Will We Ever See Universe 6 Again?

It's mutual to hear people say, "We don't understand now, but in Heaven nosotros'll know everything." One author says that people in Sky tin "hands comprehend divine mysteries."ⁱ Is this true? Will nosotros really know everything in Sky?

Will We Know Everything?

God alone is omniscient. When we die, we'll come across things far more clearly, and we'll know much more than than we do now, but we'll never know everything.

The apostle Paul wrote: "Now nosotros come across but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall encounter confront to confront. Now I know in office; so I shall know fully, even every bit I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12, accent added). The italicized words are based on ii different Greek words: ginosko and epiginosko. The prefix epi intensifies the discussion to mean "to actually know" or "to know extensively." However, when the word is used of humans, information technology never ways absolute cognition.

In his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem says, "ane Cor. 13:12 does not say that nosotros will be omniscient or know everything (Paul could take said we will know all things, ta panta, if he had wished to exercise and then), just, rightly translated, just says that we volition know in a fuller or more intensive way, 'even as nosotros have been known,' that is, without whatever mistake or misconceptions in our cognition."ⁱⁱ

The New Living Translation reads, "Now nosotros come across things imperfectly as in a poor mirror." Mirrors in Paul's time had serious flaws. Corinth was famous for its bronze mirrors, but the color was off and shapes were distorted. The mirror'southward image lacked the quality of seeing someone confront-to-face. Knowing and seeing were nearly synonyms in Greek thought.ⁱⁱⁱ The more you saw, the more yous knew.

One day we'll run across God's face up and therefore truly know him (Revelation 22:4). Under the Curse we see myopically. When nosotros're resurrected, our vision volition be corrected. We'll at terminal exist able to run across eternal realities once invisible to us (2 Corinthians iv:18).

God sees clearly and comprehensively. In Sky nosotros'll meet far more conspicuously, but nosotros'll never see comprehensively. The signal of comparing our knowing to God's knowing is that nosotros'll know "fully" in the sense of accurately but non exhaustively.

In Heaven we'll be flawless, only non knowing everything isn't a flaw. It'southward part of being finite. Righteous angels don't know everything, and they long to know more (1 Peter i:12). They're flawless only finite. Nosotros should await to long for greater knowledge, equally angels exercise. And we'll spend eternity gaining the greater knowledge nosotros'll seek.

Will Nosotros Learn?

I heard a pastor say, "In that location will be no more learning in Heaven." One writer says that in Heaven, "Activities such every bit investigation, comprehending and probing will never be necessary. Our agreement will exist complete."^four In a Gallup poll of people'south perspectives about Sky, only 18 percent thought people would grow intellectually in Heaven.^v

Does Scripture indicate that we will learn in Heaven? Yes. Consider Ephesians 2:6-7: "God raised us upward with Christ and seated u.s. with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in society that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace." The discussion show ways "to reveal." The phrase in the coming ages conspicuously indicates this will exist a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which nosotros larn more and more than well-nigh God's grace.

I oft acquire new things about my wife, daughters, and closest friends, even though I've known them for many years. If I can ever exist learning something new almost finite, express man beings, surely I'll learn far more about Jesus. None of the states will always brainstorm to frazzle his depths.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Larn from me" (Matthew 11:29). On the New World, we'll have the privilege of sitting at Jesus' feet equally Mary did, walking with him over the countryside as his disciples did, e'er learning from him. In Sky we'll continually larn new things near God, going always deeper in our understanding.

Consider again those Greek words ginosko and epiginosko, translated "know" in ane Corinthians 13:12, used of our present cognition on Globe and our hereafter knowledge in Heaven. Ginosko frequently means "to come to know," and therefore "to learn" (Matthew 10:26; John 12:9; Acts 17:19; Philippians 2:19). Epiginosko likewise means "to learn" (Luke seven:37; 23:seven; Acts 9:30; 22:29).^vi That we will ane day "know fully" could well be understood as "we will e'er keep on learning."

Information technology was God—non Satan—who made us learners. God doesn't want us to stop learning. What he wants to stop is what prevents u.s.a. from learning.

Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards, who intensely studied Heaven, believed "the saints will be progressive in knowledge to all eternity."^seven He added, "The number of ideas of the saints shall increase to eternity."^viii

Will our cognition and skills vary? Will some people in Heaven have greater knowledge and specialized abilities than others? Why not? Scripture never teaches sameness in Sky. We will exist individuals, each with our ain memories and God-given gifts. Some of our knowledge volition overlap, but not all. I'yard non a mechanic or gardener, as you lot may be. I may or may not larn those skills on the New World. But fifty-fifty if I exercise, that doesn't hateful I'll ever be as skilled a gardener or mechanic as you will be. After all, you had a head starting time on learning. Call back the doctrine of continuity: What nosotros acquire here carries over later on death.

Don't y'all love to discover something new? On the New Globe, some of our greatest discoveries may relate to the lives we're living right now. Columnist and commentator Paul Harvey made a career of telling "the residuum of the story." That's exactly what nosotros'll observe in Heaven again and once again—the remainder of the story. We'll be stunned to learn how God orchestrated the events of our lives to influence people nosotros may accept forgotten about.

Occasionally we hear stories that provide us a small taste of what we'll larn in eternity. One morning after I spoke at a church, a immature woman came up to me and asked, "Exercise you remember a young man sitting next to you on a plane headed to college? You gave him your novel Deadline ." I give abroad a lot of my books on planes, but after some prompting, I remembered him. He was an unbeliever. Nosotros talked about Jesus, and I gave him the book and prayed for him as we got off the plane.

I was amazed when the young woman said to me, "He told me he never contacted yous, and then you wouldn't know what happened. He got to college, checked into the dorm, saturday down, and read your book. When he was done, he confessed his sins and gave his life to Jesus. And I tin honestly tell you, he'southward the most dynamic Christian I've ever met."

All I did was talk a little, give him a book, and pray for him. Merely if the immature woman hadn't told me, I wouldn't have had a inkling what had happened. That story reminded me how many keen stories await us in Sky and how many we may not hear until we've been there a long time. Nosotros won't e'er know everything, and fifty-fifty what nosotros volition know, nosotros won't know all at once. Nosotros'll be learners, forever. Few things excite me more than that.

Will We Feel Procedure?

The first humans lived in process, as God ordained them to. Adam knew more than a week after he was created than he did on his commencement twenty-four hours.

Nothing is wrong with procedure and the limitations information technology implies. Jesus "grew in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:52). Jesus "learned obedience" (Hebrews 5:viii). Growing and learning cannot exist bad; the sinless Son of God experienced them. They are but office of being human.

Unless nosotros cease to exist human after our resurrection, nosotros will become on growing and learning. If anything, sin makes us less human. When the parasite of sin is removed, full humanity will be restored—and improved.

The sense of wonder among Sky's inhabitants shows Heaven is not stagnant but fresh and stimulating, suggesting an ever-deepening appreciation of God'due south greatness (Revelation 4-6). Heaven's riches are rooted in Heaven'southward God. We will notice in Heaven a continual progression of stimulating discovery and fresh learning as we keep grasping more of God.

In Village, Shakespeare called what lies beyond death "the undiscover'd country."^nine It's a state we yearn to discover—and by Christ's grace, nosotros will. Jonathan Edwards—as fine a theological listen as the earth has ever known—defended and adult this thought, which he considered disquisitional. He wrote, "How soon exercise earthly lovers come to an terminate of their discoveries of each other's beauty; how presently do they see all there is to be seen! But in Heaven in that location is eternal progress with new beauties always beingness discovered."^ten He connected, "Happiness of sky is progressive and has various periods in which information technology has a new and glorious advancement and consists very much in beholding the manifestations that God makes of himself in the work of redemption."¹¹ Edwards contended that we will continually go happier in Heaven in "a never-catastrophe, ever-increasing discovery of more and more of God's glory with greater and greater joy in him."^xii He said there will never be a time when there is "no more celebrity for the redeemed to observe and relish."^xiii At that place won't ever "come a time when the union between God and the church is complete" because we will always exist learning something new near our Benedict.^fourteen

We can anticipate an eternity of growing in Christlikeness as we behold God's face and are continuously "transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory" (ii Corinthians three:eighteen). We can begin this joyful process here and now, and in that location'south every indication it will keep forever.

After creating the new universe, Jesus says, "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:five). Find the verb tense is not "I have made" or "I will make" only "I am making." This suggests an ongoing procedure of renovation. Christ is a creator, and his creativity is never wearied. He will get right on making new things. Heaven is non the end of innovation; information technology is a new offset, an eternal break from the stagnancy and inertia of sin.

What Will It Be Like to Learn?

Could God impart knowledge so we immediately know things when we get to Heaven? Certainly. Adam and Eve didn't become to school. They were created, it appears, with an initial vocabulary. Only Adam and Eve are the exceptions. Every other person has learned by experience and written report, over time. And Adam and Eve were learners the rest of their lives. Nothing ever came automatically again.

When we enter Heaven, we'll presumably brainstorm with the knowledge we had at the time of our death. God may enhance our cognition and will correct endless incorrect perceptions. I imagine he'll reveal many new things to u.s., and so set usa on a course of continual learning, paralleling Adam and Eve'southward. In one case we're in resurrection bodies with resurrected brains, our chapters to learn may increment. Perhaps affections guardians or loved ones already in Heaven will exist assigned to tutor and orient united states of america.

Nosotros will also report. Martin Luther said, "If God had all the answers in his correct manus, and the struggle to reach those answers in his left, I would choose God'south left mitt." Why? Because information technology'due south not only truth we want, it'south also the pleasure of learning the truth. God reveals himself to the states in the process of our learning, often in bite-sized chunks, fit for our finite minds. The great preacher Donald Greyness Barnhouse in one case said that if he was told he had 3 years left on Earth, he would spend two years studying and one preaching. Expressing a like desire, Billy Graham said that if he had his life to do over once more, he would study more and preach less.

Will we study doctrine in Sky? Doctrine is truth, which is an extension of God's nature, and therefore also cannot be exhausted. Nosotros will accept eternity to explore it. Truth will be living and vital, never dry out and dusty. Nosotros will dialogue about truth not to impress each other but to enrich each other and ourselves every bit we observe more and more well-nigh God.

To report cosmos is to study the Creator. Science should be worshipful discovery considering the heavens and all creation declare God'south glory. God reveals his character in flowers, waterfalls, animals, and planets. God'south name is written big in nature, in his beauty organization, skill, precision, and attention to detail. He's the Master Artist. On the New Earth everything will exist a lens through which nosotros see him. Biology, zoology, chemistry, astronomy, physics—all volition exist the study of God.

Will we discover new ideas? I believe nosotros will. Jesus, the God-man, was sometimes "astonished" at what he saw on this globe (Matthew eight:ten). If there was always a man incapable of surprise, wouldn't we have expected it to be the "one who came from heaven" (John 3:thirteen)? But if Jesus could exist astonished on this former Earth, surely nosotros will often be astonished at what we see in God, people, and creation on the New Earth.

There's so much to discover in this universe, but we have and then little fourth dimension and opportunity to practise it. The list of books I oasis't read, music I've never heard, and places I haven't been is unending. In that location's much more than to know. I wait forrad to discovering new things in Heaven—forever. At the end of each solar day I'll have the same amount of fourth dimension left equally I did the day before. The things I didn't learn that day, the people I didn't see, the things I was unable to practice—I can even so learn, see, or do the next day. Places won't crumble, people won't die, and neither will I.

I heard someone say, "There won't exist any teaching in Heaven. There won't exist any demand." Only that assumes we volition be omniscient and that nosotros won't learn, which contradicts both Scripture and the fashion God made us. I've benefited greatly from the stimulation of college and seminary courses I've attended and taught.

Discussions among thoughtful students and teachers can be exhilarating. I run across God in the insights other people share with me. Learning is heady. Pedagogy on this fallen Earth may sometimes be banal and can fifty-fifty undermine truth, but in Heaven all education will be a platform to display God'southward fascinating truth, drawing us closer to him.

Consider how exciting intellectual evolution will be. Male parent Boudreau wrote, "The life of Heaven is one of intellectual pleasure.... There the intellect of man receives a supernatural light.... It is purified, strengthened, enlarged, and enabled to run into God as He is in His very essence. Information technology is enabled to contemplate, confront to face up, Him who is the first essential Truth. It gazes undazzled upon the beginning infinite beauty, wisdom, and goodness, from whom flow all limited wisdom, dazzler, and goodness plant in creatures. Who can fathom the exquisite pleasures of the human intellect when it thus sees all truth equally it is in itself!"¹⁵

If seeing truth "every bit it is in itself" is that exciting for those of us who've had some education here on Earth, imagine what information technology will be similar for those who never had the benefits of literacy and pedagogy.

Think of what it will be similar to discuss science with Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, and Thomas Edison or to discuss mathematics with Pascal. Imagine long talks with Malcolm Muggeridge or Francis Schaeffer. Think of reading and discussing the writings of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, or Dorothy Sayers with the authors themselves. How would you like to talk well-nigh the power of fiction at a roundtable with John Milton, Daniel Defoe, Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Flannery O'Connor?

