Heaven (29 page)
Authors: Randy Alcorn
The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower
and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there, you will know
what I mean.
It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed and then
cried:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though
I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this."
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Lewis captured the biblical theology of the old and New Earth, and the continuity between them, better than any theologian
I've read. Did you catch his message? Our world is a Shadowlands, a copy of something that once was, Eden, and yet will be,
the New Earth. All of the old Earth that matters will be drawn into Heaven, to be part of the New Earth.
Through The Chronicles of Narnia series, we and our children can learn to envision the promised Heaven on Earth in a biblical
and compelling way
†
We can learn to anticipate nature, culture, and humanity that will be, as the Lord Digory put it, "more like the real thing."
Lewis goes even further later in
The Last Battle:
"Why!" exclaimed Peter. "It's England. And that's the house itself—Professor Kirk's old home in the country where all our
adventures began!"
"I thought that house had been destroyed," said Edmund.
"So it was," said the Faun. "But you are now looking at the England within England, the real England just as this is the real
Narnia. And in that inner England no good thing is destroyed."
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Based on what Scripture tells us of the New Earth and the New Jerusalem, and that certain things will be restored, I think
what Lewis envisions is very possible. On the New Earth we will see the raz/Earth, which includes the good things not only
of God's natural creation but also of mankind's creative expression to God's glory. On the New Earth, no good thing will
be destroyed.
WILL WE MISS THE OLD EARTH?
The New Earth will be a place of healing (Revelation
22:2).
Christ's healing ministry was thus a foretaste of Heaven, the place where all hurts are healed, all suffering forever eclipsed
byjoy Whenever Jesus healed people, the act spoke of wholeness and health, the original perfection of Adam and Eve, and the
coming perfection of resurrected bodies and spirits. Every healing was a memorial to the Eden that was and a signpost to the
New Earth that will be.
As we set our minds and hearts on Heaven, we should not only go back to the Garden of Eden but also move forward to the Holy
City, where we will experience both the riches of nature unruined and human creativity unleashed.
Everything changes when we grasp that all we love about the old Earth will be ours on the New Earth—either in the same form
or another. Once we understand this, we won't regret leaving all the wonders of the world we've seen or mourn not having
seen its countless other wonders. Why? Because
we will yet be able to see them.
God is no more done with the earth than he's done with us.
†l encourage parents to read The Chronicles of Narnia series aloud to their family or to listen to the complete books in radio
theatre audio productions copublished by Tyndale and Focus on the Family.
WHAT IS THE NEW
JERUSALEM?
S
cripture describes Heaven as both a country (Luke 19:12; Hebrews 11:14 16) and a city (Hebrews 12:22; 13:14; Revelation 21:2).
Fifteen times in Revelation 21 and
22
the place God and his people will live together is called a city. The repetition of the word and the detailed description
of the architecture, walls, streets, and other features of the city suggest that the term
city
isn't merely a figure of speech but a literal geographical location. After all, where do we expect physically resurrected
people to live if not in a physical environment?
Everyone knows what a city is—a place with buildings, streets, and residences occupied by people and subject to a common
government. Cities have inhabitants, visitors, bustling activity cultural events, and gatherings involving music, the arts,
education, religion, entertainment, and athletics. If the capital city of the New Earth doesn't have these defining characteristics
of a city it would seem misleading for Scripture to repeatedly call it a city.
The city at the center of the future Heaven is called the New Jerusalem. The city is portrayed as a walled city; its security
is beyond question. It is perched on the peak of a hill that no invading army could ascend. The city's walls are so thick
that they couldn't be breached by any siege engine and so high that no human could hope to scale them. (Of course, the city
won't ever be under attack, but its structure will remind us of God's might and commitment to protect his people.)
When I think of the walls of the New Jerusalem, I remember the morning a pastor came to see me. His teenage son Kevin, who
was also his best friend, had died four months earlier. This pastor had recently attended a seminary course I taught, "A Theology
of Heaven." By God's grace the class had comforted and encouraged this man.
