Chapter 3 What Will We Do in Heaven?
Chapter 3
What Will We Do in Heaven?
I still can hardly believe it. I, with shriveled, bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down, will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness—powerful and dazzling.
Can you imagine the hope this gives someone spinal cord-injured like me? Or someone who is cerebral palsied, brain-injured, or who has multiple sclerosis? Imagine the hope this gives someone who is manic depressive. No other religion, no other philosophy promises new bodies, hearts, and minds. Only in the Gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.
It’s easy for me to “be joyful in hope,” as it says in Romans 12:12, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past twenty-odd years. My assurance of heaven is so alive that I’ve been making dates with friends to do all sorts of fun things once we get our new bodies—like the following conversation with a girl in a wheelchair I met at a conference.
“Since we’ve been sitting here talking about heaven,” I said, “would you like to make a date to get together up there?”
The girl, sitting twisted and humped over, gave me a funny look and asked, “And do what?”
“What would you like to do?”
“Uh…I’d like to be able to knit,” she said hesitantly.
“Then let’s make a date to meet in a cabin, pull up a couple rocking chairs by the fireplace, and reach for our knitting needles, okay?”
My friend in the wheelchair scoffed, “You’re just saying that. Heaven’s not going to have cabins and rocking chairs. That stuff’s only on earth.”
I looked at her in all seriousness and said, “I believe heaven will. Heaven is by no means ambiguous. Isaiah 65:17 says that God is planning ‘new heavens and a new earth.’ Did you get that? Heaven has our planet in it. A new earth with earthy things in it. Nothing clunky…no gawky images…just warm and wonderful things that make earth…earth.”
“How can you be so sure of what the new earth will be like?”
“‘Cause I don’t think God is going to switch dictionaries on us and suddenly redefine what earth is. If there are streets, rivers, trees, and mountains in the new earth, like the Bible says there will be, then why not all the other good things? Why not…rocking chairs?”
She sat looking at me with a wry smile and then her skepticism vanished. She started deliberating of which sweater pattern to use. She learned what most people discover after spending a few minutes talking to me. I take heaven seriously.
I take it as seriously as do children. One morning while I was waiting in an airport, I told my five-year-old friend, Matthew Fenlason, and his little brother, Stephen, to grab hold of the arm of my wheelchair and come with me to look for some kids with whom we could play. We found a couple of little boys sitting with their parents in the waiting area, and I asked if they would like to play a game with us. Within minutes, in the open area of the airport lounge, we started a game of Duck-Duck-Goose. When Matthew tagged me “goose,” I raced in my wheelchair around the circle of children, but I couldn’t catch him. Feeling badly that I wasn’t able to get up and run, he whispered, “Don’t worry, Joni, when we get to heaven your legs will work, and we’ll be able to really play Duck-Duck-Goose.”
He meant it. And so did I.
Rana Leavell and I plan to climb the mountains behind the Rose Bowl. Thad Mandsager and I, both quads, will ski the Sierras. My sisters Linda, Kathy, Jay, and I are going to play doubles tennis. Michael Lynch plans to teach me how to dance the paso doble, and my husband, Ken, has already said, “I don’t mind who fills up your dance card in heaven…but save the last one for me.” I have a whole circle of Romanian orphans I want to take picnicking on the Hungarian plains, and I can’t wait to put my friend Judy Butler on a really fast horse and go racing across Windsor Great Park.
Horses in heaven? Yes. I think animals are some of God’s best and most avant-garde ideas; why would He throw out His greatest creative achievements? I’m not talking about my pet schnauzer, Scrappy, dying and going to heaven—Ecclesiastes 3:21 puts the brakes on that idea. I’m talking about new animals fit for a new order of things. Isaiah foresaw lions and lambs lying down together, as well as bears, cows, and cobras; and John foresaw the saints galloping on white horses. I have no idea where they will fit, but I’m certain they will populate part of the new heavens and new earth. Again, underline that word “earth.” It just wouldn’t be “earth” without animals. So, if you want to go horseback riding, meet Judy and me at the statue of the Copper Horse at the end of the bridle path in Windsor.
