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Answering Hard Questions About the Afterlife
JUDSON CORNWALL
Years ago, I preached
an extended series of sermons on heaven.
A few months after
the series ended, my youngest daughter, Tina, had a very serious automobile
accident and lay unconscious for several days.
When
she finally regained her senses in the intensive care unit of the hospital, she
whispered to me, "Oh, Daddy, it's just like you described it, only far
more beautiful. I felt like I had been there before, because of your preaching,
but it was so wonderful I didn't want to leave it. If Jesus Himself hadn't come
to me and told me that my time on Earth was not up, I would have stayed
forever."
Since then, I have
talked with several people who have had extensive visions of this paradise of
God, and the more they told me about it, the more homesick I became for heaven.
They have told me
that while much of it looks like the most beautiful portions of this Earth,
even more looks like nothing we have ever seen in this world.
They were impressed
with the complete perfection they saw everywhere and the absolute absence of
withered leaves or dying vegetation.
There was no sign of
aging, no incident of infirmity, no unpleasantness and no unwholesome desires.
But let's not look
only at personal experiences of heaven, which may be fallible. Let's look at
seven things that God's book, the Bible, tells us about heaven.
1)
Heaven is beauty beyond explanation. The Bible
teaches us that heaven is going to be light and beauty beyond anything man can
comprehend (1
Corinthians 2:9).
Just
as the mole boring in the depths of the earth, living its entire life from
birth through death beneath the surface of this planet, cannot comprehend or
visualize the beauty on the surface, so we who were born beneath heaven are
equally incapable of imagining what heaven is like.
..
2) In heaven, we will receive a higher level of understanding. In his
beautiful eulogy on faith, Paul declared, "For now we see as through a
glass, dimly, but then, face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall
know, even as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Heaven
will offer many answers to Earth's puzzles.
3)
Heaven is a place of service. Revelation 7:15 says, "Therefore,
they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His
temple."
There will be time
for praising and worshipping God, but there will be time for service too,
because service is another form of worship.
4)
Heaven is a place of endless joy. This is consistent with
Revelation 21:4 and with Christ's impartation of joy to His disciples (John
15:11).
5)
Heaven is a place of safety and security. There is no permanence on Earth.
But when we get to heaven, everything will be perpetual, and we can enjoy it to
the fullest because we know that no one is going to snatch it away from us.
6)
Heaven is a place of fellowship with others. Heaven is going to be a place of
social joys (Hebrews
12:22-23).
We were created to be
sociable creatures. Sometimes relationships can be complicated.
But in heaven,
interpersonal complications, misunderstandings and the like will cease to exist
as we enter into harmonious relationships with others.
7)
Heaven is where we will fellowship with Christ forever. The Word tells
us that heaven is going to be a place of fellowship with Christ (1 Peter 1:6-9).
Fellowship with God
is why we were created in the first place.
Will We Recognize Our
Loved Ones?
Listening to a
Christian telecast, I heard a guest tell of her visit to heaven some years ago.
She said that although her mother had died in giving her birth, she instantly
recognized her, and the mother recognized the full-grown daughter.
Some years later, a
relative showed her a newly discovered, tintype group picture, and she quickly
picked her mother out from among the group of people, although no other photo
of her mother existed.
She recognized her
mother because she had seen her in heaven.
Of those who have
written of their visions or experiences of heaven, all have expressed an
intuitive knowing of those in heaven.
Many have testified
that the first person they met after entering heaven was a very close loved
one.
Others have declared
that a father or husband conducted them through the river of life.
Surely death could
not blot out recognition of loved ones, no matter how changed the glorified
body may be, for we know one another by tone of voice, style of walk, habit
patterns and ways of expression as much as by physical features.
That recognition will
trigger reunion. Mothers and fathers will enjoy the thrill of having their
children gathered together for a family picnic in heaven's beautiful paradise
park.
Lovers separated by
death will find solace, comfort and pleasure in each other's arms.
Children who died
before maturity on Earth can proudly display their development to their mothers
and fathers, while the parents rejoice that the death of the earthly body had
not impeded the development of the soul and spirit of their children.
Everything that sin
has snatched from us, heaven will restore to us — including our Christian loved
ones. What a glorious reunion that will be!
There will be so much
to discuss and share and so many loved ones to look up that there might be a
sense of panic if there were not such an awareness of eternity in everyone.
Though we will not
know everything once we enter heaven, I believe the story of the rich man and
Lazarus teaches us that our memory goes with us into eternity.
But since experience,
though a hard teacher, is a thorough teacher, it is inconceivable that our
memories in eternity would ever let us be involved in anything that could cost
us our freedom from sin's calloused control.
We will have no
desire for sin.
You
may ask, "If in heaven I am aware and recognize saved loved ones, what
about the loved ones who did not make it into heaven? Won't their absence
produce sorrow and regret?"
Apparently, it will
not, for we are assured that there will be no sorrow there.
If God chooses not to
remember our sins (Jeremiah
31:34),
then we also will be able to choose not to recall anything that would distract
from the joy of heaven.
When those who have
had brief visionary trips into paradise were asked if they missed certain loved
ones who had rejected Christ on Earth, they have stated that they were totally
unaware of their absence.
It seems that God
blots out the memory of those who chose not to go to heaven and accentuates the
awareness of those who have entered in.
My former pastor, the
late Rev. Fuchsia Pickett, illustrated this beautifully in saying that if we
are seated in a well-lighted room, it is not possible for us to see out the
window into the darkness, but anyone standing in that darkness can see into the
room easily.
