A Ramble about Heaven

Heaven has been on my mind a lot lately, thanks to Ashley, a wonderful student and friend who passed away last week. Heaven was so real to her. She told friends and family that she was going to miss them but she was "really pretty excited about going to her HOME home, a place with no doctors, no medicines, no misery." With uncomplicated faith, Ashley took God at His word and looked forward to the wonderful place Christ describes. The thin teenaged body I saw yesterday in the casket was NOT Ashley. She had already gone on her great adventure!

Two years ago I read Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" and came away from it exhilarated and with my eyes opened to many new truths. Before reading this book I shared many common hangups about Heaven. Why do we believe so many wrong things about Heaven? Alcorn points out that one of Satan's main goals is to feed us depressing lies or half-truths about it to demoralize us.

One of those things I've heard from the pulpit is that "we can't even imagine what Heaven will be like." Actually, the Bible tells us a lot more about Heaven than is preached on or taught in most circles. (I won't spoil it...you have to read the book!) God not only tells us a lot about it, down to details of what it looks like, but He does want us to use our imaginations. How would you feel if you'd built a beautiful vacation home for a beloved friend, described some of it to him, and realized that he would not even allow himself to dwell on how wonderful it was? That he treated the fact of its existence in such a "spiritual" way that he wasn't excited about the waterfall out back or the great food you'd stocked in the fridge or the wonderful view from the veranda? No, God wants us to think about Heaven and look forward to it. One of the important jobs He's been doing since He left this earth is "going to prepare a place for us." Can you imagine what it's like if He Himself devotes His time and attention to it?

Another thing we hear sometimes is "we probably won't even know each other in Heaven anymore. We'll maybe occasionally remember something like 'Earth' but it'll even be hard to remember what it was like. We'll just be lost in worshipping Jesus all day long." Well, I sometimes have a bad memory here on Earth. But there's no way I'll be dumber in Heaven than I am here! Christ didn't come to earth and fulfill prophecies in minute detail, just to have us forget about it all in some sort of memory wipe! If Christ keeps His wounds received on Earth, then surely Earth's history, from Fall to Armageddon, is special to Him. So much of it is recorded in His sacred Word. We will remember it all. Remembering will bring Him glory.

Another idea we get somewhere is that Heaven is like Nirvana. I don't want to play a harp all day long in some trancelike state, do you? God has work for us to do once we're in Heaven. Consider the messenger who talks with John. John bows to him, but he stops him and tells John that he's one of John's fellowservants. Just another redeemed human, doing a job God assigned. We are told we will judge the earth. We will have positions of responsibility. We will learn in Heaven. The martyrs in Revelation ask God, "How long will this go on?" They ask because they don't have all the answers. I believe Ashley is now learning to be a better guitarist. With a perfect body and mind, free from the effects of the Fall, she can learn a lot faster than she could here!

I love the part in Alcorn's book about the new Heaven and new Earth. We were created as terrestrial creatures, and our fate is tied up with the Earth's. It was cursed because of our sin. It will also be redeemed with us. It is not wrong to want our feet resting on solid ground. It's built into us. On the seventh day God finished His work and said it was good. It is still good for man to live on Earth. This is why God is going to create a new, perfect world, as real as the one we know now (but so much more beautiful!)

The wonderful thing about the new Heaven and Earth is that it shows God's power. Not only does He rescue us, pulling us out of a sin-cursed world, but he redeems the sin-cursed world as well! Everything is restored back to how it was in Eden...perfect humans, perfect world, perfect fellowship with God...only better, because God Himself will come down to dwell with us permanently! Satan and sin did their best to destroy all, but the result will be something even better than Eden.

That takes my breath away and makes me want to read the book again! If you have a secret dislike of Heaven or think it might be boring or scary or too "ethereal," please read this book. You'll come away from it refreshed and excited about what He has gone to prepare for you!

I look forward to meeting my friend Ashley in heaven some day and playing guitar duets with her. Heaven is going to be that much more special because she is there.