Not long ago Max Lucado sent out an e-mail devotional in which he talked about foretastes of heaven. He spoke of those few moments in life when we get a preview of eternity, moments he describes as “samplings from heaven’s kitchen.”
Lucado refers to those times when we are caught up in work we love to do-indeed, work we were created to do-and “satisfaction flows within like a gulp of cool water.” This got me thinking about what heaven will truly be like. If God has promised believers they will spend eternity with him, what will that world be like?
Nearly nine out of 10 people in the United States say they believe in heaven, according to a recent ABC News poll. (http://abcnews.go.com/International/Beliefs/story?id=1374010) Most of them have heard tales of a place where people sit on clouds, strumming harps and singing. I don’t know about you, but that would get boring for me awfully fast! How about those streets paved with gold and the pearly gates? Are they fact or a silly idea developed over years of speculation?
As always, I found the best answers to these questions came from God’s Instruction Manual (better known as the Bible). The new creation we call heaven will certainly be a place of awesome beauty. Throughout the Bible it is described in terms of precious jewels and metals. Although they probably aren’t literal jewels, this description helps us understand the amazing beauty of heaven.
As the writers of the Bible were given glimpses of it, they could only use words they knew to describe it, though heaven will probably hold many treasures we on earth have never seen: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (I Corinthians 2:9, NIV).
The Bible never says Eden was destroyed. In fact, it says Eden was “good,” so I think perhaps heaven will be based on Eden’s blueprints. It will be a glorious garden alive with color, texture and good things. And, yes, there will be animals there-the Bible tells us that.
So what will God’s family members do there? Besides acting as judges, the Bible says that we will reign with God in heaven. Exactly what this entails is not defined. We will also be serving God directly. Although this may sound boring at first glance, it obviously won’t be, since we will be doing exactly what we were designed to do and love.
Isaiah 65 tells us our life on earth won’t even be a distant memory in heaven, it will be totally forgotten. God’s people will “enjoy the works of their hands,” and there will be no more death or sadness as these are the result of sin, and sin will be no more.
Will we live in glass houses? Isaiah 65:11 speaks of the new Jerusalem, center of God’s new creation, stating it gleams like a jasper (diamond), clear as crystal. Verse 18 tells us the city is made of gold “as pure as glass.” Verse 21 describes the 12 city gates as being 12 huge pearls.
Some things we are used to will be missing in this future paradise. There will be no sun or moon as God, who is the essence of light, will provide constant illumination. There will be a river flowing through the center, but it won’t be water as we think of it. Revelation 22 calls it “the river of the water of life,” clear as crystal and flowing from the throne of God.
This glorious city, jewel of heaven, will have but one limitation: Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.
All these verses and years of speculation have made it difficult to really know what heaven will be like. A fascinating website, http://www.godandscience.org, contains some interesting comments about this future world, based on the fact that physical laws will be entirely different there. The writer states that lack of gravity will be the most notable difference from our world. “The New Jerusalem is described as a 1,500 mile cube. Structures of this size would automatically become a sphere in this universe, because of gravity. “
The laws of thermodynamics seem to be absent, too, as the Bible states there will be no heat. This voids the second law of thermodynamics, which virtually controls our universe. The law states that heat flows from hot sources to cold sources, and it governs everything from stars to starfish. The result of this law being voided will be eternal life, eternal beauty which never grows old or withers, and a totally different world.
Whatever heaven holds, Christians believe it will be a perfect dwelling place because our God will rule there and we will be His family for eternity. But isn’t it fun to picture what your eternal house will be like? Mine will look like a sand castle and will sit right on the beach!
References:
http://www.maxlucado.com/
The Holy Bible, New International Version
http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/heaven.html