Heaven (34 page)
Authors: Randy Alcorn
What we
should
do will at last be identical with what we
want
to do. There will be no difference between duty and joy.
WILL WE MAINTAIN OUR OWN
IDENTITIES?
You will be
you
in Heaven. Who else would you be? If Bob, a man on Earth, is no longer Bob when he gets to Heaven, then, in fact, Bob did
not go to Heaven. If when I arrive in Heaven I'm not the same person with the same identity, history, and memory, then /
didn't go to Heaven.
The resurrected Jesus did not become someone else; he remained who he was before his resurrection: "It is I myself!" (Luke
24:39). In John's Gospel, Jesus deals with Mary, Thomas, and Peter in very personal ways, drawing on his previous knowledge
of them (John 20:10-18,24-29; 21:15-22). His knowledge and relationships from his pre-resurrected state carried over. When
Thomas said, "My Lord and my God," he knew he was speaking to the same Jesus he'd followed. When John said, "It is the Lord,"
he meant, "It's really him—the Jesus we have known" (John 21:4-7).
If we weren't ourselves in the afterlife, then we couldn't be held accountable for what we did in this life. The Judgment
would be meaningless. If Barbara is no longer Barbara, she can't be rewarded or held accountable for anything Barbara did.
She'd have to say, "But that wasn't me." The doctrines of judgment and eternal rewards depend on people's retaining their
distinct identities from this life to the next.
Bruce Milne writes, "We can banish all fear of being absorbed into the 'All' which Buddhism holds before us, or reincarnated
in some other life form as in the post-mortem prospect of Hinduism. . . . The self with which we were endowed by the Creator
in his gift of life to us, the self whose worth was secured forever in the self-substitution of God for us on the cross,
that self will
endure into eternity. Death cannot destroy us."
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Some people read "you may participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) and imagine that we will all become indistinguishable
from God. But to imagine we'll lose our personal identities is a Hindu belief, not a Christian one. The verse in 2 Peter
means that we're covered with Christ's righteousness. We'll participate in God's holiness yet fully retain our God-crafted
individuality.
Our own personal history and identity will endure from one Earth to the next. " 'As the new heavens and the new earth that
I make will endure before me,' declares the Lord, 'so will your name and descendants endure'" (Isaiah 66:22). Jesus said to
his disciples, "/will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when / drink
it
anew with
you
in my Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29, emphasis added). The same Jesus will drink the same wine with the same disciples.
It isn't that what
used to be us
will commune with
what used to be
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Rather, we, the same people but fully cleansed, will eat at a table with the one and only Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8:11).
In Heaven will we be called by our present names? The names of God's children are written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation
20:15; 21:27). I believe those are our earthly names. God recognized as valid the names Adam gave the animals. God calls people
by their earthly names, the names given by their parents. He calls people in Heaven by those same names—Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, for instance. The names of the twelve sons of Israel and of the apostles, apparently the same names we know them by,
are written on the city's gates and the foundations of its walls (Revelation 21:12-14). Our names reflect our individuality.
To have the same name written in Heaven that was ours on Earth speaks of the continuity between this life and the next.
In addition to our earthly names, we'll receive new names in Heaven (Isaiah 62:2; 65:15; Revelation 2:17; 3:12). New names
don't invalidate the old ones. Many people had multiple names in Scripture: Jacob is also Israel; Simon is also Peter; Saul
is also Paul.
Imagine a beautiful rose garden. It's been perfectly designed and cultivated. But the rosebushes become diseased. The garden
becomes a tangled mass. It's a sad, deteriorated remnant of the glorious garden it once was. Then the gardener determines
to reclaim his garden. Day after day he prunes, waters, and fertilizes each bush. His desire isn't simply to restore the garden
to its original beauty; it's to make it far more beautiful than ever.
When the gardener is done and the roses are thriving, beautiful, and fragrant, is the rose garden the same as it was? Is
each individual rose the same? Yes and no. It's the same rose garden, restored to its previous beauty and beyond. Yet to look
at it, it's hard to believe these are the same roses that were once a withered, tangled mess.
This is a picture of Creation, Fall, and Resurrection. When God is finished, we'll be ourselves without the sin—meaning that
we'll be the best we can be.
