and burned at the stake, but his sacrifice placed Scripture in the hands of more people. Ben Hawkins, editor of The Pathway, the news journal of the Missouri Baptist Convention, writes an insightful article for the Southwestern Journal of Theology.

Jesus's teaching about "the renewal of all things" (Matt. 19:28) comes in the context of instructions to his disciples about possessions and the kingdom of heaven. He invites them to look toward the palingenesia in light of their spiritual rebirth and the coming kingdom of heaven in fullness. The Bible speaks comprehensively about God's work of redemption embracing not just the spiritual realm but the fallen cosmos as welll.

King Saul's visit to the medium at Endor (1 Sam. 28) is the most detailed account of necromancy in Scripture. It exposes the fraudulence of those who claim to traffic in communication with the dead, and it warns about the consequences of those who seek to cross a line God has drawn in the sand.

Angry atheists like Richard Dawkins accuse God of being "the most unpleasant character in all fiction ... a genocidal, filicidal, pestilencial, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." When it comes to God's instructions to the Israelites to "completely destroy" the Canaanites, does Dawkins have a point?

The Book of Life: What the Bible Says About God's Registry of the Redeemed addresses key questions about this fascinating book: What is the book of life? Why does it exist? Whose names are written there? Once entered, can names be erased? And how can I know if my name is recorded there? Written for pastors and laypersons alike, this resource is designed for personal or group study.