A Christian Guidebook: What Is Eternal Life? (3)

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3.13

Not quite yet?
A classic Gary Larson “Far Side” cartoon is a split panel. At the top, people are queued up on the clouds of heaven, outfitted with their angel wings, awaiting entrance. The gatekeeper/saint greets them, saying, “Welcome to heaven, here’s your harp.” In the bottom segment, people are lined up to enter hell. A devil greets them saying, “Welcome to hell. Here’s your accordion.”

At least one implication is clear: Both places are a little boring, only one is more so than the other.

I have sometimes, when teaching a larger group, asked for a show of hands for those who want to go to heaven when they die. Every hand goes up without hesitation. Then I ask, “How many of you want to go to heaven today?” Fewer hands by far. Perhaps because they want to continue caring for loved ones. But I suspect some of that hesitation is because, while heaven is clearly the best choice, it seems a little monotonous?

Unlike their fun and busy lives in the here and now.

Regardless, Christians know that going to heaven is our thing. We want it to be others’ thing, too, and so we urge them to consider whether, when they die, they know they’re going to heaven, that is, to have eternal life. And most of them, in this secular and wrong-believing age, haven’t really thought about it or, if they have, consider it to be a laughable proposition. Go to heaven? There’s no such place. And if there is, it seems a bit boring.

We know better. But, if we’re honest, we don’t quite understand why heaven is the better choice, except that the Bible says it is. Doesn’t it?

Heaven is, indeed, the better choice. But heaven is not the endgame of eternal life. Rather, heaven is a kind of half-way home for pilgrims on the Jesus Path of eternal life. It is a glorious, joyous, wondrous, and unspeakably beautiful place. Boring? Hardly. But for all its grandeur and glory, heaven is not the end of the line in our journey with the Lord. Eternal life includes heaven, but it doesn’t stop there.

At least, not forever.

The glory of heaven
Yet there is abundant glory, wonder, and joy in heaven. And all this revolves around Jesus, exalted in glory. Think of all the great saints you’ve ever known in your life. Teachers, mentors, parents, friends, pastors—folks you looked up to, learned from, and greatly admired for their piety, devotion, and love for Jesus. Add to them all the great saints of Christian history you’ve ever heard of or read about. Justin Martyr. Athanasius. Augustine. Patrick. Francis of Assisi. Calvin. Edwards. Newman. Crosby. John Paul II. And on and on. These are people we honor and look to for examples and instruction in righteousness.

All these great saints are in heaven now, surrounding us on every side, separated only by a veil of mortality that prevents our stepping into their proceedings at any moment (Heb. 12.1). And as these great saints, and multitudes more, cast an eye on us or carry our prayers to the Lord in bowls as incense, they are praising and rejoicing and singing and high-fiving and backslapping one another and rollicking with angels before the throne of Jesus in heaven (Rev. 4, 5).

And these saints weren’t dummies. It’s not like in heaven there’s something better to do with their time, something they would much prefer to this incessant celebration of the beauty, wonder, majesty, power, wisdom, goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness of Jesus, seated beside His Father, framed by the rainbow of the Holy Spirit.

A more beautiful sight we will never see. Nor have these saints, which is why they never tire of devoting themselves—in their spirits, that is—to this heavenly rave. Heaven is more indescribably beautiful, wonderful, glorious, and joyful than we can know in this life. Departed saints, glorying in their spiritual existence, would prefer to be nowhere else doing nothing other than seeing and knowing and loving and worshiping Jesus together.

And I’m pretty sure there’s nothing boring about this.

But heaven is just the warm-up for the final staging ground of eternal life.

The new heavens and new earth
The world is coming back to the garden of Eden for a new beginning. Peter reminds us that a new heaven and a new earth are coming—two realms of existence fused into one, replete with all the creatures and features God intended from the beginning, flourishing in culture, teeming with saints now made finally whole (saved) in their glorified bodies, all of them worshiping Jesus as they do whatever it is the wonders of the new creation provide.

This will be where we finally realize the meaning of eternal life: To know, love, and serve God and Jesus Christ and to fulfill our unique and wholly satisfying calling in His new world. We will never grow old, never fall ill, never be subject to sin or harm, never want of any good thing, never be bored, and never fail to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We have eternal life now, in the here and now—at least, as much as we can expect to realize while we are in this mortal flesh. And there is always exceedingly and abundantly more to know of eternal life in the here and now. Go to heaven when we die? Yes, certainly, gratefully, expectantly, and assuredly. But always keep in mind that even heaven is not the final stop on our journey.

The then and there is coming, and we cannot begin to imagine the joy, wonder, grandeur, loveliness, and daily delight of what that will be like. And all that will be so because of Jesus, in Whom all the promises of God are “Yes!” and “Amen!” (2 Cor. 1.20).

But we can think about it. Meditate on it. Talk and sing about it. And we should, for that, too, is part of what it means to have eternal life.

Search the Scriptures
1. Where would you look in Scripture for a glimpse of heaven as it is now?

2. Where would you look in Scripture to learn about the new heavens and new earth?

3. John says that one day we will see Jesus face to face, and then we will be like Him (1 Jn. 3.1-3). Do you think the Christians you know find this a compelling prospect? Explain. 

Next steps—Preparation: How much of the “then and there” presently factors into your “here and now”? What might you do to improve this?

T. M. Moore

Additional Resources
If you have found this study helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

For a more complete study of this subject, order the workbook, The Landscape of Unseen Things, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from theNew King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.