Heaven (48 page)

Just as Jesus promises satisfaction as a reward in Heaven, he also promises laughter as a reward. Anticipating the laughter
to come, Jesus says we should "leap for joy" now. Can you imagine someone leaping with joy in utter silence, without laughter?
Take any group of rejoicing people, and what do you hear? Laughter. There may be hugging, backslapping, playful wrestling,
singing, and storytelling. But always there is laughter. It is God's gift to humanity, a gift that will be raised to new levels
after our bodily resurrection.

The reward of those who mourn now will be laughter later. Passages such as Luke 6 gave the early Christians strength to endure
persecution in "an under­standing of heaven as the compensation for lost earthly privileges."
³¹⁹
In early Christian Greek tradition, Easter Monday was a "day of joy and laughter," called Bright Monday
³²⁰
Only the followers of Christ can laugh in the face of persecution and death because they know that their present trouble isn't
all there is. They know that someday all will be right and joyful.

By God's grace, we can laugh on Earth now, even under death's shadow. Jesus doesn't say, "If you weep, soon things on Earth
will take a better turn, and then you'll laugh." Things won't always take a better turn on Earth. Sickness, loss, grief, and
death will find us. Just as our reward will come in Heaven, laugh­ter (itself one of our rewards) will come in Heaven, compensating
for our pres­ent sorrow. God won't only wipe away all our tears, he'll fill our hearts with joy and our mouths with laughter.

The happiness of heaven is not like the steady, placid state of a mountain lake where barely a ripple disturbs the tranquility
of its water. Heaven is more akin to the surging, swelling waves of the Mississippi at flood stage.

SAM STORMS

The fact that we could wonder whether there's laughter in Heaven shows how skewed our perspective is. C. S. Lewis said, "But
in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likeliest that
which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business of Heaven."
³²¹

Even those who are poor, diseased, or grieving may experience therapeutic laughter. People at memorial services often laugh,
even in the face of death. And if we can laugh hard now—in a world full of poverty, disease, and disas­ters—then surely we
will laugh more in Heaven.

The only laughter that won't have a place in Heaven is the sort that late-night comedians often engage in—laughter that mocks
troubled people, makes light of human suffering, or glorifies immorality. Jesus makes a sobering com­ment in Luke 6:25. He
addresses not only Heaven but also Hell, saying, "Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who
laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." When will those who laugh now mourn and weep? In the afterlife. All those who have
not surrendered their lives to God, who have exploited and ignored the needy, who laugh at and ridicule the unfor­tunate,
and who flout God's standards of purity will have all eternity to mourn and weep. They will never laugh again.

One of Satan's great lies is that God—and goodness—is joyless and humor­less, while Satan—and evil—brings pleasure and satisfaction.
In fact, it's Satan who is humorless. Sin didn't bring him joy; it forever stripped him of joy. In contrast, envision Jesus
with his disciples. If you cannot picture him teasing them and laughing with them, you need to reevaluate your understanding
of the Incarnation. We need a biblical theology of humor that prepares us for an eter­nity of celebration and spontaneous
laughter.

C. S. Lewis depicts the laughter in Heaven when his characters attend the great reunion on the New Narnia: "And there was
greeting and kissing and handshaking and old jokes revived (you've no idea how good an old joke sounds after you take it out
again after a rest of five or six hundred years)."
³²²

Who is the most intelligent, creative, witty, and joyful human being in the universe? Jesus Christ. Whose laughter will be
loudest and most contagious on the New Earth? Jesus Christ's.

When we face difficulty and discouragement in this world, we must keep our eyes on the source of our joy. Remember, "Blessed
are you who weep now,
ioxyou will laugh"
(Luke 6:21, emphasis added).

WILL WE PLAY?

When we were children, we played—with each other and with dogs and cats and frogs. We enjoyed hiding, climbing trees, sledding,
and throwing snowballs and baseballs. We played nonstop, never having to go earn a living. We played just because it was fun.
Is God pleased by that? Yes, because he created and val­ues a childlike spirit (Mark 10:14-15).

If it's fun for children to play in the mud and if we'll be childlike on the New Earth, is it a stretch to think we might
play in the mud? If something in you says there won't be mud on the New Earth, that something is Christoplatonism. When Revelation
22
speaks of a flowing river, with the tree of life growing on both sides of it, what do you suppose will be at the edge of the
river, where it meets the dirt of the bank? Mud!

