(HEAVEN — Our Heart’s Deepest Desire)

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

There is a lot of suffering in this world; we don’t know why, except to state the obvious,
which is that our world is seriously out of alignment with God. 

 

Heaven is another matter…  it is in perfect alignment with God.
It has been, is, and will always be, firmly in God’s hands.
Not subject to Satan, or to our corruptions or foul-ups,
not subject to evil influence of any kind.  

 

It is a rock-solid certainty. (1)

 

What is this Heaven, the Christian after-life?
Plainly, its origin is in God, though his plan is to share it with all of us.

 

The term Eternal Life encompasses Heaven, so let's start there.  It is less a when or a where or a how long, and more a quality of life:
Eternal Life is life, the primary feature of which is unbroken communion with God --
you might say true life, the deepest longing of our hearts.
It is a life that can be experienced, in significant part,
in the here and now (see "Eternal Life").

 

Heaven adds to this an almost unimaginable future dimension.
It begins with and builds on Eternal Life,
but instead of being lived out in a horribly out-of-alignment world,
it is lived out in the completed, perfected Kingdom of God:
totally aligned with His nature and filled with unending goodness, love, and light;
zero evil or suffering (or even the memory of it); it is 100% guaranteed, forever.

 

 

Want to know what Heaven will be like?
Look inside your own heart, look for your deepest yearnings.
Our heart of hearts knows what we were made for…

 

Home -- so much meaning packed into such a simple word!
The land my heart has always suspected, hoped for, longed for.

My real country -- the one where I belong; I was made for this!
Where all is good and right and beautiful, full and yet at ease.

A life in which suffering and evil has no place --
no death, no pain, no shame, no fear, nor even any memory of these.

A life in which I am completely secure… and  significant --
a world in which I am desired, truly valued, important.

A life in which security and significance has nothing to do
with merit, but is instead a gift, born of true love.

A life in which every heart is at peace,
full of joy and purpose and meaning, brimming over in a celebration of goodness and beauty and truth.

A life of authentic, unbroken fellowship and communion
with each other and with our God.

 

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, 

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world....    C.S.Lewis

 

 

Heaven is a permanent, tangible reality, in which evil simply cannot exist --
not anywhere, within or without – not even as a distant memory…
A place and time and life in which even the shadows and stains
of past evils have been wiped away.

 

In God’s Heaven, creation and life itself has been reclaimed, restored, recreated, redeemed –
for the purpose of sharing it in unending celebration with us, His children.

Reclaimed --
   by a sovereign God, as his, for us, without the smallest trace of evil...

Restored --
   the original perfection of God’s creation reinstated…

Recreated --
   more than perfection restored, it is a new creation…

Redeemed --
   it incorporates and honors all of the good and the noble
   that was born out of countless battles against evil and suffering.

 

 

This Heaven is the Christian’s baseline certainty, secret, and inner joy ...

     to all who desire to live together with Him, evil and suffering banished forever,
     in the Unlimited Good that is His Nature, God simply says:   Come.  (2)

 

 

 

 

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(HELL — A World Apart from God)

 

We've considered the certainty and nature of heaven, and one way that our lives in the here and now can be impacted by it.  To be realistic and fair, we also have to take a look at the idea of hell.  For many, the idea of hell is very relevant to the question of faith, as in:  "I can't believe in a God that would consign people to hell."  

 

Let's think this through.

 

What is hell?  Like heaven, we simply don't (yet) know the details.
Still, nonsense abounds:  guys in red spandex suits with little horns
and barbed tails and pitchforks and lots of fire.  

Yet in spite of the silly, the incomplete, and the downright dubious,
there are some things that are certain.

 

First and foremost, hell is characterized by the fact that God is not present there! 

The clearest and most scripturally accurate conception of hell is simply this --
a place, a time, a sphere, a reality that is completely separated and apart from God,
both figuratively and literally. 

Figuratively, in that hell is the opposite of heaven,
where God's presence undergirds and permeates everything.  

Literally, in that hell is the last place we would expect to find a good God.

 

Hell, then, is a total and complete separation from God,
and any of the goodness, love, truth, and power
that would go along with his presence.

 

What might this look like?  Imagine (this is necessarily bleak) a world where… 

• Every good is stillborn, does not come into existence.  
• No light, no love, no excellence, no beauty, no truth, no honor, no hope... 
• A world where every and all influence for Good is totally absent.  
• A world where the Hitlers and the Stalins and every sort of evil operates
  unchecked, unfettered by any righteous resistance,
  and instead matures into the full flower of unremitting suffering.

That is hell, and it is hell precisely because God is absent.

 

So how can a good and loving God consign people to hell?
Let’s sharpen the question a bit:  Does He?

 

We speak of His power and sovereignty over all creation,
so it is true that he certainly could.  But He doesn't.  

 

This truth operates on two levels:  the divine (grace) and the human (choice).

 

The reality of divine grace is the main message of scripture: the Gospel, the Good News.    

Here’s a summary:  When we entrust ourselves to God's grace,
we are met with Eternal Life, both in the here and now, and in eternity.
Period. (1)    The sole qualifier -- entrusting ourselves to His Grace.

 

The human level is no more complicated:
God extends the offer of grace, but leaves it to us to accept it, or to reject it.
Entrusting ourselves to his grace is a choice – our choice.
God not only allows for our free will, he insists upon it.
He will not compel our choice, no matter how badly his heart of love
desires us to choose to be with Him.

 

This is the most basic and far-reaching of all human choices:
To live our lives, here and in eternity, with Him or apart from Him.

  

All that are in hell have chosen it…  C.S. Lewis.  

 

God desperately wants us to choose to live with Him, but he will not compel it.

 

The choice is ours, and the way is simple:
entrusting ourselves to God's amazing grace.

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life…   John 3:16

 

 

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End Notes:

Heaven

(1) Scripture (1Cor 15:55) asks:  Where, O death, is thy Sting?  Where, O grave, is thy victory?
Imagine a scorpion, its stinger removed… perhaps a bit scary to look at, but in the end, completely powerless, impotent.

(2) Revelations 22:17  …The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”  And let him who hears say, “Come!”  Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Hell

(1) You know this one:  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)  To which one can confidently respond:  Where, indeed, is thy sting, O death?