What Make Heaven Heavenly?

In one of his Far Side cartoons, Gary Larson depicts a winged
man seated in heaven on a cloud. No one near. Nothing to do.
Marooned on his celestial post. The caption witnesses his
despair: “Wish I’d brought a magazine.”
We can relate. Eternal life? Clouds in our midst, harps on our
laps, and time on our hands, unending time. Forever and ever.
Nonstop. An endless sing-along. A hymn, then a chorus, then
still more verses. Hmm... that’s it? “Whatever the tortures of
hell,” declared Isaac Asimov, “I think the boredom of heaven
would be even worse.”
You might have similar reservations. Quiet, yet troubling ones.
Will eternity meet expectations? Can heaven deliver on its
promises? Jesus gives an assuring response to such questions:
Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in
Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If
this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to
prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come
and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. -
John 14:1–3
The movies have told you wrong. Those images of knee-high
fog banks, disembodied friends, and floating spirits? Forget
them. Jesus has gone to “prepare a place.” Like hell, heaven is
tangible and touchable: as real as the soil in your garden, as
physical as the fruit in your orchard. In fact, your garden and
fruit might look familiar in heaven. We assume God will destroy
this universe and relocate His children... but why would He?
When God created the heavens and earth, He applauded his
work. God saw:
The light... it was good.
The sea... it was good.
The grass... it was good.
The sun... the moon... it was good. - Genesis 1:3-11
Straight-A report card. One perfect score followed another.
God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very
good. - Genesis 1:31
Why obliterate a work of art? God never denounced His earth,
just our mistreatment of it. Besides, He is the God of
reclamation, not extermination. He restores, recovers, renews.
Expect and look for Him to do it again — to renew and reclaim
every square inch of what is rightfully His.
In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule
gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule. – Matthew
19:28
But what about the promises of the earth’s destruction? Peter
and John use A-bomb terminology.
Disappear with a roar... destroyed by fire... laid bare... passed
away. – 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 21:1
Won’t this planet be destroyed? Yes, but destruction need not
mean elimination. Our bodies provide a prototype. They will pass
away, return to dust. Yet the one who called Adam out of a dirt
pile will do so with us. Christ will reverse decomposition with
resurrection. Amino acids will regenerate. Lungs will awaken.
Molecules will reconnect. The mortal body will put on immortality
(1 Corinthians 15:53). The same is true about earth. Paul says
that the “whole creation groans and suffers the pains of
childbirth together until now” (Romans 8:22). Like a mother in
labor, nature looks toward her delivery day. We see the birth
pangs: floods, volcanoes, earthquakes. We contribute to them:
polluting the sky, pillaging the soil. God’s creation struggles, but
not forever.
He will purge, cleanse, and reconstruct His cosmos. In the
renewal of all things, pristine purity will flow, as Eden promised.
God grants glimpses of this future state. He designed an oculus
in this pantheon. Through it we see gold-drenched sunsets.
Diamond-studded night skies. Rainbows so arched in splendor
we have to stop and sigh. Appetizers of heaven.
But nothing compares with God’s crowning jewel: the New
Jerusalem. Christ will descend in a city unlike any the earth has
ever seen.
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming. - Revelation
21:2
Scripture reveals its jaw-dropping dimensions: an exact square
of 1,400 miles (Revelation 21:16). Large enough to contain all
the land mass from the Appalachians to the California coast —
Canada to Mexico. Forty times the size of England, ten times the
size of France, and larger than India. And that’s just the ground
floor.
The city stands as tall as it does wide. Supposing God stacks
floors in his metropolis as an architect would in a building, the
city would have over 600,000 stories, ample space for billions of
people to come and go. Come and go they will. The gates are
never closed (Revelation 21:25).
Why shut them? The enemies of God will be banished! The
wicked will be quarantined, leaving only a perfect place of
perfected people. You will be you at your best forever. Even now
you have your good moments. Occasional glimpses of your
heavenly self. When you change your baby’s diaper, forgive your
boss’s temper, tolerate your spouse’s moodiness, you display
traces of saintliness. It’s the other moments that sour life.
