Taught Us All We Ever Knew We Aint Never Knew So Much Before We May Never Know So Much Again

Information technology's common to hear people say, "We don't sympathise now, but in Sky we'll know everything." 1 writer says that people in Heaven can "easily comprehend divine mysteries."ⁱ Is this true? Will nosotros really know everything in Heaven?

Will We Know Everything?

God lone is all-seeing. When we die, we'll see things far more clearly, and nosotros'll know much more than we do now, but we'll never know everything.

The campaigner Paul wrote: "Now we encounter but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall run into face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even equally I am fully known" (i Corinthians 13:12, accent added). The italicized words are based on two different Greek words: ginosko and epiginosko. The prefix epi intensifies the word to hateful "to actually know" or "to know extensively." However, when the discussion is used of humans, it never means accented knowledge.

In his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem says, "1 Cor. 13:12 does not say that we will be omniscient or know everything (Paul could take said nosotros will know all things, ta panta, if he had wished to do so), but, rightly translated, simply says that we volition know in a fuller or more than intensive way, 'fifty-fifty as we take been known,' that is, without whatsoever error or misconceptions in our cognition."ⁱⁱ

The New Living Translation reads, "Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror." Mirrors in Paul's time had serious flaws. Corinth was famous for its statuary mirrors, but the color was off and shapes were distorted. The mirror's image lacked the quality of seeing someone contiguous. Knowing and seeing were most synonyms in Greek thought.ⁱⁱⁱ The more y'all saw, the more yous knew.

One mean solar day nosotros'll run into God's face and therefore truly know him (Revelation 22:4). Nether the Expletive nosotros run into myopically. When nosotros're resurrected, our vision will be corrected. We'll at last be able to run into eternal realities once invisible to usa (ii Corinthians iv:xviii).

God sees clearly and comprehensively. In Heaven nosotros'll run across far more clearly, but we'll never see comprehensively. The point of comparison our knowing to God'due south knowing is that we'll know "fully" in the sense of accurately but not exhaustively.

In Heaven we'll exist flawless, but non knowing everything isn't a flaw. It's function of being finite. Righteous angels don't know everything, and they long to know more (1 Peter ane:12). They're flawless but finite. We should expect to long for greater knowledge, as angels do. And nosotros'll spend eternity gaining the greater knowledge we'll seek.

Volition Nosotros Acquire?

I heard a pastor say, "There will be no more learning in Heaven." I writer says that in Heaven, "Activities such as investigation, comprehending and probing volition never be necessary. Our understanding volition exist complete."^iv In a Gallup poll of people'south perspectives about Heaven, merely 18 percent idea people would grow intellectually in Heaven.⁵

Does Scripture signal that nosotros will larn in Heaven? Yeah. Consider Ephesians two:6-7: "God raised united states of america upward with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might evidence the incomparable riches of his grace." The discussion evidence means "to reveal." The phrase in the coming ages clearly indicates this will exist a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which nosotros learn more and more most God's grace.

I frequently larn new things virtually my wife, daughters, and closest friends, even though I've known them for many years. If I can always exist learning something new about finite, limited human beings, surely I'll learn far more than well-nigh Jesus. None of usa will ever begin to exhaust his depths.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Learn from me" (Matthew eleven:29). On the New Earth, we'll have the privilege of sitting at Jesus' feet as Mary did, walking with him over the countryside as his disciples did, always learning from him. In Heaven nosotros'll continually learn new things almost God, going ever deeper in our understanding.

Consider once more those Greek words ginosko and epiginosko, translated "know" in i Corinthians xiii:12, used of our present noesis on Globe and our future knowledge in Heaven. Ginosko often means "to come to know," and therefore "to learn" (Matthew x:26; John 12:nine; Acts 17:nineteen; Philippians 2:19). Epiginosko also means "to learn" (Luke 7:37; 23:7; Acts ix:xxx; 22:29).^six That we will one day "know fully" could well exist understood equally "we will always keep on learning."

It was God—not Satan—who made the states learners. God doesn't want us to stop learning. What he wants to stop is what prevents us from learning.

Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards, who intensely studied Sky, 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 knowledge and skills vary? Will some people in Heaven accept greater knowledge and specialized abilities than others? Why not? Scripture never teaches sameness in Heaven. Nosotros volition be individuals, each with our own memories and God-given gifts. Some of our noesis will overlap, but not all. I'm not a mechanic or gardener, as you may be. I may or may not learn those skills on the New Earth. Just fifty-fifty if I do, that doesn't hateful I'll e'er be as skilled a gardener or mechanic every bit you volition be. Afterward all, y'all had a head start on learning. Remember the doctrine of continuity: What we learn hither carries over after death.

Don't y'all love to detect something new? On the New World, 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 balance of the story." That's exactly what nosotros'll discover in Heaven once more and once again—the rest of the story. We'll be stunned to learn how God orchestrated the events of our lives to influence people nosotros may have forgotten about.

Occasionally we hear stories that provide united states a small taste of what we'll larn in eternity. One forenoon afterwards I spoke at a church, a young woman came up to me and asked, "Exercise you remember a boyfriend sitting side by side to you on a plane headed to college? Yous gave him your novel Deadline ." I give away a lot of my books on planes, but later some prompting, I remembered him. He was an unbeliever. Nosotros talked about Jesus, and I gave him the volume 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 you lot, so you wouldn't know what happened. He got to college, checked into the dorm, sat down, and read your book. When he was done, he confessed his sins and gave his life to Jesus. And I can honestly tell you lot, he's the nigh dynamic Christian I've ever met."

All I did was talk a petty, give him a volume, and pray for him. But if the young woman hadn't told me, I wouldn't have had a inkling what had happened. That story reminded me how many great stories await united states in Heaven and how many we may not hear until we've been there a long time. We won't ever know everything, and fifty-fifty what we volition know, we won't know all at in one case. We'll be learners, forever. Few things excite me more that.

Volition We Feel Process?

The first humans lived in process, every bit God ordained them to. Adam knew more a calendar week after he was created than he did on his first day.

Nothing is incorrect with process and the limitations it implies. Jesus "grew in wisdom and stature" (Luke two:52). Jesus "learned obedience" (Hebrews 5:viii). Growing and learning cannot be bad; the sinless Son of God experienced them. They are simply part of existence human.

Unless we end to be human after our resurrection, we volition go along growing and learning. If annihilation, sin makes u.s.a. less homo. When the parasite of sin is removed, total humanity volition exist restored—and improved.

The sense of wonder among Sky'southward inhabitants shows Sky is non brackish but fresh and stimulating, suggesting an ever-deepening appreciation of God'southward greatness (Revelation iv-6). Heaven's riches are rooted in Heaven'south God. Nosotros will find in Heaven a continual progression of stimulating discovery and fresh learning as we keep grasping more than of God.

In Village, Shakespeare called what lies beyond death "the undiscover'd state."^ix It's a country nosotros yearn to detect—and past Christ's grace, nosotros volition. Jonathan Edwards—as fine a theological mind equally the world has e'er known—defended and developed this thought, which he considered critical. He wrote, "How shortly do earthly lovers come to an end of their discoveries of each other's dazzler; how presently do they see all at that place is to be seen! But in Sky there is eternal progress with new beauties always beingness discovered."^x He connected, "Happiness of heaven 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 piece of work of redemption."^xi Edwards contended that we volition continually get happier in Heaven in "a never-ending, ever-increasing discovery of more and more of God'due south celebrity with greater and greater joy in him."^xii He said there will never exist a time when at that place is "no more glory for the redeemed to find and enjoy."^xiii There won't ever "come a time when the union betwixt God and the church is complete" because we volition always be learning something new about our Bridegroom.^xiv

We tin can conceptualize an eternity of growing in Christlikeness as we behold God's face and are continuously "transformed into his likeness with always-increasing glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). We can brainstorm this joyful process hither and at present, and at that place's every indication it will go along forever.

After creating the new universe, Jesus says, "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:five). Notice the verb tense is not "I take made" or "I will make" merely "I am making." This suggests an ongoing process of renovation. Christ is a creator, and his creativity is never exhausted. He will become right on making new things. Sky is not the end of innovation; information technology is a new offset, an eternal intermission from the stagnancy and inertia of sin.

What Will It Exist Like to Acquire?

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

When nosotros enter Heaven, we'll presumably begin with the cognition we had at the time of our decease. God may enhance our knowledge and will correct endless wrong perceptions. I imagine he'll reveal many new things to us, then gear up u.s.a. on a course of continual learning, paralleling Adam and Eve's. Once we're in resurrection bodies with resurrected brains, our capacity to learn may increase. Perhaps angel guardians or loved ones already in Sky volition be assigned to tutor and orient us.

