What Will Heaven Be Like?

 

Have you ever thought about what heave will be like. Or more specifically what it will be like to live in the new heavens and new earth? Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the glorious future we have to look forward to. That is those of us who believe in Jesus Christ. Here is a brief summary of our awesome future.

Eternal Pleasure

God offers eternal pleasure to those who trust in him, Psalm 16:11 – “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.”

As the Westminster confession puts it, “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” If you ever wanted to know what your purpose is in life and what God’s will is for you, there it is all wrapped up in one statement: to pursue pleasure in the presence of God.

The devil offers you pleasures in this life if you follow him. God offers you eternal pleasure in response. If you really believe he exists and that he rewards those who pursue him (He. 11:6), then you will find it easier and easier to say no to the devil’s offer and easier and easier to say yes to the Lord’s offer.

God Will Eat With Us

Have you ever played that game where you could choose three people from history to go to dinner with? Some people pick a notable historical figure like Churchill (make sure you have a lot of after dinner booze for that one), others might pick Aristotle, or Julius Caesar. Some people pick their favourite Actor (Mel Gibson for me). Some people pick their favourite famous Christian (for me it would be a toss up between Martin Luther, Irenaeus and Paul, although Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would be a close choice too). Well, if you picked Jesus you can know that you will dine with him. We read in Isaiah 25 this,

“6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isa. 25:6-9).

Some people think this is not literal. But Jesus reiterates this promise again and again. For instance, Matthew 26:29, “29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” And here is Jesus promising this again in Revelation 3:20, “20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Why do we need food in heaven you ask? Why did Adam and Eve need it in the garden before they could die? Obviously food was created for more than just sustaining life. It was also created for enjoyment.

Be honest, do you only eat what you need to eat? Why not? Because we eat to fellowship, to enjoy good things, and to dine in fancy places or welcoming places. Why would these things not exist in the new heavens and new earth?

We Will Rule With Him

How we apply some of these passages about the fact that we will rule with Christ will be debated by Christians with different end time views. Some say we reign with him now and will also in heaven (Amill). Some say we reign with now, in the millennium, and in heaven (Premill). Some say this points to a heavenly reality. But what is not debatable is that we will rule with Christ.

Revelation 2:26-29,

“26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Revelation 3:21-22, “21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

All over the world people are fighting over land rights, who owns this land and who owns that land. Some claim divine right, some claim historical right, some just take the land because they have the power. But as Christians we know that we will inherit the earth, that means all of it. If you really want to rule this world you need to trust in Jesus. Everyone else is just a temporary resident of the land. Only those who trust in him will inherit it.

We Will Enjoy A New Earth

We don’t just inherit the earth, but a new and improved version. Romans 8:19-21,

“19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

No more sin. No more corruption. No more bondage to decay. No more death. No more of the bad things we experience in this life. This is part of our reward. This is what we have to look forward to.

There is a lot to love about this life. Good food, good wine. Going hiking, not going hiking for some of you. Crytal clear salt water on a warm summer’s day. Waterfalls. Nature in all its God declaring glory. Friendship, family, love and more. But all of these things are tinged with corruption in this life. In the next life there will be none of that.

And of course we will enjoy these things in our new bodies. Which many people cannot wait for.

We Will Worship Him

Some people have this view of heaven where we will all be sitting around on harps playing music unto the Lord for eternity, and it makes people think heaven will be boring. But playing on our harps is just one of the things we will get to enjoy. That is right the harp image is partly true, but it is not the full picture,

“2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (Rev. 15:2-4).

We think of singing in a grand choir playing our harps as a bit strange or boring, or something like that. But this is an image of an ancient royal celebration. In other words, think about the most incredible party you can imagine in your mind right now, with the best wine, the best food, the best of anything anyone has to offer, and that is what God wants us to picture worship is like in heaven.

Back then it was harps. Now it is electric guitars, drums and pianos, trumpets and violins and more. And if you have ever seen a true orchestra it is epic. Imagine the heavenly version.

We will get to worship God in heaven. In massive worship services. But we will also get to worship him in how we rule over creation, in how we eat and fellowship, and how we do whatever work he has for us to do.

We Will Be Free From Sin

And a gift we probably underestimate the privilege of, is that we will be free from sin. In fact, not only will be made free from sin, we shall be made to be like little versions of God. 1 John 3:2-3, “2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

“When he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is…” We shall be transformed to be like him. Little versions of him. We will be made to reflect him as we were always supposed to.

Peter says it just as directly, 2 Peter 1:3-4,

“3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to  his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

We have been granted to “become partakes of the divine nature…” We shall become like little versions of him.

This will transform us so much that if we ran into heavenly versions of ourselves we might respond like this,

“9 And the he said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:9-10).

This person or angel (depending on your translation) is so glorious that John falls down to worship him. But the messenger corrects John and tells him he is only a servant and reminds him that only God is worthy of worship.

That is what it means to be made to partake of the divine nature. It means that we will look divine compared to what we look like now. We will still only be servants of the true King of Kings. But we will be glorious compared to what we are now.

As one of my favourite worship songs says, “As we gaze on his kingly brightness, so our faces display his likeness, ever changing from glory to glory. Mirrored here shall our lives tell his story. Shine Jesus, Shine.”

The more we see who Jesus is the more we become like him. To such a degree that if we saw our heavenly selves we would mistake ourselves for divinity. That is pretty cool.

Heaven is going to be incredible. And if you truly believe that God exists and he will reward you, then reminding ourselves of what he will reward us with helps us to say no to evil temptations of this world. God bless.