A mother sent me her son's question: "Will there be toys in Heaven?" I believe the answer is yes. After all, we'll still be
human, so why wouldn't we still have the human inclination and capacity to enjoy things? And we'll still have the capacity
to craft and create objects, so why not toys? Are toys sinful? No. Could they have ex­isted in an unfallen world, as the product
of human creativity? Of course.

WILL THERE BE SPORTS?

Just as we can look forward to cultural endeavors such as art, drama, and mu­sic on the New Earth, we can assume that we'll
also enjoy sports there. Ac­cording to the principle of continuity, we should expect the New Earth to be characterized by
familiar, earthly (though uncorrupted) things. Scripture compares the Christian life to athletic competitions (1 Corinthians
9:24,27; 2 Timothy 2:5). Because sports aren't inherently sinful, we have every reason to believe that the same activities,
games, skills, and interests we en­joy here will be available on the New Earth, with many new ones we haven't thought of.
(Your favorite sport in Heaven maybe one you've never heard of or one that hasn't yet been invented.) Sports and our enjoyment
of them aren't a result of the Fall. I have no doubt that sinless people would have in vented athletics, with probably more
variations than we have today. Sports suit our minds and our bodies. They're an expression of our God-designed humanity.

What kinds of new sports and activities might we engage in on the New Earth? The possibilities are limitless. Perhaps we'll
participate in sports that were once too risky. And just as we might have stimulating conversations with theologians and writers
in Heaven, we might also have the opportunity to play our favorite sports with some of our favorite sports heroes. How would
you like to, in your resurrection body, play golf with Payne Stewart or play basketball with David Robinson? How would you
like to play catch with Andy Pettitte or go for a run with Jesse Owens or Eric Liddell?

Eric Liddell understood that glorifying God extends to every part of our lives. Explaining that God had called him not only
to missions work in China but also to compete in the Olympics, Liddell said to his sister, "He made me fast, and when I run
I feel God's pleasure. . . . To give up running would be to hold him in contempt."
³²³

In a tennis tournament, I once played a five-hour singles match in which each of the three sets went to a tiebreaker. I came
away exhausted, lost two toenails, and limped for two weeks. But did I regret a single minute of that five-hour match? Not
one. There's joy in testing the limits of our bodies. Fur­thermore, those exhilarating five hours created a permanent bond
with my opponent, who became my friend.

As we expend energy in our new bodies, it's possible we'll tire and need re­freshment. After playing for hours, we may eat
and drink to replenish our bod­ies, laughing about what happened on the field, enjoying each other's company, and praising
God for the sheer pleasure of it all.

People have told me, "But there can't be athletics in Heaven because compe­tition brings out the worst in people." It's true
that some people's sin spills over during athletic competition. But in Heaven, there will be no worst in us to bring out.
People further object: "But in sports, someone has to lose. And in Heaven no one could lose." Who says so? I've thoroughly
enjoyed many tennis matches and ten-kilometer races that I've lost. Losing a game isn't evil. It's not part of the Curse.
To say that "everyone would have to win in Heaven" underestimates the nature of resurrected humanity.

CAN THERE BE THRILLS WITHOUT RISK?

A sincere young man told me that no matter what I might say, Heaven
must be
boring. Why? "Because you can't appreciate good without bad, light without darkness, or safety without danger. If Heaven is
safe, if there's no risk, it has to be boring."

His first mistake was assuming there's no good without bad. God said Earth was "very good" before there was sin or anything
bad (Genesis 1:31). Adam and Eve enjoyed Eden's goodness before experiencing the badness of sin. This young man's next mistake
was believing that a person has to
currently
see evil at work to appreciate good and to
currently
be in danger to appreciate safety.

My father lived through the Great Depression. He told me stories of sleep­ing outside in the cold, covered only with newspaper.
Dad first told me these
stones fifty years
after the fact. He'd been able to sleep inside for half a century, but he vividly remembered the hard times. Suppose someone
had said to him, "You can't appreciate having a warm fire and a warm bed unless there's the threat of sleeping out in the
cold tonight." He'd say, "You think I'll ever forget those days?" His memories didn't make him miserable; they made him grateful.

After our bodily resurrection, we'll still remember the darkness and dangers of this life. We'll contrast our past experiences
with the light and safety of the New Earth, and we'll be profoundly grateful.

