My friends teenage daughter died about 11 years ago and during our bible study we got to talking about what happens when someone dies. She'd been raised Catholic so really had no clear idea about this, and of course it's very important to her. Because she'd left the catholic church as an adult, she knew her daughter was saved and in heaven, but that was about it. I thought it might be helpful to others if I shared what the bible says about this.
First I have to say that what happens at death now is different than what happened before Jesus rose from the dead. Since none of us personally know anyone who lived during that time, I'm not going to get into it now, but instead will just cover what happens at death since our Lord rose from the dead.
One thing that many people fear is being alone when they die, or for a loved one when they die. I can absolutely guarantee you that no believer or child is ever alone when they die. How can I? I can say that for two reasons. First, and most important, because of a promise that Jesus made to us. He told us that He would never leave us and that He would be with us until the end of this age. "This age" will not end until He returns with His church to begin the Millennial Kingdom. (Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5) Because we can't see the spiritual world, we can't see the Lord now, but He IS with us, He's actually dwelling within us! Therefore He will still be with us when we die. In that fraction of a second when our eyes close here, our eyes will open in Heaven and His face will the first thing we see! For all who are born again, as well as all children, at the instant of death we will be with our Lord. (2 Cor. 5:1–8; Phil. 1:21)
There will be at least one other being with us when we die. An angel. If you read the story Jesus told of the beggar and the rich man beginning at Luke 16:19, you'll see that an angel took the righteous man to paradise - Abraham's side. This is still true for us as well, although we have someone much higher up than an angel with us since we also have our Lord. Matthew 18:10 tells us that every child has an angel that always reports to the Lord. Where it says "little ones" or "children" can also be interpreted simply as those who've been born again. So that would again mean that God sends His angels to watch over us and that they too will be with us when we make that transition from this life to the next. Hebrews 1:14 reminds us that the angels are ministering spirits sent to serve all who will inherit salvation. That would include all children who die before they reach the age of accountability. (there are many other scriptures for all these things, but it would take me forever to post them all, so I'm only going to post a few for each)
So now we knew that no matter where, when or how a child or believer dies, they are not alone. The Lord our God and at least one angel is with them! Having been with many people when they died, I know that some have seen both the Lord and angels just before they died. Family members that have gone before us will likely be waiting to welcome us Home once we can take our eyes off our Lord. How do they know to meet us? I imagine the Lord must tell them, as the Bible doesn't say anything specifically about that. It does tell us however that those who have died are not looking down from heaven and "watching over us". They are much too busy for that, for one thing. They still love us, and I'm sure they think of us, but their whole view of life is changed once they're in Heaven. They now see life and death, the way our Lord does and not the way we do now. They trust God 100% and know that we are in good hands - in fact that we couldn't be in any better, so there's no need for them to watch over us.
Many, including the RCC, use Hebrews 12:1 to insist that they're watching us, but that's not what that verse is saying at all. Let me quote the verse so you know what I'm talking about: Hebrews 12:1 —Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, Let us throw off everything that hinders & the sin that so easily entangles, & run with perseverance the race marked out for us. * What he's actually saying is that we've had a great many role models run this race of life before we did, and that we should therefore persevere and do our best to imitate them and keep on running. It has nothing to do with people watching us, we're supposed to be imitating other saints that have lived before us, that's all.
There's one other common belief that's not true. The RCC does not officially teach this, but they promote it by not correcting the false impression they often give people, and that's that people can "turn into angels" when they die. This often goes along with the false teaching of Hebrews 12:1. This simply isn't true. Angels are an entirely different species. We would all laugh if someone said people turned into chimps, and should think the same way about angels since they're physically and spiritually, nothing at all like we are. Does this sound like human being?
Hebrews 1:7 —In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” * Isaiah 6:2 —Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. *those and many other scriptures show that angels are nothing at all like humans. In fact, one day we will judge the angels. (1 Cor 6:3)
When a person dies, they will wake up in Heaven with the Lord and they will have a body. It will be very similar to our physical body now, although there will be no corruption from sin in it. It will not be their "new and better body" that we will all get at the rapture though. I guess you could say it's a step up from this one, but there's still a better one coming. Scripture call it an intermediate body. To the person who's died, they probably won't notice much difference until they realize they don't hurt anywhere. But at first, in their excitement over finally seeing the Lord, they'll probably just take their body for granted, assuming it's the same one they've always had. That's just what I think though, and I think that simply because it makes sense.
About the body though, I need to tell you that there are several different viewpoints about this. Some teach that we'll only have a "spiritual body" until the rapture. I've studied all the references they give and just can't see where they're getting it from. It just seems to be a big stretch to me. The big obstacle to them seems to be that we don't get our perfect body until the rapture. I don't see that as a problem though, simply because I know that with God all things are possible and that I simply can't understand everything He does. Secondly, I've never yet seen any of them take into consideration the fact that when God allowed Samuel to appear to Saul, he had a body and was recognized; and when Jesus transformed before his disciples, again, Moses and Elijah also had bodies. None of them were like "ghosts" or just had "spirit bodies. To me, that cinches it, since none of them have their perfect bodies yet as the rapture hasn't yet happened.
The bottom line so far then is that no child or believer is ever alone when they die. Instead both the Lord and at least one angel is with them, maybe more. At death, we simply open our eyes and are with the Lord. What a truly wonderful though! Praise God! Of course we all know there's no more pain, sickness, sorrow, etc. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that.
Heaven is what God has John describe in the last two chapters of Revelation, or perhaps I should say, a portion of heaven is what he spends most of his time describing. He begins by telling us that he (John) sees a new heaven and new earth. I bring that up because I want to explain what he means by that. God does not destroy "Heaven", His dwelling place and then create a new one. What is destroyed and then recreated is the "heavens" or what we see now when we look up into the sky. This is important because otherwise we might think that God's abode and ours, is destroyed at some point and remade. That's not true. When we go to heaven, we won't have to worry about moving again.
Remember, Jesus told us that He's gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us. He's talking there of New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem could be called the "city of God" too. But it's not a city like any we've ever seen before. It's so huge that every single person ever saved could live in a rural part of that "city" if they so wished.
So, when we die, we go to Heaven: New Jerusalem, to be with the Lord forever. Right now, no one can physically see New Jerusalem/Heaven, but that won't always be true. Everyone who's died, that was ever saved since the beginning of time until the rapture is now in New Jerusalem. When we meet Jesus in the air at the rapture, or those who do, will then be taken to New Jerusalem to live with the Lord.
