It seems that Man's future dwelling is to be in a New thing, which yet is a new type of an old thing. This seems, indeed, to be the rule of it.
The Heaven we hope to inhabit in the future is neither the already-existent Heaven, nor a wholly original place, unrelated to this one - but:
Revelations 21: 1-2. I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven...
And who will dwell in the new heaven and earth? - a new Man! Not Men just as we are now; and not something wholly different - but just as we are, perfected.
This is the rule: identity remains - of Men, earth and heaven, but is made new.
Why? Because it must be so.
The new cannot, it seems, be made in one step - but requires three steps - formation, death, perfection.
The spirit is born into the body - the 'soul' made of spirit-and-body is formed; but this first soul cannot be the eternal soul. To make the eternal soul we must die and be resurrected.
The same with the earth. The earth was made, but the New Earth, where we shall dwell in eternal life, lies on the other side of the end times, and the death of the earth.
This is apparently the rule: first creation, then death, and only after death then resurrection to the eternal state of perfection. The creation establishes the situation, but that situation is flawed, temporary, a means to the ultimate end.
This is perhaps the principle to be inferred from revelation - and confirmed in mortal experience: A form must be established then remade, before it can become eternally perfect.
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