The same young man went on to say, "I like mountain climbing and extreme sports. I enjoy working hard and sweating. But there
won't be any challenges in Heaven. If there's no risk of falling and dying, it can't be really fun."

Where does Scripture say there won't be challenges or hard work in Heaven? Were there no challenges in Eden? The Bible says
there will be no more evil or suffering—
not
that there won't be challenges.

Did Adam and Eve work hard? Did they sweat and get sore? Everyone who enjoys sports knows that there's a "good tired" and
a "good sore." It's satisfying. It's part of knowing you've stretched yourself. Why wouldn't our resurrection bodies sweat?
God didn't create sweat glands
after
the Fall, did he?

Why couldn't we tumble while climbing on the New Earth? Won't there be gravity? Adam and Eve couldn't die, but couldn't they
skin their knees? God didn't originally create bodies without nerve endings, did he? Perhaps they could fall, do minor damage,
and then heal quickly. We're told that on the New Earth there'll be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). But
we're also told, "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). No one will suffer or die
on the New Earth, but this passage suggests that there might be enough minor damage to require healing.

But even if there's absolutely
no
injury, fear of injury and death aren't essen­tial to excitement, are they? If you knew that in thirty years there hadn't
been a single fatality on a roller coaster, couldn't you still be thrilled by the ride? When our daughters were small, they
experienced the thrill of rides at the fair as I held them tightly. The fun was in moving fast, spinning around, feeling the
wind on their faces. In the same way, couldn't we parachute from a plane and have an ex­hilarating free fall even if we knew
there was a zero percent chance of dying? (Some of us might consider that
more
fun, not less.)

I believe our resurrection bodies will have adrenaline and the ability to feel. On the New Earth we may experience adventures
that make our current moun­tain climbs, surfing, skydiving, and upside-down roller coaster rides seem tame. Why do I say this?
It's more than wishful thinking. It's an argument from de­sign. We take pleasure in exhilarating experiences not because of
sin but be­cause
God wired us this way.
We weren't made to sit all day in dark rooms, watching actors pretend to live and athletes do what we can't. We were made
to live vibrant lives. Some of us are physically limited, and others are emotionally unable to handle too much excitement.
But those are just temporary conditions. There's a new world coming—and a new
us.

Because God's design wasn't an accident—because he doesn't make mis­takes—we can be sure that excitement and exhilaration
will be more, not less, a part of our experience in Heaven than it is now.

Skydiving without a parachute? Maybe, maybe not. Scuba diving without an air tank? I hope so. Will we be able to tolerate
diving to depths of hundreds of feet without special equipment? We know that our resurrection bodies will be superior. Won't
it be fantastic to test their limits and to invent new technolo­gies that extend our ability to explore and enjoy God in the
mighty realms he makes?

Those who know God and believe his promise of bodily resurrection can dream great dreams.

One day we will
live
those dreams.

CHAPTER 43

WILL OUR DREAMS BE FULFILLED AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES REGAINED?

M
any people believe this life is all there is. Their philosophy? "You only go around once on this earth, so grab for whatever
you can."

If you're a child of God, you do
notjust
"go around once" on Earth. You don't get just one earthly life. You get another—one far better and without end. You'll inhabit
the New Earth! You'll live with the God you cherish and the people you love as an undying person on an undying Earth. Those
who go to Hell are the ones who go around only once on this earth.

We use the term
eternal life
without thinking what it means.
Life
is an earthly existence in which we work, rest, play, and relate to each other in ways that include the cultivation and enjoyment
of culture. Yet we have redefined
eternal life
to mean an off-Earth existence stripped of the defining properties of what we know life to be. Eternal life will be enjoying
forever what life on Earth is at its finest moments, what it was intended to be. Since in Heaven we'll finally experience
life at its best, it would be more accurate to call our present existence the
beforelife
rather than what follows the
afterlife.

WILL UNFULFILLED DREAMS BE REALIZED IN HEAVEN?

Without an eternal perspective, without understanding the reality that the best is yet to come, we assume that people who
die young, who are handicapped, who aren't healthy, who don't get married, or who don't [fill in the blank] will inevitably
miss out on the best life has to offer. But the theology underlying those assumptions is fatally flawed. We're presuming that
our present Earth, bodies, culture, relationships, and lives are superior to those of the New Earth.

What are we thinking?