We'll all be quite busy learning our way around, loving on the Lord, and getting caught up with friends and family, and getting to know other believers. We'll also attend the Bema seat judgement which happens after the rapture. That's when all we've done since being saved will be judged to see if it was done for the Lord, in the right attitude and will endure, or if it was done for other reasons and won't. If it endures we'll receive rewards, and if it doesn't, we won't. (1 Cor 3:10–15) We'll also be given satisfying work to do for the Lord and be preparing for the huge wave of martyrs who will join us during the tribulation.
At the beginning of the Millennium, New Jerusalem will come down out of the heavens (atmosphere) and will be suspended in the air above the earthly Jerusalem (and a whole lot more since it's so huge). God will also renew the earth and make it habitable for mankind again, as it will have been totally destroyed by the antichrist. If you recall, another thing we'll all be doing is returning to the earth with the Lord when He puts an end to the last war. We won't be returning to live on the earth, but only to be with Him as he judges the antichrist and false prophet and locks up Satan for 1000 years. Next, the Lord will renew the earth as I said, and then judge all who managed to live through the tribulation. Many, if not all of us will most likely be employed by the Lord to help in this task as well. There will be alot to do, from bringing people from all over the earth to Jerusalem for judgement, to helping those who need it and explaining to others what's happening or going to happen. Thankfully the angels will also be with us, so there'll be plenty to do the job. (actually the judgement may come before the earth's renewed...I can't remember at the moment, but either way, they'll happen close together) After the Lord has determined who will be entering the Millennial Kingdom among those left alive, and after the earth's been renewed, there will be a time of rebuilding and getting things ready for the Millennium. Most scholars think it will probably last for about 75 days, after which the Millennium will officially begin and Christ will begin His reign on earth.
Some of us will reign on earth with Him, some over towns, cities, states, or countries. Others will have other jobs to do during the Millennium. We will all live in New Jerusalem, but many if not all, will work on the earth during this time. (Here I'm still only speaking of those who've been saved and died before the millennium and those who've gone in the rapture). The people who survived the tribulation will live on the earth, but we'll continue to live in New Jerusalem.
Now, after the Millennium is over and God judges the all the unsaved at the great white throne judgement, that's when God will destroy the earth and the heavens - not New Jerusalem! He will then create a beautiful new earth and heavens, and New Jerusalem will once more come down to the earth. Only this time, instead of hovering over the earth like it did during the Millennium, it will actually land on the New Earth. The New Earth will now be what we think of as "Heaven", with New Jerusalem as our "capitol city. We will have a brand new, absolutely pure earth that's never known sin or it's corruption, as our Heaven, for all eternity!
So as you can see, there won't be people sitting on clouds playing harps
, and Heaven is a very real, substantial place, that we will live, work, play and worship in spirit and truth for all of eternity. There's still a great deal more to learn about Heaven, but I wanted to get this physical part of it taken care of first, so we'd all understand that we're not talking about something that's invisible and ethereal, when we talk about Heaven. Just understanding this though, can help us a lot, and let's us know that our loved ones are happy, safe, and busy!
I'd like to talk now about some of the things we'll be doing in heaven, because we humans often have the idea of heaven being boring and that's so far from the truth it's silly.
Let's start at the beginning though. In John 14:1–3, Jesus is comforting his disciples. He's just told them (again) that He's going to die, and He knows it's going to happen the next day. They're now full of questions (again) because how can the Messiah die??? They still don't understand. That's why Jesus tells them that since they trust God, they should trust Him too. Then he finally tells them another reason why He's going to die, something they can hold on to. He tells them and us, that He's actually going to go to Heaven and prepare a place for us, and that since we now know that, we can also count of Him returning to come and get us and take us to the place He's preparing for us. (If you recall, another thing that had happened recently was yet another conversation between the disciples about who was going to get what in heaven lol) As I've said before, the place he's preparing with many rooms, dwellings, homes or mansions, or whatever word you may use there, is New Jerusalem. Jesus also tells them that if what they believed about a future life wasn't true, He'd tell them so. After all, hadn't He just told them that their beliefs about the Messiah wasn't completely correct? (remember they thought the Messiah wouldn't die, but would start His Kingdom then) That had to be a huge comfort to them, for they could look back on the last 3 years and see the truth in what He was saying. He'd always spoken the Truth to them, even when it was something that would be hard to hear. He's never made it seem like life following Him would be easy, He told the Truth, and that's what He was reminding them and us of now, so we can trust what He tells us about the place and the life that awaits us.
This is no pie in the sky, make believe place. Jesus had already told them a great deal about what it would be like there, but they hadn't realized it yet - but we'll get to that later. First let's look at the place itself a little closer. New Jerusalem is called a city in a number of scriptures. Hebrews 11:10 and this next verse are two of the places it does this: Hebrews 13:14 —For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. * The Lord is very careful about what words He uses, so we know when He said "city" here, He means for us to take that word literally, with all it means to us. So what's in a city? Buildings, places to go like libraries, museums, sports centers, restaurants, parks, playgrounds, amusement parks, places for art, music and drama events, etc. A city is a place where people get together and talk and have a good time; and it's a place where people go to work too. A city has all these things and more. Of course here and now, our cities are places with crime and bad things too but in Heaven, there won't be any sin or thought of sin even, so everything will be, as our God first called all He created, "good". (Rev 22:3) Heaven will have all the good things cities can offer and none of the bad.
However, Hebrews 11:16 —Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. *calls Heaven a country, as do other verses. So again we can think of what that word brings to mind: rural areas, farms, ranches, valleys, prairies, animals, the beauty of nature, hearing the sounds of birds instead of people, and seeing all kinds of varieties of plants and animals, etc. If you recall, when God gave the Jewish people their own "country", He called it a "land of milk and honey" and frequently spoke of the agricultural type of life many of them would lead there. Yet when He told them about it, He also spoke of other kinds of life there too. Some would live in the country, farming, raising sheep, or things along those lines; others would have trades, some literally trading goods, others making the goods, some building things, like Joseph and Jesus did. God make it quite clear that there would be something for everyone, and it's the same way in Heaven.
The word "country" can also bring up images of a place where the government is, and the Lord tells us that we will be ruling with Him on the New Earth too. So that's another part of it.
In today's world, the term "work" is considered a dirty word. No one wants to work anymore it seems, and yet the Lord created us to work. Work was supposed to be enjoyable and would have been so if Adam hadn't sinned. It was due to his sin that work became a chore. Some folks think heaven is freedom from work. I can remember thinking that way myself. It's generally not until you're completely unable to work, that you discover that work really wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it was, and you'd give anything to be able to work again.
