Heaven – What is it Like?
Barbara Henderson
Heaven is the home of God. God is utterly and continually perfect. Christians naturally have a curiosity about
heaven because that is where we will spend eternity. But can we know what it is really like? How about all these people who have ‘been to
heaven’ and came back to tell us what it is like? The first place we go to evaluate anything is
the Bible. It gives us the base by which
everything else is evaluated. So, what
does the Bible say about heaven? This is
important because Christianity stands or falls on ‘scripture alone’. The experiences of man, no matter how unusual
or interesting, have no place in Christian theology. This is what the scripture says about heaven.
‘ 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.’ 1 Corinthians 2:9
Mankind simply does not have the
mental capacity to understand what heaven will be like. We know it will be wonderful beyond
comprehension. We know John saw heaven,
but he didn’t spend any time describing it.
I believe there are two reasons for this. First, John’s goal and the goal of the Bible
is to give individuals the information they need to actually get to
heaven. It isn’t to satisfy our
curiosity. Second, John could not
describe it effectively because we can’t comprehend it. I suppose a third item would be glory to
God. It isn’t about how John perceived
it, as in the devil looked like this, and angels looked like that, and I saw
family members, or anything like that.
It would be overwhelming awe in the presence of God.
We don’t need human descriptions of
what heaven is like. There is no way to
interpret personal experience in light of scripture. Many people, my self included, have had
experiences that are without explanation.
I don’t know what to make of it.
I am sure I am not crazy. But,
how does that fit into Bible teachings?
It doesn’t. To try to make
something out of an experience without explanation is to step into the
whirlpool of emotionalism and feelings over facts. It moves us into the group of those who never
have enough evidence. They are always
looking for ‘signs and wonders’ instead of just taking the Bible
literally.
However, Jesus did give us a big clue
regarding heaven when He blessed the little children and said, ‘such is the
kingdom of heaven’. There are wonderful
things about children that we can comprehend on some level. What is about children that would be the same
as heaven?
Innocence. Children are born sinners like all human
beings, but they do have an innocence about them. They haven’t been hurt or disappointed.
Enthusiasm. Children can be happy in the moment. Whatever comes up gives them enjoyment.
Unconditional love. Kids just love you. They love everybody.
Trusting. Kids believe you. I understand that kids gradually become
adults and lose their innocence, their trust, their enthusiasm, and many
wonderful attributes that seem to belong only to children. But as little children they give us a very
dim picture of heaven. Just like the
Bible says, now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. We just don’t have the capacity to understand
it all.
Joy.
It is a joy to grownups to watch children, probably partly because
children are joyful.
Adaptability. Kids adapt to new things.
Basically, when you have the privilege
of holding and rocking a baby, you have a taste of heaven in your arms.
And the list could go on. If you are wondering about heaven, think
about children.
We do have some descriptions of things
in heaven. The throne of God is pretty
interesting. Those little flying
creatures are flitting around the throne.
They cover their faces which I suppose is because God is too wonderful
for them to actually look at. There will
be streets of pure gold. There will be a
river. There will be lots of
jewels! The walls of the city are made
of jewels. I love jewels! I can’t imagine how fabulous it will be. Oh, that’s right. The Bible says I really can’t imagine what
God has for those that love Him.
Now, let’s just suppose for a second
that sometimes there are cases of someone getting a glimpse of heaven. What should their response to this be? Let’s look at people who did get a glimpse of
heaven. The dead guy Lazarus was dead
four days. I don’t know what he happened
to see or experience during those four days.
The reason I don’t know is because he didn’t tell us! He probably figured out there was no way to
put his experience in a context that people could understand or relate to. He also knew his personal experience was not
as sure as the word of God. He didn’t
want people relying on his experience to prove anything. He knew there was a more sure way to know
about heaven. That way is through the
written word of God. John saw
heaven. He doesn’t bother telling us
about his experience either. He preaches
the gospel. He tells people about the
things will happen on the earth, and how they can escape the wrath to come
through Jesus Christ.
What about all these books and even
movies about people who died and went to heaven, and then came back? I can promise you that you best take every
single account with a grain of salt. In
other words be very skeptical. And
definitely do not let their experiences sway you in anyway. You don’t need to hear about someone’s
experience in order to believe in heaven.
The very title of the latest movie ‘Heaven is for Real’ is insulting to
people of faith. Of course heaven is for
real. Based on the word of God Himself,
heaven is not only real, it is our eternal home. No matter what sort of experience this child
or any other person has had, it is not relevant to the message of the
Bible. Jesus saves. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
Messages about ‘my trip to heaven and
back’ do not give any sound theology.
They do not proclaim that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must be
born again. They do not call people to
repent of their sin. They don’t do
anything except stoke a ‘feel good’ religion.
Such stories promote the idea of heaven without any direction on how to
get to heaven. Of course heaven is real,
but to get to heaven you have to believe in Jesus Christ. Where is the most important message of
all? Where is the glory to God? Where is the awe and wonder? If the angels around the throne cover their
faces, what is a human being doing gawking at what is going on? These stories are simple distractions. That is all they are. Did these people experience something
unusual? Probably. Does it have any relevance regarding taking
the gospel message to the lost?
Absolutely not. The Bible is
sufficient, inerrant, and relevant to every single human being. Don’t confuse the message with a lot of
extras. Cut to the chase. Make the message clear and plane. Christ receiveth sinful men. All this ‘my trip to heaven’ is just
confusion for the most important issue in the world.
And I would like to point out a very
important point here. People wonder why
God didn’t make it clearer. Why didn’t/doesn’t
He give us access to heaven? Why didn’t
He tell us what it was all about and what it would be like? Why does it all have to be about faith? Consider this. He did give the angels direct access to
heaven. They knew God. They knew all about heaven because that is
where they lived. And all that knowledge
didn’t matter in the slightest to 1/3 of the angels. They still rejected God and rebelled. God gave the first people very long
lives. It didn’t matter. Some of them still refused to turn from sin
and turn to God. And these people had
eye witnesses to God to tell them what was true and what happened. These stories of what happened to other
people did not cause them to turn from sin and repent.
During the thousand year kingdom, the
devil will be chained away from mankind.
Mankind will still fall away from God and sin. After the thousand years, the devil will be
set free for a short time. And what will
he do with his freedom? Will he repent
and beg God for mercy? Not hardly. He comes out of the pit doing the same old
thing. He seeks to destroy.
So, God has tried it every way.
The angels had direct access to
heaven. Some still sinned.
Adam and Eve had direct access to
God. They still sinned.
People lived many years and still
rejected God. A long lifespan didn’t
make any difference.
The devil is beyond repentance. This explains why God only gives people one
chance. If they had a second chance, they wouldn’t take it.
What has not changed and never will
change is that salvation is by grace through faith. What heaven is like in detail is not relevant
to how to actually get to heaven. Taking
personal experiences seriously is not helpful to maintaining sound
theology. Sound theology IS IMPERATIVE
in keeping to the theme of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This
other ‘stuff’ serves as only distractions.
We don’t need people’s experience, no matter how interesting or
sweet. We have the word of God.