We volition also study. Martin Luther said, "If God had all the answers in his right manus, and the struggle to reach those answers in his left, I would cull God'due south left hand." Why? Considering information technology's not simply truth we desire, it's besides the pleasance of learning the truth. God reveals himself to us in the process of our learning, oft in bite-sized chunks, fit for our finite minds. The keen preacher Donald Gray Barnhouse one time said that if he was told he had three years left on Earth, he would spend 2 years studying and i preaching. Expressing a similar desire, Billy Graham said that if he had his life to practice over again, he would report more than and preach less.

Will nosotros study doctrine in Heaven? Doctrine is truth, which is an extension of God'southward nature, and therefore also cannot be wearied. We will have eternity to explore information technology. Truth will be living and vital, never dry out and dusty. Nosotros will dialogue about truth not to print each other but to enrich each other and ourselves as we discover more and more about God.

To study cosmos is to study the Creator. Science should be worshipful discovery because the heavens and all creation declare God's celebrity. God reveals his character in flowers, waterfalls, animals, and planets. God's name is written large in nature, in his beauty organization, skill, precision, and attention to detail. He'south the Master Creative person. On the New Globe everything will be a lens through which we meet him. Biology, zoology, chemical science, astronomy, physics—all will exist the report of God.

Will we discover new ideas? I believe we will. Jesus, the God-man, was sometimes "astonished" at what he saw on this globe (Matthew 8:10). If at that place was ever a man incapable of surprise, wouldn't we have expected it to be the "one who came from heaven" (John 3:13)? But if Jesus could be astonished on this quondam World, surely nosotros volition often exist astonished at what we run across in God, people, and cosmos on the New Globe.

There'due south so much to discover in this universe, but we have so little fourth dimension and opportunity to practice it. The listing of books I haven't read, music I've never heard, and places I haven't been is unending. There'southward much more than to know. I expect forward to discovering new things in Sky—forever. At the end of each mean solar day I'll have the same amount of time left as I did the day before. The things I didn't larn that day, the people I didn't come across, the things I was unable to practise—I can still acquire, encounter, or do the next day. Places won't crumble, people won't dice, and neither will I.

I heard someone say, "There won't be any education in Heaven. There won't exist whatsoever demand." But that assumes nosotros will be all-seeing and that we won't learn, which contradicts both Scripture and the style 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 tin can be exhilarating. I see God in the insights other people share with me. Learning is exciting. Education on this fallen Earth may sometimes be bland and can even undermine truth, but in Heaven all instruction will exist a platform to display God's fascinating truth, drawing us closer to him.

Consider how exciting intellectual evolution volition be. Father Boudreau wrote, "The life of Heaven is one of intellectual pleasure.... There the intellect of man receives a supernatural calorie-free.... It is purified, strengthened, enlarged, and enabled to come across God as He is in His very essence. It is enabled to contemplate, face to face, Him who is the first essential Truth. It gazes undazzled upon the first infinite beauty, wisdom, and goodness, from whom period all express wisdom, beauty, and goodness found in creatures. Who can fathom the exquisite pleasures of the human intellect when information technology thus sees all truth as it is in itself!"^xv

If seeing truth "as it is in itself" is that heady for those of the states who've had some instruction here on Earth, imagine what it will be like for those who never had the benefits of literacy and didactics.

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

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

Imagine discussing the sermons of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, and Charles Spurgeon with the preachers themselves. Or sitting downwards to hear insights on family unit and prayer from Susanna Wesley. Or talking about faith with George Mueller or Beak Brilliant, then listening to their stories. You could encompass 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. You could hash out 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 part of the Curse—it is God's blessing on his prototype-bearers. He made united states with fertile, curious minds then that we might seek truth and find him, our greatest source of pleasance. In Heaven our intellectual curiosity will surely surface—and exist satisfied—only to surface and be satisfied again and once more.

In 1546, Philip Melanchthon gave a memorial address nigh his departed friend Martin Luther. In it Melanchthon envisioned Luther in Heaven, fellowshiping with predecessors in the faith: "We remember the corking delight with which he recounted the class, 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 past no ordinary passion for these wonderful men. Now he embraces them and rejoices to hear them speak and to speak to them in turn. Now they hail him gladly as a companion, and thank God with him for having gathered and preserved the Church."^xvi

Volition Nosotros Find Books in Heaven?