You can tell I don’t take these appointments lightly. I’m convinced these things will actually happen. Goodness, I thought my friend under the white cabana next to the swimming pool was pleased to see me in a glorified state, just think of the pleasure we all will experience to see each other sin-free with glowing bodies all light and bright. It will be the answer to all our longings.
And not only our longings, but those of Jesus.
Rewards in Heaven
You are the fulfillment of Jesus’ desire.
You can hear the yearning in Jesus’ voice in John 17:24: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” My heart glows to think of His delight over our joy. I keep picturing His pleasure when He sees us dressed in white raiment for the Wedding Supper.
In fact, you give Him so much pleasure, that somewhere in the midst of the royal heavenly celebration—maybe right before the banquet or soon after—Jesus will rise, ascend His throne, and present rewards and crowns to all the guests. This is a most unusual celebration. For it is not the guests who come bearing gifts, but the Host. The Lord Jesus does all the gift giving.
And these rewards aren’t your average party favors.
We shall be given crowns. 2 Timothy 4:8 reads like the invitation to a coronation: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Wow, God wants to award me a crown! Maybe some adults pooh-pooh the idea of rewards, but I don’t. The child in me jumps up and down to think God might actually award me something. I remember when I took piano lessons as a kid and would squirm with delight on my bench whenever Mrs. Merson pasted gold crowns on my sheet music for a job well done. I wasn’t so much overjoyed with my performance as I was in pleasing Mrs. Merson. My focus wasn’t on what I did; it was on her approval. Sophisticated adults aren’t into such whimsy, but children sure are.
Nothing is so obvious in a heavenly minded child of God as his undisguised pleasure in receiving a reward—a reward that reflects the approval of the Father. C. S. Lewis said, “To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”1
So, for all the children whom Jesus said were best fit for the kingdom of heaven, get ready for God to show you not only His pleasure, but His approval.
What does a crown in heaven look like? Does it look like the Shah of Iran’s with spotted ermine, studded with pearls and diamonds, or the kind Queen Victoria wore with a cross on top? Watch it, I have a sneaking suspicion we’re edging close to earthly imagery again.
Psalm 149:4 gives a hint as to what kind of crown God means, “For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.” Aha! God probably doesn’t mean a literal crown, because salvation isn’t something you put on your head. Heavenly crowns must represent something He does, something He gives, as when He crowns us with salvation. Anyway, this is more resplendent and illustrious than any old hunk of platinum with a lot of sparkly things in it.
There’s also the crown of life in James 1:12, reserved for those who persevere under trials. This means God awards us with life eternal.
There’s the crown of rejoicing in 1 Thessalonians 2:19, given to believers who introduce others to Christ. This means God awards us with joy that lasts forever.
The incorruptible crown in 1 Corinthians 9:25, presented to those who are found pure and blameless on the judgment day. Nothing God gives will ever perish, spoil, or fade.
And in 1 Peter 5:2–4, there’s the crown of glory, reserved for Christian leaders who have guided others. God awards us glory that will never diminish, but only increase.
And my favorite, the crown of righteousness mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:8 for those who are itching to have Jesus come back. God will award us right-standing with Him that never changes.
Get ready for crowns!
The Judgment Seat of Christ
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Uh-oh, all of a sudden this doesn’t sound like a coronation celebration. This sounds scary. Especially the “whether good or bad” part. Surely the party will turn sour once everyone sees all the bad things you did on earth. They’ll wave you off and groan, “Now I know what he was really like all those years on earth. Boy, am I disappointed in him!”
I used to feel the same about heaven back in high school. I never could understand why Christians longed to go there. To me, heaven was a place where not only God would know all and see all, but my friends and family would too. Upon passing through the pearly gates, I saw myself standing under a marquee of a theater: NOW SHOWING, THE UNCENSORED VERSION OF JONI. I pictured myself walking down the aisle and passing people I respected, like my ninth-grade teacher, my hockey coach, and my Sunday school leader. On each aisle I spotted others like the handicapped boy in school I made fun of and the girl down the street I beat up in a fistfight. I pictured reaching the first row, sinking into a seat, and cringing as God then rolled the movie of my life for all to gawk at. Talk about guilt and judgment!
