Category: Heaven

Jesus: God in the Flesh

Without an amazing act of love that we celebrate at Christmas there would be no point in writing or thinking about eternal life, because all that would be waiting for us would be judgement. The miracle of Christmas is all about God becoming human. But what does that mean? The discussion below is largely theoretical based on the little information that we have.

Jesus is a unique being in several ways. First, He is a being that pre-existed His conception as a human. The rest of us started our existence at conception. We were not a soul waiting to jump into a body. Jesus is the Son of God — a being united with the Father in a way that none of us can understand. Still, the Son of God is known to have acted as a distinct person in the creation of the world, in interacting with Israel during Old Testament times, and probably in many other ways. This being was a spirit. What’s a “spirit”? It is an intelligent, powerful being that has no set physical or observable form. A spirit can take on a form and “manifest” itself, but it is not bound to that form. When Jesus “manifested” in the Old Testament, as when three visitors came to Abraham, we refer to Him as the “pre-incarnate” Christ. Incarnating is not the same as manifesting.

There is no biblical glossary that sets down the defining parameters of what it means to be a spirit or spiritual. Similarly, theological terms like incarnate, pre-incarnate, triune or manifest are subject to the understanding of the user. The definition of “spirit” above is my own as I struggle to understand God, Angels, Seraphim, and ultimately humans and myself. For now, I will stand with my definition of what God and the Son of God is.

I believe Angels and Seraphim are slightly different, even though the Bible speaks of angels as “ministering spirits”. In their formal space, that of Heaven, I expect that individual Angels and Seraphim have a set form. They also seem to have the ability to access our space, this Universe, and here they can “manifest” taking any form that they wish. This would be true of Satan (a Seraphim) and demons (Angels), only now they are excluded from Heaven.

For the time being, living human beings are stuck here with a set form. We have a body, and that body’s form cannot be shifted (not including surgery). When we die, we temporarily leave our “Earthly” body behind. If we are connected to Christ, we go to Heaven and assume a Heavenly body, which again has a set form (superior to what we left behind). We cannot return to this time-space, until we return with Jesus at Judgement Day.

Christmas is the story of the Son of God volunteering to doing something that is very restricting to Him yet is a marvelous act of sacrificial love. He takes on a set human form. By incarnating rather than manifesting the Son of God is stuck with this union. He becomes Jesus.

The Angels are said to have marveled at this. They likely marveled not so much at the fact that God could do this, but rather that He would. It is akin to our choosing to be a rat. The reasoning for it is clear and beautiful. God became human so that humans could have a chance at eternal life with Him.

God is a being of laws. He had the sovereign power to ignore His laws and save sinful humans simply because He wanted to. That is not God’s idea of justice. The Law had to be fulfilled and a sinless human being would do it. Because of the process of how our sinful human nature is spread (by heredity), there was no and would be no sinless human being; so the Son of God became one. A virgin birth avoided the inheritance of a sinful nature. The incarnation put the Son of God under the Law.

The fact that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God also made possible that human beings like us could be united with Jesus in a way similar to how the Son of God is united to the Father and the Holy Spirit. This allows us to have the righteousness of Jesus and for Jesus’ forsakeness on the cross to apply to us.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:20-21 (ESV)

Many people think this prayer of Jesus is unfulfilled, because the Christian church is divided structurally and doctrinally. That is incorrect. We are all united in some supernatural way to Jesus and therefore to each other. This saves us.

At Judgement Day we will take the final step of our salvation. We will acquire a resurrected, spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:44f) What does that mean? I don’t think it means that we will be like God without form, but rather a form for this Universe and a form for Heaven with the ability to move between both. Could that be a misread? Absolutely. Whatever having a spiritual body means, it will be great; and it will be because the Son of God chose transformation of Himself.

Does Jesus remain human? I think so. What will that look like? We will find out.

Judgment Day for the Redeemed

There is a passage of Scripture that has captured my imagination. It is 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. I call it the “Three Little Pigs” passage, because verse 12 is reminiscent of that nursery rhyme. The passage gives a unique insight into what Judgment Day is like for somebody who has been saved by Jesus. I have written snippets about this topic in the past. In this blog I would like to give a more complete treatment. Here is the passage:

 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (ESV)

It surprises people when they here that Judgment Day is a judgment of our deeds. This is said in several places in Revelation and is correctly stated in the Athanasian Creed, if you are familiar with that. What throws people off is the assumption that Judgment Day is about whether we are saved or not. For people who don’t have the forgiveness of their sins through Jesus, it is about that. But for those who have forgiveness, their salvation has been known for a long time. In fact, people could have been in the Heaven for millennia by the time Judgment Day rolls around. They are not going to be kicked out of God’s presence at that time.

