HEAVEN!!!!

It has been such a SWEET journey with God for the past couple of weeks--namely because I have finally been able to envision what eternity looks like. A friend of mine gave me a book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn a few weeks ago, knowing that some of the biggest barriers between God and I a few years ago had been my unanswered questions about eternity and Heaven.

You know how Heaven is constantly portrayed as this place in the sky with winged things and fluffy clouds and little angels playing harps all day? Yeah. Not my idea of fun. When I was a freshman in college, I actually scared some Bible study leaders with some grating questions about Heaven: "Why would I ever want to go there? What is it even supposed to be like? If the reason life is beautiful is because we can overcome evil with good and because we have the opposite of beauty here, then what of a place that doesn't? If there is nothing more to achieve after death, what is the point of living?" etc. etc. etc. Seriously, though, I think I would rather just totally die than go to a place where ya just play harps and smile a lot.

Despite my reservations during my freshman year, I still came to know and love God...but have still questioned a lot until now-- I love loving people like Christ, I know that His word is true, my life on Earth has been totally transformed and I have great hope that God will turn all this around--but what will it look like? What will we do for all of eternity? Will I still be myself? Will I have a body? Will I still know the people I know now? Can I still serve God there? Will my dog be there (please please?)? These are the questions I've been asking. And let me tell you, this book has been a great blessing.

Even though I'm only on page 128 out of a whopping 492, I am so darn excited for this place called Heaven--or the New Earth, to give you a better picture of what it will be. Basically, according to scripture, when people die they go to the "present" Heaven, where they are "in Christ's presence, and [are] joyful, but [they'll] be looking forward to [their] bodily resurrection and permanent relocation to the New Earth." When Christ beats Satan for good, and Satan and his kingdom are finally thrown into the lake of fire, God will make all things new, as they were intended to be from the start. EVERYTHING. Us, the Earth, the entire universe.

When humanity fell, all of Creation fell with us (just look around you and you'll see the effects of the fall)-- but God's plan is to redeem, restore, reconcile, recover, renew, regenerate, and resurrect His Creation and dwell with His children forever. And scripture shows that this New Earth, on which all who have trusted in Christ will dwell together, will be much like it is now, but perfect. The things we see now--the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the sky, the animals, people--are a shadow of what God created them to be--and He constantly talks about renewing it all. The prefix "re," means to go back to that which has already been, or to do again.

We will be given new bodies, but will be very much ourselves, says the Bible (Revelation and Isaiah and the Gospels say a lot about Heaven). We will be able to serve God, we will have relationships, we will learn new things about God forever, and we will see so much more clearly, without having to fight our sin any longer.

I am sooo excited. More on all this when I am further into the book--I can't wait to understand more about what we will do there!



"God always sees us in light of what he intended us to be, and he always seeks to restore us to that design."


"If we want to know what the ultimate Heaven, our eternal home, will be like, the best place to start is by looking around us. We shouldn't close our eyes & try to imagine the unimaginable. We should open our eyes, because the present Earth is...a valid reference point...After all, we're living on the remnants of a perfect world, as the remnants of a perfect humanity."


"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime." --Martin Luther


"There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else." --C.S. Lewis


"Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don't believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before." --D.L. Moody


"The Christian is the really free man--he is free to have imagination. This too is our heritage. The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars." --Francis Schaeffer


"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." --Colossians 3:1


"God will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth." --Isaiah 25:7-8