One day Nanci read me letters we'd never before seen translated, written in 1920 by her grandmother Ana Swanson to her family
in Sweden. Ana suffered severe health problems. While she was in Montana, cared for by relatives, her husband, Edwin, was
in Oregon, working and caring for their seven children day and night. Ana's letters tell how Edwin wore himself out, got sick,
and died. Because Ana was too weak to care for her younger children, they, including Nanci's mother, Adele, were given up
for adoption. Ana's letters reflect her bro­ken heart, her nagging guilt. . . and her faith in God.

Nanci and I were overcome with tears as we read those letters. What tragic lives. What inconsolable disappointment and pain.
Ana and Edwin loved Jesus. They once had great dreams for their lives and family. But poor health, misfor­tune, separation,
and death forever stripped them of each other, their children, and their dreams.

Or did it?

As Nanci and I talked, we considered what God might choose to give this broken family on the New Earth. Perhaps they'll go
together to places they would have gone if health and finances had allowed. Certainly Ana won't be plagued by illness, fatigue,
grief, anxiety, and guilt. Isn't it likely their gracious God, who delights in redemption and renewal and restoration, will
give them wonderful family times they were robbed of on the old Earth? Perhaps the God of second chances won't merely comfort
Ana by removing her grief for what she lost. Perhaps he will in some way actually restore what she lost. Our God won't just
take away suffering; he'll compensate by giving us greater de­lights than if there had been no suffering. He doesn't merely
wipe away tears; he replaces those tears with corresponding joys. Hence, "our present suffer­ings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

I believe the New Earth will offer us opportunities we wished for but never had. God's original plan was that human beings
would live happy and fulfilling lives on Earth. If our current lives are our only chances at that, God's plan has been thwarted.
Consider the injustice—many honest, faithful people never got to live fulfilling lives, while some dishonest and unfaithful
people seemed to fare much better.

But God is not unjust, and this is
not
our only chance at life on Earth. The doctrine of the New Earth clearly demonstrates that. Do we have further bibli­cal support
for this? I believe we do, in the same passage we looked at earlier about laughter in Heaven.

Luke the physician tells of a great number of people who came to Jesus "to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those
troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing
them all" (Luke 6:18-19). Consider what was going through Christ's mind as he dealt with these image-bearers plagued by sickness,
poverty, and spiritual oppression. He knew the world was full of people whom he wouldn't heal in this life. He also knew that
the same people he healed would one day grow weak again and die, leaving their families wailing over their graves. W h a t
could Jesus say to such people? Luke tells us: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are
you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men
hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day
and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven" (Luke 6:20-23).

Jesus tells the hungry they'll be satisfied. Those whose eyes are swollen with tears will laugh. Those persecuted should leap
for joy now. Why? Because of theirgreat reward in Heaven later.

For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of his works; deep thanks that
he has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to—a life joyous
with light and flowers and heavenly song.

HELEN KELLER

Where will Heaven be? In the parallel passage Jesus says, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:3-5).
Earth is the setting for God’s ultimate comfort, for his reversal of life’s injustices and tragedies.We will live on what
we inherit—the earth. All the blessings Jesus promised will be ours in the place we will live—the New Earth.

That's one reason I believe that on the New Earth Ana and Edwin Swanson and their children will be able to experience much
of what they didn't on the old Earth.
God promises to make upfor the heartbreaks of this earth

Are you living with the disappointment of unfulfilled dreams? In Heaven you'll find their fulfillment! Did poverty, poor health,
war, or lack of time pre­vent you from pursuing an adventure or dream? Did you never get to finish building that boat or painting
that picture or writing that book—or reading that pile of books? Good news. On the New Earth you will have a second chance
to do what you dreamed of doing—and far more besides.

I tried to express this perspective in
Safely Home,
where I tell the story of Li Quan, a brilliant Chinese man whose dream was to write and teach in a univer­sity. Persecution
for his faith in Christ robbed him of that opportunity. He worked instead as an assistant locksmith, in faithfulness and humility.
H e never saw his dreams fulfilled on Earth. But later in Heaven, as I imagined it, Christ gives Li Quan an assignment—to
write and teach.
³²⁴

We don't want to live as some other kind of creatures in some other world. What we want is to be sinless, healthy people living
on Earth, but without war, conflict, disease, disappointment, and death. We want to live in the kind of world where our dreams,
the deepest longings of our hearts, really do come true.