Those who still think that way though are going to be surprised, because there will be "work" and "jobs" in Heaven, even before we have the New Earth. The one thing we can absolutely count on though is that every single person will be doing the job that they were created to do; a job they'll love doing, that they'll enjoy and be totally interested in and satisfied by. No one will ever have a job again that doesn't fit them perfectly and fill them with joy to do.
What about play? What about the things like amusement parks and playgrounds that I mentioned?. Yes, there'll even be things like that there! After all, God created us not just to work, but to play too. We all enjoy many different kinds of play, even though we're all grown up and so called "adults".
Remember when I said that Jesus had told the disciples a lot about Heaven already? Well laughter was one of the things He mentioned: Luke 6:21 —Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. * The beatitudes are all about our future life! (Matthew 5:3–12) Verse 5 tells us that we will inherit the earth; this is talking about both the Millennial kingdom earth and the New Earth we'll eventually have. Verse 8 tells us that we'll "see God". Remember what it says in Revelation about this? In New Jerusalem we'll be with God. He's the one who wipes away our last tears (which will most likely be either tears of joy for being there, or perhaps tears of shame for not having done more for Him during our life here). The point is that He doesn't delegate it, He Himself will wipe the tears away. The Bible paints a very clear picture of each of us having a very intimate relationship with God - the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We begin that relationship at salvation, but it becomes an even more real, physical relationship when we get to Heaven (New Jerusalem), simply because we'll be able to actually see Him and touch Him, and hear His voice out loud. Everything we do will be done with and for Him.
Maybe some of you caught what I said about restaurants being in Heaven. I hope so because you should know that we will definitely be eating and drinking in Heaven! This is another reason we can know that we'll have a physical body in Heaven, even before we get our permanent incorruptible body. God makes a point of telling us in Luke 24:39-43 that after His resurrection, Jesus had a body that people could touch, and that Jesus could feel things with, and showing us that Jesus both ate and drank while in this body. Some other scriptures that deal with this are: Luke 22:29-30; Matthew 8:11; Revelation 19:9. Isaiah 25:6; Revelation 21:6. Among them are scriptures that tell us about the feasts the Lord is going to prepare for us in Heaven. Notice that the word is plural "feasts", not singular! Talk about party of parties! I don't think any of us can even really imagine yet what it's going to be like when we go to one of our Lord's feasts!
OK, so we know we're going to have real bodies as we'll be eating and drinking in our new Home, which brings me to something else about Heaven.
Most of us consider our homes as a kind of refuge from the rest of the world. When we're at home, we can be ourselves; we're comfortable at home. When were at other places, whether it's a friends house, work, a store, or wherever, it's different. it's not home so we're always on edge, even if it's just a little bit, and the longer we're away, the more we long to go home, right?
Well, Heaven, New Jerusalem, is our real Home. The God who created us, who gave each of us the desires in our hearts, the talents, the intelligence, and the abilities we have, has also created for each of us a place to really call Home. A place specifically designed for us each individually has been made for us by the God who created us.
I can't speak for others, but I think this is probably true for most of us. All my life, even before I was saved, felt this longing for something. I didn't know what it was for, only that there was something inside me that felt empty and I needed to fill it. One day as I was thinking about it, I had an overwhelming feeling of being homesick, which was really stupid because I was at home when it happened! It was then that I figured out what the feeling really was - I was longing for my Father God and my real Home with Him. I still have that feeling of homesickness. I guess that's why I relate so much to the verses that say that we're aliens here (Hebrews 11:13; Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:11 etc). I think we're all created with a place inside that needs to be filled by God and until it is, we're always searching for something to fill it.
The Bible tells us that eternal life is knowing God. We think of it as living forever, but that's not how it's defined in God's Word. John 17:3 —Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. * Don't get me wrong... we will live forever, but that's not the important part. The important part of eternal life is that we will live forever, knowing God intimately. Eternal life will be fulfilling the very thing we were created for. In Rev 21:1-3, and Rev 22:1, we're told that the throne of God and Jesus will be brought down to the New Earth. The Throne is where God abides in the Holy of Holies. Then it says that "now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them." Doesn't that just give you a thrill to read??? God is going to live with us, no longer separate. We won't have to "go visit Him", He will be with us. He promised us that He would be with us always, and He is with us, even now although we can't see, touch or feel Him. In our new Home though, we will be able to see Him, touch Him, feel Him, and hear His Voice. We're even told what that means for us: Psalm 16:11 —You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. * and other verses.
"The fullness of joy", "pleasures forevermore"... can you imagine it? Really? With no sin, and nothing to ever blunt it even a tiny bit? Talk about an amazing God! Jesus called Heaven, "My Father's house", and that's how I like to think of it too. It's not a strange, unfamiliar place...it's Home, it's where my Father and my brother and Lord live. It's where I'll be with all my brothers and sisters. Under my Father's roof, where He will take care of me; where I'll never lack anything again; never be in pain again, and where I'll always be loved and accepted for the unique person He made me to be.
We're told too that we really can't conceive of what will be ours in Heaven: 1 Cor 2:9 —However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— * . Why does God say that instead of just telling us? Knowing Him, there's probably a number of reasons, but I'll give you one that I'm very sure about. Our minds are finite. God's isn't. Our new Home is going to be incredible but because we have to deal with a limited intelligence of a sort while we're here in this life, there are simply things that we have no way of understanding. We have no reference for them. It would be like us trying to explain life as a human to an insect. The insect has no concept of hands, fingers, cooking, etc and wouldn't be able to understand what we were saying. So it is with this. Heaven is going to be so incredible that it'll literally blow our minds! Another part of that, that I think is really neat, is that the Lord can't wait for us to see it.
Remember when you were a child waiting for Christmas? You couldn't wait to find out what you were getting right? Then, when you grew up, it got exciting again, but for a whole other reason. Now you couldn't wait to see the faces of your loved ones when they discovered what you'd gotten them. That's how our Lord is feeling now. He can't wait to see us, and He can't wait to show us around the Home He's created for us!
What about time? That's another neat thing about Heaven/New Jerusalem. Like God, in heaven we will no longer be tied to time or to space either for that matter. We may very well be able to simply think of a person and be with them, instead of having to "travel" somewhere to see them.
Will we recognize others, or even ourselves? Absolutely! Consider that when Jesus was transformed, the disciples knew without any hesitation or doubt, who was with Him - Moses and Elijah. How? Because God put that knowing in their minds and hearts. In heaven/New Jerusalem, we're all one family with God as our Father. We most certainly are going to know and recognize all our brothers and sisters, even those from the time of Abraham and back to Adam and Eve. In the story about Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man recognized Abraham and Lazarus, In the story about Saul, he recognized Samuel, etc.