As the pastor sat in my office, he opened his hand to reveal a beautiful reddish, polished stone. I'd never seen anything
like it. He said itwas jasper, which I recognized as a stone that will make up the walls of the New Jerusalem (Revelation
21:18). The stone was a reminder of his son Kevin and of the assurance that he and his son will live together again in a glorious
city with jasper walls.
The pastor insisted I keep the jasper stone. He said, "I want you to know I'm praying for you as you write your book about
Heaven. And I want you to have this stone to remind you of Heaven's reality."
I often look at the stone and hold it in my hand. The more I do, the more beautiful it becomes. It's not ghostly; it's solid
and substantial—just like the place that awaits us.
WHAT ARE THE CITY'S DIMENSIONS?
The city's exact dimensions are measured by an angel and reported to be 12,000 stadia, the equivalent of 1,400 miles or 2,200
kilometers, in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:15-16). Even though these proportions may have symbolic importance,
this doesn't mean they can't be literal. In fact, Scripture emphasizes that the dimensions are given in "man's measurement"
(Revelation 21:17). If the city really has these dimensions (and there's no reason it couldn't), what more could we expect
God to say to convince us? (I deal with whether the dimensions are literal in appendix B, "Literal and Figurative Interpretation.")
A metropolis of this size in the middle of the United States would stretch from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian
Mountains to the California border. The New Jerusalem is all the square footage anyone could ask for.
Even more astounding is the city's 1,400-mile height. Some people suggest this is the reach of the city's tallest towers and
spires, rising above buildings of lesser height. If so, they argue that it's more like a pyramid than a cube.
We don't need to worry that Heaven will be crowded. The ground level of the city will be nearly two million square miles.
This is forty times bigger than England and fifteen thousand times bigger than London. It's ten times as big as France or
Germany and far larger than India. But remember, that's just the ground level.
Given the dimensions of a 1,400-mile cube, if the city consisted of different levels (we don't know this), and if each story
were a generous twelve feet high, the city could have over 600,000 stories. If they were on different levels, billions of
people could occupy the New Jerusalem, with many square miles per person.
If these numbers are figurative, not literal (and that is certainly possible), surely they are still meant to convey that
the home of God's people will be extremely large and roomy.
The cube shape of the New Jerusalem reminds us of the cube shape of the Most Holy Place in the Temple (1 Kings 6:20), the
three dimensions perhaps suggestive of the three persons of the Trinity. God will live in the city, and it is his presence
that will be its greatest feature.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CITY'S GATES?
The city has "a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names
of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the
west" (Revelation 21:12-13). A city's gates were important for several reasons. First, they were a place of defense from
enemies. Typically the gates of the city were shut tight at night to keep out dangers. Even Disneyland, "the happiest place
on earth," closes its gates at night. However, Scripture tells us, "On no day will [the New Jerusalem's] gates ever be shut"
(Revelation 21:25). Why can the gates remain open? Because the city's twelve gates are attended by twelve angels. Of course,
there will be no enemies outside the city's gates—the entire New Earth will be filled with the knowledge of God (Habakkuk2:14).
And citizens from outside the gates will regularly travel in through them (Revelation 21:24,26).
All enemies of the Kingdom will be forever cast into the lake of fire, far away from the New Earth. So the gates will remain
open, with no need for searches or metal detectors. Any citizen of the New Earth is always welcome, always free to come to
the capital city—and even to access the King's throne! The open gates guarded by angels remind us that our safety has been
bought and permanently secured by our God.
From opposite standpoints of the Christian world, from different quarters of human life and character, through various expressions
of their common faith and hope, through diverse modes of conversion, through different portions of the Holy Scripture will
the weary travelers enter the Heavenly City and meet each other—"not without surprise"—on the shores of the same river of
life.
DWIGHT L.MOODY
The city's open gates are a great equalizer. There's no elitism in Heaven; everyone will have access because of Christ's blood.
