TFR Blog

Glimpses of Heaven

2024-07-152024-07-15 by Forthright Staff

BY HUGH FULFORD ─ June 16-19 of this year I was privileged (for the second year in a row) to be a participant in the “Revival In America” program conducted by the West Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, TN. The elders of this great church are to be commended for their commitment to trying to bring about a spiritual revival in our country, beginning right where they are.

The program followed a Questions and Answers format. The approach was, “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” A three man panel, plus a moderator, fielded the questions. All four of us also spoke one night each on an assigned question. Many good questions were submitted and dealt with over the four evenings. One question was, “God, what will one day in heaven be like for me as a Christian?” This week’s “Hugh’s News & Views” will consist of my response to the question, plus some additional Bible material related to the question.

I began by citing the apostle John’s statement in I John 3:2: “Beloved, now (in this life, hf) we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Thus, we do not now know everything that we will experience in heaven. While we know some things about heaven and what it will be like to be there (based on various statements of Scripture), God has not revealed everything about heaven to us. We do know, however, that in heaven we will be like Jesus “for we shall see Him as He is.”

Before His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus said to His apostles (and by extension, to all His faithful followers), “In My Father’s house are many mansions (many dwelling places, hf); if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). We know that heaven will be indescribably beautiful because it is being prepared by Christ Himself.

During His personal ministry, Jesus related an incident involving a certain rich man and a poor beggar by the name of Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Each man died. Lazarus was carried by the angels to “Abraham’s bosom.” The rich man died and was “in torments in Hades.” Hades is the intermediate state of all the dead prior to the resurrection of all and the final judgment (John 5:28-29). Hades and hell are not the same. (A later “News & Views” will discuss this subject). “Abraham’s bosom” was an expression referring to a place of peace and rest. Elsewhere it is called “Paradise,” the place to which Jesus and the penitent thief went when they died (Luke 23:43). Though not heaven (the final abode of the saved), Abraham’s bosom/Paradise is a prelude to what heaven will be in even greater glory and magnificence.

In heaven we will not experience the marriage relationship. While I believe there is Bible evidence to the effect that we will know one another in heaven, we will not be married to our earthly spouse in heaven. Jesus said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Angels do not marry and the occupants of heaven will not marry. Angels are ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14), and Jesus said that “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). So, in heaven we will not have these “flesh and bones” bodies that we now inhabit but we will be given incorruptible, glorified, powerful, spiritual bodies (I Corinthians 15:42-44).

In my answer to the question in Fayetteville I permitted myself to engage in a bit of fantasy. People in Fayetteville had questions and people in heaven will probably have questions that they would like to ask God directly. How many times have we said, “I do not know the answer to that question, but when I get to heaven I am going to ask God about that”? So, in my glimpse into heaven, and using earthly imagery (bear in mind this is all fantasy and not rooted in anything stated in Scripture), I said, “We will all get up in the morning whenever we want to. We will have coffee, a good breakfast, a stroll along the golden street, perhaps pick a piece of fruit from the tree of life, have a songfest, come back for a nice lunch, everyone will take a nap, and around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus will preside over a Q & A session. The seventeen members panel to provide the answers will be the thirteen faithful apostles (don’t forget Matthias who took Judas’ place [Acts 1:15-26] and the grand old apostle Paul), along with the four writers of the New Testament who were not apostles (Mark, Luke, James, and Jude).

Some of the questions will be silly and and asked out of curiosity: Why did Noah take two termites on the ark, two mosquitoes, two snakes, two skunks? What were some of the secret things with God that He chose not to reveal to mankind? (Deuteronomy 29:29). What was the fruit that Eve actually ate of in the Garden of Eden? When was Jesus’ birthday?

Others will be of a more serious nature: Was there really just one reason for an acceptable divorce and remarriage? Jesus will field that question and say, “I made that plain in Matthew 5:31-32 and Matthew 19:1-9, as well as in other passages.” Someone will ask, “What was the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?” Mark will lean forward and say, “I answered that in Mark 3:28-30.” Some will want to know why God did not permit women to be preachers and elders in the church. Paul will speak up and say, “I explained that in I Timothy 2:11-14 and other places. What was so hard to understand about what I said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?” Some will want to know why Christ had to die for the sins of the world (that question was posed in Fayetteville). Why could God not find another way to save mankind? Why couldn’t God just save everybody regardless? Other questions of legitimate interest will be raised.

But, again, the idea of a Q & A session in heaven is just the figment of my imagination, but it is interesting to think about such a thing happening. Just to be able to talk with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, the great prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus, John the Baptist, the apostles, and all the faithful men and women of the Bible will be a source of inestimable joy!

We know that in heaven “God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away” (the things we experienced in this life) (Revelation 21:4). From Revelation 22:1-5 we learn that in heaven there will be the tree of life, “yielding its fruit every month.” “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him,” but the work will not be tiring or boring, but joyful and fulfilling. We will see the face of God and His name shall be on our foreheads. There will be no night there. As stated in a beautiful song, heaven is “the land of fadeless day.” And as stated in another grand old song, “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.”

May we live in such a way as for heaven to be our eternal dwelling place! “Time” is a short, narrow ribbon of existence in the midst of a sphere that never ends. Our own lives are but a mere speck on that ribbon of time. Love God, obey the gospel, sow to the Spirit rather than to the flesh, live a faithful Christian life!

July 16, 2024