The central message of Christ’s public ministry is “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus proclaimed that the time for fulfillment of God’s promises had come. He was ushering in the reign of God, God’s Kingdom present on earth. Our time on earth is meant for us to prepare to enter the Kingdom of God. At the end of time, God’s reign over all of creation will be fulfilled and the universe will be renewed in a New Heavens and a New Earth.

The Four Last Things

The four last things are death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. This is perhaps a bit misleading. One can talk about five: death, judgment, Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. Purgatory, however, is actually part of Heaven. The souls in Purgatory are 100 percent assured of salvation and attaining Heaven. It is difficult to speak about what happens after death because we haven’t been there yet. Only one person has ever returned from death — Jesus Christ. Jesus, Scripture, and the Church all affirm the existence of the last things.

We all die. Immediately after death we experience the particular judgment. This judgment is a judgment by God at the moment of death, in which we will receive from Him what we deserve, based on our faith and our good works throughout our lives. In other words, we will be judged by our love — how we loved God and how we loved others. All who die in God’s grace and friendship are assured of their eternal salvation in Heaven, while those who die in mortal sin accept eternal separation from God in Hell. At the end of time when Christ returns, all the dead in Heaven and in Hell will be reunited with their resurrected bodies. All of the living and all those who have died will experience the Final Judgment. Then, the light of Christ, who is Truth itself, will illuminate everything. Nothing will remain hidden. We will see not only all of our own individual choices for or against God, but also how each one affected everyone else and the whole order of creation. On this, then, we will be judged and welcomed to eternal life with Christ in the New Heavens and the New Earth, or banished into the eternal torment of Hell.

Heaven is the state of being after death (not a geographical place) in which “those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ” (CCC 1023). The souls in Heaven enjoy perfect communion and relationship with God, His angels, and all of the saints. In Heaven we will see God face-to-face, as He is. This is called the Beatific Vision.

Purgatory is the state of being after death (not a geographical place) in which those who “die in God’s grace and friendship, but [are] still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven” (CCC 1030). The souls in Purgatory endure great suffering in order to be purified of any unconfessed venial sins and for the reparation of the remaining effects of confessed mortal and venial sins.

Hell is the state of being after death (not a geographical place) in which those who die unrepentant of mortal sin and refuse the love and mercy of God to the end experience eternal separation from God and the Communion of Saints. The primary punishment in Hell is the eternal separation from God.

The New Heavens and the New Earth

Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead made it possible for all of us to rise from the dead at the end of time. In fact, we profess our belief in the resurrection of the body every time we say the Creed. As Catholics, we “believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” The everlasting life that Jesus promised is a bodily life, when at the end of time our souls will be reunited with our resurrected bodies and we will be with God in the New Heavens and the New Earth. All of Creation will be renewed. Although we do not fully understand the meaning of this renewal or what the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God will look like, we do know that “it will be the definitive realization of God’s plan to bring under a single head ‘all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth’” (CCC 1043). The book of Revelation tells us that, united under Christ’s eternal reign, the New Heavens and the New Earth will be a New Jerusalem, where “God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away” (Revelation 21:3- 4). In other words, all of the effects of sin and death will be no more, and we will enjoy perfect communion with God and all the angels and saints for all eternity in our resurrected bodies