Hello Vanderhoven,
Good point you make, and I am glad you bring it up. The question is not "Who do you think is going to live on the new earth?", but, is this "new earth" also the "literal earth" as we know it? Because if it cannot positively identified with the "literal, material earth", then there is no reason to believe that the paradise will be on this "literal" earth either. The context of this chapter (Rev 20:11 - 22:5) gives a few enlightening statements:
When the devil is hurled in the lake of fire Rev 20:11 reads (NWT): "And I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it. From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them". If the "old" earth fled away, is it likely we will live upon it, or that the paradise will be made upon it? I don't think so. Nowhere in chapter 21 the "old" or literal, material earth" is coming back. In the last part of ch 21 and beginning of ch 22 the holy city Jerusalem, the new temple and the river of water of life is shown, and they are all connected together in John's vision. The river was "flowing out from the throne of God (which is in heaven) and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of its broad way (of the holy city jerusalem, which has descended from heaven Rev 21:2). And on this side of the river and on that side [there were] trees of life producing t welve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month. And the leaves of the trees [were] for the curing of the nations. (which are living on the "new earth").
Do you estimate it for normal that a river of water flows from heaven onto the literal earth? It is quite obvious that the language used for "new heaven" and "new earth" is highly symbolic, referring to the place where the newly resurrected live, but as no river of water flows from outer space onto the earth, a literal earth is not a possibility.
Furthermore, Rev 21: 23, 24 states there is no need for light of the sun or moon, and the night does not exist, things you would expect there to be on a literal earth. It reads in the NWT: "And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lighted it up, and its lamp was the Lamb. 24 And the nations will walk by means of its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 And its gates will not be closed at all by day, for night will not exist there." Furthermore, no physical person can whitstand the glory of God and yet live (remember Moses), and therefore I don't think the resurrection is in the flesh.
All these verses tell me John was not writing about a literal earth, and hence, Revelation 21:3, 4 cannot be used to advocate life in a paradise on earth. Looking forward to your rebuttal.
Hoffnung
