There is this song that says “Imagine there’s no Heaven, it’s easy if you try”. I find imagining that there is no Heaven incredibly hard because our imaginations are tied into the very fabric of Heaven itself.
We humans do have this incredible imagination. It’s a creative part of ourselves that lingers on the things that cannot be in this world. From day to day I think we tend to think too small. We think “if only” or “what if” about the things that we see around us. These are merely daydreams that are entirely possible, though maybe absurdly outside rational thought. We tease ourselves with winning the lottery or some rich relative that could die when it comes to money. We think about how we could benefit from a billion other endeavors without doing a thing. Maybe some of us even think about professional advancement in some way.
Amazing and wonderful some of these things may be they are still small-minded when it comes to the gifts of heaven & eternal life through the forgiveness of sins.
We got into a discussion this last week at Bible Study about what Heaven would be like. How could we even hope to understand it? Jesus Christ will be there with the Father and the Spirit. We will be in fellowship with the creator of all of it. We know that. But what will it look like? How will we interact on a regular basis in so vast a place as Heaven, a “paradise” as Jesus put it to the thief on the cross? I have a few ideas.
Our imaginations will be set free beyond ourselves.
As a creative guy myself, I find this thought completely freeing. Often, I get caught up in pleasing others for the sake of myself or even just pleasing myself. I aim to please God, but often I end up settling lower than where I feel the work needs to be. When it comes to Heaven, we will have no audience but God. Yes, you too can be the ultimate kazoo player in the worship band of Heaven (or at least one of the bands). I am convinced that the surest proof that Heaven truly exists is that we have imaginations that God has given us to procure an idea about what Heaven could be, then blow us away with the reality someday. Why? Because, I think He likes to really make us happy. If the mere thought of Heaven and what it could be thrills you, then I think that you will be more than pleasantly surprised when you do get there.
Adventure.
I tend to be the kind of guy that like to look behind closed doors. I am naturally curious. Often, I think God put huge bones in the ground not because large dinosaurs once roamed the earth, but because it thrills us to find and imagine what it could mean. I enjoy looking under rocks and finding things that I didn’t know where there. I live in central Ohio where large earthworks were once built by the Native Americans that once lived here. It is amazing to think an ancient culture once lived here. I think that it is pretty amazing to think that people once lived, worked and loved where we are today and they built something that has lasted the test of time to get to our age and invoke such curiosity in us today.
I think we will find in Heaven an adventure that never ends. We will find strange stars to look at and navigate across oceans large enough to swallow the sun whole. Though some will argue that animals won’t be in Heaven, even the book of Revelations talks about strange beasts. I think we will find those there too. Yet we will not fear them. In the presence of the author of Life itself, death itself will not be present. In the absence of fear we will conquer the most wild of the beasts and sit around a bonfire on a sand strewn beach gazing at the Heavens retelling the story as we feast on the meat and fruit of the land. Not out of wanton hunger, but because of a hunger for more of the life freely given. I don’t know what I will do when I get to Heaven, but at some point you will find me on the prow of a ship, my face set toward the vast horizon with the wind blowing in my hair, eyes set on the setting sun while I think on what it will be like to sail into that golden bliss and harbor in the New Jerusalem with a tale to tell of the adventures that befell me on the unnamed islands of the great seas of that place.
Beauty & Love.
From what we can tell of scripture. We won’t be married in Heaven. We’ll all be free to be in perfect harmony with God and all of His creations. Can you imagine just being in love with everyone? For women, every man your lover or brother without jealousy or animosity. For men, every woman your wife or sister you love dearly. I’m not talking about sex either. There is an intimacy that goes beyond sex or mere fancy. We will be free to experience that with everyone in perfect unity with the one who made it all possible.
When it comes to beauty… have you ever looked at a painting or a work of art that you always saw something new in? Maybe a melody that you could listen to countless times and still hear a new note? We see glimpses of that beauty here. The way the clouds move or the way the filtered light casts a wonderful silent pale light right before a storm. I think of all things, I will like the storms in Heaven. To dance across the fields in wild abandon while lightning flashes about me… the thought even fills my heart with joy to think about it. No harm could befall me. The idea of experiencing all of nature as it was meant to be experienced without fear or consequence other than endless joy makes me smile even now to think about. That is how beauty is meant to be experienced. With both hands, grabbed up and immeasurably poured out, splashed about and yes, played in.
Then there is God.
I love the way C.S. Lewis talks about Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia, and I know I can’t do it justice without the actual experience, but I should hope to meet Christ first when I get to Heaven. To fall in those arms that stretched out and died on a Roman cross in the history of man, to embrace the one who embraced all that condemned me to death seems more than incredible. The Lion, the Lamb, the King on His throne, the Jewish carpenter, the Man, we will see Him. I could talk forever about how the place of Heaven fills me with incredible visions of what it will be, but one thing that I have trouble imagining is the meeting between the fallen creation that I am, and the God of all creation who took my place because He loved me that much. For some reason, I think this will be one of those things that happens privately in Heaven. I mean why not? You have all eternity and God could do whatever He pleases anyway. But a moment with the One where He gives you a new name and calls you His own is immeasurable. The greatest thing about it is that from then on, He is with you. The friend closer than any other. To go with the artist of it all and experience the fullness of all of Heaven with God Himself is the pinnacle of it all.
Conclusion.
Heaven is more than just a thought. It is a place, a paradise in every way. Imagination exists because Heaven exists. While here on this earth, imagination is limited, but what will happen when it’s set free? Think about this. When our imagination is set free and we can come up with things we never thought, Heaven will still be greater than those thoughts and still surprise with the splendor that will exist for us to experience. When you begin to understand it from this perspective, when Jesus says He is the only way to get there, it doesn’t sound exclusive anymore. Giving up my will for this abundant, beautiful existence is really just exchanging rags for all the riches this world can offer. When we welcome Christ into our hearts to be our savior, we are handing ourselves over and saying “do what you will, I am yours”. The amazing thing is that He takes it and hands us ourselves back, set free from the chains of sin. He takes us, and gives us our true selves. If you think about it, you are giving the creator back His creation that fell of it’s own accord and somehow became broke… back to the creator who fixes it better than it was in the first place. When you surrender yourself, you become more yourself and more fit to experience the place that awaits you on the other side.