Revelation 21:16 gives the measurements of New Jerusalem. If something can be measured, it's real, it's solid, it's fact. As I've said, New Jerusalem is HUGE. It's hard for me to even begin to imagine because of it's vastness. Here's what we're told: Rev 21:16 —The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. * "Stadia" is also translated as "furlongs" in some versions. Now let me quote one of my books as this blows my mind:
“Twelve thousand furlongs” (about fifteen hundred miles) squared is 2.25 MILLION SQUARE MILES. An area that size would cover almost half the continental United States. To give a point of reference, London is 140 square miles. If the ground floor of heaven were populated at the same ratio as London, it could hold a hundred billion people—far greater than the current population of our world—in their unglorified bodies, and still have plenty of room to spare. Twelve thousand furlongs cubed is 3.375 BILLION CUBIC MILES, a volume larger than any of us can conceive.
How to survive in a world of unbelievers: Jesus’ words of encouragement on the night before his death
An angel measured the city with a measuring rod of gold, about 10 feet in length. The city is 12,000 stadia in length and width, approximately 1,400 miles on each side. Tremendous as is the dimension of the city, the amazing fact is that it is also 1,400 miles high. Commentators differ as to whether the city is a cube or a pyramid. The descriptions seem to favor the pyramid form.
21:17–18. Surrounding this huge city is a wall 144 cubits or 216 feet thick. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
I've been talking about Heaven/New Jerusalem as it is now, how it'll be during the Millennium, and as it will be during Eternity. Just to be clear, let me go over the main difference for us:
Now: Heaven is New Jerusalem which is the place the Lord is and has been preparing for us. It's invisible to human eyes right now and is not, as far as we know, anywhere near the earth. (but then we don't have any physical location for it right now)
From the start of the Millennium till the end of it: Heaven will still be New Jerusalem, only it's placement will be different as the Lord will have it descend from the heaven till it hovers over the earth, over the area of earthly Jerusalem and all around it since it's so huge. People living on earth will be able to see it.
After the Great White Throne Judgement for Eternity: New Jerusalem will now come down onto the New Earth, and the entirety, (the whole earth and New Jerusalem) will from then on be Heaven.
So basically, it just gets a whole lot bigger! I mentioned that eternal life is knowing the Lord, it's being close to Him, having a close relationship with Him, right? It's another thing that's almost impossible for us to understand right now, because we can't see how God can have that kind of individual relationship with a billion people all at the same time. For now, it's something we simply have to accept by faith, realizing that it's one of those things that's beyond our ability to comprehend as we don't have anything in our current lives to relate it to, but that will be taken care of once we're in Heaven.
This is going to affect each and every one of us deeply though. Right now, in this life, the only thing we have that we can relate this to, is our relationships with others who we love. Usually, our loved ones here are our main concern about heaven. We want to know if we're going to still know them and be with them, etc. The final answer to that question is a big "yes!" so that's nothing to be worried about. But there's more to it than that. If we think about how much we love the person who's the most close to us, and realize that God loves us and them, a whole lot more than we do, and really reflect on that, we begin to get some understanding of this. It's very difficult to put into words, at least for me though, but I'll try.
When we love someone, it means that we want only good for them; it also means that we want to be with them all the time; we want to share and enjoy life together with them; It means that we want to be able to give them things they like, and show them new things that we think they'd like. We want to talk about everything with them, share our heart with them, etc. All those things are also true about how God feels about each of us as well, only multiplied a thousand times over. Let me try to set up an example if I can...
Now, think of yourself and that one person you love more than any other (besides God) and then place Jesus in between the two of you. At first thought or look, it seems that Jesus is actually separating the two of you, but He's really not, because now, if you look, you can also see a kind of "line" going from Jesus to you, and from Him, to the person you love, so that all three of you are quite literally joined together. Maybe you could think of the "line" as a kind of umbilical cord or something like that. What you realize is that "line" or whatever you want to call it or see it as, makes it so that you and your loved one can now understand each other a million times better than you ever have before. There's never any misunderstandings anymore because you suddenly really "know" that person better than you thought it was possible to know someone before! And lo and behold, you also know Jesus that same way too! As you are realizing this, you also become aware that at the same time, your loved one also knows you the same way you've discovered that you now know them, and they know Jesus the same way you do! As you both look up into the eyes of your Lord, you begin to realize too that this is kind of like how He's always known us, but we just didn't realize it. So instead of separating you, it's like you, Jesus and your loved one have become one flesh, one heart instead of 3 different ones. Oh you still have different talents and abilities, but now they never clash, they only enhance each others. As you marvel at this experience, you start to see others standing around you as well. All the believers you've ever known, and more. The further you look, the more people you see, and they all have this line between them and the Lord and you! It's not one heart instead of 3, but it's one heart instead of of a billion or more!
If you're like me, there's a part of you that may tend to pull back from that somewhat and feel almost disloyal to your loved one, thinking you could love anyone as much or more then you love them. But don't worry. When it happens, it will be totally natural, and there'll be no jealousy, or disloyalty, guilt, or anything like that, for those are things born from sin. Nothing will ever separate us from those we consider our loved ones now, (if they're saved), anymore than having a baby separates a beloved husband from their wife, it simply adds another person to love and cherish.
This was a topic we got into on the Bema Judgement thread too as some were wondering what would happen if one person got a bunch of rewards and an important job, and another member of the family either didn't get any or only a few rewards and a different kind of job. Would they still be together? The answer is again "yes". It's not really much different than one of them may have a job in one area of earth and the other one having a job in another area. But just like in this life, where, when the work day is over, we go home to family, it'll be like that in New Jerusalem and on the New Earth too. While we may not spend every second together, that doesn't mean we won't see each other daily.
Let me address this Bema judgement thing quickly here too since this will happen in New Jerusalem right after the rapture. At this judgement, our sins are not being judged. That already happened at the cross and can never happen again. We've already been declared "clean", by the blood of Christ". There is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus! The Bema Judgment is where God will judge our "works" or our "deeds" since our salvation. (Rom. 14:10–13; 2 Cor. 5:9–10; 1 Timothy 6:18–19; Hebrews 6:10 etc) This has absolutely nothing to do with where we'll go after death, because for one thing, we're already in heaven! This has to do with being rewarded for what we've done. God is very just and it simply wouldn't be fair if those who did their best to be obedient to Him after salvation got the same thing as those who continued to live like that had before they were saved, except perhaps adding going to church to their lives.