I’m inclined to believe that the real judgment seat of Christ will be quite different.
Just consider 1 Corinthians 4:5: “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”
Read that one more time. Each will receive his praise from God. When Christ ascends His throne and sits at the judgment seat, I don’t believe He’ll roll an uncut, uncensored version of your life. He won’t wear the scowl of a rigid and inflexible judge who bangs the gavel and reads aloud your sins for the court record. No, that already happened at another judgment. The judgment at the cross. It was there the Father slammed down the gavel and pronounced His Son “Guilty!” as He became sin for us. It went on record in the courts of heaven and then the indictment was canceled with the words “Paid in Full,” written not with red ink, but red blood. Anyway, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” (Psalm 130:3–4).
Your sins will not condemn you in heaven. Psalm 103:10–12 promises that: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” If you have placed your trust in Christ for having borne your transgressions on His cross, then you have nothing to fear. He did away with it. Erased it. Sin no longer has power to wound or to inflict remorse and regret.
The judgment seat of Christ is different. It’s not a trial to determine whether you are guilty or innocent, it is more like a judging stand to ascertain your capacity to serve God.
The following analogy is probably too simple for a seminary student, but I like to picture a judge’s stand at a housing contractor’s convention where rewards are distributed to all the architects, builders, foremen, and construction crews. The judge examines the quality of each man’s work. Each receives praise for what he has built and how he has built it. Praise, not condemnation. It’s true that the praise doled out to some contestants will be greater than others, but each will receive his reward. And the prize? The judge will say, “Well done! You’ve accomplished much with these few buildings, now we will put you in charge of a big development.” Thus, the architects and foremen are awarded larger and more elaborate contracts. And the builders get to roll up their sleeves and tackle the newest and best homes on the market. Each person walks away from the convention happy, heartened, and with an increased capacity to serve the industry.
It’s a little like this for Christians. While we’re on earth, we have a chance to “lay up treasures in heaven” and to send ahead, so to speak, building materials so that something of eternal worth can be constructed. That’s why “each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw—his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:10–15).
I’m constructing with an eye toward eternity, and so can you. Every day we have the opportunity to roll up our spiritual sleeves and apply our spiritual energies toward building something that lasts, in our lives and the lives of others. We are warned to be careful and choose as our building materials gold, silver, and costly stones; that is, service rendered out of a pure heart, a right motive, and an eye for God’s glory. Or we can choose wood, hay, or straw; things done out of an impure motive and an eye to our own glory.
We will bring to the judgment seat of Christ all that we are and all that we’ve done. One look from the Lord will scrutinize the quality of what we’ve built, and selfish service will be consumed in a fiery flash. Although it’s true that no child of God will be scolded, some will walk away scalded from the heat; their only reward will be their eternal salvation.
This is sobering. I can’t help but see myself coming away a little singed on the edges. Don’t get me wrong, I believe I will bask in God’s approval for my service on earth, but pride and impure motives have probably sullied a lot of it. Burnt away will be those times I gave the gospel out of puffed-up pride. Up in flames will go any service I performed for “performance’s sake.” Reduced to charcoal will be manipulative behavior and liesdressed-up-like-truth.
But hey, even if a lot of people survive the judgment seat by the skin of their teeth, keeping only their crown of salvation, that’s plenty of cause for rejoicing. Look at all the people who trusted Christ on their deathbed with barely time to say yes to Jesus, let alone build anything for eternity. Think of being snatched from the jaws of hell seconds before one dies. Such joy would be hard to beat.
One look from the Lord will consume worthless service. But it will illuminate God-honoring service. Like gold and precious stones, pure service will easily survive the test. It is this for which we shall be commended. We will drop to our knees in front of the judgment seat with the words of our Master ringing in our hearts, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!…For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance” (Matthew 25:23, 29).