Nosotros know that sixty-six books, those that comprise the Bible, volition exist in Heaven—"Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens" (Psalm 119:89). Jesus said, "Heaven and world volition pass away, just my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Presumably, we will read, report, contemplate, and hash out God'due south Word.

There are also other books in Heaven: "I saw the dead, swell 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 according to what they had done equally recorded in the books" (Revelation 20:12).

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

While some people have these books figuratively, to represent God'due south omniscience, nosotros should not presume these aren't real books. It would have been easy to tell us "the all-knowing God judged everyone."

The other book is the Volume of Life, in which the names of God'southward people are written. John mentions it throughout the book of Revelation (Revelation 3:v; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). It'south mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures as well (Exodus 32:32-33; Daniel 12:1). It's likewise referred to in later literature, such as the volume of Jubilees and the Dead Body of water Scrolls. The apostle Paul refers to information technology in Philippians 4:3.

Other passages describe a scroll in Sky. Jesus opens a bang-up scroll (Revelation 5:1, 5), and an angel holds a little scroll (Revelation 10:2). The psalm writer David said, "Record my lament; listing my tears on your whorl—are they not in your record?" (Psalm 56:8). He asked that his tears be kept in Heaven'south permanent record.

Malachi 3:16-18 is a remarkable passage that tells u.s.a. God documents the faithful deeds of his children on Earth: "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 proper noun. 'They volition be mine,' says the Lord Almighty, 'in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you lot will again see the stardom between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do 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 advantage his subjects' good deeds (Esther 6:1-eleven). 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'south no hint that God will destroy any or all of the books and scrolls soon in Heaven. Information technology'southward likely that these records of the true-blue works of God's people on Earth will be periodically read throughout the ages.

The books contain detailed historical records of all of our lives on this earth. Each of usa is part of these records. Obscure events, words heard by only a handful of people volition be known. Your acts of faithfulness and kindness that no one else knows are well-known by God. He is documenting them in his books. He will reward y'all for them in Heaven.

How many times have we washed small-scale acts of kindness on Earth without realizing the furnishings? How many times have we shared Christ with people we idea didn't take information technology to heart just who years later came to Jesus partly because of the seeds we planted? How many times take we spoken up for unborn children and seen no result, but equally a consequence someone chose not to have an ballgame and saved a child's life? How many dishes have been washed and diapers changed and crying children sung to in the center of the nighttime, when we couldn't meet the touch of the love nosotros showed? And how many times have we seen no response, but God was yet pleased by our efforts?

God is watching. He is keeping track. In Heaven he'll reward united states of america for our acts of faithfulness to him, correct down to every cup of cold h2o we've given to the needy in his name (Mark 9:41). And he's making a permanent record in Heaven'south books.

Will There Exist Other Books besides God's?

I believe that on the New Globe, we'll also read books, new and old, written by people. Because we'll have strong intellects, nifty marvel, and unlimited time, it'due south likely that books volition have a greater role in our lives in Heaven than they do now. The libraries of the New Earth, I imagine, will be fantastic.

We'll have no lack of resources to report and empathize. I once helped a immature friend search for her biological mother, going through old court records, looking for just the right clue. We finally found it. I had the privilege of introducing them to each other. Information technology was a taste of Heaven—where not all reunions will happen all at once, I imagine, but as eternity unfolds.

Volition we search for information and exercise research on the New Globe? Why not?

Dissimilar the histories nosotros read on Earth, Heaven's books volition be objective and accurate. No exaggeration or overstatement, no spinning to make certain people look ameliorate and others worse. We will be able to handle the failings of our ancestors, just as they'll accept the right perspective on ours.

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

Books are role of civilization. I expect many new books, cracking books, will be written on the New World. But I also believe that some books volition endure from the one-time Earth. Whatsoever book that contains falsehood and dishonors God will have no place in Sky. Merely what most smashing books, nonfiction and fiction? Will nosotros notice A. Westward. Tozer'south The Cognition of the Holy , J. I. Packer's Knowing God , John Piper's Desiring God , John Bunyan'due south Pilgrim's Progress , and Charles Sheldon's In His Steps on the New Earth? I'll be amazed if we don't notice them at that place, merely as I'll be amazed if no one sings John Newton'due south "Astonishing Grace" in Sky.

