Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).
I think about heaven a lot. So many people whom I love are there and I miss them every day.
I wonder what they are doing and if they think about us. I wonder if my brothers are really playing rummy with our dad, the way we sometimes think. Are they going fishing and is our mom visiting with her wonderful parents whom she had not seen in half a century? Prior to Mom’s passing in 2012, she used to reminisce about Dad and say, “I miss Pop.” Now they are together. What is that like, I wonder.
What will heaven be like? In addition to our loved ones, there are also uncounted millions of brothers and sisters of all races and tribes whom we have yet to meet. There are “myriads” of angels, and best of all, our wonderful Lord and Savior Himself.
Who would not want to go to heaven?
My friend Barbara used to say in heaven she planned to ask for a size 10 body.
A pastor friend used to say that in heaven, he would be able to eat all the lemon ice-box pie he wanted without gaining an ounce.
Joni Eareckson Tada has said that in heaven she plans to ask Jesus to dance. She’s been a quadriplegic all her adult life.
Other things I wonder about Heaven include…
I wonder who specifically will be there? So many people are borderline, it seems to me, and I would find it impossible to decide whether they are true believers or not. (I’m eternally grateful it’s not up to me to decide!) I hope everyone is in heaven, even though I know that’s not going to happen. No one wants anyone to go to hell.
One thing that colors my thoughts on this subject is something our Lord said in a parable. In Matthew 22, the Lord Jesus tells of a king who decided those invited to his palace for his son’s wedding feast were not worthy, and did something interesting. He told his servants, “Go to the main highways and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.” Then, we have this fascinating statement from our Savior: Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. (22:10). Both evil and good. Wow. What are the implications of that!
I wonder if we will be able to see a replay of our lives here on earth? (And whether would we want to!) Seeing the replay would show us a) what God was doing behind the scenes, b) how He used the tiniest deeds and words and gifts and the unlikeliest people to achieve His purposes, c) how even the sufferings and pain were instruments in His hand, and d) a thousand other things we cannot imagine.
Or would He choose not to show us our earthly lives out of mercy? It’s impossible to know.
I wonder if we will have classes where the apostles fill us in on “the rest of the story?” I think I would like that.
Surely, the ministry of our Lord Jesus on earth is the story of the ages, and nothing rivals it in heaven or earth. Wouldn’t we like to have been there, and wouldn’t it be almost as good to hear it from the lips of those who were?
I’m remembering a family reunion in rural Alabama. About 50 or 60 of us sat around a bonfire in the dark (no electricity at the old home place) and talked about an incident from 1951 when an elderly neighbor was murdered one mile up the road. I brought the subject up and was enthralled as one after another told what they knew of the incident: my dad participated in the Sunday manhunt for the man eventually caught and convicted, my mom told of seeing that man the day before walking up the road with the walking stick which turned out to have been the instrument of death, and my brother Glenn told of skipping school to sit in the courtroom and watch the trial.
Perhaps heaven will be a time of sitting around discussing events from Scripture with the actual characters and hearing their stories. Wow. What a fascinating image. (Personally, I cannot wait to meet Bartimaeus, the blind beggar of Jericho (Luke 18:35-42).
And, I wonder if there will be history classes where the saints of the ages give their personal stories. Oh, sign me up for as many of those as you can!
I want to hear the Lord’s people of the early days, the Middle Ages, from the Black Plague years, those who came through the Inquisition and experienced the Reformation. I’d love to sit at the feet of the godly ones who came through the fires of Hitler’s extermination camps and revel in their stories. I want to hear from Reverend and Mrs. Covell, missionaries to Japan who were beheaded by Japanese soldiers early in World War 2, and from Dr. Bill Wallace, martyred by the Red Chinese around 1950.
I reflect on this and think, “All of this and Jesus too!”
No wonder they call it heaven.
And in addition to all that, I wonder how eternity will feel.
As a child, I would lie awake at night trying to imagine endless time and limitless space. How could this be? How would it feel to know time has no end but just goes on and on and on? It was almost frightening. The answer of course is that all of this will be on another plane, another dimension perhaps, and the constraints and perspectives we know here will not be present there.
Imagine trying to explain the operation of computers to an ant. Imagine trying to tell your favorite lapdog how to build a house. Imagine you and me in the presence of the Creator of the vast reaches of the universe.
Just because the ant cannot understand computers, the dog cannot “get” home construction and we cannot imagine being in the presence of God, does not mean this is not so. Some matters are so grand they exceed the grasp of our small minds.
In these and so many spiritual matters, we are stumble along with the understanding of infants. We see through the glass darkly. We do things we do not want to do and fail to do what we should. We throw ourselves on His mercy out of sheer desperation.
Of such celestial matters, the singer of Israel exclaimed, This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me; It is lofty; I am unable to reach it (Psalm 139:6). I know the feeling.
We defer to the Lord Jesus on all things heavenly.
He told Nicodemus, “No one has been to Heaven except the One who came from there,” referring to Himself (John 3:13). Jesus is a native of heaven, making Him the Authority on all things celestial.
We defer, as I say, to the Lord Jesus but also to the inspired writers of Scripture, who gave us mind-boggling and thought-provoking insights about heaven.