When heaven's Shekinah (glory)
illuminates all of heaven, there can be no looking out into the darkness into
which the lost have been cast eternally.
Perhaps they can see
us (as was the case in the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus), but
if so, it will only increase their torment.
Our ecstasy will not
be eclipsed by any sense of tragedy. God's justice in refusing admittance for
the non-repentant will satisfy every heart, for God's law, not our earthly
love, will be the prevailing attitude in heaven.
Will We Get to Meet
David, Isaiah and Others?
I do not mean to
project that earthly ties will continue into heaven, for marriage is only "until
death do us part," but the one factor of eternity that we have been
allowed to enter into while still on earth is love.
Love is not earthly
but divine: "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and unlike earthly
lust that will pass away with our bodies, it will abide eternally.
Whatever measure of
true love we have shared with others will carry into eternity, because love is
an expression of the soul, not the body.
Furthermore, that
love will mature and develop to a high degree of perfection when fleshly lusts,
earthly fears and cultural repressions are no longer hindering forces.
The divine love we
will share with one another in heaven will be imparted by God and shared one
with another in an unashamed, unrestricted and unlimited manner.
For many of us who
have had great difficulty in expressing tender feelings down here, this release
would almost "be heaven" without any of the other benefits.
Not only will there
be joyful reunions with loved ones, but there will also be delightful
recognition of and fellowship with members of the bride of Christ who lived in
a different span of time or geographical location than we did.
I once spoke from
Isaiah to a large gathering of believers in Cincinnati, Ohio.
After
the service had ended, a sweet sister approached me to say, "Isaiah is
my favorite book in the Bible. When I get to heaven, I'm going to have a long
talk with Isaiah."
"Do
you think you will recognize him?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "I've
read his writings so often I believe I'll recognize him from the way he
talks."
She is probably
right, for in listening to a reading of the Bible, it is easy to tell the
difference between Peter and Paul, or Moses and Malachi.
How exciting it will
be to ask Adam about the first paradise or to discuss the great flood with
Noah.
What pleasure will be
ours as we listen to David sing his psalms to their original tunes or discuss
the Song of Solomon with the author.
If merely meeting an
earthly author produces excitement down here, try to imagine the stimulation of
talking with one of the inspired writers of Scripture.
But that will not
exhaust our source of fellowship, for the saints of all ages will be there. We
will meet Martin Luther, Charles Wesley, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon and
hundreds of others whose lives became milestones on the pathway to heaven.
We will listen to the
singing of great vocalists who have stirred thousands to holiness and identify
with the prayers of men and women who have moved entire communities to God from
their prayer closets.
We will have a chance
to hear some of the great preachers of generations ago and to see how the great
variances in theology have merged into one complete picture after men have
fully seen that which on Earth could only be partially seen.
We will have the
opportunity to thank John Bunyan for writing The Pilgrim's Progress while
incarcerated and to thank the martyrs who victoriously died, often most
painfully and ignominiously, rather than recant their faith.
We will meet the
pioneers and missionaries who endured such hardships to spread the gospel
beyond the borders of Europe and who have made our Christian heritage possible.
Will We See Jesus
Face to Face?
Yet personally,
neither seeing my father, nor my eldest brother, nor the great saints of the
ages hold top priority in my desire for fellowship in heaven. I long to see
Jesus!
It is He who took our
place, died the death that we deserved, delivered us from sin, purchased our
redemption and brought us into His own residence.
Although we have not
seen Him, we love Him. He has become the theme of our song, the expression of
our confession, the joy of our lives, the basis of our blessings and the
foundation of our hope of heaven.
But despite all this,
we have not really seen Him or known Him. We are acquainted with Him as our
need-meeter, but we do not know Him very well as a person.
We have learned much
about His works and something about His ways, but few have known Him.
We have embraced Him
as our Savior, received Him as our guide and proclaimed Him as our Lord, but we
do not yet know Him as our lover.
Paul
admitted, "For now we see as through a glass, dimly, but then, face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I also am known"
(1
Corinthians 13:12).
Since
most of our earthly knowledge comes to us through our senses, our capacity to
receive spiritual knowledge is necessarily limited — we see in a mirror whose
silver has darkened with age. But John declares that in heaven "His
servants ... shall see His face" (Revelation 22:3-4) and that "we
shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
Heaven would be
glorious even without this, but after seeing Him as He really is, heaven's joys
will be absolutely overwhelming.
Moses is the only man
in the Bible who was afforded the privilege of face-to-face communication with
God, but in heaven, we all shall see Him "face to face."
This is the basis for
our hope and the blessing of that hope — interpersonal relationship with Christ
Jesus our Lord.
This will complete
the circle of time, placing it into the circuit of eternity.
The era of God and
man walking and talking together in paradise's garden, which was lost through
Adam's fall, will be restored again, and God's original purpose of creation
will be realized — fellowship between creature and Creator with complete
understanding, compassionate caring and companionate sharing.
We are here for a
short season as preparation for the hereafter, and now we only sing about
seeing Him face to face, but in heaven, we will experience it and much more.
Heaven is God's home, His abode, and He will share it with me. That will be the
joy of heaven.
Judson
Cornwall was
well-known as a pastor, teacher, author and traveling ambassador of Christ. He
was a skillful communicator and learned Bible scholar. In 2005, he passed from
our earthly world to the heavenly one he describes in his book From
This Life to the Next.
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But
they say, thou art worthy to receive glory. 
It was his will and pleasure to create all
things; he was not put upon it by the will of another; there is no such thing
as a subordinate creator, that acts under and by the will and power of another;
and, if there were, he ought not to be worshiped.