I’m dying to hear those words. Literally. I want to put to death every selfish motive and prideful pretense so that when the Lord’s eyes scan my service, what I have built will stand the test. I want to be careful how I build, and realize that every smile, prayer, or ounce of muscle or money sacrificed is a golden girder, brick, or two-by-four. I want everything I do here to be an eternal investment, a way of building something bright and beautiful there. That’s how much things down here count.
And no one will be left out. Each will receive his reward. Each of us will have a capacity to serve in heaven, we will have something to do.
Eternal Worship That Is Never Boring
I can just see my two macho friends, John and Mike, the ones who hated the idea of doing nothing in heaven, as they stare open-mouthed and wide-eyed after the judgment seat. While on earth, they always knew they were sons of God, but they also knew “what we will be has not yet been made known.” But now, in heaven, they are sons of God in the fullest sense. What power, what privilege! And God has crowned them as proof.
I picture them grabbing each other, jumping up and down, and exclaiming, “Oh boy, now we get to do something! We get to serve!” They rub their hands together, roll up the sleeves on their white robes, and ask, “Okay, Lord, what are our jobs? Just point us in the direction, and we’re ready to go!”
Jesus may then repeat His own words from John 4:23 and say, “Yet a time…has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” Our first assignment is praise. Our most important service to God in heaven is worship. Heaven is a place of eternal, loving worship. Our service will be to continually praise God without interruption.
“Huh?” I can just see my guy friends say.
And if God weren’t able to read their thoughts, they might dare think, This is great and I’m all for it, but isn’t this going to get a little tedious after a while? Won’t we run out of Scripture choruses and praise songs after a few millennia?
Again, I used to feel the same about heaven. To me, anything changeless had a high boredom factor. Anything, even a great vacation at the beach, always had a hidden potential to be boring if it went on too long. I was always happy for good things to come to an end after a time.
But in heaven, praise will never become boring.
First, the only reason we find even the best things monotonous after a while is because of…a while. In other words, because of the passage of time. Eternity is not changelessness (which is boring) because changelessness means that time passes while everything stays the same. It’s not like that in heaven at all. Eternity is not many millennia. It’s not even a billion millennia or a trillion. Time doesn’t pass in heaven, it just is.
Next, I can hear my macho friends retort, “Yeah, but you can only be enthralled over truth, goodness, beauty, and the purity of heaven for so long. There’s something stifling about arriving at perfection; we almost preferred the thrill of getting here rather than arriving. Heaven is so, so…final!”
You could only say this if you conceive of truth, goodness, or even eternity and heaven as static and abstract. It’s not. Truth and goodness, eternity and heaven—yes, God Himself—are not static, but dynamic. Not abstract, but concrete. More real than anything we have ever touched or tasted on earth. Remember, we are wrong in thinking heaven is wispy, thin, and vaporous. It is earth that is like withering grass, not heaven.
In C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, there is a dialogue between a confused ghost from hell and a heavenly spirit who is trying to teach him about the concreteness of eternity. The heavenly spirit begins…
“Will you come with me to the mountains?”
“I should require some assurances…an atmosphere of free inquiry…”
“No…no atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.”
“Ah, but…for me there is no such thing as a final answer…you must feel yourself that there is something stifling about the idea of finality…to travel hopefully is better than to arrive…what is more souldestroying than stagnation?”
“You think that, because hitherto you have experienced truth only with the abstract intellect. I will bring you where you can taste it like honey and be embraced by it as by a bridegroom. Your thirst shall be quenched.”2
In heaven, praise won’t be inert and abstract, like the impression you have when you hear a musty old hymn sung by a handful of stone-faced worshipers in a huge cathedral. Or like the feeling you get when singing a praise chorus for the hundredth time. Even the most beautiful Scripture choruses wear out after a while and you moan, “We’ve sung that a zillion times. Can’t we sing something new?” Our heart really doesn’t care if the song itself is new—some of the oldest hymns of the church are still fresh—but our heart cannot tolerate words or songs of praise that have dug ruts over the passage of time. If joy and satisfaction aren’t in your worship, then you know you’re missing the mark. You want to offer something fresh that hits home in the heart of God.
