Heaven

by Randy Alcorn

  Legolas the Elf and Gimli the Dwarf forge a great friendship. They come to appreciate the previously undiscovered beauties of each other's world. Legolas beholds the underground wonders of Moria, a gigantic and awesome architec­tural accomplishment, testifying to the ingenuity and beauty of what Dwarves can carve out of stone. Similarly, Gimli comes to appreciate the spectacular nat­ural beauties of Lothlorien and of Galadriel, the Elven queen.

  As I read Revelation 21-22, I'm struck with how the Elven paradise reflects the Edenic elements of the New Jerusalem—rivers, trees, fruits, and moun­tains—while the Dwarves'view of beauty reflects the vast detailed architecture and precious stones of Heaven's capital. Which kind of beauty is better? We needn't choose between them. The New Earth will be filled with both. What­ever God's people create is also God's creation, for it is he who shapes and gifts and empowers us to create.

  It's likely that our tastes will differ enough that some of us will prefer to gather in the main streets and auditoriums for the great cultural events, while others will want to withdraw to feed ducks on a lake or to leave the city with their companions to pursue adventures in some undeveloped place. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we'll never leave the presence of the King. For al­though he dwells especially in the New Jerusalem, he will yet be fully present in the far reaches of the new universe—in which every subatomic particle will shout his glory.

  CHAPTER 26

  WILL THERE BE SPACE AND TIME?

  Anumber of books suggest that our existence in Heaven will be without space or time. One book describes Heaven as "a mode of existence where space and time are meaningless concepts."189 Is that true?

  WHAT WILL THE NEW CELESTIAL HEAVENS BE LIKE?

  What does the Bible mean by the term new heavens} Let's look at a few passages.

  The Old Testament uses no single word for universe or cosmos. When Gene­sis 1:1 speaks of God's creating "the heavens and the earth," the words are syn­onymous with what we mean by universe. Heavens refers to the realms above the earth: atmosphere, sun, moon, and stars, and all that's in outer space. Then in Isaiah, God says, "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17). This corresponds to Genesis 1:1, indicating a complete renewal of the same physical universe God first created.

  Revelation 21:1-2 says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.... I saw the Holy City, the new Jeru­salem, coming down out of heaven from God." Because "new heaven" (singular) is used here, some think it's God's dwelling place that passes away and is re­newed. But the present Heaven is described as unshakable in ways the physical universe isn't (Hebrews 12:26-28). The "new heaven" in Revelation 21:1 appar­ently refers to exactly the same atmospheric and celestial heavens as "heavens" does in Genesis 1:1. It also corresponds to the "new heaven(s)" of Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, and 2 Peter 3:13. In Revelation 21:2, we see God's dwelling place isn't replaced but relocated when the New Jerusalem is brought down to the New Earth.

  The new heavens will surely be superior to the old heavens, which them­selves are filled with untold billions of stars and perhaps trillions of planets. God's light casts the shadows we know as stars, the lesser lights that point to God's substance. As the source is greater than the tributary, God, the Light, is infinitely greater than those little light-bearers we know as stars.

  The Bible's final two chapters make clear that every aspect of the new cre­ation will be greater than the old. Just as the present Jerusalem isn't nearly as great as the New Jerusalem, no part of the present creation—including the earth and the celestial heavens—is as great as it will be in the new creation.

  While some passages suggest that the universe will wear out and the stars will be destroyed, others indicate that the stars will exist forever (Psalm 148:3-6). Is this a contradiction? No. We too will be destroyed by death, yet we will last forever. The earth will be destroyed in God's judgment, yet it will last forever. In exactly the same way, the stars will be destroyed, yet they will last forever. Based on the redemptive work of Christ, God will resurrect them.

  Earth is the first domain of mankind's stewardship, but it is not the only do­main. Because the whole universe fell under mankind's sin, we can conclude that the whole universe was intended to be under mankind's dominion. If so, then the entire new universe will be ours to travel to, inhabit, and rule—to God's glory.

  Do I seriously believe the new heavens will include new galaxies, planets, moons, white dwarf stars, neutron stars, black holes, and quasars? Yes. The fact that they are part of the first universe and that God called them "very good," at least in their original forms, means they will be part of the resurrected universe. When I look at the Horsehead Nebula and ask myself what it's like there, I think that one day I'll know. Just as I believe this "self-same body"—as the Westminster Confession put it—will be raised and the "self-same" Earth will be raised, I be­lieve the "self-same" Horsehead Nebula will be raised. Why? Because it is part of the present heavens, and therefore will be raised as part of the new heavens.

  Will the new planets be mere ornaments, or does God intend for us to reach them one day? Even under the Curse, we've been able to explore the moon, and we have the technology to land on Mars. What will we be able to accomplish for God's glory when we have resurrected minds, unlimited resources, complete scientific co­operation, and no more death? Will the far edges of our galaxy be within reach? And what about other galaxies, which are plentiful as blades of grass in a meadow? I imagine we will expand the borders of righteous mankind's Christ-centered do­minion, not as conquerors who seize what belongs to others, but as faithful stew­ards who will occupy and manage the full extent of God's physical creation.

