Heaven (3 page)

In 1937, Scottish theologian John Baillie wrote, "I will not ask how often during the last twenty-five years you and I have
listened to an old-style warning against the flames of hell. I will not even ask how many sermons have been preached in our
hearing about a future day of reckoning when men shall reap according as they have sown. It will be enough to ask how many
preachers, dur­ing these years, have dwelt on the joys of heavenly rest with anything like the old ardent love and impatient
longing."
²⁷

If this was the case then, how much truer is it now? Heaven has fallen off our radar screens. How can we set our hearts on
Heaven when we have an im­poverished theology of Heaven? How can we expect our children to be excited about Heaven—or to stay
excited about it when they grow up? Why do we talk so little about Heaven? And why is the little we have to say so vague and
lifeless?

WHERE DO WE GET OUR

MISCONCEPTIONS?

Jesus said of the devil, "When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
Some of Satan's favorite lies are about Heaven. Revelation 13:6 tells us the satanic beast "opened his mouth to blas­pheme
God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven." Our enemy slanders three things: God's
person, God's people, and God's place—namely, Heaven.†

After being forcibly evicted from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15), the devil be­came bitter not only toward God, but toward mankind
and toward Heaven it­self, the place that was no longer his. It must be maddening for him that we're now entitled to the home
he was kicked out of. What better way for the devil and his demons to attack us than to whisper lies about the very place
on which God tells us to set our hearts and minds?

Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn't exist. He need only con­vince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly
existence. If we believe that lie, we'll be robbed of our joy and anticipation, we'll set our minds on this life and not the
next, and we won't be motivated to share our faith. Why should we share the "good news" that people can spend eternity in
a boring, ghostly place that even
we're
not looking forward to?

In
The Country of the Blind,
H. G. Wells writes of a tribe in a remote valley deep in a towering mountain range. During a terrible epidemic, all the villagers
lose their sight. Eventually, entire generations grow up having no awareness of sight or the world they're unable to see.
Because of their handicap, they do not know their true condition, nor can they understand what their world looks like. They
cannot imagine what realms might lie beyond their valley.

Spiritually speaking, we live in the Country of the Blind. The disease of sin has blinded us to God and Heaven, which are
real yet unseen. Fortunately, Jesus has come to our valley from Heaven to tell us about his father, the world be­yond, and
the world to come. If we listen to him—which will require a con­certed effort not to listen to the lies of the devil—we will
neverbe the same. Nor will we ever want to be.

Satan hates the New Heaven and the New Earth as much as a deposed dic­tator hates the new nation and new government that replaces
his. Satan cannot stop Christ's redemptive work, but he can keep us from seeing the breadth and depth of redemption that extends
to the earth and beyond. He cannot keep Christ from defeating him, but he can persuade us that Christ's victory is only partial,
that God will abandon his original plan for mankind and the earth.

Because Satan hates us, he's determined to rob us of the joy we'd have if we believed what God tells us about the magnificent
world to come.

RESISTING NATURALISM'S SPELL

C. S. Lewis depicts another source of our misconceptions about Heaven: natu­ralism, the belief that the world can be understood
in scientific terms, without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations.

In
The Silver Chair,
Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace are captured in a sunless underground world by an evil witch who calls herself the queen of
the under­world. The witch claims that her prisoners' memories of the overworld, Narnia, are but figments of their imagination.
She laughs condescendingly at their child's game of "pretending" that there's a world above and a great ruler of that world.

When they speak of the sun that's visible in the world above, she asks them what a sun is. Groping for words, they compare
it to a giant lamp. She replies, "When you try to think out clearly what this
sun
must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your
sun
is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp."

When they speak of Asian the lion, king of Narnia, she says they have seen cats and have merely projected those images into
the make-believe notion of a giant cat. They begin to waver.

The queen, who hates Asian and wishes to conquer Narnia, tries to deceive them into thinking that whatever they cannot perceive
with their senses must be imaginary—which is the essence of naturalism. The longer they are unable to see the world they remember,
the more they lose sight of it.

She says to them, hypnotically, "There never was any world but mine," and they repeat after her, abandoning reason, parroting
her deceptions. Then she coos softly, "There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Asian." This illustrates Satan's
power to mold our weak minds as we are trapped in a dark, fallen world. We're prone to deny the great realities of God and
Heaven, which we can no longer see because of the Curse.