In heaven, praise will never be empty or short of its target. Worship won’t be suspended between us at point A and God at point B. This kind of praise may be endured on earth, but it’s hanging in the breeze when it comes to heaven.
Praise in heaven will have substance. We shall eat from the tree of life.
Taste hidden manna like honey.
Smell truth like a flower.
Wear righteousness like light.
Hold the morning star like a scepter.
Shine like the stars of the heavens.
Enter into the joy of the Lord.
There’s nothing inert or abstract about those verbs. Everything in heaven will have more substance than we ever dreamed.
In eternal praise, the thrill of getting there will be more than matched by what we see, hold, taste, and wear when we arrive. For John and Mike, the thrill will include not only climbing the mountain, but enjoying the view from the top, and doing both at the same time. We shall travel hopefully and arrive, as it were, all at the same moment—we will no longer desire our God who is absent, but rejoice in our God who is present.
Why We Will Praise Him Forever
Next, our worship of God will never end. It’s like the excitement I used to feel as a child when my father would read me a story. To me, the beginning was always the most fascinating part. It was fresh. That’s because the beginning touches something timeless that no events in time can tarnish. Unfortunately, as the story progressed, my interest frittered away, along with my wonder.
Except for one fairy tale. In C. S. Lewis’s Last Battle—the conclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia series—there wasn’t the usual “and they lived happily ever after.” Instead, on the last page, after scores of exhilarating adventures and journeys in all the previous books, C. S. Lewis wrote that now he had come to the beginning of the real story. All the previous chapters of adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. The real Chapter One was about to begin, a story no one on earth had ever read, which would go on forever and ever with each chapter better than the last.
As a child, I remember thinking, You mean all that’s happened up until now has only been the preface to the real story? All the good stuff was only foreshadowing a greater story! The wonder was back. I was at the beginning again.
Most people wish it were like that in real life. Just as in a story, people labor through chapter after chapter of their lives, and the fascination and wonder they felt as a child fade as the years go by in a succession of events. We grow tired and weary, never able to grasp the dreams that enthralled us at the beginning. The state that we long for is never quite embodied. And so, our interest fritters away.
But for Christians, all the things that stir our interest about eternity will be embodied. We shall behold the Lamb. Savor purity. Touch truth. Be clothed in righteousness. Like a grand story, it will always be an enchanting beginning. Or better yet, the end and the beginning, as God is both Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Little wonder flesh and blood cannot inherit heaven. To be at both the beginning and the end, or to wear righteousness like a bright raiment, requires a complete metamorphosis. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or a peach pit becoming a blossoming tree. Our earthly bodies would never be able to contain the joy or express the praise. Our fleshly hearts and minds could never hold it all. Heavenly worship would split the seams and break the human container. We’re not talking shedding snakeskins here, we’re talking radical transformation. We little caterpillars and peach pits need to go from death to life so that our glorified bodies and hearts are fit for the filling and overflowing of ecstatic praise. As Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
No, praise will not be something we will be assigned or commanded to do; it will be natural. Rather, a supernatural effervescent response of the born-again creature, new and fit for heaven. Professor E. L. Maskell puts it this way: “We do not praise God because it does us good, though no doubt it does. Nor do we praise Him because it does Him good, for in fact it does not. Praise is thus strictly ecstatic in the sense that it takes us wholly out of ourselves; it is purely and solely directed upon God. It takes our attention entirely off ourself and concentrates it entirely upon Him.”3
I can’t wait! I get so sick and tired of thinking about myself. I sometimes feel like the self-absorbed woman in the movie Beaches who says to her friend, “Enough talk about me…let’s talk about you. Tell me, what do you think about me?” Ever feel that way? Well, in heaven, self-forget-fulness will be second nature; thus, nothing will be tedious. Praise would only be boring if we were able to stop and look at ourselves to see how we were doing, how we were sounding or performing; but such self-consciousness will be foreign in heaven. The crowning glory for us will be in losing ourselves and yet finding ourselves in the Alpha and the Omega. This is pure praise. Total preoccupation with God.