WILL WE LOSE OURSELVES?
A man wrote me expressing his fear of losing his identity in Heaven: "Will being like Jesus mean the obliteration of self?"
He was afraid that we'd all be alike, that he and his treasured friends would lose their distinguishing traits and eccentricities
that make them special. But he needn't worry. We can all be like Jesus in character yet remain very different from each other
in personality.
Distinctiveness is God's creation, not Satan's. What makes us unique will survive. In fact, much of our uniqueness may be
uncovered for the first time.
At the very end of
Mere Christianity,
C. S. Lewis writes, "Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most
among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors
have been: how gloriously different are the saints.... Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.
Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for
Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
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WHAT WILL OUR BODIES BE LIKE?
A
s we saw in chapter 11, our resurrected bodies will be real physical bodies, just as Christ's was and is. But what will our
bodies look like? How will they function?
Our resurrection bodies will be free of the curse of sin, redeemed, and restored to their original beauty and purpose that
goes back to Eden. The only bodies we've ever known are weak and diseased remnants of the original bodies God made for humans.
But the bodies we'll have on the New Earth, in our resurrection, will be even more glorious than those of Adam and Eve.
WILL WE ALL HAVE BEAUTIFUL BODIES?
I heard someone say that in Heaven we'll all have sculpted bodies, without any fat. The comment reflects a yearning for our
bodies to be healthy, fit, and beautiful.
I expect our bodies will be good-looking, but not with a weight-lifting, artificial-implant, skin-tuck, tanning-booth sort
of beauty. The sculpted physique our culture admires would be regarded as freakish in other places and times. Some cultures
consider what we call slimness as unhealthy and what we consider plumpness as a sign of vitality and prosperity. The same
genetic tendencies that make some people unattractive by one culture's standards make them attractive in another.
Our new bodies, I expect, will have a natural beauty that won't need cosmetics or touch-ups. As for fat, because God created
fat as part of our bodies, we'll surely have some, but in healthy proportion.
The most beautiful person you've ever seen is under the Curse, a shadow of the beauty that once characterized humanity. If
we saw Adam and Eve as they were in Eden, they would likely take our breath away. If they would have seen us as we are now,
they likely would have been filled with shock and pity.
God will decide what our perfect bodies look like, but we certainly shouldn't assume they'll all look alike. Different heights
and weights seem as likely as different skin colors. Racial identities will continue (Revelation 5:9; 7:9), and this involves
a genetic carryover from the old body to the new. I'm speculating, but it seems likely that people whose bodies were tall
will have tall resurrection bodies; those who were short will likely be short. The naturally thin will be thin, and the naturally
thick will be thick. But all of these sizes will be healthy and appealing, untouched by the Curse or disease or restrictions,
and we'll each be perfectly happy with the form God designed for us.
Some people consider this topic unspiritual, but one of the church's greatest theologians, Augustine, didn't. He says in
The City of God:
"[The body] shall be of that size which it either had attained or should have attained in the flower of its youth, and shall
enjoy the beauty that arises from preserving symmetry and proportion in all its members . . . overgrown and emaciated persons
need not fear that they shall be in heaven of such a figure as they would not be even in this world if they could help it."
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We won't overeat or undereat on the New Earth. With health, vitality, and freedom, we'll all get plenty of activity. Will
calories affect us the same way they do now? I don't know. But we certainly won't experience heart disease, diabetes, asthma,
osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer, MS, HIV, or anything else that consumes the body. (No more insulin injections for me!)
Most people aren't longing so much for a perfect body as for the sense of well-being and approval they think goes with it.
Of this we can be certain—no matter what we look like, our bodies will please the Lord, ourselves, and others. We won't gaze
into the mirror wishing for a different nose or different cheeks, ears, or teeth. The sinless beauty of the inner person will
overflow into the beauty of the outer person. We'll feel neither insecurity nor arrogance. We won't attempt to hide or impress.
We won't have to
try
to look beautiful—we
will be
beautiful.
We'll be most grateful not about our appearance but our health and strength. We'll know that the Artist fashioned us just
as he desired and that we'll never lose the health and beauty he's graciously given us.