What will be judged? Our words will be judged. (Matt. 12:36) What we've said and how we've said it will be judged. Remember, the Lord looks not just at the words themselves, or the acts themselves, but at what's in our hearts at the time. Our deeds or works and our attitudes will be judged. (Col 3:22–25; James 2:12–13; 2 Cor 9:6) The Lord tells us that everything we do and say now, has an impact on eternity -for us and for others. That's why we're told to do everything as though for the Lord. Everything we've said or done is looked at to see whether or not it's eternally valuable, or worthless/useless. Those things that are judged to be of value, will earn us rewards, and those things that aren't, won't. For example, the hours we've spent watching TV won't receive a reward. And, if we were watching TV when the Lord had asked us to do something else, we would also lose a reward. (
Rev 3:11 etc)
As I said though, it's not just a matter of going out and doing a bunch of "good works" either. Someone who's worked at feeding the poor in a soup line for years, may not get any reward at all if their attitude was one of "duty" or if they were doing it in order to get a reward, or if they were really doing it to impress someone or to get noticed by someone etc. Again, it's what's really in our hearts, not what we tell ourselves or others about why we're doing or not doing something. (1 Cor. 3:10–15; 1 Cor 4:1–6; Col. 3:25; Rom. 14:12)
What are the rewards? We don't know them all, but the bible does tell us what some of them are. One of them is that some will "rule or reign with Christ. This is both during the Millennium and during Eternity. Another is that some will also judge the angels. (Rev 2:26; 1 Cor 6:2; Psalm 149:5-9 etc) Still another reward, perhaps the more common will be literal crowns and there's a number of them listed throughout the Bible, such as 2 Timothy 4:8. Another is "glory", although the bible says that we'll all have at least some glory because we're saved, apparently some will have more than others, and of course Jesus will have the most of all. Jesus wants us to earn these rewards. In fact He already has them all ready for us and can't wait to give them to us! When we don't obey Him, when we don't live for Him instead of ourselves, when we don't speak up for the Truth, etc. it hurts Him because He doesn't want us to lose our rewards. Think of how you'd feel if you'd spent time picking out the perfect gift for your child, you'd told them that you had something really special for them, and then something happened that you couldn't give it to them. The Bible encourages us to work for these rewards. They're offered because He loves us and wants to encourage us and loves to give us good gifts!
The bible says that those who've earned it will rule over nations, states, cities, or town, etc. depending on what they've earned. Because of that, I think that many, if not all of our jobs will depend at least partly on our rewards. In other words, those who've been obedient will be given more important jobs then those who haven't. Of course the Lord will take other things into consideration too, such as the talents, abilities, intelligence, etc that He's given us and will give each of us a job that's perfectly suited to us and that we'll be very happy doing. It will be a job that we will look forward to doing every day; a job we'll thoroughly enjoy and that will bring Him honor.
As I said, this will happen right after the rapture and after the Bema judgement comes something else we've all been looking forward too! The wedding and the banquet! I'd like to talk about that a little and also about "time" in Heaven too. I think you'll be surprised about that!
I just want to touch really quickly on a few other things.
1st: time. We know that God lives outside of time, but then, we aren't God and never will be. Even in heaven there will still be the passage of time. We associate things like the sun and moon, and seasons etc. with time, and those will be present to a degree in both the Millennium and Eternity. One thing that will be very different is that it will apparently always be light, so there will be no "night" as far as it getting dark is concerned anyway. (Rev 21:23–25) But then it's like that in some places on earth right now, like in Alaska at certain times of the year. It'll take getting used to I'm sure though! We know there will be "time" at least during the millennium though as it lasts for 1000 years. We also know from Rev 22:2 that the tree of life will bear a different fresh crop of fruit every month even during eternity, so again that shows some kind of passage of time. We know too that martyrs from the tribulation that are in heaven are told to "wait a little longer", so gain that shows the passage of time in heaven. In Rev 8:1 we're told that there's silence in heaven for about an hour, again showing the passage of time. And there are many other examples of this throughout the bible. So yes, there will be "time" in heaven.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that there will be other species in heaven with us, or what the bible calls "living creatures, as well as various types of angels. God tells us that there's an uncountable number of angels, so it won't be rare to see them. If any of you are Star Trek fans, you won't be disappointed in heaven with a lack of different creatures, that's for sure! If you haven't read the description of God's "living creatures", you should because they will certainly seem pretty strange to us! Revelation 4:6–8 and Ezekiel 1:5–15 describe these creatures or "beasts" as some versions call them. We know they're good, and they'd never harm us, but it's sure going to seem weird to see them! By the way, the descriptions in Revelation and Ezekiel do differ in some ways. It's quite possible that John and Ezekiel each saw different creatures and so described them differently, or it's possible, I suppose that they both saw the same creatures and just had different opinions about how they looked. Guess we won't know for sure till we're there and see them ourselves. We don't even know how many of them there are.
We do know though that there's lots of angels and that there's different kinds of angels. Angels are a different species then humans. Humans cannot become angels and angels cannot become human. Angels can pretend to be humans, in that they can cause us to see them as human, but their natural form is not like that of a human. God tells us that they're creatures of light for one thing. I won't get into that here though. For this it's enough to know that we'll see lots of different angels that will look different than we do, but again, they're good, loving and are there to worship God and serve us.
Just knowing this much, I can't see how anyone could ever think Heaven would be boring!
