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[Numbers]

Is the idea of strolling through Heaven with the angels too simplistic/literal? I remember the old British Arch Bishop of Canterbury saying so but didn't catch what he thought may happen. Thank you.

[jimwalton]

According to the Bible, heaven is a spiritual realm untainted by sin and is where God's presence dwells. The Bible only ever discusses heaven in abstract and figurative terms because it's not exactly something we can easily understand. It's very different from our physical world. It is not a place, exactly. It's not a part of our universe (the Hubble telescope will never find it). Heaven is usually mentioned in the Bible in one of two ways. On one hand, it's a place from which God rules: His presence and righteousness are there in full force. Jesus often talked about God's kingdom coming to Earth. We see Heaven as a place which is already entirely God's kingdom. He is always being worshiped there, by angels.

Biblically speaking, heaven is not our ultimate destination. Jesus didn't come to lead us away from Earth and off to heaven. He died physically and was raised back to life as something new, but still physical. The book of Revelation talks about how there will be a new heaven and new Earth in the end, that God will dwell here on Earth just as he dwells in Heaven, and that we will live (in resurrected bodies like Jesus') on the new Earth. So the common equivalency between Heaven and the afterlife is a bit of a mistake. Heaven was being used in this sense to refer to God's kingdom in general, but it became twisted into this idea that we would just leave Earth and spend eternity in heaven. That's not biblical. Our ultimate destination is a new (perfected in some way, but still physical) Earth.

Summarizing, in the OT, heaven was a throne on top of the dome that they called the firmament, and God sat on that throne. By the time we get to the gospels, Jesus speaks of it as the place where God rules over his kingdom—a more abstract reference than anything we see in the OT. By the time we get to Revelation, heaven is the "ideal" place where God, his purposes, his people, and eternity merge. God's people will spend eternity on a renewed earth, not "in heaven."

So then, heaven is also seen as sort of an ideal place where we want to spend our time after leaving this life. Let's talk about what happens when you die (as far as heaven is concerned).

We get a new body, one transformed from the mortal one here to an immortal one. But is it a "perfect" body? "Perfect" is probably the wrong word. 1 Corinthians 15.35-58 tells us that we get a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15.44). We aren't told it's perfect (a tough concept to define in any case); even Jesus' resurrection body still had scars on it (Thomas could reach out and feel them). We are told it is a different kind of body than our earthly ones: not subject to death (1 Cor. 15.42-43). So, we'll have physical immortality. We won't be floating spirits.

There is no sense that you lose aspects of your body to which you are emotionally attached, or that you lose your recognizable appearance. Samuel (1 Sam. 28), Moses & Elijah (Matt. 17 and par.) were recognizable and recognized.

What will life be like there? Let me try to approach that from this angle: For the most part, we don't get tired of life. We find meaningful relationships, meaningful education, meaningful interest pursuits (hobbies and fun), and meaningful work. And we go day after day, never thinking "I want this to stop." The only thing that makes life miserable is (1) the misery, and (2) old age that interferes with our meaningful relationships, education, interest pursuits and work. We would never want it to stop, especially if (1) we were meeting new and interesting people and growing in our relationships, (2) able to keep learning things that made life interesting, (3) able to pursue more and different interesting hobbies and fun, and (4) work that made us feel something significant. I've known people who got to the end of their lives and weren't anywhere near boredom, but wanted life to just keep going. People like Walt Disney and Steven Jobs are examples of that, but there are millions more examples of people like that.

Heaven is a place of growing interest. In Luke 19.11-27, Jesus tells a parable about "when the kingdom of God appears." Many people believe that he's talking about heaven and hell. In the story, people in "heaven" are rewarded with jobs and responsibility, much like we have here on earth. The book of Revelation describes heaven as being on this earth (Rev. 21.2), and it describes heaven as a city (Rev. 21.10). God wants a world that is heaven and earth together. It makes sense to me that life in heaven will be filled with productive labor, meaningful activity, great relationships, and lots to do. It certainly won't be sitting around playing harps. That would kill any of us.

Watchman Nee wrote, "Heaven is not a place of inactivity, but we shall be called to a greater work." The reward for responsibility is more responsibility. To him who has, more will be given.

Isaiah 65 makes it sound like people will build houses (v. 21) and do work that is productive and fulfilling (23). Zechariah 14.16 makes mention of worship, as does much of Revelation. Matthew 25.14-30 also mentions "I will put you in charge of many things."

In a speculative vein, what if God starts creating again (since being creative is his nature), and there are more worlds to explore, and new worlds to explore, and every day something new is popping up (since God is infinite in his creative nature) to do, see, and enjoy? It's a fascinating prospect—a God of infinite creative ability letting loose again for our continual enthusiasm and inspiration.

I actually think that Anne Rice tried to deal with these thoughts in her "Interview with a Vampire." It seemed to be about "What would it be like to live forever?" The ability to live for centuries took its toll on the characters, and we see them wandering in and out of interest and boredom, abusive and meaningful relationships, self-loathing and self-motivation. In essence, I think the book was about how meaningless life can be when it is founded on self-orientation. Interestingly, shortly after writing the book, Anne returned to Catholicism where she wrote several stories about Jesus, finding a whole different orientation to life that changed its purpose and inspiration. (To be fair, I believe that she has once again deserted the faith and describes herself as a secular humanist.) My point is, however, that life grounded on self-orientation too easily lapses into boredom and fear, but life grounded in an eternal Dimension (God) that knows no bounds or limitations only finds one fulfillment after another, and a continuing stream of interest and inspiration.

What will life be like? Fulfilling, purposeful, active, enjoyable, meaningful, good, moral, and fun. Will we stroll the streets with angels? Maybe, but that's a minuscule part of what we know, if that's even so. Will we play harps? Absolutely not.

[Numbers]

Thank you. I keep coming back to this for another read.