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An excerpt from Four Views on Heaven |
John S. Feinberg, J. Richard Middleton, Michael Allen, Peter Kreeft, Michael E. Wittmer
Most people have not thought too hard about heaven. They tend to think of it like the final line of a children's story, "And they all lived happily ever after." They assume that those who have died are now in heaven doing whatever they did on earth, only better. If someone enjoyed golf, he is smashing long drives down the middle of celestial fairways. If someone loved to paint, she is setting up her easel in front of a glorious vista. And if their friend played the banjo, he is now jamming in heaven's band. Which is unbelievable. There are banjoes in heaven?!
Seriously, even Christians have not thought too deeply about what happens when we die. We tend to run all of God's promised future together, assuming that we get everything he has promised all at once. Funeral sermons often say that our loved one is right now playing baseball, baking pies, or writing poetry that is out of this world. We seldom stop and ask, Really? How is she doing these things? We can see her body in the casket, awaiting its resurrection. Someday she may do all this, but now?
This is a good time to note that when it comes to eschatology, the Christian Scriptures teach the three Rs: the Return of Christ, the Resurrection of the body, and the Restoration of all things. Praise God that our loved ones who died in Christ are now "with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8), but they apparently have not yet received all that God has promised them.1 They are still waiting for their resurrection bodies that they will receive when Jesus returns to this earth (1 Thess 4:16). Like a wise parent who only allows her children to open their stockings on Christmas Eve, so our Father does not give us every gift we have coming the moment we die. He gives us the best gift we have ever received, for we pass immediately from this life into the arms of our Savior. But God saves even more presents for the Christmas morning of Christ's return and our resurrection. Only then will our redemption be complete; only then will we be restored in every possible way.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, where will Christians live forever? |
Here is the point: many Christians make an eschatological mess by blurring together the various stages of the afterlife. Theologians typically avoid such confusion by distinguishing God's promised future for individual believers into the "intermediate state" and "the final state." The Bible says little about the intermediate state except that we are with the Lord (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor 5:6–8; Phil 1:21–23; 1 Thess 4:14). And this is enough. Unlike "heavenly tourism" books that celebrate the journeys of people who went to heaven and returned without laying eyes on Jesus, the Bible indicates that what makes heaven "heavenly" is the presence of Jesus. Yet the intermediate state is not the focus of Scripture. Its eye is on the end, when Jesus returns to resurrect and judge all people and restore all things (Acts 3:21; Col 1:20; Rev 20–22).
Four Views on Heaven is about the intermediate state, what happens when Christians die. It is about our final state, what happens after that. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, where will Christians live forever? What will that place be like, and what will we do there? |
Four views on Heaven explores these views:
Traditional Heaven - our destiny is to leave earth and live forever in heaven where we will rest, worship, and serve God (John S. Feinberg)
Restored Earth - emphasizes that the saved will live forever with Jesus on this restored planet, enjoying ordinary human activities in our redeemed state. (J. Richard Middleton)
Heavenly Earth - a balanced view that seeks to highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the heavenly and earthly views (Michael Allen).
Roman Catholic Beatific Vision - stresses the intellectual component of salvation, though it encompasses the whole of human experience of joy, happiness coming from seeing God finally face-to-face (Peter Kreeft).
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