sorry, I meant to add this to my last post as there's another group of creatures we'll see in heaven: animals, birds, fish, snakes etc! Yes, there will be animals in heaven and lots of them! All animals, even what we consider, "wild animals", will be tame in heaven. They'll be so tame that a little toddler can and most likely will, play with them! There are many, many, scriptures throughout the bible that tell us this, and I've written about it before, so I won't go into it here unless someone has a question about it ok? Personally, I'm not wild about the idea of having snakes in heaven, even "tame" ones but I'm grateful for the other animals. And I know that some folks actually like snakes, so it wouldn't be fair for them not to have any I suppose, and I'm sure the Lord will take care of any "phobias" or fears that any of us have, when we get there, so like He tells us so often, we have no need to be afraid. And remember, in heaven we won't have this nasty sin nature anymore so we won't be afraid at all, because we'll finally, totally trust Him! I'm glad I re-read it as I found something that sounds like I'm contradicting myself and I sure didn't mean to! It's about time in heaven. First I said that we wouldn't be under the restraints of time like we are here, and in the next post I said there would still be the passage of time. That doesn't sound like it makes sense I know, but both statements are basically true. Let me quote what I said and then I'll explain:
| What about time? That's another neat thing about Heaven/New Jerusalem. Like God, in heaven we will no longer be tied to time or to space either for that matter. We may very well be able to simply think of a person and be with them, instead of having to "travel" somewhere to see them. |
| 1st: time. We know that God lives outside of time, but then, we aren't God and never will be. Even in heaven there will still be the passage of time. We associate things like the sun and moon, and seasons etc. with time, and those will be present to a degree in both the Millennium and Eternity. One thing that will be very different is that it will apparently always be light, so there will be no "night" as far as it getting dark is concerned anyway. (Rev 21:23–25) But then it's like that in some places on earth right now, like in Alaska at certain times of the year. It'll take getting used to I'm sure though! We know there will be "time" at least during the millennium though as it lasts for 1000 years. We also know from Rev 22:2 that the tree of life will bear a different fresh crop of fruit every month even during eternity, so again that shows some kind of passage of time. We know too that martyrs from the tribulation that are in heaven are told to "wait a little longer", so again that shows the passage of time in heaven. In Rev 8:1 we're told that there's silence in heaven for about an hour, again showing the passage of time. And there are many other examples of this throughout the bible. So yes, there will be "time" in heaven. |
During the Millennium and from all I can tell, eternity too, when we have things we need to do on earth that need to be done by a certain time, we can, and will do them "on time", knowing the time. For example, those of us who are given assignments on the earth during the Millennium, will be able to tell time - date, day, night, hour and minute, just as we do now, and can therefore show up for our job "on time". At the same time though, time itself won't be as important to us as it is now. We basically rule our lives by time now, and are constantly counting down to something. In the Millennium, while there will still be time and some things will in a sense be ruled by it, even to those still in mortal bodies, it won't be as important as it is to us now.
That's most likely because we live such short lives, relatively speaking anyway. So we want to do all we can in the 80 years or so we have here. But when people are living close to 1000 years, as they will during the Millennium, it just won't seem so important anymore. Then if you take it a step further, and you totally, truly know that you will never, ever die, but will live forever, suddenly even 1000 years doesn't seem like all that much...not much more than a single day seems to us now, right. So I think a lot of this is going to at least partially be our own perception of time will have changed. See what I mean?
There was one other thing I mentioned too that I wanted to add to:
| Most of us consider our homes as a kind of refuge from the rest of the world. When we're at home, we can be ourselves; we're comfortable at home. When were at other places, whether it's a friends house, work, a store, or wherever, it's different. it's not home so we're always on edge, even if it's just a little bit, and the longer we're away, the more we long to go home, right? Well, Heaven, New Jerusalem, is our real Home. The God who created us, who gave each of us the desires in our hearts, the talents, the intelligence, and the abilities we have, has also created for each of us a place to really call Home. A place specifically designed for us each individually has been made for us by the God who created us. |
Now, we're all separated, by distance, sin, outlooks, temperament, and other things. Even a family living together in the same house is separated from each other to a certain extent. Even if they all live and sleep in just a one room shack. Even the body of Christ, all of us, we're separated from each other here, even though we know we're members of the same family in a bond that gives the term, "blood relative" a whole new meaning..
As I tried to explain in another post, that simply won't be true in New Jerusalem - Heaven any more. There will be no more separation. Oh we'll be very much ourselves and individuals - I don't mean that. But we'll know each other intimately and love each other intimately, the way the Lord loves us. There'll be nothing to hide and nothing to cause us to want to be separated from each other for even a second. Therefore, if I'm out in public at a beach or park, or visiting at Lulu's house, I'll feel just as much "at home" as I will in my own house.
In 1 Cor 13, where God explains to us what love really is, and the kind of love He wants us to have, that He's poured into our hearts, we're also told. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) A lot of folks take this to be speaking of knowledge in general, but the subject matter hasn't been changed. He's talking about how God knows and loves us and how we will know and love Him and each other in Heaven.
For me the easiest way to think of it and understand it better is to pretend that Heaven is all one great big house where our Father lives and as His children, we each have our own rooms, but that whole house is what we call "home" as everyone in it is part of our family.
I hope what I've added has helped and not confused things for you. This is just really hard to explain...at least for me.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 —Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. *We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. *According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. *For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. *After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. *Therefore encourage each other with these words. *
In reply to questions about this:
When people die a normal death, from most disease or natural causes, they don't know they're taking their last breath. It's not at all scary. Think of it this way: We think of breathing as natural, and normal, but when a baby is in the womb, they aren't breathing like we do after we're born. They don't take their first breath until after they're born. Taking that first breath isn't scary to them, it's just as natural as not breathing was before hand. They were just as alive when they weren't breathing, as they are when they began to breathe. It's only scary to us, because we forget about that, and we imagine that it must be difficult. Partly probably because most of us know people with asthma or some other illness that makes breathing difficult. But that's entirely different from when we stop breathing at death, there is no comparison. So really, it's generally all in our minds that it's going to be hard or scary or hurt or something like that. See what I mean?
I think part of the reason there's no real problem about breathing is because the change happens so fast. It actually happens in the time in between the breaths we take. So although this body stops breathing, the next one has already started breathing. It's not like holding your breath or anything like that. At least not under most circumstances. But then even in drowning deaths, from what I've seen and heard, the difficulty is in the fear, not in the actual event itself.
Cindy, can you show scripture that tells about New Jerusalem hovering over the earth?
Sure! Just a sec.... this is going to get a little difficult though because of how the Lord has set up the last two chapters of Revelation. In Rev 21, the Lord is talking about the time during the millennium and during eternity. The two are mixed together... I guess because much will be the same, but don't really know why. It's just the way the Lord did it. It's not just here though, He does this any number of times concerning prophetic events, like with the 1st and 2nd coming too. That's why the Jewish people thought there were going to be two Messiah's...the servant that died and the one that conquered, and of course they were wanting the one that conquered at that time. They just couldn't conceive that it was the same person. Sometimes when God does this in scripture, even the chronological order is reversed, as in Isaiah 65:17–25 (vv. 17–19 refer to the new heaven and new earth whereas vv. 20–25 clearly refer to the Millennium). So you can't count on things being chronologically in order. You have to figure them out.
I don't have time to completely explain this today for which I'm very sorry, but I think you'll be able to figure it out. I can explain more tomorrow ok? But we have to remember that in the Millennium the New Jerusalem clearly does not rest on the earth, because there's an earthly Jerusalem and an earthly temple (Ezek. 40–48) during the Millennium and there will be sacrifices then too. Another hint is that the earth during Eternity won't have any sea, but it's mentioned many times during the Millennium.
In Revelation the verses aren't in order chronologically either. So vs 2 shows New Jerusalem coming down onto the new earth at the beginning of eternity and verse 10 shows it coming down from heaven, not onto the earth, at the beginning of the Millennium. See?