Finally, when it appears they've succumbed to the queen's lies, Puddleglum breaks the spell and says to the enraged queen,
"Suppose we
have
only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Asian himself. Suppose we have.
Then all I can say is that . . . the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black
pit of a kingdom of yours
is
the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just
babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world
hollow."
²⁸

The truth is exactly the opposite of naturalism's premise—in fact, the dark world's lamps are copies of the sun, and its cats
are copies of Asian. Heaven isn't an extrapolation of earthly thinking; Earth is an extension of Heaven, made by the Creator
King. The realm Puddleglum and the children believe in, Narnia and its sun and its universe, is real, and the witch's world—which
she tempts them to believe is the only real world—is in fact a lesser realm, corrupted and in bondage.

When the queen's lies are exposed, she metamorphoses into the serpent she really is, whereupon Rilian, the human king and
Asian's appointed ruler of Narnia, slays her. The despondent slaves who'd lived in darkness are delivered. Light floods in,
and their home below becomes a joyous place again because they realize there is indeed a bright world above and Asian truly
rules the uni­verse. They laugh and celebrate, turning cartwheels and popping firecrackers.

Sometimes we're like Lewis's characters. We succumb to naturalistic as­sumptions that what we see is real and what we don't
see isn't. God can't be real, we conclude, because we can't see him. And Heaven can't be real because we can't see it. But
we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability
to see, they will conclude there are no stars.

We must work to resist the bewitching spell of naturalism. Sitting here in a dark world, we must remind ourselves what Scripture
tells us about Heaven. We will one day be delivered from the blindness that separates us from the real world. We'll realize
then the stupefying bewitchment we've lived under. By God's grace, may we stomp out the bewitching fires of naturalism so
that we may clearly see the liberating truth about Christ the King and Heaven, his Kingdom.

† The NASB supplies words not in the original (here, in italics), which make the three things that Satan slanders appear to
be only two: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle,
that is,
those who dwell in heaven." It equates God's dwelling place, his Tabernacle, with the people who live in Heaven. Hence it
retains the two familiar ideas of the objects of Satan's slander—God and his people—while not recognizing the less familiar
one, God's dwelling place, Heaven. The NASB reading offers an alternative understanding of the passage.

CHAPTER 2

IS HEAVEN BEYOND OUR IMAGINATION?

To speak of "imagining heaven" does not imply or entail that heaven is a fictional notion, constructed by deliberately disregarding
the harsher realities of the everyday world. It is to affirm the critical role of the God-given human capacity to construct
and enter into mental pictures of divine reality, which are mediated through Scripture and the subsequent tradition of reflection
and development. We are able to inhabit the mental images we create, and thence anticipate the delight of finally entering
the greater reality to which they correspond.

Alister McGrath

W
hen Marco Polo returned to Italy from the court of Kublai Khan, he de­scribed a world his audience had never seen—one that
could not be understood without the eyes of imagination. Not that China was an imaginary realm, but it was very different
from Italy. Yet as two locations on planet Earth inhabited by human beings, they had much in common. The reference points
of Italy allowed a basis for understanding China, and the differences could be spelled out from there.
²⁹

The writers of Scripture present Heaven in many ways, including as a gar­den, a city, and a kingdom. Because gardens, cities,
and kingdoms are familiar to us, they afford us a bridge to understanding Heaven. However, many people make the mistake of
assuming that these are
merely
analogies with no actual correspondence to the reality of Heaven (which would make them poor analo­gies). Analogies can be
pressed too far, but because Scripture makes it clear that Jesus is preparing a place for us, and God's Kingdom will come
to Earth, and a physical resurrection awaits us, there is no reason to spiritualize or allegorize all earthly descriptions
of Heaven. Indeed, some of them may be simple, factual statements. Too often we've been taught that Heaven is a non-physical
realm, which cannot have real gardens, cities, kingdoms, buildings, banquets, or bod­ies. So we fail to take seriously what
Scripture tells us about Heaven as a famil­iar, physical, tangible
place.

As human beings, whom God made to be both physical and spiritual, we are not designed to live in a non-physical realm—indeed,
we are incapable of even imagining such a place (or, rather,
non
-place). An incorporeal state is not only unfamiliar to our experience, it is also incompatible with our God-given consti­tution.
We are not, as Plato supposed, merely spiritual beings temporarily en­cased in bodies. Adam did not become a "living being"—the
Hebrew word
nephesh
—until he was both body
and
spirit (Genesis 2:7). We are physical be­ings as much as we are spiritual beings. That's why our bodily resurrection is es­sential
to endow us with eternal righteous humanity, setting us free from sin, the Curse, and death.

