The idea that humans will one day be able to live on Mars has been kept alive in the well-publicized "Biosphere 2 Project." A few years ago, eight people entered a huge greenhouse with its own miniature grassland, rain forest, desert, and ocean. They hoped to be able to live in this self-contained world without any help--eating food they grew and breathing oxygen given off by the trees and water within their system.

But the experiment failed to achieve some key goals. Food and oxygen had to be brought in from the outside. Yet tourists who visit this spectacular greenhouse are given literature that still promotes the concept of a settlement on Mars.

Christians have a far better expectation. The Bible tells us that after our solar system passes away with "a great noise" and "fervent heat" (2 Pet. 3:10), the Lord will create "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (v.13). There the redeemed will live in God's presence (Rev. 21:3). In that place there will be no tears, death, sorrow, crying, or pain (v.4).

What an expectation! It sure beats Mars! And heaven is a divinely guaranteed certainty, not a dream. Are you looking forward to settling there?  — Herbert Vander Lugt