So why should redeemed people go through the Judgment Day process at all? And what is “the process”? 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 tells us quite a bit. Let me set the stage.

Jesus returns from Heaven with all those who had previously died that were connected to Him (“in Christ” is a phrase frequently used in the Bible to describe that relationship). Everybody (living and the dead, saved and the unsaved) is resurrected or transformed into a new body as described in 1 Corinthians 15. The Redeemed are collected to be near Christ (this is the real Rapture) and are then seated on Christ’s right as described in Matthew 25:31f. Throughout this process the universe has been unraveling as God is changing everything. The Earth is eventually consumed by fire. It is not clear of where we are relative to this. The judgment of Judgment Day then proceeds.

Matthew 25:31-46 gives a general overview of the judgment. I’ll write about this next time. While is seems like a group judgement in that passage. Paul shows that it is very individualistic in the passage above. What happens?

It seems that we all will experience this “fire” that essentially reveals and evaluates everything that has happened in our lives here on Earth. I say “everything”, but it is actually everything minus what has been forgiven through our connection to Christ. The process shows whether we have “built” on the foundation of Christ with a life that is “gold, silver and costly stones” or “wood, hay and straw.” What constitutes “gold, silver and costly stones”?

These precious things are obviously metaphors. Paul urges us to live lives “worthy” of Christ. People who still have sinful natures will never truly be worthy of Christ’s sacrifice or of His presence and glory. But what we are asked to do is to be active being good stewards of everything God gives us in life (time, talents, money, body, the planet, our knowledge of God, etc.), to carry our the “good deeds prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10), to grow in the characteristics of God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4, et al)and to do all of this by the power of the Holy Spirit and with a humble and loving nature (Luke 17:10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Wood, hay and straw would constitute living as Christian and treating grace as cheap, straying into an attitude of self-righteousness and entitlement, ignoring the work of God’s kingdom, being a selfish steward and the like. The Day will reveal God’s evaluation of all of this. The fire referenced here, as well as by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11) and Jesus (Mark 9:49), destroys the remembrance of such things and leaves only what God considers to be rewardable, if anything.

We are saved by grace. Without Jesus nothing we do can eclipse our sin. For some, even with Jesus, they have no reward; but they still have eternal life. They enter the New Heaven and Earth, but “only as through fire”. For the wiser disciple their life was not meaningless. They too are saved by grace, but they will also have a reward. What is the reward? Not much is said, but you can put a general idea together. I’ll save that for another blog.

Clearly, it is desirable to have a reward. So we want to keep this balance in our minds. We serve God because we love God and, as God’s nature seeps into our souls, we love people. We consider God worthy of our all and we do our best to give Him our all. None of this is done to save ourselves or to merit anything. We serve because we believe in the cause we are serving. We know that we are blessed to be saved by grace. We understand that if salvation rested on us somehow our sinful nature would mess it up. We leave this life expecting eternal life and no more. We receive more because God is good.

Can You Imagine a New Earth?

Today is a gorgeous fall day. There is bright sun and a warm breeze. It is wonderful. It is also just the remnant of the good things that God placed in the original creation. Sit outside long enough and you will notice the results of the “curse”.

Probably some insects will find you eventually and they will harass if not bite you. The sun might get too warm. Stay long enough and you will get sunburn. Discomfort, temperature change, hunger, thirst will all show up eventually. But what if the curse no longer existed? What if sin and Satan’s kingdom were no longer a part of your environment? Can you imagine it?

The Biblical description of the New Earth is pretty scant. All of the detail is left for us to discover in the future. Even a Near Death Experience is not a field trip to the New Earth. If it is not an illusion, it is an experience of Heaven during the “Intermediate Period”, the time between now and Judgment Day.