Finally, because we will be one with Him, and full of light as He is, our bright, dazzling bodies can’t help but be shot through with the glory of God. After all, “glory” is the reflection of God’s essential being, whether holiness, justice, compassion, or mercy. Whenever He reveals Himself in any of these qualities on earth or in heaven, we say that He is “glorifying Himself.” And in heaven, we, like diamonds, will give off prism-like praise as every facet of our being reflects His Shekinah glory. It will be impossible not to praise Him. Daniel 12:3 turns on the light switch when it says, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
Remember my dream in which everything—the air, water, and my body—dazzled with light? I don’t think my dream is that far off from the real heaven. Heaven will shine by the Lamb who is the Lamp. Light will so much be in heaven that “the moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23). God’s glory and His light go hand in hand. Heaven is a place full of glory, light, and praise.
My macho guy friends will, with every other redeemed person, happily transcend the time warp to be a part of that “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9–10).
Who can find words for such worship? What thesaurus has the nouns or adjectives to convey “eating” life like fruit from a tree or “tasting” the Bread of Heaven? I want to lift up my hands and whisper, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!…For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:33, 36).
Serving God by Reigning with Him
I have a confession. I’m more like my friends John and Mike than I’ve admitted. Just spend a few weeks with me and you’ll understand. I love rolling up my sleeves down here on earth and pouring myself into serving God. I’m less of a human being, and more of a human doing. Visiting hospitals, advocating on issues, shopping for dinner, traveling in ministry, relating in marriage, painting at my easel, writing at my computer, working on radio programs, counseling on the phone, helping with Sunday school, and ad infinitum.
I’m also a perfectionist. If a painting is not up to par, it’s shoved aside. If an article is not up to snuff, it’s dumped in the trash. If a friendship is injured, it’s painstakingly repaired. If my marriage is hurting, everything else gets canceled and Ken gets priority. If I feel a speech I give falls flat, I berate myself endlessly, thinking, Why did I say that?…Why didn’t I say this? There have been days when I’ve thrown up my hands and sighed, “What’s the use. I’ve blown it again!”
A lot of this pressure, because it is self-imposed, is unnecessary. However, some of it is real and needed. That’s because God imposes pressure when He knows I’ve approached service to Him with a lazy, nonchalant attitude.
But in heaven, there will be no failure in service. No disappointment in doing. We will never struggle with failing to do the task God puts before us, as in a failed marriage or mission. We will never fall short of meeting our responsibilities.
And, boy, will we do! John and Mike will be on cloud nine, but only for a short time, because they will be busier than they ever were on earth. No idling away eternity strolling streets of gold. No passing time while plucking harps by the glassy sea. We will have jobs to do. I can hardly hold back the tears thinking of my friend, Cornelius, who has been bedridden for fifteen years, unable to lift a finger to do an ounce of work. I can just see this man now in his glorified body leaving John and Mike in the dust as he tackles all the labor he missed out on those many years on earth. We will serve God through worship and work—exciting work of which we never grow tired.
For me, this will be heaven. I love serving God. And if we’ve been faithful in earthly service, our responsibility in heaven will increase proportionately. No, I take that back. It won’t be increased in proportion. God’s too generous for that. Our service will increase completely out of proportion. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read the formula Jesus gives in His heaven parable in Luke 19:17: “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’”
Stop and read that again. Ten cities? In exchange for faithfulness in a very small matter? Whoa! When it comes to blessing us, Jesus goes beyond basic math and gets into calculus. Those who are faithful in a few minor things will be put in charge over multitudinous things.
Were you faithful in your marriage or a mission? Even if only in a small way? God is already thinking exponentially, as in His “ten cities” equation. He generously raises your capacity for service to the “nth” degree. The more faithful you are in this life, the more responsibility you will be given in the life to come.
