One of the greatest, most fascinating things the Lord has revealed to me over the past few years is the true biblical concept of heaven. He’s showed me more and more that our definition of heaven or "the after-life" is almost completely unbiblical. What I mean by that is the concept of "floating around on clouds for all eternity singing songs". As He’s opened up the scriptures to me, I’ve been continually blown away and fascinated - truly, deeply, really.
The interesting thing is - if you were to ask most any Christian "Where do we go after we die?", they would answer "Heaven, to be with the Lord." Which is true. Then, if you were to ask them "Will we be resurrected as Jesus was?", they would say "Absolutely, 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of it." Which is also true. The third, and hopefully obvious question should then arise - "Are we going to be in resurrected bodies on the clouds of heaven?" This seems certainly foolish. And even worse, it dulls the very "hope laid up for us in heaven", which Paul said was the Colossians motivation for sincere faith and widespread love! (Colossians 1:5)
Why? Because there are many gaps missing. What about the earth? How can we have bodies in heaven? If Jesus comes back to the earth, will we stay in heaven… and the like.
Obviously - the greatest hope "laid up for us in heaven" is in deep, lasting communion with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father for all eternity. We understand that part well enough - the whole worshipping and being with our Triune God forever. But the fascinating part to me is not merely the "what", but the "why", "how, and "where" part of it! Paul says that God’s ultimate plan is not just the redemption of mankind, but the redemption of all things - things which are in heaven and things which are on earth - in Christ (Eph. 1:10-11) What does this mean? Literally - that one day the Father will unite heaven and earth together in a glorious harmony. The spiritual and the natural realms will come together, joined together in Christ! The new heavens and the new earth will be a joint realm of glory, filled with the Holiness of God and His people, His spotless Bride!
And we, the Bible speaks - will not float around forever in this place, but will have glorified physical bodies, where we will have real interaction in complete holiness with each other, angels, and God Himself. We will be worshipping, but that will look many different ways according to the last few chapters of Isaiah and Revelation, including doing real, meaningful and satisfying work, and ruling and reigning over the nations! God is coming to reign over every area of society on earth, as it is in heaven!
This is good news - the world is not going to hell while we go to heaven, heaven is coming down to us!And as I have only begun to learn these biblical truths, I see that others are receiving wisdom and revelation about this - including N.T. Wright, the now popular Christian Theologian. Praise God for him, I don’t know much about him but I’m thankful for men who are continually willing to let the Word burst age-old boxes with its’ life-changing truth.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html
This is really good Ryan.
Currently I am on the last book of the Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker and to be completly honest–it has totally moved me to think about heaven and Christ in a whole new way. To think that we are both the children of the Father and the Bride of Christ. I don’t see how it could get any better–and “O” I am only sure it will.
Blessings brother,
Ryan,
I am so excited to hear about what you have been learning concerning Heaven. I have been reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn and it has turned my ideas upside down about Heaven. It has led me to scriptures which like you said, I had heard before, but never had I filled the gaps and connected the dots. It is amazing how the enemy can use culture to veil God’s true destiny for us with the cheap idea of floating around in a purely spiritual realm where we have no identity and remember nothing about the evil earth. I have been relieved to find that my God-given passion to live with Christ in a physical sense, not just singing at Him by force forever, is not a mistake. God has given us a heart for Heaven if we are open to letting go of our pre-conceptions. I want to remember things on the old Earth in order to appreciate God’s gift of eternal life with Him. I want to walk with fellow members of the bride of Christ through the new Earth which will be filled with wonders far beyond even what God has shown us yet. I desire not to know everything instantly upon entering Heaven, but to spend endless days gazing into the depths of our infinite creator and never being able to get enough of Him. Just imagine being able to learn and discover new things forever! I want to have relationships with others as we serve God together. I am finally understanding that all of this is OK to want. God has designed us for a different existence in which we will not be strangers. How refreshing it is to not be bound by the idea that being in Christ ends with not going to Hell, but that it truly will begin with being resurrected with He who bore our sins that we might live in the joy of the presence of God while on an Earth that will be Heaven. Praise be to the God of all ages past and those we eagerly await.