What can we say about the New Earth? First, it is not just for redeemed people, but it includes a redeemed version of the rest of creation. There will be animals, but a “no death” system of existence. Nothing will prey on you or anything else. A petting zoo of the grandest form.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9 (ESV)

Can you imagine such a gentle and complementary relationship with nature? Never mind the food chain and the cycles that move energy or carbon. God can create sustainable worlds that work in many ways.

How about people? We are the most dangerous predator on this planet. What about on the New Earth?

But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.

Isaiah 65:18 (ESV)

People will be one of the most enjoyable parts of the New Earth. No conflict, no unfriendly competition, just joyful relationships. We will not retain the relationships (like spouse) that we had here. That is not to say that we won’t know people from here. Our investment in helping others to know Jesus and be disciples is so that they will be a part of our “reward” in the New Earth.

Will we be bound to the New Earth? We are currently on the cusp of space tourism. Is our place restricted to the New Earth? One confusing aspect of God’s post-Judgment Day plans is that it appears to some that we either never go to Heaven or leave Heaven as Judgment Day commences. While I agree that we return with Jesus. I don’t think the Bible says we have to stay. Paul talks about “an eternal house in Heaven.”(2 Corinthians 5:1). What if an aspect of our resurrected bodies is that we can move between Heaven and this universe freely? What if we can move all over this universe and Heaven freely? Endless adventure, travel, investigating all that God will create.

Speaking of our resurrected bodies, what will we be like?

 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (ESV)

A body that is no longer able to die, no longer sick or weak. Who knows what are its limits? I would understand “spiritual” in this context as that ability to move between and exist in parallel universes like Heaven and here. Will we be beautiful? I expect beauty will still be thing, but no one left out. Each person will have their unique and beautiful look.

One more thing to ponder. What about our relationship with God. We think of God being visible in Heaven, but He is able to be everywhere. I expect we will encounter Jesus in a face-to-face way every day in many settings. We will experience the Spirit and the Father in a multitude of ways, from seeing them take form, to being in God’s throne room, to experiencing their presence and power within us.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3b-4 (ESV)

Are you ready for this? This is the inheritance of those who are in Christ. God gets through to us so that we believe the promises connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have eternal life from the time we are baptized in the name of Jesus, but it is ultimately and fully revealed when the New Earth begins.

Is Heaven a Destination for Humans?

Depending on your background the question in the title may seem strange to you. For many their understanding of eternal life is simply Heaven or Hell. There are others who come from the other side of this question. They would correctly note that Heaven was not promised as a human destination in the Old Testament. They would also note that we are promised a resurrection of the body and a place in a “new heaven and new earth.” If they wished, they could also note that “heaven” is oddly not capitalized in Greek like a proper noun, place name is in the rest of the New Testament.

Let’s start with the last point. Heaven is definitely a place and not a state of mind or physical condition. The problem is that for some reason Greek couldn’t come up with different words for atmosphere, universe and the place where God properly dwells. Sometimes the distinction is made 1st heaven, 2nd heaven and 3rd heaven, which corresponds with how they visualized these things spatially–like concentric circles. The fact that they have this wrong, doesn’t make God’s throne a non-place. Perhaps Heaven isn’t it’s proper name, just like “angel” might be more of a job description (messenger) than a name for a species (We could say the same for the title”God”) We use Heaven as a proper name, so I would argue that it should be capitalized regardless of what Greek did with it. Hebrew doesn’t capitalize, context is the key. The main point is that Heaven is a place and a future place for us.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in (H)heaven for you,

1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)

Our inheritance is in Heaven. You can have treasure in Heaven (Mt.9:21). Your citizenship is in Heaven (Phil. 3:20) Your hope is laid up in Heaven (Col. 1:5). And there are proofs that don’t use the word “Heaven.” The martyrs are under the altar (in Heaven) and before Judgement Day. Paul talks about us having a building from God…eternal in the heavens. Why the plural? I think it is because there is Heaven, the dwelling place of God and the redeemed now, and post-Judgment Day a new Heaven. My way of reconciling Heaven and eternity is to understand that we don’t abandon Heaven for the New Earth, but rather we add the New Earth.

The fact that Heaven is mentioned, but not as a destination for humans, in the Old Testament; certainly seems like a theological development. I suspect that it a change in conditions rather than human thought. Satan is expelled from Heaven (Rev. 12), and sin is atoned for by the victory of Jesus on the cross. The result is our ability to “reign” with Christ in Heaven right now.

