Thinking of Heaven
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What Will a Day in Heaven Be Like?
A friend asked me this recently and I haven’t given an answer yet, because the questions keeps rolling around in my head. It has been one of those great things to think about as I fall asleep or in the early morning waking up moments. We are going to live eternally so no wonder we want to know what that eternity will be like.
Here’s what I’m thinking:
First, we know a few things about Heaven from some key passages of Scripture. We know, for example, that Heaven is where God lives. Of course, He is Spirit and He is omnipresent, but in some mysterious way, Heaven is called His home. There must be an intensity about God’s presence in Heaven that can be experienced nowhere else. And God lives there in three persons. So, Heaven is where Jesus is. Heaven is where the throne of God, the Father, is. And Heaven is HQ for the Holy Spirit. So my first thought is that Heaven is filled with the presence of God in a way that must be overwhelming and delightful all at the same time.
Second, we know that Heaven is a physical place. Revelation gives specific descriptions of grandeur, beauty, opulence, and abundance. All needs will be met there. Everything that we think of as precious and of great value on earth will be there. It will be a very, very beautiful and pleasant place to be.
Third, based on some recent studies I have found (mostly Randy Alcorn’s book entitled Heaven and a worldview lecture series by Michael Wittmer of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary), I don’t think that I will live in Heaven. I think that we Christians will live on earth – the new earth, the earth recreated to be what God had intended it to be all along.
If that is the case, I envision a day in eternity as being very much like a day on earth today only PERFECT. God created Eden as a perfect environment for Adam and Eve. And God’s idea of perfect doesn’t change. So, I think that the new earth will be the earth recreated as God originally intended it to be. It will be going back to the Creator’s vision for earth before sin entered and spoiled it all.
The new earth will be the old earth recreated and restored to its original perfection. That is, not too hot and not too cold. No weeds. No traffic jams or computer crashes. No junk food – just good, healthy, perfectly satisfying food. So, no worry about waistlines. We will eat whatever we want to and will enjoy every bite! No unsightly garbage dumps. No unsightly slums. No hospitals or police departments or prisons. No tiredness. No hurry. No sickness. No worries. Everything provided for our comfort, our security, and our pleasure.
But we won’t be bored. I think we will relate to one another. We will have jobs to do that are challenging, interesting, and totally satisfying. I think we will learn and learn and keep on learning through all eternity. God’s great universe will begin to unfold before us as we study His creation, His plan for humans, and the revelation of Himself that will go on forever. The more we know, the more we will want to know.
And, whenever we want to, we can take a walk through the pearly gates and into Heaven. We are told in Revelation that Heaven will be actually connected to earth and people of every nation will be able to walk into it whenever they want to. So, when we want to be in the abode of God, we will go into Heaven where there is a perpetual worship service going on. We were made to worship. So, in eternity, we can do it as often as we want to. And the worship will be incredible! We will worship with the angels and with Christians who have died and gone before us. I can’t wait to worship with C. S. Lewis, and Grandma Vanderstelt, and Paul Tournier, and John the Baptist, and old college friends. All of us focused on the One who redeemed us and on the One on the throne who planned it all. I doubt if we will choose to go just on Sundays. I have a feeling the draw of that worship time will be so strong that we will be there often!
The new earth will be where we humans live (as Mike Wittmer says, after all, we are earthlings!). But Heaven’s doors will be wide open for us to come and go as we please. What could be more wonderful than that?