A Boring Eternity?
In literature, one of the most difficult characters to write is the “good” person or the “righteous” person. Authors often say that making the “good” character interesting is very challenging. The most interesting characters seem to be the ones who struggle with right and wrong, who struggle with their own moral problems and questions, and who struggle with the moral dilemmas they face. Even the bad or evil characters can be interesting as we see the process and actions of the evil person. Another characteristic of good stories is usually some type of conflict or challenge, some situation that a person has to face, confront, and overcome. Interesting literature has characters with “emotional wounds” which they learn to overcome and the “character arc”, which is the development of the character in the story.
Yet in heaven and eternity, sin will not exist (Rev 22:3), evil is “outside” (Rev 22:15), and death, mourning, crying, and pain are all eliminated (Rev 21:4). Everyone will be “righteous”. Everyone will be “good”. Right now, we “press on” (Phil 3:14) and do not see clearly (1 Cor 13:12). In eternity, conformity to the image of Christ is our certain destiny (Rom 8:29), so one day all believers will have Christlikeness. Emotional wounds will exist no longer, and our character will be like Christ.
The Bible does not give much information about life after the elimination of sin. We know the theology of what will happen. However, practically, what will that be like? Well, life certainly will be different. The nature of that difference is hard to understand. Revelation records active worship and praise of God. Other Biblical passages record angelic activity. The Bible teaches that we will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3), but I wonder what angels have done that needs our evaluation? One day the sin curse will be no more, and angels will no longer have a conflict with evil. Their work will transition to something else. What will that be? What will our work be? Our limitations and experience make it difficult to conceive of a place and time without sin and evil.
Questions: Will that be boring? Will we have nothing interesting to do? Will we have any challenges? Although we complain about our problems and difficulties, they add variety and challenge to life. When everything in life goes well and smoothly, it can seem boring. Now, I would rather not have problems and difficulties. Nevertheless, without them, can we conceive of a life, of a world that is interesting?
The world tends to portray heaven as all “white”, implying a place that is uninteresting and colorless. Yet we know that the New Jerusalem will be a beautiful, colorful place (Rev 21-22). We know that we will “serve Him” (Rev 22:3). We also know that we have not and cannot imagine what the Lord God has planned for us (1 Cor 2:9). A few hours before His arrest, Christ told the disciples that He was leaving to prepare a place for them and, I assume, other believers (John 14:2-3). What preparations did He mean, and is He still preparing that place?
I suspect that unbelievers portray heaven and eternity in colorless and mundane ways in order to make themselves feel better about not believing the Bible. Even some Christians seem more fascinated with life here than what God has promised for the future. Yet life here is often not so pleasant. Recent mass murders in churches and schools reflect the ugliness and anger of people who have turned to the only solution they can think of to solve their problems. The violence, hate, and problems that so characterize this world motivate us to look to the Lord, heaven, and eternity and to rededicate ourselves to gospel work, the only solution for what we see happening around us.
The Millennium will be 1,000 years of unparalleled opportunity, work, and prosperity. Will that time have its challenges? Yes, but they will be good challenges using resources we have never had before. Toward the end of the Millennium, some of those challenges will not be pleasant as rebellion creeps into Christ’s reign. After the Millennium, God will bring a new heaven and a new earth, replacing the first heaven and earth. The world we spend eternity in will be very different than the one we know now, even different from the one during the Millennium.
One of my many interests is astronomy. Growing up, I followed the Gemini and Apollo missions, the early space station, and, as a young adult, the early shuttle flights. When I was twelve, I received a refractor telescope for Christmas and used it regularly until the tripod broke. A couple of years ago, my daughter and son-in-law gave me a nice reflector telescope for Christmas. The moon is probably my favorite object to look at. Jupiter and Saturn are impressive as well as some of the star clusters. No doubt, the Lord will change all of this for the new heaven and new earth. I suspect the moon, if we still have one, will be quite different, missing the craters which so dominate its surface today (a reminder of the sin curse). My point is that the Lord will give us new worlds and new work, something far beyond what we can imagine now (and I can imagine quite a lot!).
A boring eternity? I don’t think so!
Wally Morris is pastor of Charity Baptist Church in Huntington, IN. The church blogsite is amomentofcharity.blogspot.com. He has also published A Time To Die: A Biblical Look At End-Of-Life Issues by Ambassador International.