His death is the admission ticket to every nook and cranny of the New Jerusalem. People won't have to prove their worth or
buy their way through the gates. All people will have access to the city's parks, museums, restaurants, libraries, concerts—anything
and everything the city has to offer. Nobody will have to peek over the fence or look longingly through the windows.
The gates are where people enter and leave the city. The vast distances involved—three gates on each of the city's sides,
which measure more than 1,400 miles—suggest each gate may go out into a different country, perhaps each with radically different
terrain. Imagine the people of every nationality, color, and dress going in and out of the city, some people leaving on a
task or mission, some going on an adventure, others coming to a banquet or going to visit friends and loved ones.
People have always gathered at city gates to share news and tell stories. Will people on the New Earth be less relational
than we are now? No, we'll be freed to be more relational, without the fears, inadequacies, and sins that currently plague
us. We'll be eager to hear other people's stories, and we'll all have our own stories to tell—and we'll be able to tell them
better than we ever have. No one will have to wonder if they're being told the truth, since there will be no deceit (Revelation
21:8).
Are we to take the references to the city's walls and gates at face value? Some people say no: "These descriptions, of course,
are not meant to be taken literally. They are vivid poetic metaphors for a reality which is indestructible, gleaming, incalculably
precious. . . . If invited for a walk, most of us would prefer a leafy country lane to a street paved with gold. One is natural
and instantly appealing; the other seems lifeless and manufactured."
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As we'll deal with in appendix B, we shouldn't dismiss the physical descriptions of the great city. Streets can be made of
actual gold and still have symbolic meaning. My wedding ring reminds me of my commitment to my wife, but that doesn't mean
it isn't a literal ring. The open gates of Heaven will remind us of God's accessibility, but that doesn't mean they aren't
literal gates. I think it would be more enjoyable than most commentators suppose to walk on a street paved with gold. I've
had great walks on asphalt—what's wrong with gold? We are wrong to assume we must either walk on gold streets or leafy country
lanes. Why not both?
WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE FOR THE CITY'S CITIZENS?
To be part of a city is to be a citizen, which involves both responsibilities and privileges. The apostle Paul reminded the
Philippians, who were proud of their Roman citizenship, "Our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20). Note the verb in
the statement: Our citizenship "is," not "will be," in Heaven. Although our citizenship in Heaven is present, our residence
there is future. People bom far from their father's native country are still citizens of that country, even though they have
never lived there. One day as children and heirs of Heaven's king, we will enter into full possession of our native land,
which we will rule to our Father's glory.
God's people were once nomadic, wandering in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years. Finally they settled down in cities.
The New Jerusalem will be a solid, permanent city, secured by far more than tent stakes.
A building's greatest strength is its foundation. The New Jerusalem has not one foundation, but twelve, each decorated with
a different gem (Revelation 21:14,19-20). Furthermore, this city is built by God himself. In Old Testament times, Abraham
"was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:8-10). The New Jerusalem
is that city. Whatever God builds will last.
People have told me they can't get excited about the New Jerusalem because they don't like cities. But this city will be different—it
will have all the advantages we associate with earthly cities but none of the disadvantages. The city will be filled with
natural wonders, magnificent architecture, thriving culture—but it will have no crime, pollution, sirens, traffic fatalities,
garbage, or homelessness. It will truly be Heaven on Earth.
If you think you hate cities, you'll quickly change your mind when you see this one. Imagine moving through the city to enjoy
the arts, music, and sports without pickpockets, porn shops, drugs, or prostitution. Imagine sitting down to eat and raising
glasses to toast the King, who will be glorified in every pleasure we enjoy.
The Artist's fingerprints will be seen everywhere in the great city. Every feature speaks of his attributes. The priceless
stones speak of his beauty and grandeur. The open gates speak of his accessibility. All who wish to come to him at his throne
may do so at any time. We can learn a lot about people by walking through their houses. The whole universe will be God's house—and
the New Jerusalem will be his living room. God will delight to share with us the glories of his capital city—and ours.