Heaven on Earth

Do you ever think of heaven? You may have two sets of questions: Not only What is heaven like? But also … What is the reason for the whole idea?

If you were to describe how you think heaven is or how you would like heaven to be, what would you say?

For me, heaven will be real when no one suffers from Alzheimer’s or dementia; No one dies of cancer or suffers the side effects of chemotherapy; No child goes to bed hungry, misses out on school, or is treated poorly in school!

In the Bible, in the last of the 66 books: Revelation, writer, John tells us that — when God dwells with us fully:

“He will wipe away every tear.
There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain.”

This writer goes on to tell us the dimensions of God’s city — the New Jerusalem (heaven) and what materials its made out of. Walls made of Jasper, streets of transparent gold, all decorated with jewels of:

“topaz, amethyst, emerald, onyx, sapphire …”
And gates made of pearl.

What does all this mean? Is it helpful? Why does the Bible describe the size and shape and materials that make up heaven? Is it because we need heaven as a goal — so we’ll be good during our life on this earth?

Perhaps the answer lies in another phrase: The Kingdom of God. If, instead of thinking about our destination after our life on Earth, we could use all of Christianity’s words on this topic to describe what God wants us to understand about how to treat each other!

Jesus gave us a new commandment: to love each other as he has loved us. That means respect, doing unto others as we would have done to us, helping ourselves and others to have needs met enough to prosper and gain dignity and purpose and spiritual fulfillment.

Perhaps when the topic of heaven comes up, we might focus on the ideas of God’s Kingdom instead and enjoy a more helpful conversation.

Pastor Mike Krewson