Revelation 21:1–2 —Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. *I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. *
Revelation 21:9–10 —One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” *And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. *
Revelation 21:2 Apparently, The holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God in verse 10 is at the beginning of the Mill; the coming down from God in verse 2 is at the end of the Mill, extending into the eternal state. The church will be seen throughout all eternity as an adorned bride. New Jerusalem, somewhat in the way of a midway house, will be the meeting place of all the redeemed, as the city is suspended above the millennial Jerusalem. KJV Bible Commentary.
Revelation 21:2 The suggestion has been made that if the New Jerusalem is in existence during the millennial reign of Christ, it may have been suspended in the heavens as a dwelling place for resurrected and translated saints, who nevertheless would have immediate access to the earth to carry on their functions of ruling with Christ.In the Millennium the New Jerusalem clearly does not rest on the earth, for there is an earthly Jerusalem and an earthly temple (Ezek. 40-48). The New Jerusalem then will apparently be withdrawn from its proximity to the earth when the earth will be destroyed at the end of the Millennium, and then will come back after the new earth is created. Here, however, the New Jerusalem is described as it will be in the eternal state. The Bible Knowledge Commentary
Verse 2 suggests that this heavenly city will hover over the earth during the Millennium, and then descend when the new creation is ushered in. Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament
Revelation 21:3 A tabernacle suggests moving about; the saints will have access to all part of God’s creation. Undoubtedly, there will be communication between the earthly, millennial Jerusalem and the mystical, or New, Jerusalem. God will dwell with men; there will be no change in the eternal state. KJV Bible Commentary.
Revelation 21:10 Even in the millennium the earth will not be a suitable abode for transfigured saints, who therefore shall then reign in heaven over the earth. But after the renewal of the earth at the close of the millennium and judgment, they shall descend from heaven to dwell on an earth assimilated to heaven itself. “From God” implies that “we (the city) are God’s workmanship.” Commentary Critical and Explanatory
Revelation 21:10 Scripture makes it clear that heaven is far more than an idea. It exists. It is not a hoped-for reality but an ongoing spiritual home for the living God and those who have come to him by faith. What is heaven like?
You know, there's so much about heaven in the bible it's amazing, which is why it blows me away when I hear otherwise good teachers say that God doesn't tell us much about it.
Our of curiosity, I counted the scripture references I have listed so I can easily find the places to start reading about heaven. Now, most of these scriptures aren't single verses, but just the first verse in a longer passage about heaven, (For example, like Rev 21) and I counted well over a hundred before I had to give up! So you can have an idea of where to look for yourself, look for passages especially where Jesus says, "the kingdom of heaven is like".... those are good ones to start with and tell us a lot of what it's going to be like. Another thing you can do to find things about heaven is search for things you know will be there, like the tree of life, or the living creatures, or cherubim, New Jerusalem, new earth, crowns, overcomers, righteous, wedding supper, feast, etc. (don't forget to search the OT too as there's quite a lot there as well!) God intends for us to know about Heaven, and He wants us to search His Word to find all we can about it. He wants us know about the wonderful things He's planned for us. Sure, there's much that will be surprise and He can't wait to show us that part, but there's also a great deal we can know about it right now, and He tells us about it to encourage us and let us know that no matter what we have to go through on this earth, that life with Him in Heaven for eternity will make it more than worth it!
Jesus always told the truth when He was here, and never made following Him look like it would be a picnic. He said straight out that it would be very hard, and He wasn't talking about the normal trials that even unbelievers go through. So those who are living their lives like they always have, without any difficulty, should start examining themselves closely, because if they were truly following Christ and living the way He tells us to, their life wouldn't be one of ease. He even told us that many will say they did all kinds of things for Him, but He will tell them that He never knew them! (Matthew 7:22–23) Those verses always reminds me of those I call the "preachers and prophets for profit".
I can tell you too that the more I learn about Heaven, the more I think about it, the more I want to do better, to push harder, do more for Him, but most of all the more I want my heart to be like His. I want to see others the way He does, and love others the way He does. Actually, that's another reason He wants us to know about Heaven, because, of course, He knows that's how it will affect us. Plus, He tells us we can actually store up treasure in Heaven now. It's like having a savings account that we can't withdraw anything from until we get to heaven, but once there, all that's in our account will be good through eternity! So while we may not have much in this life, we'll all have a wonderful eternity, and those who are wise, will store up even more for themselves for eternity. Doing that's not even difficult, we can do that by doing things as simple as praying!
So it's not like storing up treasure in heaven is something only a few certain people can do. God even tells us that the more we focus on our lives in Heaven now, the more we store up treasure there now, the easier our lives will seem here and the faster we'll grow into the kind of person the Lord created us to be. He really wants us to make our decisions on earth based on how they will affect us in eternity....asking ourselves, "will this build up treasure for me there where it will last, or here, where it'll soon be gone?" Enough about that
let's get on with things! About your questions: Understanding the animals.... I believe that it's very possible that we'll be able to understand the animals in heaven. I kind of doubt if we'll talk to them and they to us, like in "Dr Doolittle" did in the book or movie
as fun as that would be. I'm not saying that's impossible, for anything is possible with God, but I think it more likely that we'll simply be able to understand each other in our minds. We know that God understands all they think, feel and say, so it would seem reasonable to assume that He would give us the ability to understand them as well. That's something however that I haven't found anything definite about, so we'll have to wait and see. However, as I said, I think it's more then reasonable to assume that we'll somehow be able to understand them and for them to understand us, as the Lord doesn't just give us good gifts, He gives us perfect gifts! About the ocean or sea: (Rev 21:1) We know there will at least be rivers, streams, etc on the New Earth. However, many teachers think that the phrase, "there will be no sea" is symbolic. I'm not sure about that as it seems pretty straight forward to me and in no way implies that it's something we should view as symbolic. But they say it is because the sea was seen by many as something threatening, and is often used in scripture to represent or talk about threatening things; such as the antichrist coming out of the sea, etc. While that may be true, still, we don't change things in the bible to suit ourselves or what we want to be true, which is why I refuse to see the sentence as totally symbolic. That being said, personally what I think the Lord is saying is that there won't be anymore large bodies of salt water, which is what the ocean and seas have. Instead, all bodies of water will be fresh water. Therefore, there could be a large body of water, like what we call the sea now, only the water would be fresh, not salt. See what I mean? God is renewing all things so everything would be made perfect.