–Heaven is “the Father’s House” which David mentioned (Psalm 23:6) and the Lord Jesus promised (John 14:1-6). That sounds like the soul’s real home, doesn’t it?
–Heaven is “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Every house I’ve ever lived in has been generic, but my heavenly home is a) a kingdom–if you can imagine! and b) was prepared with me in mind. That, I confess, is way beyond my poor ability to conceive.
–Heaven is “the city which hath foundations,” promised in Hebrews 11:10 and described in Revelation 21. Heaven knows no vagabonds and has no nomads. Everyone is settled.
–Heaven is to be “at home” and “with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9). There are no homeless in glory.
–Heaven means “resting from our labors,” with “our works following us” (Revelation 14:13). While Scripture promises “His servants shall serve Him” (Revelation 22:3), this is merely a joyful response to the blessings of the Lord. What a privilege this will be.
–Heaven is a land with all new realities, new everything, where nothing is the same and “all things have become new.” (Start with 2 Corinthians 5:17 and end up with Revelation 21:5. In between, pause to consider Matthew 22:30-32, where Jesus says, “In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”) No one in heaven will live by earthly rules or be bound by manmade regulations. Gloryland has no licensing bureaus, no code enforcement offices, and no department to see that we all obey the rules.
–Heaven is the culmination of everything we have hoped for and dreamed of. “We shall know as also we are known” (1 Corinthians 13:12) when we shall “see face to face.” “We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1-3). We shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). No one is deformed, unformed, partial or incomplete in heaven. No one in Glory has self-esteem problems.
–Heaven is the end of all the grief and pain we have known in this lifetime. No tears, no pain, no darkness, no wickedness, no devil, no death, and no bullying or competition. (Revelation 21:1-8). There are no counseling services in heaven because none are needed.
–Heaven is your inheritance for all who are born again. “An inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). No one can take heaven away from you. (See Luke 10:20 and John 10:28-29).
–Heaven is a place of reward. “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14) and “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). No one in heaven gets the short end of the stick. Gloryland has no complaints department.
–Heaven is “a building of God, not made with hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1), in contrast with “our earthly tent.” Comparing the incomparable! No one camps out in heaven. The fellow who asked the Lord to “build me a cabin in the corner of Gloryland” wanted what God has no intention of giving.
–Heaven is a place of music, singing, praise, and harmony as we have never heard it done. “The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps” (Revelation 14:2). “They sang a new song before the throne” (Revelation 14:3). “And they sang the song of Moses…and the song of the Lamb, saying ‘Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty….” (Revelation 15:3). No one is tone-deaf in heaven. No one “sits this one out.”
I wonder what else is true about heaven but was left unsaid. Clearly, human language throws in the towel and admits that these things are indescribable.
But we still wonder. We cannot help ourselves.
What I do not wonder about however—just so you will know–is whether I’m going. (Well, after typing that I pause and think, “Are you sure? Isn’t it so grand that no matter how much you believe, you will still find yourself amazed to wake up there?” And yes, I know that’s true.)
We have the word of the Lord Jesus Christ on this. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). And that is one of maybe a hundred similar assurances.
My new favorite assurance is John 8:51. Whoever keeps My word shall not see death. Some translations make that, shall not taste of death. Either way, it’s the same.
I believe, Lord Jesus.
Now, I want to take as many people with me as possible.
For that reason, it’s so necessary to keep reminding each other of certain truths:
–1) Not everyone is going to heaven. Oh, that they were!
–2) Jesus Christ alone is the door–the way, the entrance–to heaven. We come by Him or we miss heaven altogether.
–3) Entering the door which is the Lord Jesus means repenting of our sin of self-trust and rebellion, humbling ourselves before Him in prayer, inviting Jesus into our lives as Lord and Master, and thereafter living for Him.
I worry about those who think because they have prayed a certain prayer they are guaranteed entrance to heaven. I worry about those who think because they belong to this church or that denomination they are automatically in. I worry about some who have no personal inner witness of God’s Spirit that they are saved but go forward in the blind assurance that they are because some preacher or priest said so.
Oh, friend. Get into the Word of God and read it. Start with the first page of the New Testament and read it all. Then come back to the Gospel of John and camp out there until you’ve read it several times. Obey what you read (see John 13:17 and Luke 6:46). Live for Christ. Serve Him. Get with His people in a Bible-believing church, be baptized, read your Bible and pray.
Do this and the Lord’s Word makes us these promises:
1) You will go to heaven.
2) When you get there, you will be right at home in heaven.
3) But whatever heaven is like, I suggest you get ready to be surprised. Nothing you have ever done or thought has prepared you for the reality waiting just ahead.
A postscript. I’m thinking of people like Mark Twain who left behind statements on how boring heaven must be. Was it Twain who said he would prefer heaven for the weather and hell for the company? How ignorant. What an insult to the heavenly Father.
We may know heaven will be fascinating simply because earth is so amazing. My wife and I watch a nature program on television and marvel at the complex world the Father has created. We sometimes burst into praise about how fearfully and wonderfully He has made this universe.
Please come and go with us. It won’t be the same without you.
(Editor's Note: This blog was posted first on Dr. McKeever's blog site HERE.)
