Eternity

They put their backs to the Final Water and ran together up the green and golden slopes, vanishing into the lights of the sun and the moon and the greater, ringing light of the Song ever singing. --Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Earlier this month, I did a post on the coming hour when the this world shall end and all will go to the eternity they chose in this life through accepting Christ or rejecting Him. Those who accept the grace and redemption of God's sacrifice have an incredible future in front of them in Heaven, a future without end.

But what shall Heaven be like? Many people have imagined beautiful things that reflect God's glory. Indeed, some of my very favorite books touch on the heavenly realm we have not yet seen.

...the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.--The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

I have heard it said that there cannot be Good without Evil. I must strongly disagree using these four words: "In the beginning, God..." (Genesis 1:1) God has no evil in Him. When he created the world He did not say, "It is good, except for..." All was perfect. Evil spawned out of something that began as Good. Lucifer, greatest of the angels, became proud and jealous--a deadly combination--and his actions would mar the world. But one day Evil will again be cast off--this time forever.

When we live in heaven, everything will be perfection and to our complete satisfaction. We will not say, "Good was so much better on earth when we had Evil to compare it to." We're not going to be short-changed in heaven, nothing will be lacking. Rather, we will finally be complete and cleansed. For Evil is the rips in the canvas, the mold on fruit, the refuse on the tile. When it is wiped away, we shall not miss it. We shall see Good, unscathed and uncontested, and it will be more glorious than we could ever imagine.

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it until now." --The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

What shall we do in Heaven? We're not quite sure, we can only speculate.

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9


 I like to imagine our activities. Will we sing? Of course! And if you're a bad singer down on this earth, you won't have to worry about that up there. But what other ways do we worship God down on this earth? Are you an artist? A writer? An architect? A designer? A scientist? Do you love meeting new people? Do you love exploring new lands?  Whatever gifts you enjoy down here and whatever gifts you wished you had, will likely become abundantly greater in Heaven! That story you never could quite finish, the painting that refused to be perfect, the impossible building structure, and your scientific research that you were never able to figure out might be ready to continue! You have the greatest Artist, Author, Designer, and Creator to turn to for advice! We'll be surrounded by the incredible godly people we read about in history lessons!

Will we be able to do crazy, impossible things that we couldn't do on earth--like flying, super-fast running, and free-falling? I don't know. More speculation comes into play as we stretch our imaginations to the greatest things we can think. But we will have perfect bodies, and there will be no more pain or sorrow.

There is of course, the alternate eternity. A fate not intended for man but for the traitorous Satan and all his minions. But he is the prince of this fallen world, and if we do not turn from this path and take the sole salvation offered through Christ, we'll find ourselves following the Evil One right into damnation.

I look forward to Heaven. Do you?

All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page; now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on this earth has read: which goes on for ever; in which every chapter is better than the one before. --The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis