What do we know about Heaven?

[billwald]

What do we know about Heaven?

Is it more than an eternal song service telling God how wonderful he is?

Why do we need physical bodies in the next life?

Will we be doing anything useful? Useful to humans? To God?

Was Adam's "work" in the Garden "make work?" Who did it after Adam was kicked out?

Do people in Heaven ever think about the real world they left behind and the people in it? Out of sight, out of mind? We have a "mind wipe?"

 

[Marcia]

What do we know about Heaven?

Only what the Bible tells us. Most of it is in Revelation where scenes alternate between heaven and earth.

Is it more than an eternal song service telling God how wonderful he is?

We do know it is a place where there is unending worship and praise of God and the Lamb.

Why do we need physical bodies in the next life?

We may not need them, but God created our bodies and we know that believers in Christ will have resurrected glorified bodies such as Christ was raised in. We know it has physicality because Jesus invited the disciples to touch him after his resurrection and said he had flesh and bones. Then he ate some broiled fish (see Luke 24).

Will we be doing anything useful? Useful to humans? To God?

We don't know other than that there will be a marriage supper of the Lamb and that we will be praising God.

Was Adam's "work" in the Garden "make work?" Who did it after Adam was kicked out?

I do not think Adam worked before the Fall. Many Christians seem to think he did but I think the curse of labor came as a result of the Fall. "Keeping the garden" can be that Adam was in charge of the garden - picking the fruit after it fell off trees, etc. It was their food. There were no weeds, pests, labor, etc before sin.

Do people in Heaven ever think about the real world they left behind and the people in it? Out of sight, out of mind? We have a "mind wipe?

We don't know. We only know it is a place of joy. I tend to think that in heaven we will see things the way God sees them, and we will see that those who rejected salvation do not want to be there. I don't think we will miss them in heaven though that's hard to conceive of now.

 

[BobRyan]

We know from John 14 that Jesus has gone there - is preparing a place for us there - and that there are in fact "many mansions" there for the saints to dwell in.

We also know from John 14 that Christ is coming back "again" (the 2nd time) to take us to that place WHERE He now is - so that we may be with him.

We know from Rev 21 that the New Jerusalem is in heaven - and after the 1000 years it will come down out of heaven to earth.

We know that heaven is where the Angels and God are.

We know from the Lord's prayer that "The Father's will is being done in heaven". So all there are in perfect harmony with the Father's will.

We know that Satan was cast down out of heaven along with 1/3 of the angels from Rev 12.

in Christ,

Bob

 

[rdwhite]

To begin with, I believe that distinction needs to be made between Paradise, Heaven, the Kingdom Reign, and the New Heaven & New Earth. Much confusion arises when any of these are equated. Often times verses talking about one are applied to another and vice versa.

 

[Marcia]

To begin with, I believe that distinction needs to be made between Paradise, Heaven, the Kingdom Reign, and the New Heaven & New Earth. Much confusion arises when any of these are equated. Often times verses talking about one are applied to another and vice versa.

True, these are not all the same but there is also a lot of disagreement on these terms.

 

[rdwhite]

True, these are not all the same but there is also a lot of disagreement on these terms.

Precisely, and without agreement, the questions of the OP cannot be answered, for surely a person's understanding and view of those terms will determine the response to the questions and since there is disagreement concerning the terms, there cannot be agreement concerning the responses. :laugh:

 

[BobRyan]

To begin with, I believe that distinction needs to be made between Paradise, Heaven, the Kingdom Reign, and the New Heaven & New Earth. Much confusion arises when any of these are equated. Often times verses talking about one are applied to another and vice versa.

There is no difference between heaven and Paradise in the Bible.

Paradise is only metioned in 3 places - they are all in the NT and Rev 2 points to the fact that Paradise is where the Tree of Life is, Rev 22 shows us that the Tree of Life is where the Throne of God is. So Paradise is heaven.

The New earth - is here once the world is recreated as we see in Rev 21:1-3.

in Christ,

Bob

 

[rbell]

There is a mis-concept of heaven that I think many people (ESPECIALLY men, and teens) have about Heaven...that it will be like a church service that never ends.

That doesn't exactly fire a lot of folks up.

My response to such...

We don't know everything we'll be doing in Heaven. However...let's assume that most or all involves corporate praise of God (just for the sake of argument):

• Sin has damaged us. One consequence of that damage is the capacity to be bored. Virtually everything on earth, relating to us, causes a "law of diminishing returns." For instance, if I ride a rollercoaster, the first fifty times might be fun. But at some point, I become bored. In a church service...for many, they might enjoy the first 4-5 songs, or the first 20 minutes of a sermon. But after that, many become bored. I think that's a result of our nature being damaged by sin...we are created in God's image, but that image has been "marred" by sin. In Heaven, that boredom won't be there, because that "marring" has been repaired. So, praising God won't stand a chance of becoming old hat to us.
• Another consequence of our sinful world: we become "me-focused" quite easily. "I'm bored." "My feet hurt." "I'm ready to go." That will evaporate. Heaven is fully about God's glory...and we won't mind a bit that it's not at all about us.
• We can safely say that the best times of fellowship with God here on earth are just a glimpse of what we will experience in glory. What we will experience there is so far and above the best of the best here, there's no comparison.

So in summary...take the best, most intimate, most incredible time of worship you've ever had in your life...multilply it by a thousand...and take away the capacity for boredom, monotony, or fatigue. And take all capacity for self-centered action and thinking out of the mix. Now THAT sounds like a place I can't wait to get to.

 

[billwald]

Bottom line is that mostly we know the next life is better than this one?

I hope the next life is sort of like Star Trek without Klingons and Borg. Lots to learn and explore.

 

[BobRyan]

God has infinite knowledge - and is the creator of the entire Universe. He is the ulitimate physicist, the ultimate biologist, the ultimate animal behavioral scientist, chemist, designer, engineer the ultimate architect.

We could study under his teaching (complete with homework assignments) for billions of years and not even scratch the surface of what He knows.

It is impossible to imagine that the problem in heaven will be "I have nothing to do" -- or "I did not find anything interesting or challenging here".

Worship in the Bible (as you read the Psalms for example) is based on the degree to which the worshiper fully understands what God has done.

Ultimate understanding comes from doing. It is one thing to read about riding a bike -- it is another thing altogether to actually do it.

in Christ,

Bob

 

[Jedi Knight]

Bottom line is that mostly we know the next life is better than this one?

I hope the next life is sort of like Star Trek without Klingons and Borg. Lots to learn and explore.

Or .......In A Galaxy Far Far Away! :smilewinkgrin: