What will heaven be like?

In one of his run-ins with the Jewish leadership, Jesus is asked about the afterlife (Matt 22:23-33).  The question comes in the form of a trap from the Sadducees, who want to show the superiority of their theology (that there is no afterlife), as well as alienate Jesus from his growing popularity.  Yet like the Pharisees and Herodians’ question about taxes, this trap blows up in the Sadducees faces.

To begin with, Jesus rebukes the Sadducees because they don’t know the Scriptures.  In Ex 3:6, God speaks of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had died centuries earlier, in the present tense.  This shows that God’s close relationships never go into the past tense.  God does not lose that which is precious to him.

If Jesus were alive today, he would use the neoatheists’ own ‘scriptures’ against them.  Science is still nowhere near being able to show how the universe just materialised out of nothing, nor how dead molecules can suddenly come to life and start making complex structures like DNA.  The more science shows us, the more obvious it becomes that the universe was created by an intelligent designer.

Jesus then rebukes the Sadducees for not knowing ‘the power of God’.  God will transform his creatures into perfection, removing all the suspicion and selfishness that currently dominates human relationships.  Even the best marriage in this life will seem like a candle to the roaring sun that will be our relationships with all of God’s people in heaven.  Yet on top of that, we will be married to the perfect spouse: Jesus.  He will give us all the comfort, acceptance, security and power we will ever need.

As Christians focus on this glorious future, it shapes how we live here.  Not only does suffering become a fleeting bother, even death can only make us better.  How wonderful to know the glory that awaits us in heaven.