What will people be like in heaven? Will they be as they are now, except with wings? Not everyone gets along with everyone else here, so if there’s not some sort of change in the transition from here to there heaven will be like our world is now: fractured, tense, decidedly unfriendly in places, and with a drastic imbalance of fortunes. Besides that, people all around us can be backstabbers, boring, manipulative, obnoxious, aggressive, uncouth, hypocritical and two-faced…and that’s just the Church!
(This is a re-written version of an old post of mine).
Be honest and admit with me that we sometimes think we’d really rather not be with certain people, or at least near certain people, in heaven. “Oh, surely so-and-so isn’t going to be there” we think, sometimes without being conscious of it. “I hope X isn’t going to be there, because if he/she/it is, I don’t want to go!” And of course, we forget to realize that others feel the same way about us. They hope we aren’t going to be there!
And what about the ambience, the decor, the music, the programs, the speakers and leaders, and the worship? Surely, the music I like and the ministers I like will be at the forefront, with me at their feet, and all that trash people listen to and all those creepy ministers and worship leaders, and that yucky stupid boring music isn’t going to be around! If heaven is heaven, it’s going to be just how I want it to be…right? I’ll be there for all eternity, so it’s got to be good, and X won’t be there!
There are some famous ministers today who insist they’ve been to heaven on numerous occasions, chatted with the Lord as friends chat on the street, and have even given the Lord of all Creation some advice and help. Do not believe these charlatans, who haven’t been there and perhaps never will go.
OUR GUIDE
As always, Scripture is, or should be, our guide when it comes to looking ahead to our future home. The Word of our God, as it is contained in the Bible, is written to be our light in darkness. If we don’t see it as our light, perhaps, in truth, we’re on a different path entirely. If we don’t love what our God has said and told us, and what He really is like rather than our own picture of what He’s like, how do we know we would be happy to be with Him and His people for all eternity?
WHAT WE WILL BE LIKE
John, the disciple closest to Jesus, admitted to not knowing exactly what we will be like in heaven, but he had some pretty good clues:
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3: 2and 3).
We will be like Christ! John didn’t mean that we’re all budding Christs or gods, as some popular cults teach. The message of Scripture is that we are not at all equal with the Lord God Almighty, and never will be. Instead, we will all be worshipping Him, who alone is Lord of all.
What did John mean by purifying ourselves, and what did he mean when he said that everyone who has this hope purifies himself? He clarifies:
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him (verses 4 to 6).
John is speaking of sin. We will be like Christ in the sense of being without sin. We purify ourselves now, by shedding the sin inside us, and by turning to what is good according to what God is like. And when we pass from this life, the sin that remains in us will be left behind. Jesus appeared, said John, to take away our sin.
We’re easily misled by taking for granted the knowledge that we’re saved by grace and not works: the fact is that we are saved from our sins in order that we can live in righteousness. And John tells us that anyone who doesn’t turn from sin doesn’t know God at all: they will not see heaven.
Here’s one big clue then as to our nature and character in heaven: we will be without sin. The things we despise in others will not be there. The things others despise in us will be gone. The hypocrisy, the lies, the manipulation, the over-aggressive natures, the selfishness, the obnoxious, ungodly traits and habits will be left behind at the death of our mortal bodies.
SCORCHED BY FIRE
The book of Revelation makes clear to us that the bad things in our natures will not be allowed into heaven. Speaking of the fabulous City in which God will live wtih His people, John writes,
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27).
All those ugly, nasty traits in others and in ourselves will be gone. They must be gone, because God will not allow them into His city or His heaven. Thankfully, Scripture isn’t here telling us that we must make ourselves perfect before we die: that’s impossible. What it is saying is that those things in us which are not perfect, and not of God, will not be taken to that place. It will be purged from us, either in the here and now, or in the transition.
Paul enlarges a little on this principle. Addressing people who were causing division in the church, he explains that what we do in life as believers will be judged according to its worth and its relationship to Christ. If it’s not of Him, or genuinely for Him, it will be destroyed in our move from mortality to immortality:
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
Someone coined this phrase:
“Only one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last”.
Those things we’re doing for ourselves, including our sin, will be gone: burnt up in God’s refining fire of justice and purity. Those things that we are and shouldn’t be will also be gone, for ever.
This, then begs the question: When all that is not of value in us is burned up, what will be left of us? C.S. Lewis pondered the answer to this question brilliantly in his book, “The Great Divorce”, and what he envisaged about heaven was not without Scriptural support. Some in heaven will shine like the stars, and others will appear to be far less glorious, but there all the same. Our resurrection glory depends on how we live now, and what we do for our Lord.
WE WILL STILL BE WHO WE ARE NOW, TO AN EXTENT
There are numerous indications in the Bible that we will retain our individuality in heaven. Samuel was still Samuel after his death. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration as themselves, though in glorified bodies. Jesus came back from death as his glorified self. And Paul, in encouraging the faith of the Corinthian church, declared that we will see our loved ones who have died in the Lord, and be reunited with them:
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him ” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).
SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL
We will have physical but glorified bodies. Jesus, resurrected, was both physical and spiritual. He passed through walls and yet told Thomas to touch his hands and his side. He ate fish with his disciples. We too, will have this dual nature, as John wrote:
“…we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3: 2).
Paul told the Corinthians:
“…just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15: 49).
To the Philippians he said that Christ will:
“…transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).
Jesus said that people will be “like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22: 31). There are numerous accounts in the Bible of angels appearing to humans out of nowhere. Angels are able to move between earth and heaven, and it’s not a case of them flying at warp speeds until they get from some remote part of the universe to where they want to be, because Jesus said that a child’s angel can see God at all times (Matthew 18:10). Heaven and earth are not separated except by our lack of perception of other dimensions.
There’s good incentive for us to “entertain strangers”, because people have entertained angels thinking that they were humans (Hebrews 13:2). This shows that angels have the ability to materialize into physical beings and even appear to be human. However, angels in the Bible retain their identities perpetually. As examples, you can track the appearances of Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer.
THE RESURRECTED BODY IS ONE OF POWER
Paul said that the body is “sown in weakness” (ageing, sick mortality) but “it is raised in power” (1 Corinthians 15: 43). The immortality of our new being means that we will not look or feel at all old or weak or sick or spotty or deformed, but amazingly vibrant, young and healthy. Some will “shine like stars” (Daniel 12:3), or “like the sun” (Matthew 13: 43).
LOVE, JOY AND PEACE
Getting back to character and personality, there are plenty of clues in Scripture as to the personality of those in heaven, and so to the relationships between us all. To me the most obvious one is Paul’s list of the fruits of the spirit: the characteristics of those who live in close step with Christ now. He said:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control” (Galatians 5: 22-23).
If those are the characteristics of people who truly walk with Jesus now, and who walk “In the Spirit”, then those characteristics will be even more pronounced in heaven where Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be in close communion with us. And knowing that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), we can know that heaven will be filled with love.
LIKE CHILDREN?
I’ve heard Christian ministers say they think we will be like thirty-year-olds in heaven, but I’ve noticed it’s only those who are well over thirty who say this. I personally suspect that we will be a lot more like children than adults. I’m not at all speaking of “obnoxious little brats” as increasing numbers of people now see children (I don’t). If we ignore all the unpleasant characteristics we sometimes see in children, and just consider the part of them that God originally created, I believe we can get a good glimpse of our nature in heaven.
My own view and hope of heaven is suggested by the words of Jesus. When he told the disciples to allow children to come to him, he also said:
“…for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19: 14).
On one occasion the disciples asked Jesus who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. His answer is illuminating:
“He called a little child and had him stand among them….and he said…whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-4).
Our world teaches children to be confident, arrogant, materialistic and vain, but people in heaven will be very different. Adults who are free of sin and guilt and hang-ups of various descriptions, are more like children in the sense that they are happy and vibrant. If you observe some reasonably “well-adjusted” children who are healthy and loved and secure, before our present-day culture gets a hold of them (and there are fewer of these all the time), you will see in them playfulness, happiness, joy, fun, innocence, friendliness, meekness. They are free of guilt and sin. They are not self- conscious. They are free of vanity, have uncluttered minds, are full of energy, and they have humility and don’t think too much of themselves.
Yes, in heaven we may have the bodies of healthy, vibrant twenty (or thirty) year-olds, but we will have the playfulness, innocence and energy of a five-year old.
Please note that I am not saying we will be children, but that we will be child-like in many of our characteristics. Adults get so weighed down with prejudices, opinions, inhibitions, pride, arrogance, boredom, spite, grudges, fear, guilt and sin that they (we) are far from being as humans were created to be. Heaven will restore what should have been.
SOCIETY
There will be no noses in the air. By that, I mean that there will not be one little group of people in one corner ignoring the other little groups of people and thinking that they are somehow superior to everyone else. Everyone will love everyone else and treat each other as equals. There will be no prejudices, pride or selfishness, because these things are sinful, and will be purged from us at our death. Perhaps death is not such a bad thing after all.
There will be no corrupt government ordering our lives for us and making us pay for their pet projects, because the Lord will be King, and He is righteous in all His dealings. There will be no police force or military, because there will be no need for them. There will be no “No Trespassing” signs around the areas of natural beauty or around any lands or spaces. There will be no lawyers or politicians, and no insurance salesmen. There will be no schools to sap the energy and vitality of our children. There will be no “no-go” areas, slums or graveyards.
Paul said that “where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). In heaven we will be free to love each other, to love God, to play, to sing, to shout, to run, to laugh, and to not feel bad about anything.
Thanks for reading. I hope all this is as encouraging to you as it is to me. Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that not everyone will be going to heaven, but only those who have loved the gospel of Jesus Christ. For those of you who wonder about all the millions who never had a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, I’ve written an article on that very subject. Here’s the link:
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 