There is a hymn that goes, “I’m but a stranger here, Heaven is my home.” The thought is a little sloppy but not wrong. I am of the Earth–not a stranger. But because of Christ, the Earth, Heaven, the new Heaven and Earth, are all home for me.

Time and Eternity

I recently stumbled across an article with this title, “Scientists Create a State of Matter that Has Time in Two Dimensions.” In the common experience of our universe everything can be described by three spatial dimensions and the fourth is time. What would be described in that article would certainly bend the mind as most quantum mechanics does. I read only a short distance into the article before giving up. Their observation was that a second dimension of time was “borrowed” from another spatial set of dimensions “that did not exist”. I’m not sure how you arrive at that conclusion.

I share this brief synopsis to introduce the idea that time is not as straight forward as we might think. It seems to be something definitely tied to creation. It does not transcend creation. One fallacy that I have seen in some theological thinking is that we will transcend creation and time at our death. For instance, one common view is that when we die, we move forward directly to Judgment Day because we transcend time. Revelation 6:9-11 puts a hole in that theory:

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 6:9-11 (ESV)

Here people who have been martyred, so they are definitely dead, are asking how long it will take to get to Judgment Day. They are asking a time question. They are told to wait (a time answer). Nobody is transcending anything.

I do believe in the possibility of transcending all time, space, and physical laws. That is what God does. He is the Creator of all of these things and is “outside” of the constrains of time-space. People do not become like God in this regard. This may explain why to God a “day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.”

In the study of our universe, it was theorized and later proved that time changes as you approach the speed of light. From our experience it would seem like time is a constant. Would time remain the same if you moved into a different time-space continuum? This is what I theorize happens when we die. Heaven isn’t a distant part of our universe. It is a parallel universe that does exist. The passage of time there and the passage of time here may not be in lockstep. What would this mean for our experience? I’m not sure. I believe that post-Judgment Day we will have a resurrected body that will be movable from this renewed universe to a renewed Heaven. The Bible hints that we have an eternal inheritance in both. If time doesn’t move the same in both, that might lead to an interesting experience.

The final “time” topic I have is that of the word “eternal” itself. Is eternal a straight-line unending stream of experience? In the description of the new Earth in Isaiah 65 the length of our existence is compared to the lifespan of a tree. It doesn’t seem unending there. This dissonance with later revelations which use the word “eternal”, could be attributed to the limited revelation given to Isaiah who lives before Jesus’ victory.

God certainly had at least the ability to know that Jesus would succeed in His mission to atone for the sins of the world. He might just be not letting on to Isaiah that a place in Heaven was in the future for redeemed humans and that life in the New Earth was more than long but rather eternal. It also might be true that we just don’t know what it is like to transcend time as God does.

While I expect the meaning of “eternal” might be more complex than our minds can comprehend, I think the message is that our existence will be pleasingly unending. We will not return to beginning as some views in Eastern religions suggest.

While eternal joy sounds great, eternal suffering and damnation is another story. The Bible definitely portrays a majority being damned. It does not leave room for a damnation that consumes a being and leaves them non-existent. I suppose a possibility is that the experience of time might be vastly different in the time-space of Hell. This might mitigate the horror in some way.

With our limited experience and our limited revelation, there are more questions than answers. It is a topic that challenges the mind and leaves room for our imagination. We can be certain that whatever we experience, because of Christ, it will be good.

And This Is Eternal Life

When you think about eternal life, what do you imagine it is like? Many of us think of loved ones that went before us. We might think of having new abilities or being in beautiful surroundings. I don’t think that is wrong. But Jesus gives us something to ponder about eternal life.

In Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” He says:

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:3 (ESV)

What does this mean? Let’s start with something simple. Eternal life is not the same as eternal existence. We have been created to be eternal creatures. There is nothing that can stop that. Having our bodies fail does not mean we cease to exist. Part of us is temporarily gone, but we continue on. It is more of a move.

The Bible reserves the word “life” for something worth having. Existence in Sheol or the final lake of fire (Hell) is not worth having. Paul even casts a little dispersion on this “life”.

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV)

Apparently, this life isn’t “truly” life. Paul not only was a conduit of revelation from God, he had an out-of-body experience that he refers to in 2 Corinthians. He speaks from experience. So the best this life has to offer doesn’t quite deserve the title “life”. It is damaged by sin, sinful nature, the curse, and the presence of Satan.

In Revelation 7, the inhabitants of Heaven have a term for this life. Referring to the people now in Heaven, an elder says:

“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:14 (ESV)

“Great tribulation” may refer to a specific period of world history or it may refer to it all. At very least, any other time is the usual “tribulation” and not life.

What does it mean to “know God” in this context. God is the source of every good thing. It is not that being with God is doing churchly stuff and being with Satan is having a raucous party with your friends. The ability to enjoy a party comes from God. Friends comes from God. Even alcohol comes from God. This doesn’t provide a reason to abuse it. Being known and not forsaken by God means that God will continue to fill your existence with good things. Many of which you have never conceived.

The second part about knowing “Jesus Christ whom You have sent” has a combination of meanings. Jesus will be a daily part of our existence. We will enjoy a wonderful, face-to-face relationship. But Jesus also is the only way to know the Father. Our connection with Jesus fulfills God’s Law for us and pays for our sinfulness. Without Jesus there will be no “life”.

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 (ESV)

There are many smaller ways to make a person’s life better and we should pursue doing them if we can. Things like providing the basic necessities of living. But the deepest, most important way to give life is to give Jesus. My other blog http://givingchrist.com talks about various aspects of sharing the story and promise of Jesus, and what can stand in the way of real life. May nothing stand in your way, because truly having life is the most important asset we can have.

The Seventh Trumpet

The Book of Revelation gives us many of the pictures we have about life after death. In this article, I want to look at short passage with plenty of content. This is part of a series of revelations that starts with seven seals being broken on a critical scroll, is then followed by seven trumpets sounding, and finally seven incense burners being poured on Earth. These visions are not to be understood as being in chronological order, but rather each set of seven run parallel between the time of Jesus re-entering Heaven and His return to Earth.

The section I will write about today is Revelation 11:15-19:

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
    and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
    but your wrath came,
    and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
    and those who fear your name,
    both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Revelation 11:15-19

The seventh trumpet is sounded in the midst of Judgment Day. Perhaps it is the trumpet spoken of in Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It marks the transition from the Earth being Satan’s kingdom to it being God’s Kingdom once again. Once this happens there will be no more falling away again, for it says that He will reign forever and ever. “Forever and ever” is a bit redundant, but it emphasizes the point and makes for great music lyrics.

In what sense did God not reign? He is the Almighty. But operating under God’s own laws, Satan had seized control through Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That event changed the genetics of creation at a minimum. Now God’s Word will be coded in the flesh of all living things.

The inhabitants of God’s throne room give Him praise, for now Judgment Day will begin. What does it involve?

The list of those being rewarded is curious. First, anyone being rewarded on Judgment Day has to be someone forgiven through the death of Jesus (John 14:6) They are made clean by Jesus’ blood (Revelation 7:14b). Then building on that forgiveness people can have a reward. The list breaks out prophets, saints (literally holy ones, not the Roman Catholic definition of saint) and those who fear God’s name. This would seem to be overlapping categories. The point I would make is that it is a comprehensive description of God’s people, as opposed to Revelation 6 and 20 which only enumerate the martyrs. The reward is some aspect of living in the New Heaven and Earth.

The final bullet is the destroying of the destroyers. Who is this? People have defiled the planet through pagan worship and sin, but they would be included in the judgment of the dead. Judgment Day also brings the final destruction of Satan and the demons that follow him. They have been fundamental in ruining God’s creation for Him. Now they will get theirs.

In the final verse, God’s temple in Heaven is opened. This is to distinguish between the former earthly temple (gone since 70 AD) and the arrangement of the New Jerusalem which will have no temple. Within it is the ark of the Covenant. So it is not in a church in Ethiopia https://nypost.com/2021/02/20/at-least-800-ethiopians-killed-after-defending-ark-of-the-covenant/ , nor is it in a US government warehouse like in Indiana Jones. God’s most holy relic is His. Its unveiling is merely to show that God’s people will have direct access to God.

The Glory I Had with You

In Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus speaks of returning to a “glory I had with you before the world existed”. What would Jesus consider to be glorious? Is it a glory that we will be able to see? Is it something that will be experienced in other ways?