How virtually discussing God's attributes with Stephen Charnock, A. W. Pink, A. W. Tozer, and J. I. Packer? Or talking theology with Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, and Luther? And so, when differences arise, why not invite Jesus in to articulate things up?

Imagine discussing the sermons of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, and Charles Spurgeon with the preachers themselves. Or sitting down to hear insights on family unit and prayer from Susanna Wesley. Or talking about faith with George Mueller or Bill Bright, then listening to their stories. You could cover the Civil War era with Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Or the history of missions with William Carey, Amy Carmichael, Lottie Moon, or Hudson and Maria Taylor. Yous could discuss ministry ideas with Brother Andrew, George Verwer, Luis Palau, Billy Graham, Joni Eareckson Tada, Chuck Colson, or Elisabeth Elliot.

We'll contemplate God's person and works, talking long over dinner and tea, on walks and in living rooms, by rivers and fires. Intellectual curiosity isn't role of the Curse—it is God's blessing on his paradigm-bearers. He made us with fertile, curious minds then that nosotros might seek truth and find him, our greatest source of pleasure. In Heaven our intellectual curiosity will surely surface—and be satisfied—only to surface and exist satisfied again and once more.

In 1546, Philip Melanchthon gave a memorial address about his departed friend Martin Luther. In it Melanchthon envisioned Luther in Heaven, fellowshiping with predecessors in the faith: "We think the great delight with which he recounted the form, the counsels, the perils and escapes of the prophets, and the learning with which he discoursed on all the ages of the Church, thereby showing that he was inflamed by no ordinary passion for these wonderful men. Now he embraces them and rejoices to hear them speak and to speak to them in plow. Now they hail him gladly equally a companion, and thank God with him for having gathered and preserved the Church."¹⁶

Will Nosotros Find Books in Heaven?

We know that threescore-vi books, those that comprise the Bible, volition be in Heaven—"Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands house in the heavens" (Psalm 119:89). Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Presumably, we will read, written report, contemplate, and discuss God's Give-and-take.

There are too other books in Heaven: "I saw the dead, keen and pocket-sized, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another volume was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged co-ordinate to what they had washed as recorded in the books" (Revelation 20:12).

What are these books? They appear to contain documentation of everything e'er done by anyone on earth. To say the least, they must be extensive.

While some people accept these books figuratively, to represent God's omniscience, we should not assume these aren't real books. It would have been easy to tell united states "the all-knowing God judged everyone."

The other book is the Volume of Life, in which the names of God'south people are written. John mentions it throughout the book of Revelation (Revelation 3:5; 13:viii; 17:eight; 20:12, fifteen; 21:27). Information technology's mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures too (Exodus 32:32-33; Daniel 12:1). It's also referred to in subsequently literature, such as the volume of Jubilees and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The apostle Paul refers to it in Philippians 4:three.

Other passages describe a scroll in Heaven. Jesus opens a corking scroll (Revelation 5:1, 5), and an angel holds a niggling curlicue (Revelation x:two). The psalm writer David said, "Record my complaining; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?" (Psalm 56:eight). He asked that his tears be kept in Heaven's permanent record.

Malachi 3:sixteen-18 is a remarkable passage that tells us God documents the faithful deeds of his children on World: "Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 'They will be mine,' says the Lord Almighty, 'in the day when I brand up my treasured possession. I volition spare them, just as in compassion a human spares his son who serves him. And you will again encounter the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who practise not.' "

God is proud of his people for fearing him and honoring his name, and he promises that all will see the differences between those who serve him and those who don't. Those distinctions are preserved in this scroll in Heaven.

The king often had scribes record the deeds of his subjects so that he could remember and properly reward his subjects' adept deeds (Esther 6:1-11). While God needs no reminder, he makes a permanent record so that the unabridged universe will 1 day know his justification for rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked.

There'due south no hint that God volition destroy whatever or all of the books and scrolls presently in Sky. It'due south likely that these records of the faithful works of God'due south people on Earth volition exist periodically read throughout the ages.

The books contain detailed historical records of all of our lives on this earth. Each of u.s. is office of these records. Obscure events, words heard by only a scattering of people will be known. Your acts of faithfulness and kindness that no i else knows are well-known by God. He is documenting them in his books. He volition reward you lot for them in Heaven.

