Speculating on heavenly bods

Some people’s concept of heaven is something like a giant vacuum in the sky that sucks up people’s souls after they die, keeping them forever trapped in limbo in a giant spiritual vacuum bag. A bodiless existence is definitely not Christianity’s idea of heaven (check out 1 Corinthians 15:42-49, I John 3:2). After all, the God of heaven also created the universe, so I presume that he happens to think atoms, cells, and physical bodies are all good, not things that people grow out of.

 

Scripture tells us that, in the long run, Christians will sport new and improved physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15), just like Jesus Christ did after he was resurrected (Philippians 3:21). Similar to life here on earth, Christians will be able to communicate with each other (Luke 24:13-18), touch and be touched (Luke 24:39), and eat and drink food (Luke 24:42-43). Yet, the new resurrected body is something far more special and powerful than the current physical bodies that you and I know so well. The new body won’t be bound to the same space and time limitations that humans are defined by today (John 20:19, Luke 24:36), nor will it be susceptible to any disease or sickness. Paralyzed people will be able to walk again, and the blind will be able to see with 20/20 vision. (Think about it – no more HMOs, laser surgery, or even band-aids!)

 

Do angels have wings?

“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings” – so goes the classic line from the film It’s a Wonderful Life. Angels are one of the most talked-about but least understood of all God’s creatures. According to the Bible, they’re real creatures that actually exist. But, unlike the Hollywood variety, real angels aren’t those cute human-like figures sporting white robes and wings, although at times they take on a human form.

 

When God’s angels appear to humans in the Bible, they only appear to believers of God, not to unbelievers. They come looking like humans (see Genesis 18:2, Daniel 10:18, and Zechariah 2:1). However, on occasion, they must’ve looked like something far more spectacular, because their appearances caused people to be awestruck (see Matthew 28:3-4, Luke 24:4, and Judges 13:6), although the Bible talks about them not always appearing like humans.

 

An angel is a heavenly being who’s smarter and more powerful than humans (2 Peter 2:11, Hebrews 2:7) and who God created at the start of the world, even before he created humans (Psalm 148:5, Job 38:7). Angels are with God in heaven, ready to do his work (Revelation 4:6, 1 Kings 22:19, and Psalm 103:21).

 

Angels appear throughout the Bible, though it mentions only two of them by name. Gabriel (Luke 1:19, 26; Daniel 8:16, 9:21) serves as a special messenger to people, and Michael (Daniel 12:1, Jude 9, Revelation 12:9) cared for and protected the ancient nation of Israel. In general, angels are meant to serve (Hebrews 1:14), guide (Genesis 24:7), protect (Matthew 26:53), provide (Mark 1:13), and rescue (Acts 12:6-11) humans. Most Christian teachers suggest that angels probably aren’t as active in the world today because Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide them (see Chapter 7) whereas the Holy Spirit only came to believers on special occasions during the Old Testament period. However, as Hebrews 13:2 indicates, even today, people may “entertain angels” without even realizing it when they’re entertaining strangers.

 

Sorry, you won’t get angel wings

One vintage Hollywood idea is that people who die become angels (complete with a white robe and wings). Although this notion works well for a Frank Capra movie, the Bible has absolutely no evidence for this belief. So, if you were looking forward to getting equipped with angel’s wings, I recommend you settle for watching Clarence Oddbody, the angel wannabe in It’s a Wonderful Life, instead.

 

The Bible makes it clear that Christians will have their emotional needs fully met in heaven, as well as their physical desires. All the inner longings (see the “Experiencing security and adventure in heaven” sidebar in this chapter) or the emotional baggage that preoccupy people today will be history. Revelation 21:4 tells that Jesus will wipe away all the tears of sorrow from believers’ eyes and will eliminate death, mourning, pain, and heartache.

 

Also, people often wonder about the age that people will be when they’re in heaven. Because heavenly bodies will be perfect, it seems certain that people won’t show the effects of aging that they struggle with on earth. The logical assumption that Christians usually believe is that, using Christ’s resurrected body as the prototype, people will have a fully mature adult body (around the age of 30 or so).

 

However, Christians disagree over whether believers will receive this resurrected body immediately when they die or whether they have to wait until the Second Coming of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, Paul seems to indicate that the resurrected body is given to people after the resurrection of the dead (as I discuss in the section, “Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” later in this chapter). If this is the case, one must face the open-ended question of what state the believer is in between his or her death and the final Resurrection. Because the Bible is not completely clear on this point, four viewpoints have developed in the Church:

 

Being with the Lord while waiting for a new body: Perhaps the predominant view in the Protestant and Orthodox Churches is that believers will be fully conscious and with the Lord, yet not in the final resurrected body that Christians will be equipped with at the time of the final Resurrection. Catholics believe that though most Christians go to purgatory, martyrs and people who’ve been perfected on earth immediately go to heaven and are with God in this manner. (See the “Being Purged of Sin in Purgatory” section that follows for a discussion on this topic.)

 

Proponents of this view add that any references to the dead as “sleeping” are not meant to be taken literally, pointing to 2 Corinthians 5:8, in which Paul says, “Away from the body and at home with the Lord,” indicating being immediately with the Lord after death, not in the ground waiting for the big dance.

 

They also point out that if the dead are in a veggie state, then all of the great pillars of the faith have been in the ground waiting for thousands of years. Yet, the question why God – who created the world for relationships – would want to delay an ongoing relationship with the most faithful of all peoples. And given that two Old Testament greats – Elijah and Moses – visibly appeared and interacted with Jesus during his ministry (called the Transfiguration in Matthew 17), one can assume that at least two people aren’t turning over in their graves, so to speak.

 

Christians who hold this view have differences of opinion on the specifics. Some believe that God supplies some sort of temporary body that, although it’s not as good as the resurrected body that believers will eventually have, it’s still better than your earthly digs. Others believe that this intermediate state is a conscious existence that’s apart from any body at all.

 

Sleeping until the Second Coming, while the earthly body fades away: Because the Bible sometimes refers to death as “sleep” (Acts 7:6, John 11:11), Seventh Day Adventists and some Protestants believe in soul sleep, the idea that all who’ve died are in a kind of deep freeze and are waiting for the Resurrection to occur before springing back to life. Therefore, God lets their earthly bodies fade away, while their souls remain sleeping until the big day when they receive new, resurrected bodies.

 

Enjoying a new body immediately, while waiting for the Second Coming: Other Protestant Christians believe that a Christian’s soul immediately receives a resurrected body when he or she dies, which resides with God in heaven. Then, the Christian joins Jesus and is revealed to the earth at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus in the final Resurrection (Colossians 3:4).

 

Doin’ time in purgatory while waiting for the new body: The final view, held by Catholics, is that after death, most Christian souls go to purgatory. See the “Being Purged of Sin in Purgatory” section that follows for a discussion on this topic.

 

Experiencing security and adventure in heaven

Different people seem to be naturally wired differently, having deep, God-given longings that they strive to fulfil in this world – but they’re never truly satisfied. Some people long for security, while others’ deepest desire is for adventure. In fact, many people’s lives often revolve around a quest to meet either of those needs. On this earth, Christians believe that none of these searches will ever end up in satisfaction, but heaven will be a place that meets such longings for security and adventure.