Perhaps those of the states who are writers volition go back to some of our published works and rewrite them in low-cal of the perspective nosotros'll proceeds. Peradventure we'll expect 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. Information technology will completely dismantle others. "What was I thinking?" I'll enquire myself. (If I knew which parts those were right at present, I'd cutting them out!) And I'll marvel at how much meliorate the New Globe is than I e'er imagined.

Will What Was Written on Globe Survive?

On the New Earth, will you see once again the letter of encouragement you wrote to your teenage son? Or the letter you wrote sharing Christ with your father? Or the life-changing words you jotted on a student's paper? Many such things written in this life may show more of import than books.

Some old books may exist 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 will agree once more his Bible manuscripts. Volition Harriet Beecher Stowe come across again her pages of Uncle Tom's Cabin? Volition Tolkien'south The Lord of the Rings endure the burn down? Will nosotros read over again a version of C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity or The Chronicles of Narnia?

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

My friend said, "I don't see why there shouldn't be books in Sky. But y'all will observe that your library in Heaven contains merely some of the books you had on earth." "Which?" I asked. "The ones you gave away or lent." "I hope the lent ones won't still have all the borrowers' dirty thumb marks," said I. "Oh yes they will," said he. "But just as the wounds of the martyrs will have turned into beauties, then you lot will detect that the thumb-marks have turned into cute illuminated capitals or exquisite marginal woodcuts."^xvii

Volition We 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 xx:2). History, when viewed accurately, teaches us about God and about ourselves. It's the record of our failure to dominion the earth righteously, the tape of God'southward sovereign and gracious redemption of the states and our planet.

The angels volition be able to recount the creation of the original universe (Job 38:1-7). Just we'll have an even greater story to tell—the creation of the new universe (Revelation 21:1-4).

When we get together at meals and other times, nosotros'll tell stories of past 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 empathise at the time; some we resented. Just nosotros'll come across and so with an eternal perspective.

Just as nosotros're now captivated by a person's story of heroism or rescue from danger, we'll be enthralled by the stories we'll share in Sky. I want to hear Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint talk over their terminal twenty-four hours on the old Earth. I tin can't look to hear John Newton's story and William Wilberforce'south and Mary Magdalene's. Wouldn't you love to hear from the angel who strengthened Christ in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43)? Imagine sitting around campfires on the New Earth, wide-eyed at the adventures recounted. Yeah, I mean telling real stories around real campfires. Why non? After all, friendship, camaraderie, laughter, stories, and cozy campfires are all skillful gifts from God.

Consider the wonderful ending to John'south Gospel: "Jesus did many other things too. If every one of them were written downwardly, I suppose that fifty-fifty the whole world would not accept room for the books that would exist written" (John 21:25). The Gospels contain wonderful stories, but they record just a pocket-size fraction of what Jesus did. And that was but during the brief span of his life on the old Globe. How much more than will there be to tell about his never-ending life with his people on the New Earth? We can look forwards to endless 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 will encounter and hear God'due south glory equally never before, and our resurrected hearts will be moved to run into his beauty everywhere. We will live in a country of fascinating observations, captivating insights, wondrous adventures, and spellbinding stories.

The greatest novels, plays, and movies are stories of redemption. Recollect of Les Miserables or The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They draw their shape and power from the ultimate redemption story. The greatest story e'er told—and it volition exist told and retold from thousands of different viewpoints, emphasizing different details—will be permanently engraved in the easily 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 director of the unfolding drama of redemption. He created the universe, and so wrote, directed, and took the leading role in history'southward greatest story. Nosotros who have lived our own dramas and participated in God's, we whose lives were enriched through drama, should recognize its value in the new universe. The quality of drama will likely be vastly improved. Imagine how new minds and bodies on the New Earth will stir us to worship, dialogue, activity, and inventiveness.

Will we use the arts—including drama, painting, sculpture, music, and much more—to praise God? Will they provide enjoyment and entertainment for resurrected people? C. S. Lewis said, "When you painted on earth... it was because yous caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly mural."^xviii Ultimately, the new earthly landscape will exist Sky's mural. Merely that won't eliminate art, which is a God-given souvenir to his image-bearers. Fine art will rise to ever-higher levels in the new universe.

