The Bible doesn’t give us an abundance of details as to what heaven will be like, but it does give us what we need to know. After all, how could we possibly fathom all that God has stored up for His saints to enjoy and experience? If we could understand heaven fully now, it wouldn’t be much to look forward to. But, the God Who is able to do even above and beyond what we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) will create a new heaven and a new earth that will transcend any feeble attempt by our present earthly imaginations to be able to conceive of what heaven will be like. The best and greatest we can think of or ask for, God will do more. In fact, He will do much more. As such, we have much to look forward to, even though we don’t know specifically what all is coming.
What Scripture does reveal to us we should take to heart so that we have hope. The Bible says that heaven is paradise. Christ, when speaking to the thief on the cross who repents, says that he will be with Him that very day in paradise (Luke 23:43). Paul speaks of being caught up into the third heaven into the very presence of God, and he describes it as paradise (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). As good as the Garden of Eve was, heaven will be perfect, a perfect paradise. We know that there will be no more pain, tears, grief, or sorrow because Christ will wipe away all tears (Revelation 21:4). All physical ailments, emotional pain, and sorrow will be gone for we will be in the presence of Christ Himself (Revelation 21:3). Perhaps that is the best part of all, having the eternal opportunity to be in the very presence of our Savior face to face. Yet there is more.
In heaven, we will sing praises to God (Revelation 4:11). We won’t be bored or just sitting around because God has much for us to do, learn, see, and accomplish. We will have responsibilities as we reign with Him and serve Him (Revelation 22:3, 5). Our souls will be filled with ecstasy as we get to work with Jesus to bring about His wonderful, glorious, and perfect plan in paradise. We will see those who have died in Christ, and we will be reunited. We won’t go to church, per se, because we will worship Christ Himself Who is our temple (Revelation 21:22). There will be transparent streets of gold (Revelation 21:18, 21) and all kinds of precious stones for the foundation of the walls of the city of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19-21). Jesus will light the world (Revelation 21:23), God will be on His throne (Revelation 22:3), and the tree of life will be there (Revelation 22:2), representing our eternal existence with God. There will no longer be any curse, which means that there will no longer be any sin (Revelation 22:3). Finally, our battle against our flesh will be over, and we will be able to live in holiness perfectly. There will be no fear any longer, for Jesus will be our King.
There just isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t look forward to heaven. We can rest assured that worshipping God in heaven in paradise will not be boring. He will have much for us to do, see, discover, and be responsible for. Psalm 16:11 says, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." Heaven is thus joy maxed out because we will be in the presence of Christ and we will be able to experience the eternal pleasures which He has stored up for us. We will be forever with God, which in and of itself is so wonderful it is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Yet there will be still more joy, pleasure, responsibility, and infinitely more. It just can’t get any better than heaven, so let’s fix our hope entirely upon Christ’s coming (1 Peter 1:13) as we wait for something beyond and so much better than what our imaginations can conceive. One day very soon, we who are children of God will see our Savior face to face, and our joy will be beyond complete. “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’” (Revelation 22:20). In a world of many distractions, disappointments, delusions, and deceptions, one thing is for sure. Christ is coming back to reign and to gather His own. May this reality encourage us to be holy, to hope, and to persevere.
The Good News