The first thing to note is that “glory” is probably not the same in God’s eyes as in ours. We think in terms of power, praise, pleasure, and authority. I expect that such categories would also be a part of God’s definition. But God would add love to that list.

In His prayer, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him. This request is focused on what would happen before Jesus ascended back to Heaven. Crucifixion is not glorious. Being forsaken by God is even more inglorious. Being crucified with the purpose of fulfilling God’s Law for others because you love them and honor the Father, that is very glorious. Paying the ultimate price when you didn’t owe it out of love, that is the pinnacle of glorious.

Prior to the crucifixion James and John and their mom went on a glory-seeking mission. Having been enculturated to see glory in terms of praise and power they approached Jesus about sitting on His right and left when He entered into His glory.

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 20:20-23 (ESV)

James, John and mom definitely were thinking in terms of some sort of throne arrangement. Jesus indicates that this isn’t what you are thinking. His ultimate glory would be on the cross. The thieves to the right and to the left are the ones “chosen” for roles. These are not necessarily coveted positions. None-the-less, James and John would be chosen for the glory of suffering for the Gospel and, in James’s case, martyrdom.

This brings me back to the idea of heavenly glory. Is it all just bright lights, beautiful music and praise? I expect the glory of love will remain a big part of it. Will there be a necessity for sacrificial love in Heaven or the New Earth? Maybe. It will be nothing like the cross and nothing near forsakeness. The need to care for each other, to give to each other is not just limited to a world with sin and the curse in it. We will experience God’s love for us and a love for each other in many ways.

For me, this emphasizes the importance of our current life. Because sin, the curse, and the work of Satan are such influential forces, the need for genuine, sacrificial love is so important. The need and the opportunities abound. This won’t be so in Heaven or the New Earth. Living in a world that incorporates evil is terrible and I want no more of it than I have to take; but I am willing to stay as long as I can be useful and exercise my “glory” which is the love of God working in me.

This point-of-view can also illustrate why Sheol and Gehenna are so bad. Yes, the description of fire and maggots is mortifying. But the absence of the glory of God is worse. There is a growing absence of love.

In the one story about Sheol that we have, that of the beggar Lazarus, at least the rich man has compassion on his living siblings. He cares whether they arrive in Sheol. This indicates to me that being forsaken by God has not yet set in. In Gehenna, post-Judgment Day, I don’t expect any hope or unselfishness to be found. It is completely inglorious.

The glory of God, in Jesus’ crucifixion, enables the experience of the broader glory of God in eternal life. We will observe His glory in astounding beauty and power. We will live in the midst of the light of His glory in the New Jerusalem. We will experience and express His glory in a great love for each other. We can get a head start on it now.

That Can Never Perish, Spoil or Fade

When we do funerals at our church, we often start the service with a verse from 1 Peter 1. It reads, in part:

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3b-5 (NIV)

Keep in mind, that our existence past the grave is not just a simple Heaven or Hell https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/131. The wording of this passage does raise some questions. First, and this may surprise you, this is one of the few passages that suggests that Heaven is a destination for human beings. There is no promise of Heaven in the Old Testament. There is more mention of the resurrection and the New Earth even in the New Testament. This passage suggests that our inheritance is in Heaven. Does it mean that we go there to get it? Does it say that we must wait until Judgment Day to have it?

I conclude that we do go to Heaven upon our death and receive at least part of our “inheritance”. I back that up with a passage in Revelation 7:9 that speaks about the location of the victorious dead:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Revelation 7:9 (ESV)

They are standing before God’s throne which was shown to be in Heaven to this point in Revelation.

What is the “salvation that is ready to revealed in the last time”? Isn’t this something that happens on the last Day–Judgment Day? I always read it that way. I see it differently now. God’s plan of salvation for human beings was only partially revealed prior to Jesus. They knew about the resurrection of the dead. They might have had an inkling that God would provide a way of forgiveness of sins that was permanent. They didn’t expect to go to God’s throne room. It wasn’t promised.

That didn’t mean that Heaven wasn’t in the plan. Heaven wasn’t officially on the table until Jesus had atoned for sin with His completion of God’s Law, paying the penalty of forsakeness https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/2234, and the casting of Satan out of Heaven (Rev. 12:7f). You could really say that it was contingent on Jesus’ success. But now that Jesus has prevailed, God’s full plan of salvation can be rolled out. It does say “last time”, not last day. Now is the last time, not Judgment Day.

The good news is not only will we have a resurrection of our bodies in perfected form and a New Earth after Judgment Day, but we a have immediate access to Heaven and glorious things within it, because God has “given us new birth”, connecting us to Jesus.

When you think about the best things in life now, they all will perish, spoil or fade. A new car will eventually be a boring old car and then rust. Exciting experiences lose their excitement. Everything declines either physically or in our reaction to it or both. Not the stuff of Heaven.

Relationships remain exciting. Seeing God never gets old. Our adventures remain fresh.

In the mean time, all these will keep. We have a job to do here and a certain amount of time to do it. While here, we remain in a danger zone. In Revelation 7 the inhabitants of Heaven refer to our current world as the Great Tribulation. This is hard to appreciate unless you are in a war zone, are chronically ill, or are trapped in dysfunctional relationships. But even if things are good, they are not Heaven good.

While here we are exposed to sin and the curse. God protects our connection to Christ, but we can still walk away from it.https://wordpress.com/post/givingchrist.com/843 We may suffer quite a bit while here. But God will support us and transform us. God will use us in powerful and unique ways. All of the trouble associated with the Great Tribulation will seem small once we move to our home. The one thing that I expect will fade, will be our memory of our struggle here.

Will Many Be Saved?

Have you gone to many, or any, funerals where you assumed a negative eternal destiny for a person? This is so hard to think about that we simply hope for the best, even in cases where there is little evidence that this could go well.

We are not to judge. We don’t have the ability to know what interactions a person has had with God. But even with the fact that Jesus died for the sins of everyone, and that God desires all people to be saved, one sobering verse stands out for me. I call it my least favorite passage of Scripture:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)

The word “few” devastates me. It is a relative term, so against the billions of people who have lived and currently live “few” could still be a vast number. Still, to imagine an even larger number going to eternal damnation is staggering.

How can this be? Isn’t God love? Isn’t God all-powerful? Yes, He is. But He is also a God of justice who abides by what is “written”. So, He will not do a compromising end run around the Law, even for this. If Scripture is to be believed at all, people are damned and they are damned in vast numbers.

I would love to wrong about this. Perhaps, “few” is 49.999%. Or it could be “few” relative to the 100% that could have been saved. Maybe 95%. Or maybe the key is the word “destruction”. If destruction refers only to Sheol and not necessarily Gehenna, then perhaps Jesus would have a mechanism to evangelize the dead and to do so in mass. I’m not saying that any of these could not be, but the most natural way to read this verse is to expect many losses.

Who would make up the many? Good works can’t make up for sins. There would be many “good people” by our standards who would miss out. Many consider Jesus to be irrelevant and hold on to a “let’s see what happens” approach to death. They reason that either they just cease to exist, or it will be O.K. because they are nice.

Many hold on to an alternative worldview with an alternative means of salvation, even if they have heard the Gospel. Muslims hold on to a somewhat vague hope of Allah’s mercy if they follow the Five Pillars of Islam well enough. Hindus cling to gradual ascension through reincarnation if they live well. Cultural Christians cling to being “good enough” if they don’t understand the Bible. Then there are the atheists who expect to disappear. That is a lot of people.

Maybe there are multiple paths to salvation?

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 (ESV)

It makes sense. If there were other ways, would God have made Jesus do what He did? If you don’t like it, speak to Jesus. I didn’t say it.

Many people have not even heard the Gospel of Jesus. What about them? I personally think that 1 Peter 4:6 alludes to how God deals with the Church’s failure to get the Word out.

6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

1 Peter 4:6 (ESV)

It is a somewhat vague, one passage testimony; but it makes more sense to understand this passage as Jesus or somebody preaching to the dead than all of the other weak explanations I have seen. If this were so, what sort of fool would reject the Gospel while toiling in Sheol? The mystery of faith is great. You would be surprised at how dense people can be.

When you add it all up it is sadly easy to imagine how the many end up in destruction. Can we move the needle in any way? Yes. Our witness to people matters. The few will still be a “great multitude that no could count.” (Revelation 7:9) I want to be in that multitude. I want those I love to be in that multitude. I want to have some role that many others will be in that multitude. And I still hope that the obvious way of understanding Matthew 7:13-14 is wrong.