October 11th, 2013

John 14:2-3 — In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

We were talking about Heaven today. People have some odd ideas about Heaven. It seems some of us have somehow gained the cartoon impression of Heaven — people dressed in white robes sitting on clouds, playing harps. How depressing! Others hold to what I call the “chocolate box theory”. Cherry pick all the things you like best in this life — grandma, your puppy, the New York Symphony,your handsome husband — they’ll be in heaven.

Randy Alcorn has written a masterly book on the subject of Heaven and I must say that, in a way, he confirms some of the chocolate box notion. He argues that we can reasonably expect continuity between this life and the next wherever it would make sense. That works for me. God is good, and He gives us all things richly to enjoy. Why, then would He take those things away?

But perhaps some of the strangest misconceptions about Heaven relates to where it is and where we might actually be going to spend eternity. So let’s clear that up.
Here’s the deal. If you’re saved, you go to Heaven — but that Heaven is a temporary home. Our final destination is right here on earth … but it’s a new earth. John saw it and wrote in The Revelation, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Redemption is not just the ransoming and rescue of you and me. It’s the rescue and restoration of creation. God’s plan has not failed. It cannot fail. The ultimate testimony to that certainty will be the Savior dwelling with His people in the New Jerusalem.

There’s a lot that is not explicit about a lot of the details of our wonderful future. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 we find, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” Did you catch that second part? “God hath revealed into us by His Spirit”. That means that if we look, we can find plenty of hints in the Bible. Here’s a few to be going on with:

That’s just a small sample of the many Bible verses about Heaven. And after the heavenly way station, we will live with Jesus on the new earth. We don’t have to guess or imagine what it will be like. God has told us!