My grandson, Jakson, who is 13 asked me about heaven the other day. He wanted to know all of the basic stuff. Will we know each other? Will there be sports and pizza and drum sets? And of course the biggy, will there be pets in heaven? That one was easy. I told him yes because Disney made a movie, All Dogs Go To Heaven, so it must be true.
I noticed something interesting as we talked. I am old. Much more likely to be facing death soon than Jakson is. But I was not nearly as concerned with it as he was. I noticed that in my grandparents. When they were old and surely close to death, they had very little fear and almost no concern about the specifics of the journey. It was as if God had been preparing them for the journey.
So, here are two biblical observations about life after death and three suggestions.
- The Bible does not seem to make life after death a priority. Scripture in general, and Jesus in particular seems far more interested in how we live here and now than in what happens when we die. Jesus said in Luke 17, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near, in fact, it is within you. (vs 20-21)
- But, it does address it and say a lot of things about what happens when we leave this world. They are just kind of random and don’t tell an exact plan. (I refer you back to observation #1) Here’s what I gather:
There will be some kind of instant judgment. Remember, the rich man that went to hell when Lazarus the beggar went to heaven. Seems like they both immediately had some evaluation made on the life they had lived.
There will be some kind of instant reward. The thief on the cross, with his last bit of strength put his trust in Jesus and Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” Allistair Begg tells this wonderful story of that mans entrance to the pearly gates. St. Peter asks him why he was in heaven and he said, “The man on the middle cross told me I could come.”
There seems to be some delayed completion to the passing. Paul writes in I Thessalonians 4:16, “The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up with the Lord.” Although there is an instant judgment and an instant reward, it will take a while for the whole self to be there.
There seems to be some delayed entry. John 14, one of my favorites, Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you nay be also.” Again, the whole thing won’t be finished until the end of time, it seems.
With these things in mind, here’s what I suggested to Jakson and what I suggest to you:
- Focus more on bringing heaven to earth now than on what it will be like when you get there. Jesus said we can do two things: We can pray it down. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And we can do good stuff now. “As you go about preaching the Kingdom of heaven is near, heal the sick and take care of the poor.” (My paraphrase of Matthew 10:7-8)
- Figure it is going to be alright. God does everything good. He has taken care of us all along the way. I’m pretty sure He has this part taken care of as well. Paul said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord WHICH IS BETTER BY FAR.” God’s got this.
- So, fix your eyes on Jesus. Don’t get caught up on the small stuff, and yes this is small stuff, instead, stay after Him. Seek to serve Him. Try to please Him. “Seek first the Kingdom of God (not heaven) and everything else will take care of itself.”
NT Wright said, “I think of heaven this way. I met a friend who had been really sick for a long time. Someone said to me, ‘He’s just a shadow of his former self.’ And I said, ‘Yes, as we are all just shadows of our future selves.'” Gonna be good!
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