For the next two blog entries I would like to ponder with you the meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, which reads:
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)
How does one “look to things that are unseen”? It seems like an oxymoron. Our gift of vision is a limited function. It works only for objects that reflect or emit a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum that we call visible light. These objects also have to be big enough. Vision is a nice feature, but I need equipment to “see” many other objects, and even night-vision goggles and microscopes have their limits.
Paul is talking about looking to Heaven and the New Earth. Heaven, I expect, is extra-dimensional to this universe. As large as the universe is, I don’t expect Heaven to be hiding within it or just beyond our observational horizon. The New Earth is future. Neither suit our vision, but that doesn’t make them unreal. It might make them feel surreal, but that is our problem. That said, how do you “look to them”?
Perhaps it is enough to say, “I have a promise and a partial description given by inspiration from God”. “I look forward to that.” In that case “looking” is trusting. Would it be wrong if “looking” meant “envisioning”? Envisioning will necessarily be an exercise fraught with error. For,
9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)
Paul quotes Isaiah and both men had out-of-body experiences of Heaven. It is their way of saying, “What I saw would blow your mind”. Our envisioning of Heaven would no doubt fall short of the reality of it because our experience is limited to this fallen world. Still, Heaven and especially the New Earth do not sound like they are completely different from God’s creation here. Envisioning, though inaccurate, may be just the type of encouragement to keep us forward looking and motivated as disciples of Jesus.
So what could we envision? I would like to start with my heavenly body. The point is that our experience in Heaven is a bodily experience versus merely a dream or like a ghost is stated in the verse after text above.
5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 5:1 (ESV)
The “tent” is your body here. The “house” is your body in Heaven, not a building in which you will dwell.
What is it like? I envision the same basic body plan. I have no pain. I still sleep, but my sleep is the most refreshing and wonderful thing. I feel strong. I am happy and excited about what each day will bring. I feel beautiful and complex. My senses are sharp and more than the five I have here. I sense love and feel it for every fellow creature around me.
The people and the angels around me are stunningly beautiful. I have an immediate bond with each one of them. I know their names instinctively. I recognize people I know from my life on Earth. They are more valuable to me and more pleasing to me than ever. Any sin between us is long forgiven.
I move in many ways. I can walk, run, swim, fly or just think my way to places far away. Heaven is vast. It is no smaller than the Universe I came from, but I am not limited to one planet. I feel at home anywhere, but I have a community I return to.
I can communicate with words or directly to the mind. I encounter people from different eras of time. None are like strangers to me. Some were part of my family tree. Language is not a barrier. We speak one language.
God is with me either visibly or fully in my mind all the time. He speaks to me. We spend time together one-on-one, for He is able to do this with everyone at the same time. We also gather in groups with God. Worship is not a struggle. It is spontaneous and is a highlight of our experience, but we do many things.
Music, celebration, eating and drinking, playing, learning, exploring, serving, bonding and much more is part of my experience. In Heaven, we are not reproductive, but we can feel a bond with each similar to the hormonal bond felt on Earth through sex. We are always safe, disease-free, sorrow-free.
We do not watch the events of the Earth because our experience in Heaven is immersive. Yet, we are aware of certain people who are still on their earthly pilgrimage. God speaks to us about them. We are eager for Judgment Day, primarily to end evil in all of God’s “inhabited” creation. Hell is “forsaken”. We are also mindful of being even further clothed. The day when we receive the universe of Earth and a resurrected body.
I am sure with a little creativity you can make this more detailed. Use the limited description given within Scripture as your guardrails, so that you do not envision something perversely incorrect. But enjoy the ride. Heaven is not wishful thinking, or boring, or tainted like this world.
By grace, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it can be and will be yours.
afterdeathsite 