Please note Jesus doesn’t say, “Because you’ve been successful in a very small matter,” He says, “Because you’ve been trustworthy.” God is not scrutinizing the success of your marriage or judging the results of your mission. You could have spent forty-five years in marriage, forty of which you were hanging in there by a promise and a prayer. You could have invested twenty-five years sharing the gospel in the outback of Mozambique with only a handful of converts to show for it. When it comes to the judgment seat, God won’t pull out the return-on-investment charts and do a cost-effectiveness analysis on your earthly service. Every Christian is on the same playing field. Success isn’t the key. Faithfulness is. Being bigger and better is not the point. It’s being obedient.
The more trustworthy you’ve been, the greater your service in eternity. Here’s where our two buddies will shine!
Here’s where we get to serve and be busier than we ever were on earth. For we not only get to praise Him forever, but we get to reign with Him forever. “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21). Can you believe it? We will sit with Christ on His throne and reign with Him. We will be given a sphere of authority and oversight of God’s eternal kingdom.
We get to reign with Him, plus more.
We are more than kings? Yes, we’re sons and heirs. Romans 8:17 elevates us to an incredible position, saying, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Just imagine, we will sit with Christ on His throne, and we will join Him in overseeing His and our inheritance. We inherit what our elder Brother inherits. And Psalm 2:8–9 reads like His title deed: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter.” We’re not talking a few acres on the back of the farm. Our sphere of authority will be heaven and earth.
We get to reign over earth with Christ!
Ruling Over Earth
I wish I understood the specifics, but God hasn’t revealed them all. A hint is whispered in Revelation chapter 20 where we are “priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years,” and in Isaiah 11 where “with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”
Time and again, the words “inheritance,” “earth,” and “reign” appear together. Flip through the Old Testament and you see repeated references to God’s Anointed personally administering justice, uplifting the oppressed, or ruling with a rod of iron. The particulars may not be laid out, but there’s one hint we’re supposed to get: We will reign with Christ over the earth.
It’s not clear if it’s this earth or what the Bible calls “the new earth.” But I do know that the pièce de résistance of God’s creation, this jewel of a planet, will not be abandoned. It will not be left to go spinning off in space. God doesn’t waste things, He redeems them and Romans 8:20–21 reveals the Lord’s intentions for this beautiful blue marble: “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
The whole creation, like us, “is groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). I sense this whenever I see smog, a junkyard, and dead raccoons in the road. When I drive the coastal mountains just a stone’s throw from where I live and marvel at the jutted, jagged rocks and canyons, I’m vividly aware I’m in the middle of earthquake country (the Northridge quake of 1994 felt like one of those “pangs of childbirth”). Mud slides and fires happen all the time around here. These hills are restless. They’re also scarred by the improbable palaces of Malibu movie stars who litter the landscape with satellite dishes. My heart breaks for these mountains and trees (and movie stars!) to be liberated from their bondage.
This is the earth that Christ will bring into His glorious freedom. Can you hear the sighing in the wind? Can you feel the heavy silence in the mountains? Can you sense the restless longing in the sea? Can you see it in the woeful eyes of an animal? Something’s coming…something better.
If you want to know exactly what this “something” is, study Revelation and Isaiah. Delve into the hermeneutics. Scrutinize the eschatology. I have to confess I’ve never had the benefit of going to seminary, and I can’t cut as straight a theological line as I’d like, but I’m satisfied just to know that heaven involves earth, old or new. It intrigues me to think that after Christ comes back for us, we may inhabit this very planet again. The paths that I wheel over in my chair now may well be the same ones my glorified feet will walk on when Christ reigns.
If so, then the mountains of the Sierras will actually be the ones Thad and I will ski. And the rambling mountain paths behind the Rose Bowl will, in fact, be trod by the heavenly feet of my friend and me. That is, if Thad, Rana, or others want time-out from their thrilling escapades in far corners of the universe!
