Trying to explain to humans what heaven’s like must be like trying to explain to a 4-year-old what romantic intimacy is like. To them, the best thing in life is the playground & Paw Patrol. They can’t understand grown-up stuff – it’s too abstract. That’s why Scripture describes heaven like this: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”…(1 Cor. 2:9). In other words, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Heaven is such a different realm that words can’t convey it fully to our unglorified minds (2 Cor. 12:4). But in another sense, heaven is an expansion & intensification of all the good things we now know. The wondrous parts of this world are just a foretaste of greater things to come. It’s difficult to imagine anything more beautiful than the world we already inhabit with its majestic mountains, ocean sunsets, rolling green pastures, clear-blue lakes, & fiery Autumn forests. The most beautiful music of this world wouldn’t hold a candle to the music of heaven. Everything we count in this world as good is an inferior imitation.
When we talk of heaven, we’re actually referring to 2 different realms. The first is the realm we enter when we die. It’s also called “Paradise,” the “Father’s house,” or even “Abraham’s bosom”. Our soul/spirit is with the Lord in peace & comfort (John 14:2, Luke 23:42, 16:22-23, 2 Cor. 5:6-8, 12:4, Phil. 1:21-23). But this is only temporary until the Great Day of the Lord, when Christ returns & all the righteous & faithful receive their glorified, immortal, resurrection bodies (1 Cor. 15).
That’s when the Lord creates the new heavens & new earth where we live forever (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1). While the current heaven is a realm fit for souls/spirits, the new realm will be fit for a new kind of existence in non-material bodies made of some kind of transformed substance. This eternal situation is described as the New Jerusalem or Holy City, a better country, & similar to the Garden of Eden (Rev. 2:7, 22:1-2, Heb. 11:10). We read of golden streets & pearly gates, but these familiar figures are likely only symbols because our limited minds can’t imagine any substance with more grandeur.
From the moment we’re saved, we begin to experience a measure of heaven because God’s Kingdom is within us (Luke 17:21). We presently enjoy Christ’s abiding presence & the Holy Spirit as a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (Eph. 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 5:5, Matt. 28:20). We tend to focus on material things, but heaven is far more relational. God made humans for fellowship with Him, so in heaven His will is made complete. At Christ’s return, we will be fully identified with the Lord (Rev. 3:5, 12, 21, 1 John 3:2).
And since our present relationship includes worship, it’s only in heaven that we’ll experience full worship. Revelation gives us several glimpses of worship in heaven. The figures of the 4 living creatures, 24 elders, multitudes of angels & people in white robes, & the 144,000 all singing & praising demonstrate the significance of worship in heaven (Rev. 4:8-11, 5:11-12, 7:9-10, 11:16-18, 14:3, 13). Additionally, the figure of the “new song” gives us an idea of the fuller expression & quality of heavenly worship along with the imagery of harps & palm branches.
Not only will our worship continue, but our service will have a fuller meaning. Love & gratitude naturally result in service; & since heaven will be a greater occasion for these, so will our service be greater. But we won’t grumble there as we sometimes do here. At the same time, heaven will be a “place” of rest – an eternal Sabbath (Heb. 4:9-10). Our work here under the conditions of the Curse will be completed, so service will not be something to be endured, but gladly desired (Gen. 3:17, Rev. 7:14-15, 19:5, 22:3).
Heaven will be a situation of full glory. When Christ first came, His glory wasn’t fully revealed. But when He returns, we will be able to see His full glory. We experience a measure of God’s glory now, but in heaven we’ll experience it fully by sharing in Christ’s glory (2 Cor. 3:18, 2 Thess. 2:14).
So as we’re learning what it means to live as God’s people now, we’re better prepared for heaven. It’s more than OK to enjoy life because Jesus’ abundant life doesn’t start in heaven; it starts here(John 10:10). God wants us to enjoy what He’s given us, but there’s so much more waiting for us!
A quote that stuck with me since I first heard it as a kid on the TV show “All in the Family” came when the Bunkers’ atheist son-in-law asks why there’s so much unhappiness & suffering in the world. Simple-hearted Edith quietly responds, “Maybe so when we get to heaven, we’ll notice the improvement.”
Yes, there’ll be no sin, sorrow, suffering, or death – that alone makes everything much better! Those negative experiences keep us from becoming too attached to this temporary reality.
God’s given us longings that will never be fulfilled here. We’ll never be completely happy here because we’re not yet where we were made to be. One day, we’ll look back on all this as little more than playgrounds & Paw Patrol. So let’s keep living as “aliens & strangers in the world,” remembering that heaven is our true home (1 Pet. 2:11, Heb. 11:13-16).