Will nosotros run into movies in Heaven? Many current movies gloat sin and therefore won't take a identify in that location. Just good movies, similar good books, tell powerful stories. Movies on the New Earth might depict sin, equally the Bible does, showing it to be wrong. Only for any portrayal of sin, at that place would exist a greater emphasis on God'due south redemptive work.

Professor Arthur Roberts writes of drama and the arts in Heaven: "Some people may discover it difficult to envision drama or literature without plots involving villainy, deceit, violence, or infidelity.... Such fears are understandable, because information technology is difficult to run across beyond the horizon of our feel. These questions reflect an inadequate vision of resurrected life.... Do our aesthetic adventures depend upon sin for flavor? I retrieve not. In sky, equally on globe, effective drama portrays a triumph of skilful over evil. I daresay the vastness and the openness of the renewed creation offers adventures adequate for ballsy tales, only at it provides raw material for the visual arts, for painting, for sculpture, for architecture."^xix

Rather than forget well-nigh our lives on the old Earth, I think we'll depict them in drama and literature with perspective and gratitude to God. Will people really write new books on the New Globe? Why not? Reading and writing aren't the result of sin; they're the result of God's making us his image-bearers. Unless nosotros believe the present Earth will exist greater than the New Globe, then surely the greatest books, dramas, and poetry are yet to exist written. Authors will have new insights, information, and perspectives. I look forward to reading nonfiction books that depict the character of God and the wonders of his universe. I'm eager to read new biographies and fiction that tell powerful redemptive stories, moving our hearts to worship God.

Nosotros'll be resurrected people with minds, hands, and eyes. As nosotros've seen, there volition be books and buildings in Heaven. Put enough books in a building, and you have a library. Imagine dandy 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 lot may spend a lot of time in such a library or serve the Rex by helping others find the right books.) Volition yous be one who writes new books? Mayhap.

I want to be part of a group that explores the vast reaches of the new cosmos. When my fellow explorers and I return home to Earth, the capital planet, and enter the gates of the capital city, nosotros'll gather for nutrient and drinks, and grab up on our stories. I'll listen to your stories; possibly y'all'll listen to mine. Perhaps I'll write about great planets of star systems far abroad. I'll tell how my explorations deepened my honey 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 beauty, and I'll come across Jesus in it and in you. Maybe I'll write a volume virtually the Omega galaxy, while you lot'll write one about the music of the heart. Nosotros'll exchange manuscripts, stimulate new insights, and depict each other closer to God.

Volition We Laugh?

"If yous're not allowed to express mirth in heaven, I don't want to go there." Information technology wasn't Mark 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 accept a sense of humor, we as his image-bearers wouldn't. That he has a sense of humor is evident in his cosmos. Consider aardvarks and baboons. Have a good wait at a giraffe. You have to smile, don't yous?

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

In that location's cypher similar the laughter of dear friends. The Bible often portrays us around the dinner table in God's coming Kingdom. What sound practice y'all hear when friends gather to eat and talk? The sound of laughter. My wife, Nanci, loves football. She opens our home to family unit and friends for Mon night football game. If you lot came to our business firm, you lot'd hear thanks and groans, but the ascendant audio in the room, calendar week after calendar week, is laughter. God made us to laugh and to honey to express mirth. Information technology'southward therapeutic. The new universe will ring with laughter.

Am I simply speculating about laughter? No. I can point to Scripture passages worth memorizing. For instance, Jesus says, "Blessed are you lot who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who cry now, for you will express mirth" (Luke 6:21). Y'all volition laugh.

When will we be satisfied? In Sky. When will we express joy? In Sky. Tin can we be sure of that? Yes. Jesus tells us precisely when this promise volition exist fulfilled: "Rejoice in that day and bound for joy, because great is your reward in heaven" (Luke 6:23).

Merely equally Jesus promises satisfaction as a reward in Heaven, he also promises laughter equally a reward. Anticipating the laughter to come, Jesus says we should "leap for joy" now. Can you lot imagine someone leaping with joy in utter silence, without laughter? Take any group of rejoicing people, and what do you lot hear? Laughter. There may exist hugging, backslapping, playful wrestling, singing, and storytelling. Merely always there is laughter. It is God's gift to humanity, a gift that will be raised to new levels after our bodily resurrection.