How many times have nosotros done small acts of kindness on Earth without realizing the effects? How many times have we shared Christ with people we idea didn't accept information technology to heart but who years later came to Jesus partly because of the seeds we planted? How many times have we spoken up for unborn children and seen no consequence, but every bit a effect someone chose non to have an abortion and saved a child's life? How many dishes accept been washed and diapers changed and crying children sung to in the eye of the night, when we couldn't run across the affect of the love nosotros showed? And how many times have we seen no response, merely God was even so pleased by our efforts?

God is watching. He is keeping rail. In Heaven he'll reward us for our acts of faithfulness to him, right down to every cup of cold water we've given to the needy in his proper noun (Mark 9:41). And he's making a permanent record in Sky'southward books.

Will In that location Exist Other Books besides God's?

I believe that on the New Globe, nosotros'll also read books, new and erstwhile, written by people. Because we'll accept stiff intellects, keen curiosity, and unlimited fourth dimension, it's likely that books will have a greater role in our lives in Sky than they do now. The libraries of the New Earth, I imagine, will be fantastic.

Nosotros'll have no lack of resources to study and sympathize. I once helped a young friend search for her biological mother, going through quondam court records, looking for but the right clue. We finally found it. I had the privilege of introducing them to each other. It was a gustation of Heaven—where not all reunions volition happen all at in one case, I imagine, just every bit eternity unfolds.

Volition we search for information and practice research on the New World? Why not?

Unlike the histories we read on Globe, Heaven's books volition be objective and authentic. No exaggeration or overstatement, no spinning to brand certain people wait meliorate and others worse. We volition be able to handle the failings of our ancestors, just equally they'll have the right perspective on ours.

Every biblical genealogy is a testimony to God'south involvement in history, heritage, and the unfolding of events on World. Volition God lose interest in Earth? Will we? No. The New World'south history includes that of the onetime Earth. Just a new history volition be built and recorded, a new civilisation, wondrous beyond imagination. And we who know the King will all be function of it.

Books are part of culture. I expect many new books, slap-up books, will exist written on the New Earth. Only I besides believe that some books will endure from the quondam World. Any volume that contains falsehood and dishonors God will have no place in Sky. But what about great books, nonfiction and fiction? Will we find A. W. Tozer'south The Noesis of the Holy , J. I. Packer's Knowing God , John Piper's Desiring God , John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress , and Charles Sheldon's In His Steps on the New Earth? I'll be amazed if nosotros don't observe them at that place, just every bit I'll exist amazed if no 1 sings John Newton's "Astonishing Grace" in Heaven.

Perhaps those of u.s. who are writers will go dorsum to some of our published works and rewrite them in light of the perspective nosotros'll gain. Maybe nosotros'll wait at our other books and realize they're no longer important—and some of them never were. The New World, I think, will confirm many things I've written in this volume. It volition completely dismantle others. "What was I thinking?" I'll ask myself. (If I knew which parts those were right now, I'd cut them out!) And I'll curiosity at how much better the New Earth is than I ever imagined.

Will What Was Written on Earth Survive?

On the New World, volition you run across once more than the letter of encouragement you wrote to your teenage son? Or the letter you lot wrote sharing Christ with your father? Or the life-changing words you lot jotted on a student'southward paper? Many such things written in this life may prove more important than books.

Some old books may be republished in the New Jerusalem. Or if God desires, he could preserve the original or printed copies from this earth. I wonder if John Wycliffe himself volition hold again his Bible manuscripts. Will Harriet Beecher Stowe see again her pages of Uncle Tom'due south Cabin? Will Tolkien'due south The Lord of the Rings endure the fire? Volition we read once again a version of C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity or The Chronicles of Narnia?

Volition God preserve some books from our present lives? Volition they be kept on the New Earth in museums and libraries? Will the God who resurrects people and animals and stars and rivers and trees also resurrect sure personal possessions, including books, which are first burned, then restored? C. S. Lewis portrayed it this way:

My friend said, "I don't see why there shouldn't exist books in Heaven. Just you will observe that your library in Heaven contains only some of the books y'all had on earth." "Which?" I asked. "The ones you gave abroad or lent." "I hope the lent ones won't still take all the borrowers' dirty thumb marks," said I. "Oh yes they will," said he. "But but as the wounds of the martyrs will have turned into beauties, so you will find that the thumb-marks have turned into beautiful illuminated capitals or exquisite marginal woodcuts."^xvii

Volition Nosotros Tell Stories?

