Heaven (16 page)
Authors: Randy Alcorn
"Heavenly" transcends "earthly" but does not negate it. The earthly becomes heavenly, not losing its original properties but
gaining much more. (It loses the properties that came with the Curse, of course, but
those were not its original properties))
In 1 Corinthians 15, the Resurrection is repeatedly depicted as overcoming the Curse. Our bodies in their present condition
are referred to as perishable, corrupted, dishonorable, and weak in relationship to the death which results in burial. The
passage culminates in verses 51-57, which speak of the sounding of the last trumpet, at which time the perishable will put
on the imperishable, and the mortal will put on immortality. Then death will be swallowed up in victory. Its sting will be
forever removed. Why? Because
sin
will be removed ("the sting of death is sin").
This great passage about bodily resurrection does not simply focus on a new state and a new life, but also on
the reversal of the Curse, and the conquest of sin and death.
With all its allusions to what is new, it is nonetheless
a passage of restoration of the old.
It introduces glorious newness—but before anything else, it conquers all that sin and death and the Curse bring to humanity,
human relationships and activities (including culture), and the earth itself. God will restore us and the earth to what he
made us to be. Then, in resurrection and glorification, he will take what was and make it far greater yet.
THE PROMISE OF IMPERISHABLE BODIES
When Paul speaks of ourresurrection bodies, he says, "The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is
sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised
a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
The following chart summarizes the contrasts in this passage:
When Paul uses the term "spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:44), he is not talking about a body made of spirit, or an incorporeal
body—there is no such thing.
Body
means corporeal: flesh and bones. The word
spiritual here
is an adjective describing
body,
not negating its meaning. A spiritual body is first and foremost a real body or it would not qualify to be called a body.
Paul could have simply said, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spirit," if that were the case. Judging from Christ's
resurrection body, a spiritual body appears most of the time to look and act like a regular physical body, with the exception
that it may have (and in Christ's case it
does
have) some powers of a metaphysical nature; that is, beyond normal physical abilities.
Paul goes on to say, "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man
from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit
the imperishable.. . . We will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying
that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death,
is your sting?'" (1 Corinthians 15:49-50, 52-55).
When Paul says that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," he's referring to our flesh and blood
as they are now.
cursed and under sin. Our present bodies are fallen and destructible, but our future bodies—though still bodies in the fullest
sense—will be untouched by sin and indestructible. They will be like Christ's resurrection body—both physical
and
indestructible.
One Bible student told me that he couldn't believe that the risen Christ might have DNA. But why not? Who created DNA in the
first place? Christ explicitly said that his body was of flesh and bones. Flesh and bones have DNA. There is no reason to
believe that his new body doesn't. Is Christ a
former
descendant of Abraham and David, or is the glorified Christ in Heaven still their descendant? I believe his claim to rulership
in the Millennium and on the New Earth depends in part on the fact that he remains, and will always remain, an actual, physical
descendant of Abraham and David.
A body need not be destructible in order to be real. Our destructibility is an aberration of God's created norm. Death, disease,
and the deterioration of age are products of sin. Because there was no death before the Fall, presumably Adam and Eve's original
bodies were either indestructible or self-repairing (perhaps healed by the tree of life, as suggested in Revelation
22:2).
Yet they were truly flesh and blood.
Scripture portrays resurrection as involving both fundamental continuity and significant dissimilarity. We dare not minimize
the dissimilarities—for our glorification will certainly involve a dramatic and marvelous transformation. But, in my experience,
the great majority of Christians have underemphasized continuity. They end up thinking of our transformed selves as no longer
being ourselves, and the transformed Earth as no longer being the earth. In some cases, they view the glorified Christ as
no longer being the same Jesus who walked the earth—a belief that early Christians recognized as heresy.
Many of us look forward to Heaven more now than we did when our bodies functioned well. Joni Eareckson Tada says it well:
"Somewhere in my broken, paralyzed body is the seed of what I shall become. The paralysis makes what I am to become all the
more grand when you contrast atrophied, useless legs against splendorous resurrected legs. I'm convinced that if there are
mirrors in heaven (and why not?), the image I'll see will be unmistakably 'J°m>' although a much better, brighter Joni."
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Inside your body, even if it is failing, is the blueprint for your resurrection body. You may not be satisfied with your current
body or mind—but you'll be thrilled with your resurrection upgrades. With them you'll be better able to serve and glorify
God and enjoy an eternity of wonders he has prepared for you.
† For Paul's exposition of the resurrection of the dead, see 1 Corinthians 15:12-58.
*The basic principles of Christoplatonism are explained in chapter 6, and a more complete explanation of Christoplatonism's
false assumptions can be found in appendix A.
† Even if Christ's resurrection body has capabilities that ours won't, we know we'll still be able to stretch the capacities
of our perfected human bodies to their fullest, which will probably seem supernatural to us compared to what we've known.
WHY DOES ALL CREATION AWAIT OUR RESURRECTION?