THE IMPORTANCE OF USING OUR IMAGINATION

We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine. That's why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bible—to
fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts. And that's why Satan will always discourage our imagination—or
misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture. As long as the resurrected universe remains either undesirable or
un­imaginable, Satan succeeds in sabotaging our love for Heaven.

After reading my novels that portray Heaven, people often tell me, "These pictures of Heaven are exciting. But are they based
on Scripture?" The answer, to the best of my understanding, is yes. Scripture provides us with a substantial amount of information,
direct and indirect, about the world to come, with enough detail to help us envision it, but not so much as to make us think
we can completely wrap our minds around it. I believe that God expects us to use our imagination, even as we recognize its
limitations and flaws. If God didn't want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, he wouldn't have told us as much about it
as he has.

Rather than ignore our imagination, I believe we should fuel it with Scrip­ture, allowing it to step through the doors that
Scripture opens. I did not come to the Bible with the same view of Heaven that I came away with. On the con­trary, as a young
Christian, and even as a young pastor, I viewed Heaven in the same stereotypical ways I now reject. It was only through years
of scriptural study, meditation, and research on the subject that I came to the view of Heaven I now embrace.

Nearly every notion of Heaven I present in this book was stimulated and re­inforced by biblical texts. Though some of my interpretations
and speculations are no doubt mistaken, they are not baseless. Rightly or wrongly, I have drawn most of them from my understanding
of the explicit and implicit teachings of Scripture. Discussions of Heaven tend to be either hyperimaginative or utterly unimaginative.
Bible believers have tended toward the latter, yet both ap­proaches are inadequate and dangerous. What we need is a biblically
inspired imagination.

We should ask God's help to remove the blinders of our preconceived ideas about Heaven so we can understand Scripture. The
apostle Paul said, "Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this" (2 Timothy 2:7). I encourage
you to pray, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18).

I've collected more than 150 books on Heaven, many of them very old and out of print, and I've read nearly all of them. One
thing I've found is that books about Heaven are notorious for saying we can't know what Heaven is like, but it will be more
wonderful than we can imagine. However, the moment we say that we can't imagine Heaven, we dump cold water on all that God
has revealed to us about our eternal home. If we can't envision it, we can't look forward to it. If Heaven is unimaginable,
why even try?

Everything pleasurable we know about life on Earth we have experienced through our senses. So, when Heaven is portrayed as
beyond the reach of our senses, it doesn't invite us; instead, it alienates and even frightens us. Our mis­guided attempts
to make Heaven "sound spiritual" (i.e., non-physical) merely succeed in making Heaven sound unappealing.

PICTURING HEAVEN

By the time you finish reading this book, you will have a biblical basis for envi­sioning the eternal Heaven. You will understand
that in order to get a picture of Heaven—which will one day be centered on the New Earth—you don't need to look up at the
clouds; you simply need to look around you and imagine what all this would be like without sin and death and suffering and
corruption.

When I anticipate my first glimpse of Heaven, I remember the first time I went snorkeling. I saw countless fish of every shape,
size, and color. And just when I thought I'd seen the most beautiful fish, along came another even more striking. Etched in
my memory is a certain sound—the sound of a gasp going through my rubber snorkel as my eyes were opened to that breathtaking
under­water world.

I imagine our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to similarly gasp in amazement and delight. That first gasp will likely
be followed by many more as we continually encounter new sights in that endlessly wonderful place. And that will be just the
beginning, because we will not see our real eternal home— the New Earth—until after the resurrection of the dead. And it will
be far better than anything we've seen.

So look out a window. Take a walk. Talk with your friend. Use your God-given skills to paint or draw or build a shed or write
a book. But imagine it—all of it—in its original condition. The happy dog with the wagging tail, not the snarling beast, beaten
and starved. The flowers unwilted, the grass undying, the blue sky without pollution. People smiling and joyful, not angry,
depressed, and empty. If you're not in a particularly beautiful place, close your eyes and envision the most beautiful place
you've ever been—complete with palm trees, raging rivers, jagged mountains, waterfalls, or snow drifts.

Think of friends or family members who loved Jesus and are with him now. Picture them with you, walking together in this place.
All of you have powerful bodies, stronger than those of an Olympic decathlete. You are laughing, playing, talking, and reminiscing.
You reach up to a tree to pick an apple or orange. You take a bite. It's so sweet that it's startling. You've never tasted
anything so good. Now you see someone coming toward you. It's Jesus, with a big smile on his face. You fall to your knees
in worship. He pulls you up and embraces you.