God regularly reminds his people of his past acts of faithfulness: "I am the Lord your God who brought yous out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Exodus twenty:ii). History, when viewed accurately, teaches usa about God and about ourselves. It's the tape of our failure to rule the earth righteously, the record of God's sovereign and gracious redemption of us and our planet.

The angels volition be able to recount the creation of the original universe (Job 38:1-7). Merely we'll have an even greater story to tell—the creation of the new universe (Revelation 21:1-four).

When we assemble at meals and other times, nosotros'll tell stories of by battles. We'll recite God's acts of grace in our lives. (Are we practicing this now?) Some of those acts of grace we didn't sympathize at the time; some we resented. But nosotros'll run into then with an eternal perspective.

Just as we're now absorbed by a person's story of heroism or rescue from danger, we'll exist enthralled by the stories we'll share in Heaven. I desire to hear Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint discuss their last day on the old Earth. I tin can't expect to hear John Newton'south story and William Wilberforce's and Mary Magdalene'due south. Wouldn't you lot love to hear from the affections who strengthened Christ in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43)? Imagine sitting around campfires on the New Globe, wide-eyed at the adventures recounted. Aye, I mean telling existent stories around real campfires. Why not? Afterwards all, friendship, camaraderie, laughter, stories, and cozy campfires are all good gifts from God.

Consider the wonderful catastrophe to John'south Gospel: "Jesus did many other things equally well. If every ane of them were written downwardly, I suppose that fifty-fifty the whole earth would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25). The Gospels contain wonderful stories, but they record only a small fraction of what Jesus did. And that was only during the brief span of his life on the former Globe. How much more will there be to tell about his never-catastrophe life with his people on the New Globe? We tin can look forward to countless adventures, encounters, profound sayings, and delightful experiences with Jesus. When he tells a story, we'll all be on the edge of our seats. On the New Earth, our resurrected eyes and ears volition see and hear God'southward glory as never before, and our resurrected hearts volition be moved to see his dazzler everywhere. We will alive in a land of fascinating observations, captivating insights, wondrous adventures, and spellbinding stories.

The greatest novels, plays, and movies are stories of redemption. Recall of Les Miserables or The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They depict their shape and power from the ultimate redemption story. The greatest story ever told—and it volition exist told and retold from thousands of different viewpoints, emphasizing different details—volition be permanently engraved in the hands and feet of Jesus. That story, to a higher place all, will be in our hearts and on our tongues.

Volition There Exist Art, Drama, and Amusement?

God is an inventor and the managing director of the unfolding drama of redemption. He created the universe, and then wrote, directed, and took the leading role in history's greatest story. We who accept lived our own dramas and participated in God'south, nosotros whose lives were enriched through drama, should recognize its value in the new universe. The quality of drama will likely exist vastly improved. Imagine how new minds and bodies on the New Earth will stir the states to worship, dialogue, action, and creativity.

Volition we use the arts—including drama, painting, sculpture, music, and much more—to praise God? Will they provide enjoyment and amusement for resurrected people? C. S. Lewis said, "When you painted on world... it was because you defenseless glimpses of Heaven in the earthly mural."^eighteen Ultimately, the new earthly landscape will be Heaven's mural. But that won't eliminate art, which is a God-given gift to his image-bearers. Art will rise to always-higher levels in the new universe.

Will we see movies in Heaven? Many current movies celebrate sin and therefore won't accept a place there. But practiced movies, like good books, tell powerful stories. Movies on the New Earth might depict sin, equally the Bible does, showing it to be wrong. But for whatsoever portrayal of sin, there would be a greater accent on God'southward redemptive work.

Professor Arthur Roberts writes of drama and the arts in Sky: "Some people may find it difficult to envision drama or literature without plots involving villainy, deceit, violence, or adultery.... Such fears are understandable, because it is hard to see beyond the horizon of our experience. These questions reflect an inadequate vision of resurrected life.... Do our artful adventures depend upon sin for flavor? I think non. In heaven, equally on earth, effective drama portrays a triumph of adept over evil. I daresay the vastness and the openness of the renewed cosmos offers adventures adequate for epic tales, just at information technology provides raw cloth for the visual arts, for painting, for sculpture, for compages."^xix

Rather than forget well-nigh our lives on the one-time Earth, I think we'll describe them in drama and literature with perspective and gratitude to God. Volition people really write new books on the New Globe? Why non? Reading and writing aren't the result of sin; they're the result of God's making united states his image-bearers. Unless we believe the present Earth will be greater than the New Earth, so surely the greatest books, dramas, and poetry are yet to exist written. Authors volition accept new insights, information, and perspectives. I look forwards to reading nonfiction books that draw the character of God and the wonders of his universe. I'1000 eager to read new biographies and fiction that tell powerful redemptive stories, moving our hearts to worship God.

