Resources by Topic: Heaven

During a spectacular meteor shower years ago, I stood on our deck watching a clear sky. Part of the fun was hearing oohs and aahs in the distance, from neighbors looking upward. Multiply these oohs and aahs by ten thousand times ten thousand, and it’ll suggest our thunderous response to what our Father will do in the new heavens as we look upward from the New Earth.

Earlier this month, I visited First Baptist of Leesburg, Florida and spoke at their weekend services. I also did an evening Q&A with Pastor Cliff, and we covered a range of topics and questions. The ministries on that church campus are remarkable!

When I taught a theology of Heaven class, I was asked, “How accessible will Jesus be to us on the New Earth?” On the one hand, Jesus is a man, and man is finite and limited to one location. On the other hand, Jesus is God, and God is infinite and omnipresent.  

During Randy’s visit to First Baptist Church in Leesburg Florida, he spoke with Pastor Cliff Lea in a question-and-answer session. They talk about grief, Heaven, if we can know when the Lord is going to return, and more.

“To die will be an awfully big adventure,” says Peter Pan. But it will be a wonderful, big adventure only for those who are covered by the blood of Christ. Those who die without Jesus will experience a horrifying tragedy. Of course, dying is not the real adventure. Death is merely the doorway to eternal life. 

I always enjoy anytime I get to have a conversation with Sean McDowell, who teaches at Biola/Talbot and has a very engaging and helpful YouTube channel on apologetics. Sean and I did another Q&A on Heaven recently, with some different questions and answers.

Some Christians struggle with the idea of believers participating in glory because they think glory belongs to God alone. But future glory also belongs to those on whom God chooses to endow it—His children and especially His most faithful children in this life. 

Based on what you’ve shared it sounds like you are deeply disappointed with God because He hasn’t given you “the desires of your heart” by bringing a partner into your life. You are lonely and want to experience what you believe others have and believe you won’t ever get to enjoy. That’s a tough place to be and if it were a true representation of who God is and how He treats His children, you’d have a very good reason to be depressed and angry.

A dad who loved his daughter on Earth is unlikely to love her less when he’s been freed from sin’s grasp and has finally experienced love in a way none of us can before we join God in His presence. It’s hard to know how that will change us—though I’m sure it will. Yet I’m also sure it will be a change for the better and one we’ll enjoy, not regret.

The unifying testimony of the human heart throughout history is belief in life after death. Anthropological evidence suggests that every culture has a God-given, innate sense of the eternal—that this world is not all there is.

It’s true that Scripture describes Hell in graphic terms (raging fires, worm that doesn’t die, darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth). We don’t know exactly what the nature of the present Hell is, just as we don’t know exactly whether the present Heaven is a physical place or not. 

As they have served God and people, angels will continue to serve Jesus and His people on the New Earth. In Scripture, we see them worshipping God (Revelation 7:11), which will continue on the New Earth.

Keep sharing your dreams with Jesus and allowing Him to use your struggles here to prepare you to be a compassionate and wise ruler wherever He chooses to put you.

This will be my first Christmas without Nanci since 1968, the year we met. It will also be her first Christmas in the direct presence of Jesus. Writing that just filled my eyes with tears of overwhelming joy. She is having Christmas with the One it’s named after, with the One who bought our way to Heaven, with the One who is both her best friend, and mine.