WILL OUR RESURRECTION BODIES HAVE FIVE SENSES?
God designed us with five senses. They're part of what makes us human. Our resurrection bodies will surely have these senses.
I expect they will increase in their power and sensitivity.
We'll stand on the New Earth and see it, feel it, smell it, taste its fruits, and hear its sounds. Not figuratively. Literally.
We know this because we're promised resurrection bodies like Christ's. He saw and heard and felt and, as he cooked and ate
fish, he presumably smelled and tasted it. We will too.
Heaven's delights will stretch our glorified senses to their limits. How will things look, and how far away will we be able
to see them? Will our eyes be able to function alternately as telescopes and microscopes? Will our ears serve as sound-gathering
disks? Will our sense of smell be far more acute, able to identify a favorite flower—or person—miles away, so we can follow
the scent to the source?
Will our eyes be able to see new colors? We currently can't see ultraviolet and infrared, but we know they're real. Doesn't
it seem likely that our resurrected eyes will see them? What did Adam and Eve see that we can't? Although we don't know the
answers to these questions, it seems reasonable to suggest all of our resurrected senses will function at levels we've never
known. David prayed, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). How much more will we praise
God for the wonders of our resurrection bodies?
As we'll see in the following chapter, Scripture speaks repeatedly about eating in Heaven. What will our resurrected taste
buds be able to taste? The best food here on Earth is tainted by the Curse. Our taste buds are still defective. Think of the
best meal you've ever eaten, the best dessert you've ever tasted. Good as those were, they were just a hint of what's to come—a
good enough hint to make us long for Heaven.
To be restored to the sensory abilities of Adam and Eve would be thrilling enough. But it seems likely our resurrected bodies
will surpass theirs. What God remakes, he only improves.
God could add new senses to our old ones. What do I mean? I don't know—how could I explain a sense I've never experienced?
If we'd never known sight, how could we sense what we were missing? If you'd never been able to smell lilacs or taste blueberry
pie or hear Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, how would you grasp what it means to smell or taste or hear such things?
On the New Earth, I think we'll continually be discovering, to our delight, what we never knew existed, what we've been missing
all our lives. No joy is greater than the joy of discovery. The God who always surpasses our expectations will forever give
us more of himself and his creation to discover.
WILL OUR NEW BODIES HAVE NEW ABILITIES?
When it comes to doing what God wants, and what we want, sometimes our bodies fail us. The disciples intended to pray in Gethsemane
but fell asleep. Jesus said to them, "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak" (Matthew 26:41). Our resurrection bodies,
however, will never fail us. They'll work in perfect concert with our resurrected minds.
We should anticipate an unprecedented harmony of mind and body. Sometimes we get hints of this. H. A. Williams says, "When
I play a game well, I have for that limited period of time an experience of the body's resurrection. For there is no hint
of a dualism between mind and body with either of them trying to oppress or bully the other. I bring to the game my total
undivided self"
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Christ's resurrection body had an ability to appear suddenly, apparently coming through a locked door to the apostles (John
20:19) and "disappearing" from the sight of the two disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24:31). When Christ left the earth, he defied
gravity and ascended into the air (Acts 1:9).
It's possible that the risen Christ, who is man yet God, has certain physical abilities we won't have. Appearing and disappearing
could be a limited expression of his omnipresence, and his ascension might be something our bodies couldn't imitate. On the
one hand, because we're told in multiple passages that our resurrection bodies will be like Christ's, it may be possible at
times to transcend the present laws of physics and/or travel in some way we're not now capable of. On the other hand, it's
our God-given human nature to be embodied creatures existing in space and time. So it's likely that the same laws of physics
that governed Adam and Eve will govern us. We can't be sure, but either way it will be wonderful.
We don't know the glorious plans God has for our bodies. We may have a whale's ability to dive or an eagle's ability to fly.
Maybe we'll run like a cheetah or climb a mountain like a goat. (And who knows what cheetahs and goats may be able to do?)
