Rev. Richard Smith
I Corinthians 15:42, 44 Words of Paul
‘So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable…It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
None of us can say with absolute certainty what heaven is like, but I personally believe there are four truths we can legitimately embrace:
We Will Be Changed
From what the Bible says, we are not going to be physical selves in heaven. Paul says we are going to have “spiritual bodies”. Will we have form and shape? Yes. Will we be entities able to communicate and express ourselves? Yes.
You know what? That’s all I need to know…that I will be real beyond this life and you will be real beyond this life. I leave the rest to God and know that whatever we are and however we are it is a blessing and a gift beyond our physical selves.
We Will Know Each Other
Now, biblically speaking, there is no direct indication that such is true.
My argument for this belief comes from the nature of God. Do we believe that a God of love would bring us together in this life in loving relationships and then end them at death? I can’t believe that. I just can’t see our loving God bringing us into loving relationships such as husbands-wives, parents-children, grandparents-grandchildren and then suddenly ending that loving connection at death. I believe when we go on to the Kingdom of God we experience what I like to call a “grand reunion” with our loved ones who’ve gone on before and who wait for us on the other side.
We Will Continue To Grow
I don’t think many of us are enamored by the traditional descriptions of heaven as having pearly gates and streets lined with gold and angels sitting around playing their heavenly harps and singing in the heavenly chorus.
I don’t think that’s what heaven will be like at all. I think heaven will be a spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually interactive place. There is so much we don’t know we want to know. There are so many questions we have that we want to address with God.
Heaven, I believe, is where we continue to grow spiritually and intellectually beyond this life.
And, we need to affirm that a part of our spiritual growth is accountability for the parts of our lives which didn’t change and which betrayed God’s intent. We will, in essence, be judged before our loving God. There have to be consequences to some degree. The Biblical record states this over and over again. How it all works, I leave to God; whose wisdom and fairness I totally trust
We Will Remain Connected In Some Way With Those Who’ve Gone On Before
Remember the notable passage in Hebrews 12 which reads…Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…(Hebrews 12:1). What do we think being “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” means?
Adam Hamilton, noted Christian thinker and author, has an interesting take on this. He says he believes these things; and I agree with him:
**That there are moments when God says to one of our loved ones, Come and see this. I want you to see this. You need to see this. It might be a wedding, a baptism, a graduation, a significant marker moment in your life. Why not?
**That our loved ones do indeed cheer us on and help us.
*That even the messages of love to our loved ones who’ve gone on gets to them.
So, as I see it, inexplicable and indescribable as it is, there is some way we and our loved ones on the other side remain spiritually connected.