The kingdom of God. . . does not mean merely the salvation of certain individuals nor even the salvation of a chosen group
of people. It means nothing less than the complete renewal of the entire cosmos, culminating in the new heaven and the new
earth.
Anthony Hoekema
T
he gospel is far greater than most of us imagine. It isn't just good news for us—it's good news for animals, plants, stars,
and planets. It's good news for the sky above and the earth below. Albert Wolters says, "The redemption in Jesus Christ means
the restoration of an original good creation."
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BROADENING OUR VIEW OF REDEMPTION
Many of us have come tothink of redemption far too narrowly. That's why we're fooled into thinking that Heaven must be fundamentally
different from Earth—because in our minds, Earth is bad, irredeemable, beyond hope. However, "the teaching that the new creation
involves a radically new beginning," writes theologian Cornelius Venema, "would suggest that sin and evil have become so
much a part of the substance of the present created order that it is unrelievedly and radically evil. . . . It would even
imply that the sinful rebellion of the creation had so ruined God's handiwork as to make it irretrievably wicked."
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But let's not forget that God called the original earth "very good"—the true earth, as he designed it to be (Genesis 1:31).
The breadth and depth of Christ's redemptive work will escape us as long as we think it is limited to humanity. In Colossians
1:16-20, notice that God highlights his plan for the church, but then he goes beyond it, emphasizing "all things," "everything,"
"things on earth," and "things in Heaven":
For by him [Jesus]
all things
were created:
things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things
were created by him and for him. He is before
all things,
and in him
all things
hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that
in
everything
he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself
all things,
whether
things on earth
or
things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross, (emphasis added)
God was pleased to reconcile to himself
all things, on Earth and in Heaven.
The Greek words for "all things,"
tapanta,
are extremely broad in their scope.
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Eugene Peterson captures the universal implications of Christ's redemption when he paraphrases Colossians 1:18-20 in
The Message:
"He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's
there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place
in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals
and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down
from the Cross."
The power of Christ's resurrection is enough not only to remake us, but also to remake every inch of the universe—mountains,
rivers, plants, animals, stars, nebulae, quasars, and galaxies. Christ's redemptive work extends resurrection to the far reaches
of the universe. This is a stunning affirmation of God's greatness. It should move our hearts to wonder and praise.
ALL CREATION WAITS IN EAGER EXPECTATION
Do you ever sense creation's restlessness? Do you hear groaning in the cold night wind? Do you feel the forest's loneliness,
the ocean's agitation? Do you hear longing in the cries of whales? Do you see blood and pain in the eyes of wild animals,
or the mixture of pleasure and pain in the eyes of your pets? Despite vestiges of beauty and joy, something on this earth
is terribly wrong. Not only God's creatures but even inanimate objects seem to feel it. But there's also hope, visible in
springtime after a hard winter. As Martin Luther put it, "Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books
alone, but in every leaf in springtime."
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The creation hopes for, even anticipates,
resurrection.
That's exactly what Scripture tells us.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from
its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so,
but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19-23)
The "redemption of our bodies" refers to the resurrection of the dead. Paul says that not only we but "the whole creation"
awaits the earthwide deliverance that will come with our bodily resurrection. Not only mankind in general but believers in
particular (those with God's Spirit within) are aligned with the rest of creation, which intuitively reaches out to God for
deliverance. We know what God intended for mankind and the earth, and therefore we have an object for our longing. We groan
for what creation groans for—redemption. God subjected the whole creation to frustration by putting the Curse not only on
mankind but also on the earth (Genesis 3:17). Why? Because human beings and the earth are inseparably linked. And as together
we fell, together we shall rise. God will transform the fallen human race into a renewed human race and the present Earth
into the New Earth.
What does it mean that creation waits for God's children to be revealed? Our Creator, the Master Artist, will put us on display
to a wide-eyed universe. Our revelation will be an unveiling, and we will be seen as what we are, as what we were intended
to be—God's image-bearers. We will glorify him by ruling over the physical universe with creativity and camaraderie, showing
respect and benevolence for all we rule. We will be revealed at our resurrection, when our adoption will be finalized and
our bodies redeemed. We will be fully human, with righteous spirits and incorruptible bodies.
AS MANKIND GOES, SO GOES CREATION
John Calvin writes in his commentary on Romans 8:19, "I understand the passage to have this meaning—that there is no element
and no part of the world which is being touched, as it were, with a sense of its present misery, that does not intensely hope
for a resurrection."
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What is "the whole creation" that groans for our resurrection? The phrase appears to be completely inclusive of "the heavens
and the earth" that God created in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). So it is the heavens and the earth that eagerly await our
resurrection. This includes Earth and everything on it, as well as the planets of our solar system and the far reaches of
our galaxy and beyond. If it was created, Paul includes it in "the whole creation."
Why does the creation wait eagerly for our resurrection? For one simple but critically important reason:
As mankind goes, so goes all of creation.
