HEAVEN

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I established earlier that believers do not obtain their reward until the return of Jesus. It is worth reading carefully the relevant verses in 1Peter1. Peter states three times in this passage that the believer's reward will be given in the last time when Jesus is revealed. He also writes in 1Pet5v4: And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

The New Testament writers stress the quality of the new life believers receive at the resurrection rather than its nature. Peter describes it as an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade; it results in the Christian being awarded praise, glory and honour; the followers of Jesus finally prove the grace of God by receiving the salvation of their souls. Peter joins Paul in looking forward to receiving a crown of glory from the righteous judge in the day of his coming.

Jesus talks about giving eternal life to his followers in John17v1to3: After Jesus said this he looked towards heaven and prayed, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." It will be wonderful to know God and Jesus even as we are fully known. 1Cor13v12. Jesus indicates something of the glory of our new lives at the conclusion to his explanation of the Parable of the Weeds: "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Mt13v43.

We do not have many details of the nature of eternal life. Jesus says in Luke20v35to36: "But those who are considered worthy in taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection." We also read in Rev21v4: There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

We are not told how we shall live and what we shall do. Nor do I think it is very clear where we shall be. It is worth remembering what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and the assurance given by John to his friends. See references. We cannot imagine what God has prepared for us. Christians have not been told what they will be. It is enough to anticipate being like the blessed master, the firstfruits of them that sleep.

Will we spend that new life in heaven? It would have been easy for the writers of the New Testament to have stated unequivocally and frequently that this was the believer's eternal destiny. Jesus does say, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." John17v24. We also read at the end of Paul's description of the coming of the Lord: And so we will be with the Lord for ever. See 1Thes4v13to18. You might say, "Well, that is clear enough. Jesus is in heaven now - so we go back to be with him there for ever."

I think we should pause and ask, "What is heaven?" Jesus said, "This, then, is how you should pray,


Does this mean that heaven is a place! Is the being who created time and space confined to a place. I think it very unlikely. The trouble is we cannot understand existing outside time and space. C.S. Lewis tried to make it a little clearer by asking us to imagine the characters in a novel trying to work out how they got there. They would be able to deduce from clues in the novel that they were created. They might understand that the author was in some respects like them. However, they could never comprehend how the author existed outside the book. They might suppose he existed in another book, a sort of parallel book, but they would be wrong. God does not exist in a sort of parallel universe. He does not exist like us at all. When Jesus ascended into heaven he did not move to another place. He wasn't like a character in a novel moving to a different book. He was like a character in a novel leaving the book to share existence with the author. Jesus talks about God in heaven because that is the only language we understand - but it doesn't mean that God is a being of time and space.

The question remains - do we move from one book to another after the resurrection or do we share the same form of existence as the author. Do we go to heaven or is a new universe created for us? On the whole the Bible suggests that we will be given a new space. We do remain bodily beings. Peter writes about the creation of new heavens and earth. This is theme repeated in Rev21. See references. I don't fully understand what the passage in Revelation means but it suggests that a new world is made for us in which God's presence and the presence of Jesus is apparent.

Jesus says John14v3: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. However, it is a place he will share with us after he has raised us up at his return.

The writer to the Hebrews also thinks in terms of a place. Heb11v16: Instead, they (the heroes of faith) were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Heb13v14: For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

There is much we cannot know about the future existence of the righteous. The Bible does not keep telling us that the godly go to heaven. Instead it emphasises that the reward of the faithful is to receive eternal life when Jesus returns to earth. It seems unlikely that we can ever exist as God exists. He is the creator and we are his creations. So I do not think that the believer's eternal destiny is heaven but another place - a new earth with its new heavens, a better country, the enduring city, the new Jerusalem - prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Wherever we are we shall be like Jesus and he will make his dwelling amongst us.

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