Still, we shouldn't assume too much about flying and dematerializing in light of the fact that the eternal city will have
streets and gates, implying normal ground traffic. Perhaps as our present inability to fly led to the invention of airplanes,
our limitations as finite beings even in our resurrection will inspire us to exercise dominion over our environment by creating
and perfecting new transportation modes. Perhaps some of what's been long dreamed of in science fiction awaits us in the
new universe.
WILL OUR BODIES SHINE?
Some people have asked me if our resurrected bodies will shine. They cite two passages: "The righteous will shine like the
sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43) and "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of
the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3, NASB).
On the one hand, Jesus didn't have a halo after his resurrection, and there's no reason to believe we will either. Christ's
body appeared so earthly and normal that the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't notice he was the resurrected Lord (Luke
24:13-24). However, at this point he was not yet glorified.
During Christ's transfiguration, his clothing "became as bright as a flash of lightning" (Luke 9:29). Since this portrays
Christ as King, it makes sense to think he will literally shine in his kingdom on the New Earth. John says of the city, "the
Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 22:23). As noted earlier, John saw Christ in the present Heaven as a powerful shining being,
not someone who would blend into a crowd (Revelation 1:12-18). Moses and Elijah, who joined Christ on the mountain, "appeared
in glorious splendor" (Luke 9:31). After Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on the mountain, Moses' face shone (Exodus
34:29-30).
This earthly body is slow and heavy in all its motions, listless and soon tired withaction. But our heavenly bodies shall
be as fire; as active and as nimble as our thoughts are.
BENJAMIN CALAMY
Many believe these descriptors are figures of speech. Yet in some cases (including Moses) it was clearly literal. Since God
himself is consistently portrayed as existing in brilliant light, it shouldn't surprise us to think that in his presence we
too will partake of his brightness. I believe that as resurrected beings, we will indeed bearthis physical evidence of being
God’s imagebearersand living in God's presence. To be glorified appears to mean that, among other things, we may literally
shine.
If this seems hard to imagine, think of a person with drab, grayish, malnourished skin, and then imagine the same person
as vibrant and healthy. Couldn't you say the person shines? Have you heard it said of someone "she's radiant"? I've met people
so full ofJesus that they seem to have a physical brightness. If God himself is bright, then it seems appropriate that we,
his image-bearers, will reflect his brightness. Now, moving beyond that analogy of our present condition, imagine people in
the very presence of God, who are so righteous, so beautiful, so devoid of sin and darkness, so permeated by the very righteousness
of God, that they have a literal physical radiance. That's not so hard to imagine, is it?
Shining speaks of glory, the outward display of greatness and majesty.
Glory
is a word associated with rulers. Kings had glory. We understandably hesitate to attribute glory to ourselves, but God doesn't
hesitate to ascribe glory to us. As God's children we
shouldbe&r
his likeness. It's he, not we, who declares that we are royalty—kings and queens who will reign with Christ.
A. B. Caneday reminds us, "God is the original; we are the organic image, the living copy. We do not rightly speak of God
as King by projecting onto him regal imagery because we think it is fitting for God. Rather, bowing before God who has dominion
is proper, for man as king over creation, is the image of kingship; God, the true king, is the reality that casts the image
of the earthly king."
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Hence, our glory as lesser kings and queens will serve to magnify his greater glory as the King of kings. We won't absorb
and keep the glory given us, but we will reflect it and emanate it toward its proper object: Christ himself. This is evident
in the fact that God's worshiping children will "lay their crowns before the throne" (Revelation 4:10).
What prepares us to participate in God's glory? Our current sufferings (Romans 8:17-18; 1 Peter 5:1-4). "For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17). Provided we draw
our strength from Christ, the greater our troubles now, the greater our glory then.
WILL OUR BODIES BE PERFECT?
Whenever I spend time with severely handicapped people—physically, mentally, or both—I'm keenly aware of how wonderful it
will be to have resurrected bodies. My friend David O'Brien is a brilliant man trapped in a body that groans for redemption.
His cerebral palsy will be gone the moment he leaves this world for the present Heaven, but the biggest treat will be at his
resurrection, when he will have a new body, forever free of disease. I picture David never having to repeat himself because
others don't understand him. I see him running through fields on the New Earth. I look forward to running beside David .
. . and probably behind him.