At last, you're with the person you were made for, in the place you were made to be. Everywhere you go there will be new people
and places to enjoy, new things to discover. What's that you smell? A feast. A party's ahead. And you're invited. There's
exploration and work to be done—and you can't wait to get started.

I have a biblical basis for all of these statements, and many more. After exam­ining what Scripture says, I hope that next
time you hear someone say, "We can't begin to imagine what Heaven will be like," you'll be able to tell them, "/can."

But before we go further, we need to address some frequently raised objec­tions.

IF "NO EYE HAS SEEN," HOW CAN WE KNOW?

A pastor visiting my office asked what I was writing. "A big book on Heaven," I said.

"Well," he replied, "since Scripture says 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared
for those who love him,' what will you be talking about? Obviously, we can't know what God has prepared for us in Heaven."
(He was referring to 1 Corinthians 2:9.)

I said to him what I always say: "You didn't complete the sentence. You also have to read verse ten." Here's how the complete
sentence reads: " 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'—
but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit"
(emphasis added). The context makes it clear that this revelation is God's Word (v. 13), which tells us what God has prepared
for us. After reading a few dozen books about Heaven, I came to instinctively cringe whenever I saw 1 Corinthians 2:9. It's
a wonderful verse; it's just that it's nearly always misused. It says
precisely the opposite
of what it's cited to prove!
†

What we otherwise could not have known about Heaven, because we're un­able to see it, God says
he has revealed to us through his Spirit.
This means that God has explained to us what Heaven is like. Not exhaustively, but accurately. God tells us about Heaven in
his Word, not so we can shrug our shoulders and remain ignorant, but because he wants us to understand and anticipate what
awaits us.

Other verses are likewise pulled out to derail discussions about Heaven. For example, "The secret things belong to the Lord
our God" (Deuteronomy 29:29). Heaven is regarded as a "secret thing." But the rest of the verse—again, rarely quoted—completes
the thought: "But the things re­vealed belong to us and to our chil­dren forever."

We should accept that many things about Heaven are secret and that God has countless surprises in store for us. But as for
the things God
has
revealed to us about Heaven, these things belong to us and to our children. It's critically important that we study and understand
them. That is
precisely
why God revealed them to us!

Although fundamentalists would discard the suggestion that heaven no longer is an active part of their belief system, eternal
life has become an unknown place or a state of vagut identity. Conservative Christians... do not return to the rich heavenly
images of previous generations. The drama of the future is decidedly this-worldly; it occurs during the period before and
during the millennium, not in a heavenly world.

COLLEEN MCDANNELL and

BERNHARD LANC

Another "silencer" is 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. Paul says that fourteen years earlier he was "caught up to paradise," where he
"heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell." Some people use this verse to say we should not discuss
what Heaven will be like. But all it says is that God didn't permit Paul to talk about his visit to Heaven. In contrast, God
commanded tht
apostle John to talk about his prolonged visit to Heaven, which he did in detail in the book of Revelation. Likewise, Isaiah
and Ezekiel wrote about what they saw in Heaven.

Although it's inappropriate for us to speculate on what Paul might have seen in Heaven, it's certainly appropriate to discuss
what John saw,
because God chose to reveal it to us.
If he didn't intend for us to understand it, why would he bother telling us about it? (When was the last time you wrote someone
a letter using words you didn't expect them to comprehend?) So, we
should
study, teach, and discuss God's revelation about Heaven given to us in his Word.

Certainly, not everything the Bible says about Heaven is easily envisioned. Consider Ezekiel's description of the living creatures
and their wheels, and the manifestation of God's glory that leaves the prophet groping for words (Ezekiel 1:4-28). Still,
many other passages concerning Heaven are much easier to grasp.

Isaiah 55:9 is another verse often cited in support of a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to Heaven: "As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." God's thoughts are indeed higher
than ours, but when he reduces his thoughts into words and reveals them in Scripture, he expects us to study them, meditate
on them, and understand them—again, not exhaustively, but accurately.

SETTING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS ON HEAVEN

"Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1). This is a direct command
to set our hearts on Heaven. And to make sure we don't miss the importance of a heaven-centered life, the next verse says,
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." God commands us to set our hearts and minds on Heaven.