A Devotional Corner

I was watching a TV series last night and there was a scene where a little young girl has learned the news of the death of her parents. She asked questions like will her parents be in Heaven and whether they will recognise her when she is all grown up and eventually enter Heaven as well?

Questions that will most probably be raised some time in our walks of Christian life will be:

• "What would we look like when we are in Heaven?";

• "If I die as a 20 year old, would I look like a 20 year old in Heaven, and If I die as a 60 year old, would I have a wrinkly face when I reach Heaven?"; and

• "What about babies then, will they just be crawling eternally?"

However, is this the right mode of thinking? I have no authority to say its wrong, but it doesn't sound logical. If that's the right way of thinking, I just don't see why people are not dying 40 years earlier so that they could have a 20 year old look and have a better figure in Heaven that will last forever. I'm not trying to suggest in anyway with any intentions that we should all die now to have a better look, but that's just not the way things work. So Live On, and Read On!

Lets focus on two ideas:

1. God is not restricted by time. A thousands years in our eyes could well only be a flash in God's eyes. So if time is not a restriction to God, then would the concept of age, which is a concept that relies on time, relevant in Heaven at all?
2. The focus is on the Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus that "No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5) Everyone will be physically born (that is, born of water), but Jesus emphasises that you have to be Spiritually reborn in order to make yourself eligible to enter Heaven. So the importance is not on our physical selves, but our Spiritual selves thats more important.

So what does that mean? Does that mean 'physical' is only an earthly concept, and there is no such concept in Heaven? Or more correctly, the concept is known in Heaven but is obsolete, or just irrelevant in Heaven? Does that mean we wouldn't have some "physical" body in Heaven and we'll just be "floating spirits" in Heaven?

Well maybe not just floating spirits. There should still be some kind of 'shell' or body where our Spirit will stay, but a better shell, call it "super-physical" (I am very creative aren't I? :P). But this something "better" is something that we cannot visualise with full understanding. Let me explain why I think this 'super-physical' concept may exist:

• In Genesis, we are told that we are like God and we resemble Him (Gen 1:26). We know that our wisdom is no where near comparible to that of God's wisdom, so obviously, we can't be like Him in that respect. So that leaves us with the physical characteristics that we all have in common that could really compare and resemble God.
• Further, our physical bodies are described as 'tents' on earth and when it is time for it to be torn down, 'God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last for ever' (2 Corinthians 5:1).

We know that God has something wonderful in store for us, but we just wouldn't know how great it is by just using our wisdom and eyes to try and visualise how good it is. It's like trying to imagine what a sky scrapper looks like when all you have seen in your life is a straw hut.

Any other views on this?

Posted by Ivan on Saturday, November 13, 2004 at 10:18 am | Permalink