Thus, just as all creation was spoiled through our rebellion, the deliverance of all creation hinges on our deliverance. The
glorification of the universe hinges on the glorification of a redeemed human race. The destiny of all creation rides on
our coattails. What possible effect could our redemption have on galaxies that are billions of light years away? The same
effect that our fall had on them. Adam and Eve's sin did not merely create a personal catastrophe or a local, Edenic catastrophe;
it was a catastrophe of cosmic—not just global—proportions.
Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to
the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned
. . . she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the
Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.
C. S. LEWIS
Astronomy has been my hobby since childhood. Years before I came to know Christ, I was fascinated by the violent collisions
of galaxies, explosions of stars, and implosions into neutron stars and black holes. The second law of thermodynamics, entropy,
tells us that all things deteriorate. This means that everything was once in a better condition than it is now. Children and
stars can both be born, but both ultimately become engaged in a downward spiral. Even the remotest parts of the universe
reveal vast realms of fiery destruction. On the one hand, these cataclysms declare God's greatness. On the other hand, they
reflect something that is out of order on a massive scale.
It seems possible that even the second law of thermodynamics (at least as it is popularly understood) may have been the product
of mankind's fall. If true, it demonstrates the mind-boggling extent of the Curse. The most remote galaxy, the most distant
quasar, was somehow shaken by mankind's sin.
†
Adherents of some views of the origin of the universe believe that entropy (i.e., all things tend toward deterioration and
disorder) has
alwaysbeen
operative. But we should not look at things as they are now and assume they've always been this way. In 2 Peter 3:4-7, the
Bible rejects the uniformitarian view that "processes acting in the same manner as at present and over long spans of time
are sufficient to account for all current. . . features [in the universe] and all past. . . changes."
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We are so accustomed to the cycle of death in nature that we assume it is natural and has always been as it is. The Bible
appears to say otherwise: "Death came through a man [Adam]" (1 Corinthians 15:21). I see no biblical evidence for the assumption
that God designed his creation to fall into death, or that animal death predated mankind's fall. Do artists deliberately
inject decay into their work? Would an omnipotent Artist do so Both Genesis and Romans 8 suggest otherwise. (I am well aware
that many will disagree with me on this, but I state it based on my understanding of Romans 8.)
Isn't it reasonable to suppose that the pristine conditions of God's original creation were such that humans and animals would
not die, stellar energy would be replenished, and planets would not fall out of orbit? What if God intended that our dominion
over the earth would ultimately extend to the entire physical universe? Then we would not be surprised to see the whole creation
come under our curse, because it would all be under our stewardship.
"Even after the fall," writes theologian Erich Sauer, "the destiny and the redemption of the earth remain indissolubly united
with the existence and development of the human race. The redemption of the earth is, in spite of all, still bound up with
man. . . .
Man
is the instrument for the redemption of the earthly creation. And because this remains God's way and goal, there can be a
new heaven and a new earth only
after
the great white throne, i.e., after the completion and conclusion of the history of human redemption."
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WAS THERE REALLY NO DEATH?
God made seasons, and I wouldn't be surprised if in Eden the colors of autumn leaves were more brilliant than we see on the
present Earth. This "death" of leaves in the fall could be part of a living tree's beauty, not its curse. Did leaves ever
fall in Eden? Once they fell, did they rot? Eventually wouldn't the earth have been covered with leaves? God made us to consume
vegetation, which doesn't involve harm or suffering. Why shouldn't he allow it to decompose through natural processes? Did
Adam and Eve step ankle deep in human and animal waste because it did not decay? Was there no compost to enrich the garden?
Wine requires fermentation, a form of decay. Did bread not rise?
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All of these natural processes could easily have been part of God's original design. What I believe was
not
part of his ideal world was the suffering and death of living creatures. I see no evidence that suffering and death could
be part of a world God called "very good."
I realize this raises inevitable objections. Were there no carnivores before the Fall? From the shape of their teeth and claws
to the position of their eyes to their digestive systems, it could be argued that carnivores were designed by their creator
to stalk, capture, and kill their prey. Were foxes designed to keep rodents in check, and falcons made to dive to catch and
eat fish? Did the lion "eat straw like the ox" as we are told he will one day (Isaiah 11:7)? Was it true in Eden as it will
be on the New Earth, "[Animals] will neither harm nor destroy" (Isaiah 11:9)? Many think otherwise, but I believe the answer
is yes.
I realize that if there was no food chain, then the animal world of Eden was different than the animal world we know today.
Indeed, our entire ecosystem was likely changed more by the Fall than we can imagine. We don't know what the animals in Eden
looked like. Did God change their form as part of the Curse—or as a way to help them survive after the Curse? Is it possible
that originally cheetahs ran for the sheer joy of it rather than to chase their prey? Could a lion have been capable of tearing
apart other animals but have no desire to do so? Could he be powerful, even with sharp teeth, without being a killer? I think
so. There is a special beauty in great power that refrains from doing harm, as Jesus himself demonstrated.