That is exactly what God's Word promises us.

Our failure to grasp this hurts us in countless ways. We become discouraged, supposing that if we're handicapped, we'll never
know the joy of running in a meadow or the pleasure of swimming. Or if we aren't married—or don't have a good marriage—we'll
never know the joy of marriage.

On the New Earth, in perfect bodies, we'll run through meadows and swim in lakes. We'll have the most exciting and fulfilling
marriage there's ever been, a marriage so glorious and complete there will be no purpose for another. Jesus himself will be
our bridegroom!

The smartest person God ever created in this world may never have learned to read because he or she had no opportunity. The
most musically gifted person may never have touched a musical instrument. The greatest athlete may never have competed in
a game. The sport you're best at may be a sport you've never tried, your favorite hobby one you've never thought of. Living
under the Curse means we miss countless opportunities. The reversing of the Curse, and the res­urrection of our bodies and
our Earth, mean we'll regain lost opportunities and inherit many more besides.

WHAT JOY WILL WE FIND IN NEW OPPORTUNITIES?

Joni Eareckson Tada writes from her wheelchair, "I haven't been cheated out of being a complete person—I'm just going through
a forty-year delay, and God is with me even through that. Being 'glorified'—I know the meaning of that now. It's the time,
after my death here, when I'll be on my feet dancing."
³²⁵

Peter Toon expresses the disappointment we often feel—and the hope we can have:

The most tragic strain in human existence lies in the fact that the pleasure which we find in the things of this life, however
good that pleasure may be in itself, is always taken away from us. The things for which men strive hardly ever turn out to
be as satisfying as they expected, and in the rare cases in which they do, sooner or later they are snatched away.. . . For
the Christian, all those partial, broken and fleeting perfections which he glimpses in the world around him, which wither
in his grasp and he snatches away from him even while they wither, are found again, perfect, complete and lasting in the absolute
beauty of God.
³²⁶

God is big enough not only to fulfill your dreams but also to expand them as you anticipate Heaven. When you experience disappointment
and loss as you faithfully serve God here, remember: the loss is temporary. The gains will be eternal. Every day on the New
Earth will be a new opportunity to live out the dreams that matter most.

Certainly, some of our dreams are unworthy, and they'll be forgotten. But I think there's every reason to believe most of
our God-honoring dreams that were unfulfilled on the old Earth will be fulfilled on the New Earth. If a young girl dies, will
she miss out on doing fun and significant things on Earth she otherwise would have done? The standard response is, "To be
with Jesus is better by far." That answer is correct but incomplete. Why? Because God has a future for us not just in the
present Heaven but also as resurrected people on the New Earth.

When we're young, we dream of becoming astronauts, professional athletes, or great musicians. As we get older, our dreams
shrink and "realism" sinks in: We'll never be able to fulfill most of our dreams. The death of idealism robs us of our youthfulness
and vitality. We become cynical and lose the sense of awe and wonder our dreams once infused us with.

But when we realize that God calls us to be like children and that he'll give us a new universe and unlimited time, then we
suddenly "get it." We realize we'll have opportunity to fulfill our dreams. In fact, we'll develop bigger dreams than we ever
had—and fulfill those too. Our dreams will expand, not shrink. When the Curse is reversed, shrunken dreams will be revived
and enhanced. Perhaps that's part of what it means to become like a little child and why childlikeness is necessary for Heaven.
Children aren't disillusioned, hopeless, and cynical. Their dreams are great and broad. They don't list a hundred reasons
why their dreams can't come true. Their dreams fuel their imagination and bring them joy. And eternal life on a New Earth
means opportunity to fulfill every worthy dream.

At the end of Peter Jackson's production of
The Return of the King,
Bilbo Baggins—extremely old, decrepit, and weak-minded—is invited to board an Elven ship to sail from Middle Earth to Valinor
(a sort of intermediate Heaven). He smiles, and a youthful energy returns to his eyes as he says, "I think I'm quite ready
for another adventure."

For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world
where dreams and ad­ventures forever expand.

As we head toward our future on the New Earth, we'll lose time and count­less opportunities here—but we'll regain them there.
And the better we use our time and opportunity for God's glory now, the greater will be our opportunities there (Luke 16:11-12;
19:17).

HOW SHOULD THE PROMISE OF COMPENSATION AFFECT US?