Tongue, sharp as a razor. Moods as unpredictable as Mount
Saint Helens. This part wearies you.
But God impounds imperfections at his gate. His light silences
the wolfman within.
Nothing that is impure will enter the city. - Revelation 21:27
Pause and let this promise drench you. Can you envision your
sinless existence? Just think what Satan has taken from you,
even in the last few hours. You worried about a decision and
envied someone’s success, dreaded a conversation and resented
an interruption. He’s been prowling your environs all day,
pickpocketing peace, joy, belly laughs, and honest love. Rotten
freebooter. But his days are numbered. Unlike he did in the
Garden of Eden, Satan will not lurk in heaven’s gardens.
There shall be no more curse. - Revelation 22:3
He will not tempt; hence, you will not stumble.
The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does
the will of God abides forever. - 1 John 2:17
You will be you at your best forever! And you’ll enjoy everyone
else at their prime! As it is, one of us is always a step behind.
Bad moods infect the best of families. Complaints shadow the
clearest days. Bad apples spoil bunches of us, but rotten fruit
doesn’t qualify for the produce section of heaven. Christ will
have completed his redemptive work. All gossip excised and
jealousy extracted. He will suction the last drop of orneriness
from the most remote corners of our souls.
You’ll love the result. No one will doubt your word, question
your motives, or speak evil behind your back. God’s sin purging
discontinues all strife.
Dare we imagine heaven’s dramatic reunions?
A soldier embracing the sharpshooter who killed him.
A daughter seeing her abusive but repentant father and holding
him.
A son encountering the mother who aborted him? No doubt
some will. And when they do, forgiveness will flow like water
over Iguaça Falls.
The wolf will live with the lamb. - Isaiah 11:6
God will wipe away every tear... there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying... for the former things have passed
away. - Revelation 21:4
No sin means no thieves, divorce, heartbreak, and no boredom.
You won’t be bored in heaven, because you won’t be the same
you in heaven. Boredom emerges from soils that heaven
disallows. The soil of weariness: our eyes tire. Mental
limitations: information overload dulls us. Self-centeredness: we
grow disinterested when the spotlight shifts to others. Tedium:
meaningless activity siphons vigor. But Satan will take these
weedy soils to hell with him, leaving you with a keen mind,
endless focus, and God-honoring assignments.
Yes, you will have assignments in heaven. God gave Adam and
Eve garden responsibilities. “Let them have dominion” (Genesis
1:26). He mantled the couple with leadership over “the fish of
the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the
earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth” (Genesis 1:26). Adam was placed in the garden “to tend
and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).
Adam and his descendants will do it again.
[God’s] servants shall serve Him. - Revelation 22:3
What is service if not responsible activity? Those who are faithful
over a few things will rule over many. - Matthew 25:21
You might oversee the orbit of a distant planetary system...
design a mural in the new city... monitor the expansion of a new
species of plants or animals.
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no
end. - Isaiah 9:7
God’s new world will be marked by increase. Increased planets?
Colors? Music? Seems likely. What does a creator do but create?
What do his happy children do but serve Him? We might serve in
the capacity we serve now. Couldn’t earthly assignments hint at
heavenly ones? Architects of Moscow might draw blueprints in
the new Liverpool. We will feast in heaven; you may be a cook
on Saturn. God filled His first garden with plants and animals.
He’ll surely do the same in heaven.
If so, He may entrust you with the care and feeding of an Africa
or two.
One thing is for sure: you’ll love it. Never weary, selfish, or
defeated. Clear mind, tireless muscles, unhindered joy. Heaven is
a perfect place of perfected people with our perfect Lord.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past
finding out! - Romans 11:33
Don’t assume we will exhaust our study of God. Endless
attributes await us. His grace will increasingly stun, wisdom
progressively astound, and perfection ever more sharpen into
focus. We serve a God so rapt with wonders that their viewing
requires an eternity. A God whose beauty enhances with
proximity. And this is the invitation He gives:
When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you
will always be with Me where I am. - John 14:3