The reward of those who mourn now will be laughter later. Passages such every bit Luke 6 gave the early Christians force to suffer persecution in "an understanding of heaven as the compensation for lost earthly privileges."^xx In early Christian Greek tradition, Easter Monday was a "twenty-four hours of joy and laughter," called Bright Monday.^xxi But the followers of Christ can laugh in the face of persecution and death because they know that their present trouble isn't all in that location is. They know that someday all will be correct and joyful.

Past God'south grace, nosotros can laugh on Earth now, fifty-fifty under death's shadow. Jesus doesn't say, "If y'all weep, soon things on World will take a improve turn, and and then yous'll express joy." Things won't always take a better plough on Earth. Sickness, loss, grief, and death will find us. Just as our reward volition come in Heaven, laughter (itself one of our rewards) volition come in Heaven, compensating for our present sorrow. God won't just wipe away all our tears, he'll make full our hearts with joy and our mouths with laughter.

The fact that we could wonder whether at that place'southward laughter in Heaven shows how skewed our perspective is. C. S. Lewis said, "But in this world everything is upside downward. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likeliest that which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business organisation of Sky."^xxii

Even those who are poor, diseased, or grieving may feel therapeutic laughter. People at memorial services often laugh, even in the confront of death. And if we can laugh hard now—in a world full of poverty, affliction, and disasters—and so surely we will laugh more in Sky.

The but laughter that won't have a place in Heaven is the sort that belatedly-dark comedians often appoint in—laughter that mocks troubled people, makes low-cal of human being suffering, or glorifies immorality. Jesus makes a sobering comment in Luke 6:25. He addresses not only Heaven merely too Hell, saying, "Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will become hungry. Woe to you who express joy now, for you will mourn and weep." When will those who laugh at present mourn and weep? In the afterlife. All those who take not surrendered their lives to God, who have exploited and ignored the needy, who laugh at and ridicule the unfortunate, and who flout God'southward standards of purity will accept all eternity to mourn and weep. They will never express mirth once more.

I of Satan's great lies is that God—and goodness—is joyless and humorless, while Satan—and evil—brings pleasure and satisfaction. In fact, it's Satan who is humorless. Sin didn't bring him joy; it forever stripped him of joy. In contrast, envision Jesus with his disciples. If you cannot flick him teasing them and laughing with them, you need to reevaluate your agreement of the Incarnation. Nosotros demand a biblical theology 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 attend 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 after you take it out once more later a rest of five or half dozen hundred years)."^xxiii

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

When nosotros face up difficulty and discouragement in this globe, nosotros must keep our eyes on the source of our joy. Remember, "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will express joy" (Luke 6:21, emphasis added).

For more information on the subject of Heaven, come across Randy Alcorn'south volume Sky.

---

ⁱWalton J. Dark-brown, Home at Terminal (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1983), 73.

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

^threeGerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans. and ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Attestation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-76), 1:692.

^fourDave Hunt, Whatsoever Happened to Heaven? (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest Firm, 1988), 238.

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

^{half dozen}Kittel 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 Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994), 483.

^viiiIbid., 275; I'one thousand indebted to Andrew McClellan for several citations from his seminary paper "Jonathan Edwards's View of Heaven," August 15, 2003.

^ixWilliam Shakespeare, Hamlet, human activity 3, scene 1, line 87.

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

^xiIbid., 26.

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

^xiiiIbid., 160.

^xivIbid., 251.

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

¹⁶Philip Melanchthon, quoted in W. Robertson Nicoll, Reunion in Eternity (New York: George H. Doran, 1919), 117-18.

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

Affiliate 33
WHAT WILL OUR DAILY LIVES Exist Like?

^xviiiC. Due south. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946), 80.
^xixArthur O. Roberts, Exploring Heaven (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989), 63-64.
^twentyColleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Sky: A History (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), 47.
^xxiJohn Gilmore, Probing Sky (Grand Rapids: Bakery, 1991), 252.
^xxiiC. S. Lewis, Messages to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Caryatid Jovanovich, 1963), 92-93.
^xxiiiC. South. Lewis, The Last Boxing (New York: Collier Books, 1956), 179.

Photograph past Ben White on Unsplash

schenkdommand.blogspot.com

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

Share this post