(Photo Credit - Beliefnet)
So what is Heaven really like according to the Bible?
This may not be the most important question to ask about the afterlife (for example - if Heaven is at all better than Hell, than a more important question is, "How does one get into Heaven?") but none the less, this is an important question. Here are a few opening thoughts on this topic.
This may not be the most important question to ask about the afterlife (for example - if Heaven is at all better than Hell, than a more important question is, "How does one get into Heaven?") but none the less, this is an important question. Here are a few opening thoughts on this topic.
1. This question will help to shape our anticipation of Heaven. If you tell me I am going on a surprise trip and you don't tell me anything else, I might not be sure if you are taking me to the next town over (which, while nice, I wouldn't vacation in Stratham, New Hampshire) or if you were taking me to the Bahamas. If you tell me it's a tropical paradise, that all expenses are paid, and that my wife and kids and closest friends will be there, now you have started to build the anticipation. And so if we have sense of what Heaven will be like, it will shape our minds and hearts to look forward to it. Paul says we are to set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2) and doing so will help us long for Heaven.
2. Heaven is not sitting on the clouds playing a harp in a white robe. When you ask most people about Heaven, this is one of the first ideas that comes to people's minds. Many people say that this idea came from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where he paints this image. Nonetheless, this is not the image given of Heaven when we read the Bible. Needless to say, I will build my arguments for Heaven based on the Bible, even if Pilgrim's Progress is a classic and one of the best-sellers of all time. Which leads to my third point...
3. We should never build our understanding of Heaven based on pop-culture or pop-literature. Whether it is from the 90's television classics "Touched By An Angel" or perhaps "Highway to Heaven", or from such books as Heaven is for Real, we should be very cautious about building a theology from a non-authoritative source. While I do think we can glean some insight from anecdotes, we must always view them through the grid of Scripture. The truth of God's Word will not be usurped by someone's story. To be candid this is how cults begin - the Bible becomes secondary to someone's experience of God or the spiritual.
All this said, here are 4 truths about what Heaven is like.
1. First, Heaven is physical. If Heaven were just a non-marterial reality, then the Resurrection would be quite strange. How much easier would it have been to have Jesus raised spiritually but not physically? But He was raised physically and even in His post-resurrection body, He was experienced by others as physical (able to be touched - John 20:24-29, able to watch him eat - Luke 24:42-43). This is not only true for Jesus but it is true for His followers as well (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-10). This and many other passages should lead us to the clear conclusion that we will not be floating around as disembodied beings in when in Heaven.
2. Heaven will be a restoration of what was lost in the Fall. Read Genesis 1-2 and then contrast it with Revelation 22 and you will see an 'Eden 2.0' theme emerge. The tree, the rivers, the presence of God without sin, all things healed. If you long to see the world whole again, as God intended at the creation of all things, then just wait - it will all be made right again.
3. Heaven will offer experiences, real-life experiences. Many fear that Heaven will be just about singing all day long. Ask some people what Heaven is and you may hear, "It's just like an eternal worship service." Yes, in way that is true. But if worship means only music (though there will certainly be music in Heaven - see Revelation 4), then I would say we have too small a view of what worship truly is. Romans 12:1-2 paints the picture of all of life being worship. Colossians 3:17 reminds us that all of life should be lived unto God. With pictures from Scripture as our guide we see that Heaven will be multi-faceted and we will have a wide array of experiences, from learning to building relationships to feasting (see this blog post for more on this topic - LINK HERE).
4. Heaven will be better than anything we can imagine on Earth. I often challenge people by asking what they think would be the most exhilarating experience they think they could have in life. I then tell them to multiply that expense by infinity to get a sense of what Heaven will be like. There is nothing we can imagine that will ever compare to all that we will experience in Heaven. All of this life - no matter how wonderful the experience is - is tainted by sin. We always have the sub-conscious specter of death looming over us, the pain and hurt that we have had in the past and that we fear in the future, as well as the knowledge that every good experience here on earth will, eventually, end. And yet in Heaven we read that there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21), and we no longer have to fear those things creeping into our existence.
We cannot fathom Heaven fully, but we do ourselves a great service if we will learn to daydream biblically about what Heaven will be like. This type of thinking will prepare us for our true home.
- tC
2. Heaven is not sitting on the clouds playing a harp in a white robe. When you ask most people about Heaven, this is one of the first ideas that comes to people's minds. Many people say that this idea came from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where he paints this image. Nonetheless, this is not the image given of Heaven when we read the Bible. Needless to say, I will build my arguments for Heaven based on the Bible, even if Pilgrim's Progress is a classic and one of the best-sellers of all time. Which leads to my third point...
3. We should never build our understanding of Heaven based on pop-culture or pop-literature. Whether it is from the 90's television classics "Touched By An Angel" or perhaps "Highway to Heaven", or from such books as Heaven is for Real, we should be very cautious about building a theology from a non-authoritative source. While I do think we can glean some insight from anecdotes, we must always view them through the grid of Scripture. The truth of God's Word will not be usurped by someone's story. To be candid this is how cults begin - the Bible becomes secondary to someone's experience of God or the spiritual.
All this said, here are 4 truths about what Heaven is like.
1. First, Heaven is physical. If Heaven were just a non-marterial reality, then the Resurrection would be quite strange. How much easier would it have been to have Jesus raised spiritually but not physically? But He was raised physically and even in His post-resurrection body, He was experienced by others as physical (able to be touched - John 20:24-29, able to watch him eat - Luke 24:42-43). This is not only true for Jesus but it is true for His followers as well (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-10). This and many other passages should lead us to the clear conclusion that we will not be floating around as disembodied beings in when in Heaven.
2. Heaven will be a restoration of what was lost in the Fall. Read Genesis 1-2 and then contrast it with Revelation 22 and you will see an 'Eden 2.0' theme emerge. The tree, the rivers, the presence of God without sin, all things healed. If you long to see the world whole again, as God intended at the creation of all things, then just wait - it will all be made right again.
3. Heaven will offer experiences, real-life experiences. Many fear that Heaven will be just about singing all day long. Ask some people what Heaven is and you may hear, "It's just like an eternal worship service." Yes, in way that is true. But if worship means only music (though there will certainly be music in Heaven - see Revelation 4), then I would say we have too small a view of what worship truly is. Romans 12:1-2 paints the picture of all of life being worship. Colossians 3:17 reminds us that all of life should be lived unto God. With pictures from Scripture as our guide we see that Heaven will be multi-faceted and we will have a wide array of experiences, from learning to building relationships to feasting (see this blog post for more on this topic - LINK HERE).
4. Heaven will be better than anything we can imagine on Earth. I often challenge people by asking what they think would be the most exhilarating experience they think they could have in life. I then tell them to multiply that expense by infinity to get a sense of what Heaven will be like. There is nothing we can imagine that will ever compare to all that we will experience in Heaven. All of this life - no matter how wonderful the experience is - is tainted by sin. We always have the sub-conscious specter of death looming over us, the pain and hurt that we have had in the past and that we fear in the future, as well as the knowledge that every good experience here on earth will, eventually, end. And yet in Heaven we read that there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21), and we no longer have to fear those things creeping into our existence.
We cannot fathom Heaven fully, but we do ourselves a great service if we will learn to daydream biblically about what Heaven will be like. This type of thinking will prepare us for our true home.
- tC