  WHAT IS THE MORNING STAR?

  Jesus says of the overcomer, "I will also give him the morning star" (Revelation 2:28). The morning star is a celestial object—the planet Venus. Although most people consider Jesus' statement to be figurative, it could suggest that God might entrust to his children planets or stars (with their respective planetary systems) in the new heavens. If the new creation is indeed a resurrected version of the old, then there will be a new Venus, after all.

  Currently Venus is a most inhospitable planet. Humans could never survive its incredible heat and corrosive atmosphere. However, it's possible that inde­structible resurrected bodies could endure its atmosphere. It's also possible that when the Curse is lifted, Venus may become a beautiful paradise.

  We know God will put one world under his children's authority—Earth. If the rest of the planets and the entire universe fell with and will rise with mankind, I can easily envision our inhabiting and governing other resurrected planets.

  For those of us who love astronomy and for fantasy and science-fiction fans, this has exciting implications. I believe the great nebula of Orion, which has drawn hearts, including mine, to worship through its expansive beauty and won­der, will be refashioned as part of the new heavens. Will we see a new Saturn, new Jupiter, new Ganymede, new Pleiades, and a new Milky Way? I think that's the logical conclusion based on what Scripture reveals. In the same way that the New Earth will be refashioned and still be a true Earth, with continuity to the old, the new cosmic heavens will likewise be the old renewed.

  In my novel Dominion I try to depict this in a scene in which Jesus takes a woman who has died to a new world:

  Eventually they arrived on a world more beautiful than Dani could fathom—cascading waterfalls, rainbows of a hundred colors, mountain peaks five times higher than any on earth. Oceans with blue-green water, and waves crashing upon rocks the size of mountains. Grassy meadows, fields of multicolored flowers—colors she had never seen before. This place seemed somehow familiar to her, yet how could it, since it was like nothing she'd ever seen? Still, she felt profoundly at home.

  "Why hasn't anyone told me of this place until now? I'd think it would be the talk of heaven!"

  The Carpenter smiled at her. "They did not tell you because they do not kno
w of it. They've never been here."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You are the first to visit this world."

  "No," she said, then her face flushed. "How could that be?"

  "This is yours. As your father once built you that tree house, I fashioned this place just for you."

  Nancy beamed. "He gave us our own worlds too," she said. "Beau­tiful as this is, mine seems the perfect one for me. The Master tells me each world he gives is tailor-made to the receiver."

  "This is all for me?"

  "Yes," the Carpenter said. "Do you like it?"

  "Oh, I love it. And I haven't even begun to explore it! Thank you. Oh, thank you." She hugged him tight. He took delight in her delight.

  "This is not the ultimate place I have prepared for you, my daugh­ter. But it is a pleasant beginning, isn't it?"190

  God has built into us the longing to see the wonders of his far-flung creation. The popularity of science fiction reflects that longing. Visiting a Star Trek con­vention demonstrates how this—like anything else—can become a substitute re­ligion, but the fervor points to a truth: We do possess a God-given longing to know a greater intelligence and to explore what lies beyond our horizons.

  In the Star Trek movie Generations, the character Guinan tells Captain Picard about a place called the Nexus. She describes it this way: "It was like be­ing inside joy, as if joy was something tangible, and you could wrap yourself up in it like a blanket."

  I don't believe in the Nexus. But I do believe in the new heavens and the New Earth. What will the new heavens be like? Like being inside joy, as if joy were something tangible, and you could wrap yourself up in it like a blanket.

  Scottish novelist George MacDonald wrote to his dying daughter, "I do live expecting great things in the life that is ripening for me and all mine—when we shall have all the universe for our own, and be good merry helpful children in the great house of our father. Then, darling, you and I and all will have grand liberty wherewith Christ makes free—opening his hand to send us out like white doves to range the universe."191

  What has God made in the heights of distant galaxies, never seen by human eyes? One day we'll behold those wonders, soaking them in with openmouthed awe. And if that won't be enough, we may see wonders God held back in his first creation, wonders that will cause us to marvel and drop to our knees in wor­ship when we behold them in the new creation.

  WILL WE LIVE IN A SPATIAL WORLD?

  The doctrine of resurrection is an emphatic statement that we will forever oc­cupy space. We'll be physical human beings living in a physical universe. The resurrected Christ said, "Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39). He walked on Earth; we will walk on Earth. He occupied space; we will occupy space.

  We are finite physical creatures, and that means we must live in space and time. Where else would we live? Eden was in space and time, and the New Earth will be in space and time. We will be delivered from all evil, but space isn't evil. It's good. God made it. It's Christoplatonism that tries to persuade us something's wrong with space and time.

  One writer says of Heaven, "It is certainly justifiable to abandon the scheme of time and space and to put in its place a divine simultaneity."192 This has a high-sounding resonance, but what does it mean? That we can be a thousand places at once, doing ten thousand different things? Those are the Creator's attributes, not the creature's. There's no evidence that we could be several places at once. The promise of Heaven is not that we will become infinite—that would be to become inhuman. It's that we'll be far better finite humans than we have ever been. Even if we're able to move rapidly from one place to another or to pass our resurrected molecules through solid objects, as the risen Jesus did, we'll still be finite. (As I said before, I'm not certain we'll have that power, though it's possible.)

  If we plan to get together with friends, the question is, "Where and when?" Where is space; when is time. The three gates on the west side of the New Jerusa­lem are a minimum of fourteen hundred miles from the gates on the east side. If I wait for you at a gate on the west side, you won't see me if you show up at a gate on the east side. (Even if the stated dimensions are figurative, the principle re­mains the same.) When we walk outside the city gate, we won't remain inside. People, even resurrected people, can be in only one place at one time. There's no suggestion that even the resurrected Jesus was in two places at once.

  We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we began And know the place for the first time.

  T. S. ELIOT

  One author say, "Time and space will not be the same as known T s Fl lf)T here on earth, and relationships will be of a different order. This being so, it is clear that the life of the new humanity in their resurrection bodies of glory can be described only in symbolic terms."193 But what's the biblical evidence for this claim? The biblical texts speak of time and space in the New Earth similarly to how they speak of them here and now. By reducing resurrected life to symbols, don't we undermine the meaning of humanity, Earth, and resurrection?

  Jesus spoke of the uttermost parts or farthest ends of Heaven (Mark 13:27, NKJV). Even the present Heaven appears to occupy space. But certainly the new heavens and the New Earth will. Resurrection doesn't eliminate space and time; it redeems them.

  In the heavenly realms, even angels, whom we think of as disembodied spir­its, can be hindered in space and time due to combat with fallen angels (Daniel 10:13). In other words, they can be delayed (time) from arriving at a particular destination (space).

  People imagine they're making Heaven sound wondrous when they say there's no space and time there. (If it doesn't have space, it's not even a "there.") In fact, they make Heaven sound utterly alien and unappealing. We don't want to live in a realm—in fact, it couldn't even be a realm—that's devoid of space and time any more than a fish wants to live in a realm without water. If fish could think, try tell­ing one, "When you die, you'll go to fish Heaven and—isn't this great?—there will be no water! You won't have fins, and you won't swim. And you won't eat because you won't need food. I'll bet you can't wait to get there!" After hearing our christoplatonic statements about Heaven, stripped of the meaning of resurrection, no wonder we and our children don't get excited about Heaven.

  Sir Isaac Newton said of God, "He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity"194 God is the one "who inhabits eternity" (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV). Creatures inhabit time. Jesus, as the God-man, inhabits both. By being with him on the New Earth, we will share space and time with God.

  WILL WE EXPERIENCE TIME IN HEAVEN?

  Scripture says, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (2 Peter 3:8). Does this mean there will be no time in Heaven?

  The natural understanding of a New Earth is that it would exist in space and time, with a future unfolding progressively, just as it does now. Yet people re­peatedly say there will be "no time in Heaven." One theologian argues, "What a relief and what joy to know that in heaven there will be no more time."195 An­other writer says, "Heaven will be a place where time will stand still."196

  Where do such ideas come from? A misleading translation in the King James Version of the Bible says that "there should be time no longer" (Revela­tion 10:6). This was the basis for theologians such as Abraham Kuyper to con­clude there will be no time in Heaven. But other versions correctly translate this phrase "There will be no more delay!" (NIV, RSV"), which means not that time it­self will cease but that there is no time left before God's judgment is executed.

  Other people are confused because they remember the phrase "Time shall be no more" and think it's from the Bible. It's actually from a hymn. Ironically, the same hymn speaks of "When the morning breaks . . ." Both the words morning and when are references to time.

  John Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace" demonstrates a
better grasp of time:

  When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,

  We've no less days to sing God's praise, Than when we'd first begun.197

  Scripture contains many other evidences of time in Heaven:

  • Heaven's inhabitants track with events happening in time, right down to rejoicing the moment a sinner on Earth repents (Luke 15:7).

  • Martyrs in Heaven are told to "wait a little longer" when they ask "how long" before Christ will judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge the martyrs'blood (Revelation 6:10-11). Those in Heaven couldn't ask "how long" or be told "wait a little longer" unless time passes in Heaven.

  • Paul spoke of Heaven in terms of "the coming ages" (Ephesians 2:7). He speaks not just of a future age but of ages (plural).

  • God's people in Heaven "serve him day and night in his temple" (Revelation 7:15).

  • The tree of life on the New Earth will be "yielding its fruit every month" (Revelation 22:2). There are days and months both in the present and eternal Heaven.

  • God says, "The new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me. . . . From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me" (Isaiah 66:22-23). New Moons and Sabbaths require moon, sun, and time.

  • God said, "Summer and winter, day and night will never cease" (Genesis 8:22). This wasn't the result of the Curse; it was God's original design.

  • We're told that "there was silence in heaven for about half an hour" (Revelation 8:1).