But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)
Have you ever thought about the afterlife, what is heaven like? Will you be worshipping God forever? Will you not get bored in heaven? Will you finally get everything you want in there? Will you recognise people there? What if your family and friends are not there? What about the concept of eternity – living forever – is that real or even possible?
The first thing we can be assured of is that heaven is all about God – it is not all about you. It is not a self-glorifying reward, and you are not there to fulfil all your life’s desires and ambitions that you have not achieved here on earth. If heaven is all about us, then there will be a time when we will get bored – once we meet all our desires and longings we miss out on earth. Heaven is all about God – the joy and happiness we will have come from worshipping, loving and serving Him.
We will also love all those in heaven – getting to know them, serving them, and having fun with them. That is why heaven will never be boring – we have an eternity to enjoy God, His people, and His creation. We have the whole earth and beyond to have dominion and reign on behalf of God. We will be God’s agents and representatives as we rule all over God’s creation – all the planets, galaxies, and the whole universe. The possibilities seem to be endless. The joy, love and happiness we will have in heaven come from God, the source of all that is good.
Who will be there in heaven? We are sure those who accept God’s mercy and forgiveness in their lifetime will be there. What about babies who died and never had a chance to make a mature decision to follow God? What about those who never heard the Gospel? What about those who were born before Jesus came into the world? What about those “good” people in this life, but never accepted the Gospel?
There are many points of discussion here that we cannot tackle in this writing, but one thing we can be assured of is that God is holy, just, loving and merciful – and He is also a wise God. He is the Supreme Judge of all humanity and knows the hearts of all of us. He will deal with us based on what has been revealed to us and whether or not we follow our conscience, the voice of God within us.
Will there be free will in heaven? There was a time that rebellion happened in heaven that resulted in Satan and his angels being thrown out of heaven, so it seems the answer is yes, we will have free will in heaven. Will we be free to sin in heaven? Yes, we will have free will in heaven, but we will also know God’s holiness and purity and how sin is totally against God. When we are here on earth, we are tempted to the false promises of sin, but in heaven, we will have total knowledge of sins’ false promises. Like a baby who puts anything in her mouth, not fully knowing if it is good or bad for her, we are like that baby here on earth. In heaven, we will be like mature adults, have full knowledge of how terrible sin and its consequences are, and stay away from sin with a ten-foot pole.
The fullness of heaven
The fullness of heaven is being with God and forever learning His mind. We will become more and more like Him as we spend time with Him and His people. God will bring us back to the Garden of Eden, where He will command us again to subdue and have dominion over all creation. As God transforms us to be like Him, He will make us His agents, His ambassadors, to all of creation here on earth and beyond. We will have access to God forever and see His face without shame or guilt. We will enjoy His presence together with all our co-heirs of heaven. We will love and serve God and His people and will be loved and fulfilled in return.
Heaven is something we cannot clearly and fully grasp for now. But once we have Jesus in our hearts, Heaven has started growing within us. As we follow Jesus daily and try to be faithful to Him in this life, we should never forget that heaven is just one missed breath, accident, or deadly disease away. As we live this life daily, we should know and appreciate that we are citizens of heaven and our real identity lies with God alone.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)
Top image credit: Dramatic sun piercing through clouds, Holy Spirit as a dove hovers, digital photo artwork by Johannes Plenio from Uplash.com. Free to use under the Unsplash License. Scripture passage from 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 added.
Tom Caballes is a National Coordinator of the Lamb of God, a community of the Sword of the Spirit with seven branches located throughout New Zealand. Tom and his wife Mhel and their two daughters [with his son-in-law and grand-daughter] live in Wellington, New Zealand.