The next question would naturally be, then what about salt water fish and sea creatures? I may have an answer to that as well. My ex husband and I used have huge salt water aquariums. It was his passion. From him, I learned that there are fish etc that can and do adapt from salt water to fresh, and back. He showed me by starting out with a fresh water tank and slowly changing it to salt...or the other way around lol, I can't remember now, it's been so long. But if some can naturally do that, then I imagine the Lord could easily adapt all of them to fresh water, don't you?
Regardless of that though, be assured, if you want to walk under and on top of water with the Lord, I'm sure you'll be able to! There will be water in abundance on the New Earth, and none of it will ever cause harm to anyone.
We know that our God is a Holy God, but what does "holy" actually mean? Let me quote from one of my books:
Holiness, on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil and, on the other, absolute moral perfection. Freedom from impurity is the primary idea of the word. To sanctify is to cleanse; to be holy is to be clean. ... Simply put, God is without sin. He doesn’t conform to some holy standard—He is the standard.
MacArthur, J. God: Coming face to face with His Majesty.
We also know that everything God is, everything He does, and even every gift He gives, is perfect and good. Those are all ways to describe Heaven - the new earth and New Jerusalem as well. As hard as it is to imagine, at least for me, it's even going to be the way we will be able to be described! Can you imagine it: we will be holy, perfect and good, and we'll live on an earth that is holy and perfect and good in every way, shape and form!
Did you know that when Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:24, He told Him that He wanted us to be with Him, that He wants us to see Him in all His glory? The transfiguration was just a little taste of that, and it blew the 3 disciples who saw it away! He also tells us in other scriptures that we will also have our own glory there. Can you imagine that? Maybe we'll look somewhat like Jesus did during the transfiguration!
The whole idea, the whole picture of heaven, so to speak is one of unimaginable, spectacular beauty and perfection, and we're part of that. We won't have this nasty sin nature any longer, which means we'll not only not have to deal with temptation anymore, but we'll naturally, normally, want to please God and obey Him. Nothing, no thought, no ideas, nothing, will ever cause us to even consider not obeying Him, or not wanting to obey Him again. More than that even, we'll enjoy obeying Him, and doing His will. It won't be some forced thing, like a robot or anything like that. We'll obey Him and want to please Him because we'll finally understand and realize just how much He loves us and we'll finally be able to love Him back perfectly! The joy that will be ours is just unimaginable!
The Bible tells us that God loves to give us good gifts, which any parent can easily understand. I know of no mother or father that doesn't like giving their children gifts, do you? Our Father isn't hindered by lack of money, lack of time or lack of ability though, therefore He can and will give us gift after gift throughout eternity! Can you imagine waking up each day (if we sleep) to find yet another wonderful gift from our Father? We all love to give gifts to those we love and we'll be giving Him and each other gifts as well. What a wonderful world!
As far as the land itself goes, think of all the plants, trees, etc. All perfect, no disease or decay; the trees growing taller and bigger over the centuries, and more awesome.; glowing with perfection and health and goodness. Flowers blooming year round, in vibrant colors, some colors we've probably never seen before, and giving off scents so beautiful that it would take our breath away we're we to smell them now.
Our sense of smell will be perfect in heaven, and we'll be able to smell things that we can't now because of the corruption of sin both in our bodies and in the earth. The same with our sense of hearing and our sight. We'll be able to hear sounds we've never been able to before because our bodies will be perfect. Can you imagine what that will do for us as far as listening to music or playing it or singing goes? Wow! And sight...as the Lord said, the blind will see, and to some extent, even those who've been blessed here to have 20/20 vision are somewhat blind. We'll be able to see further and clearer than any human ever has before when we're in heaven. What about our sense of touch? That too will be better then it is here. My youngest daughter was born with cerebral palsy, which means, among other things, if I rub a piece of cloth along her right arm it doesn't feel the same way to her as it does if I rub it on her other arm. In Heaven though, we'll all feel everything with the full extent of what God intended us to have. Softness will have a new meaning to us, as will silkiness, and so many other terms. It will add a whole other aspect to our lives that we can't even really imagine unless we've had something like my daughter that shows us what it's like to not be able to fully feel things. And in heaven, there'll be nothing we'd want to avoid touching since nothing will ever hurt or harm us again.
In the psalms we're told that we'll feast on the abundance of Gods house and drink from His river of delights. That He will fill us with joy in His presence, and give us eternal pleasures. (Psalm 36:8–9; Psalm 16:11) Those are two really good descriptions of what Heaven, the new earth, will be like for each of us. Abundance - abundance of good, of delight, of joy, of love, for eternity!
The good Lord created us, and gave us each talents, abilities, ideas, and desires. I know that I used to often think that I must have missed the line or something when He was passing out talent or abilities, but I know better now, and would never say such thing to insult Him again. Some of us love to cook, others love to garden. Some of us are great at arranging things in a home so they look nice and are easy to use and get at etc. Others are great at using colors in the home (or office or wherever), still others are great at designing living, working or play spaces. Some of us are great at building things, some are great at fixing things, and some people seem to constantly be coming up with new ideas or new ways to do old things. Some can draw, some can paint, some couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler (like me lol), some love to sing, or dance, or do gymnastics, write, teach, etc. When you really sit and reflect on the huge variety of talents and abilities that the Lord has placed within His children, It's amazing! Even better though is knowing that we all have these talents, abilities, desires, etc. and that they will be fulfilled perfectly in Heaven! Every talent, ability, desire, idea, will be used perfectly and to it's full extent in Heaven, amidst much joy and admiration. Heaven boring? I hardly think so! There'll be so much going on it's going to take us all of eternity to see it and know it all!
Speaking of "knowing it all", reminds me of a misconception a lot of us have had about heaven. We often get the idea that when we get to heaven we'll suddenly know everything there is to know, but that's not true. What is true is that we'll finally be able to use all of our brains. Scientists say that the most anyone uses now is maybe 10% of them, but we'll be using all 100% of our brains in heaven! We won't be like God in knowing everything suddenly, but we will immediately be much more capable of understanding things that confused us here, and anything we didn't understand and want to, we'll be able to study and find out the truth about it. We'll even be able to ask others, including God Himself, our questions. God gave us our intellect and brains for a reason and He wants us to use them, and will want us to use them in heaven too. Like any good Father, He will answer our questions, unless it's something it would be better for us to learn on our own in which case I'm sure He will direct us to where we can do that. So learning isn't going to stop when we get to heaven. That will continue through eternity. There will always be more for us to learn and do there! Pardon the pun, but heaven is going to be the most exciting place on earth to be!
Are you starting to get Home sick? I know I sure am! I want to be there so badly I can almost taste it!
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