The possibilities are endless, as well as exhilarating. Maybe our reign on earth will include lifting up the poor and the needy of Kurdistan, reforesting the hills of Lebanon, helping to judge the wicked, or planting trees along the Amazon. How about clearing the courts of corruption and schooling judges on godly wisdom? How about clearing the slums of Rio de Janeiro or getting rid of nuclear waste? Maybe we’ll teach the nations how to worship God, as well as a new definition of peace and how to beat their swords into plowshares. Shall we do a patch job on the ozone layer and make the Blue Danube absolute azure rather than mud-brown? Cut government fat, get rid of red tape, and show everyone that a theocracy is the only rule in town?
One thing’s for sure. There will be no shelters for the homeless (no homeless men and women!). No orphanages or mental hospitals. No abortion clinics. And no nursing homes for old people.
In the midst of it all, the glittering capital city of heaven, the New Jerusalem, will be set like a gleaming pearl. Kings and princes will pour into the Holy City from the far corners of the earth to pay homage. The image blows my mind, but it’s laid out as clear as crystal glass in Revelation 21.
I realize this raises more questions than answers. Like, who are all these people who have to be ruled with a rod of iron? After the return to earth of the Lord Jesus and His saints, what are all those other folks still doing on earth? People who are wicked and need to be judged or the poor who have to be lifted up? Why are they still hanging around if heaven has come to earth?
Theologians are the ones who tackle questions like these all the time. Some scholars say that after the dead in Christ are raised at His return to earth, we will reign with Him over the people of this planet for a thousand years. At the close of this period, the devil will incite one last rebellion, which will kick off Armageddon. God’s armies will win, the devil will lose, wicked people will be resurrected, the Book of Life will be opened, and the Day of Judgment will have come. After the final destruction of that old serpent and his wicked hordes, earth will be consumed in fire, cleansed, and made new and fit for eternal habitation. Got that?
Other scholars assert that when the Lord Jesus comes to earth as King of Kings, time will end after an immediate Armageddon, the defeat of Satan, the judgment of the dead, and a fiery holocaust that incinerates all of the earth and space beyond. When the smokes clears, the Lord and His saints will set up the eternal kingdom in the new heavens and new earth.
Whew, I’m glad theologians study these things! How the earth, whether new or old, fits into God’s heavenly scheme of things, I can’t say for certain. I tend toward the view that we shall reign with Christ on this earth for a thousand years, this period being a kind of vestibule to heaven. But all I really need to know is “we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). Heaven will feel like home. I will be a co-heir with Christ…I will help rule in the new heavens and the new earth…and I will be busier and happier in service than I ever dreamed possible.
And you will be too.
It’s More Real than We Can Imagine
You know what thrills me most about reigning with Christ on earth? It’s concrete. Heaven is not some never-neverland of thin, ghostly shapes and clouds. It’s not a place where you can poke your finger through people only to discover that they are spacy spirit beings you can’t really hug or hold. No way!
Just writing the last few pages has invigorated my excitement over how like the Rock of Gibraltar heaven is. We shall touch and taste, rule and reign, move and run, laugh and never have reason to cry.
Maybe years ago I assumed heaven was a misty, nebulous home for angels and—gulp!—humans, but not now. I get tickled thinking about how rock-solid real heaven is, and how much of a home—much more so than earth—it will be. Every time I want to visualize just how dynamic and definite heaven is, I flip through the pages of C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, a fantasy in which unredeemed people take a day excursion by bus to the bright borders of heaven. Listen to their words when they take an amazing peek at heaven:
It was the light, the grass, the trees that were different; made of some different substance, so much solider than things in our country…
I saw people coming to meet us. Because they were bright I saw them while they were still very distant…the earth shook under their tread as their strong feet sank into the wet turf. A tiny haze and a sweet smell went up where they had crushed the grass and scattered the dew…the robes did not disguise the massive grandeur of muscle and the radiant smoothness of flesh…no one struck me as being of any particular age. One gets glimpses even in our country of that which is ageless—heavy thought in the face of an infant, and frolic childhood in that of a very old man. Here it was all like that.4
A real reign on a real earth.
And our Savior, our King of Kings, leading the way.
But watch out, wait till you see what we do out beyond this planet!