We'll be resurrected people with minds, easily, and eyes. As we've seen, there will be books and buildings in Heaven. Put plenty books in a building, and you lot take a library. Imagine great rows of books, hundreds of thousands, millions of them. Imagine oak desks and ladders reaching to great shelves heavy with books. (If you like the sound of that, you may spend a lot of time in such a library or serve the King by helping others notice the right books.) Will y'all be one who writes new books? Perchance.

I desire to be function of a group that explores the vast reaches of the new creation. When my young man explorers and I return home to Earth, the uppercase planet, and enter the gates of the majuscule city, we'll assemble for food and drinks, and grab upwards on our stories. I'll listen to your stories; perhaps you'll listen to mine. Perhaps I'll write well-nigh great planets of star systems far abroad. I'll tell how my explorations deepened my love for Jesus. And you'll play or sing for me the music of praise you lot composed while I was gone. I'll marvel at its dazzler, and I'll meet Jesus in it and in you. Peradventure I'll write a book near the Omega galaxy, while you'll write one almost the music of the heart. We'll exchange manuscripts, stimulate new insights, and draw each other closer to God.

Will We Laugh?

"If you lot're non allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to get there." It wasn't Marker Twain who said that. It was Martin Luther.

Where did humor originate? Not with people, angels, or Satan. God created all good things, including good sense of humor. If God didn't take a humour, we as his epitome-bearers wouldn't. That he has a sense of humor is evident in his creation. Consider aardvarks and baboons. Take a good look at a giraffe. You have to grin, don't you?

When laughter is prompted by what's appropriate, God always takes pleasure in it. I think Christ volition laugh with us, and his wit and fun-loving nature will be our greatest source of countless laughter.

There'southward aught like the laughter of love friends. The Bible often portrays us around the dinner table in God's coming Kingdom. What sound practice you hear when friends gather to swallow and talk? The sound of laughter. My wife, Nanci, loves football. She opens our dwelling to family and friends for Monday night football game. If you came to our house, you'd hear thanks and groans, only the dominant sound in the room, week subsequently week, is laughter. God made us to laugh and to love to laugh. It'due south therapeutic. The new universe volition ring with laughter.

Am I just speculating most laughter? No. I tin can betoken to Scripture passages worth memorizing. For example, Jesus says, "Blessed are yous who hunger at present, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are y'all who cry now, for you will laugh" (Luke 6:21). You will laugh.

When volition we be satisfied? In Heaven. When will nosotros laugh? In Heaven. Tin we exist sure of that? Yeah. Jesus tells us precisely when this promise will be fulfilled: "Rejoice in that twenty-four hour period and leap for joy, because great is your reward in sky" (Luke 6:23).

Only equally Jesus promises satisfaction equally a reward in Heaven, he besides promises laughter every bit a reward. Anticipating the laughter to come, Jesus says we should "leap for joy" now. Tin you imagine someone leaping with joy in utter silence, without laughter? Take any grouping of rejoicing people, and what do yous hear? Laughter. There may exist hugging, backslapping, playful wrestling, singing, and storytelling. But always there is laughter. It is God's souvenir to humanity, a gift that will exist raised to new levels subsequently our bodily resurrection.

The advantage of those who mourn now will be laughter afterward. Passages such as Luke half-dozen gave the early Christians strength to endure persecution in "an agreement of sky as the compensation for lost earthly privileges."^xx In early Christian Greek tradition, Easter Mon was a "solar day of joy and laughter," called Bright Monday.^xxi But the followers of Christ can express mirth in the confront of persecution and death because they know that their present trouble isn't all there is. They know that someday all will be right and joyful.

By God'due south grace, we can laugh on Earth now, fifty-fifty under expiry's shadow. Jesus doesn't say, "If yous weep, shortly things on Earth will take a improve plow, and then y'all'll laugh." Things won't always have a amend turn on Earth. Sickness, loss, grief, and death volition find united states of america. Merely as our reward will come in Heaven, laughter (itself i of our rewards) volition come in Heaven, compensating for our nowadays sorrow. God won't but wipe abroad all our tears, he'll fill up our hearts with joy and our mouths with laughter.

