Heaven

People everywhere, even Christians, wonder if there is anything else to look forward to in life. Sometimes, we feel the best has come and gone. Is there anything left to long for?

In a world that is depressing with terrible news, we are bombarded by the number of murders, killings, robberies, rapes, and on and on the list goes. Turning our attention to the heaven God has prepared for us is imperative. The Bible speaks of heaven from beginning to end. John’s description informs us with exciting descriptions.

We all have experienced the injustice and impurity of this world through betrayal, treachery, and duplicity. But here is a place where no impurity or injustice exists. There will be no shame, guilt, or muck and mire of sin.

We sometimes hear stories that are so cruel they have to be authored by demons from hell. The brutality, the violation of women and children, and the complete disregard for life sicken us. People who have suffered these things, such as the hostages from Israel, will need the rest of their lives to heal, and that will not be enough. In this heaven, God has prepared, and those things do not exist because there is no sin, and nothing impure can enter.

John records hearing a loud voice from the throne, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:4).

This is more than our brains can comprehend. The stain of all the sinners—the wrecked lives and accumulated pain is gone. And, in its place, there is a heaven that has never been contaminated by sin and never will be. And why is this? Because God lives there with his people. John writes, “There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4).

God’s presence prevents sin and disallows death, mourning, crying, and pain. This describes what every heart longs for but can’t find on this earth. We wonder what can happen. Where will the next evil come from? There is always the fear of some lurking danger, the fear of our greatest enemy, sickness, and death. Here is heaven—a new heaven and earth, a holy city, the presence of God, comfort for all sorrow, and protection from any future pain.

John writes: “To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Rev 21:6). This promise is designed to make us thirst for the water of life more than we thirst for anything else. We will be satisfied when we drink.

Our Resurrected Bodies

The Corinthians found it hard to believe that all Christians would be raised in a resurrected body. Just because Christ was raised in a resurrected body doesn’t mean we will be. They thought perhaps the soul lived on indefinitely, but death was the end for the body. Some of them believed the soul was pure while the body was sinful. Death was the moment they could get rid of the filthy body so the soul could experience purity. Many today believe this. The soul ascends to some other world where individuals can finally be free. This is Eastern Religion, pure and simple. Paul confronted this misunderstanding about the body with the foundational understanding of the resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58.

Paul uses the example of a seed that sprouts into something that looks completely different than it originally did. The seed undergoes a burial and is later transformed. The seed’s DNA is built inside the seed but is not visible; later, there is an alternate change. This transformation process is out of our control. The seed is buried and left to forces outside of its control. If it has good soil, water, and sunlight, it will grow because God is the one who makes the seed grow and transform. How amazing this is every spring! Likewise, we, as believers, are buried at death like a seed. Still, God will accomplish the transformation of our bodies at the resurrection.

Paul is saying that just because individuals cannot imagine a body that is different from the one they have now does not mean it isn’t possible. God has created all kinds of bodies. Each is made for its own environment: animals for the land, birds for the air, and fish for the sea. God is the  Creator God. He has demonstrated that different bodies can thrive in a particular environment. These illustrations of the natural world help us to understand the resurrection.

We all long for the imperishable; that is evident in the incessant attempts to turn back the clock. No one has been able to make perishable life imperishable. However, individuals will try anything to lengthen their lives on this earth.  However, we can’t understand how something could go from perishable to imperishable, dishonorable to glorious, weak to strong. Paul sets forth that in the resurrection, Christians’ bodies will be raised, and their bodies will be transformed from the perishable to the imperishable, from dishonor to glory, and from weakness to power. Christianity acknowledges the longing to overcome death, disease, sickness, and even decay is natural. Still, it will only be overcome by transforming the body in the resurrection! (1 Corinthian 15:42-56).

Jesus’ resurrection body is the closest thing Christians have to an encounter with a resurrected body. Jesus was human; his disciples recognized him; he had scars and ate fish. But he was also supernatural, allowing him to walk through walls and defy the laws of gravity as he ascended.

We will have new bodies that can see, taste, hear, touch, and smell what we could never have imagined. The discoveries of heaven will be incredible because we will have a resurrected body to experience them.