When you get to heaven...

 

Some thoughts on what's after this life.

First, when you die, you do not become an angel. From scripture, we will be like Jesus. Our bodies will be like his after he was raised from the dead. 1 Cor. 15 describes it pretty well. Paul, one of the Bible writers, says we'll actually judge angels! So, while I understand the sentiment, becoming an angel might actually be a demotion from what he says we're gonna be like.

Second, you'll know people and they'll know you. A lot of people fear "getting there" and finding out that someone they love didn't make it and so they say, "Well the Bible says there'll be no tears in heaven" so we probably will be in some kind of trance state so we can't know who is or isn't there so as to prevent tears and sadness.

Actually Revelation says that God will wipe away all tears.  An old song we sang in church said, "No tears in heaven", not scripture.  These are different things.  Does that mean we'll spend eternity really sad?  Not at all.  But I can see some initial sadness or disappointment BUT it will be alongside some clarity about why people are there or not there and, after a time, the sadness being less or disappearing in light of the amazing things we're seeing in person for the first time.

And as kind of an aside, we'll probably be really surprised as to "who made it".  Really surprised.

Third, it won't be an eternal worship/church service. I think some people would really like that, but for most of humanity, the idea of an everlasting church service is hell.  Especially if you've even been a nursery worker.

Revelation has some pretty far out scenes being described throughout, but few are actually pictures of what we'd call "heaven".  Of those we do see, it's a picture of us being in God's presence, him leading us around, and some very different, special kinds of interactions we can't begin to understand.  Paul talked a little about it in one of his letters to the Corinthians - said it was not describable.

I don't see evidence of "heaven" being a place where we can do anything we ever want all the time for as long as we want.  For example, I often heard when growing up, "Man, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna fish and hunt forever!" or whatever the person speaking wanted to do more of here, they'd get to do it forever and in the best quality version of whatever that thing is they want to do.

I feel that kind of description was developed over time as an expression of "how good the afterlife will be" because we have such limited language and almost no knowledge of "what heaven is like" except from what pop culture around us has said (i.e. angel wings, halos, harps, etc).

From the tiny amount of info the Bible shows us, what makes heaven heaven is God and being there in his presence, fully there, fully known, knowing fully, completely accepted, etc - just a solid, face to face relationship with God AND, pretty important point here - it's a relationship that is continuing on from what we've started with him on the earth/here and now.

When we "get there", it will be awesome, overwhelming, and so on, BUT we'll be meeting and interacting with The One we've already been interacting and living with here, so it's not like we're meeting a stranger for the first time and having to get to know them and them having to get to know us.

This is probably one of the biggest things I think people miss out on when it comes to thinking about faith, church, God, Christianity, and so on.  It's almost like the message out there is, "Get your stuff together in this life and do really good so that when you die, God can look over your record and will let you in to heaven."  That actually is not what is described in the Bible.  Pop culture and religi-anity, yes, but not from what scripture describes.  

There is no "getting into heaven by the skin of our teeth".  That reflects more of the idea that we're earning something or doing something that will help our case as to why we might get to go into heaven.  

In 2 Peter 1, Peter says that if we're being focused on the good things he's already provided for us, we'll walk into heaven with a level of confidence that most people don't have.  His words are "you all who don't keep leaning into God and what he's giving - you're gonna forget all the good stuff and live a potentially miserable existence, BUT if you lean into him, you'll remember your good place with him now and you'll have a rich welcome home when your time comes." 

More on that another time.

Next, people need to pay attention to the images they have floating around in their mind of what the afterlife is going to be like. Like the picture at the top of this post - absolutely no one has a clue of what anything is going to look like, yet we allow people with vivid imaginations and the ability to recreate what's in their mind to shape our images and ideas.

I know that we all learn and grow through a process of seeing, discerning, reimagining, etc and I think this is an important area for people to continue growing in.  Much like when a child is trying to understand marriage, they don't lock-in (hopefully) the limited picture of what they have seen their parents do in the six or seven years they've been alive, but they move on and add to their understanding and then, eventually, create their own marriage that will most likely NOT be what they understood it to be when they watched their parents living life when they were a child.

A lot of people I've known over the years haven't changed or learned more about God or heaven or any of that beyond what they got when they were younger.  I think their picture of church has deepened and possibly a few other things, but they struggle with how this life goes and whether or not they'll "go to heaven" because they're depending on "church" more than is healthy or helpful.

Finally, what happens when you leave this life?  What about your body, soul, etc?  What's the timing on all that?  Short answer, no one really knows, but there are a lot of theories and ideas. 

Longer answer - could be a lot of different things.  For example, some people believe your soul "goes to sleep" and hovers around or near your body or in some middle ground place we don't know about until "the day of Judgement" and/or when Jesus returns and THEN it will wake up and begin eternity.

There's a lot of issues with that which some groups have struggled with and developed all sorts of interesting beliefs around.  For example, some groups feel you cannot cremate a person because you're destroying their body/soul suitcase and endangering the person's ability to be ready for God's return.

Probably if more people understood what happens to the body after death and even burial, a lot of ideas would change.  We embalm people and, in some cases, it delays or changes the pace of decay a good bit, but we still return to the dust or dirt - "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" - it's still true.  

A completely sealed up casket might keep a person's bones around a long time, but eventually it's all gonna change.  And the level of "freshness" a person has or doesn't have when Christ returns doesn't have anything to do with their eternal place with God.

In reality, most people who have ever lived have died and their bodies have become dirt and entered the cycle of life and have been used/recycled through plants, animals, etc - repeatedly.  We're just so distant from and in denial of that part of life, we often just don't know it or don't want to think about it.

I like a theory that combines a little of Einstein and a little of Jesus.  Einstein said that the closer we get to the speed of light, time begins to change and when we achieve the speed of light, all points in time become one.  (I may be completely misrepresenting anything he said, I'm just repeating what I read/heard.)  

With that in mind and the fact that Jesus said that "before Abraham was, I am" - meaning that he was pre-existing time itself, I believe what Paul said about "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord".  Jesus is the I am - God stands outside of time and yet can interact with it at any point.

When we leave this life, we leave this timeline and step into his, and our new, timeless presence.  

And it's a gentle thing.  Sure, the way or time we die might be disturbing if we're awake and in some kind of traumatic moment, but afterward...

...it's kind of like what Dallas Willard describes - it's kind of like playing with your toys on the floor as a very young child and you play so hard that you fall asleep on the floor while you'e playing - you've seen kids do that.  And then your parent comes and gently picks you up and carries you to your bed and later you wake up there, refreshed and possibly clueless as how you got there, but fully okay with it.

May you see the blessings God has already given you and continues to shower on you.