The fact that we could wonder whether there's laughter in Heaven shows how skewed our perspective is. C. S. Lewis said, "Merely in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could exist prolonged hither, would be a truancy, is likeliest that which in a better country is the Terminate of ends. Joy is the serious business concern of Heaven."^xxii

Even those who are poor, diseased, or grieving may experience therapeutic laughter. People at memorial services often laugh, even in the confront of death. And if we tin can laugh hard now—in a world full of poverty, disease, and disasters—then surely nosotros will laugh more than in Heaven.

The merely laughter that won't take a place in Sky is the sort that late-night comedians often engage in—laughter that mocks troubled people, makes light of human suffering, or glorifies immorality. Jesus makes a sobering comment in Luke 6:25. He addresses not only Heaven but also Hell, maxim, "Woe to you lot who are well fed now, for you will become hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for y'all will mourn and weep." When will those who laugh now mourn and weep? In the afterlife. All those who accept not surrendered their lives to God, who have exploited and ignored the needy, who laugh at and ridicule the unfortunate, and who flout God's standards of purity will have all eternity to mourn and weep. They will never laugh over again.

1 of Satan'southward great lies is that God—and goodness—is joyless and humorless, while Satan—and evil—brings pleasure and satisfaction. In fact, information technology's Satan who is humorless. Sin didn't bring him joy; information technology forever stripped him of joy. In dissimilarity, envision Jesus with his disciples. If you lot cannot picture him teasing them and laughing with them, you demand to reevaluate your agreement of the Incarnation. We need a biblical theology of sense of humor that prepares the states for an eternity of celebration and spontaneous laughter.

C. S. Lewis depicts the laughter in Heaven when his characters nourish the great reunion on the New Narnia: "And there was greeting and kissing and handshaking and old jokes revived (you've no idea how good an old joke sounds later on you have information technology out again later a rest of five or six hundred years)."^xxiii

Who is the most intelligent, creative, witty, and joyful man being in the universe? Jesus Christ. Whose laughter will be loudest and most contagious on the New Earth? Jesus Christ's.

When we face difficulty and discouragement in this earth, we must go on our eyes on the source of our joy. Call up, "Blest are yous who weep at present, for yous will laugh" (Luke 6:21, emphasis added).

For more data on the subject of Heaven, see Randy Alcorn's book Sky.

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ⁱWalton J. Chocolate-brown, Abode at Last (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1983), 73.

^twoWayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), endnote on 1162.

ⁱⁱⁱGerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans. and ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Yard Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-76), i:692.

⁴Dave Hunt, Whatever Happened to Heaven? (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest Firm, 1988), 238.

^vColleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), 307.

^sixKittel et al., Theological Dictionary, 1:703.

^viiJonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Perry Miller, vol. 13, The Miscellanies, ed. Thomas A. Schafer (New Oasis, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994), 483.

^viiiIbid., 275; I'm indebted to Andrew McClellan for several citations from his seminary paper "Jonathan Edwards's View of Heaven," Baronial fifteen, 2003.

⁹William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene one, line 87.

^xJonathan Edwards, quoted in John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell (K Rapids: Baker, 1980), 24.

¹¹Ibid., 26.

^xiiJonathan Edwards, "The Terminate for which God Created the World," quoted in John Piper, God's Passion for His Glory (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1998), 37.

^xiiiIbid., 160.

^xivIbid., 251.

^xvJ. Boudreau, The Happiness of Heaven (Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books, 1984), 120-22.

¹⁶Philip Melanchthon, quoted in Westward. Robertson Nicoll, Reunion in Eternity (New York: George H. Doran, 1919), 117-xviii.

^xviiC. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Thousand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 216.

Chapter 33
WHAT WILL OUR DAILY LIVES Be LIKE?

^xviiiC. S. Lewis, The Swell Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946), eighty.
^xixArthur O. Roberts, Exploring Heaven (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989), 63-64.
^xxColleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), 47.
^xxiJohn Gilmore, Probing Heaven (M Rapids: Baker, 1991), 252.
^xxiiC. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1963), 92-93.
^xxiiiC. Southward. Lewis, The Terminal Battle (New York: Collier Books, 1956), 179.

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Source: https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Mar/6/heaven-chapter-32-what-will-we-know-and-learn/

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