What will heaven be like? That is a question pondered by nearly everyone, from the greatest philosophers to the simplest of children, with a wide range of thoughts, hopes, and expectations. Some thoughts are Biblically rooted. Many notions, however, seem more fanciful than factual.

Randy Alcorn, of Eternal Perspective Ministries, wrote a masterful book on the subject, called, simply, Heaven. (It is a book that I highly recommend, and often give away to those facing death themselves or to those who have experienced a recent death of someone near and dear.)

I have to confess that when I first read Alcorn’s Heaven, I learned quite a bit that perhaps I should have already known.  One friend, who read the book at about the same time that I did, said it was “life changing” for him.  At first I thought that was a bit of an overstatement. But the more I thought about it I realized my friend just might be right.  After all, the better we understand what God has revealed about heaven, the more our thoughts and lives are oriented toward eternity. And the more our thoughts and hopes are oriented toward eternity, the less rooted they are in this present, broken and baffling world.

Alcorn, in a brief related article, addressed what he perceives to be the four biggest misconceptions about heaven:

Misconception 1: That the present Heaven, where Christians go when we die, is the same place we will live forever. In fact, when we die we go to be with Christ, which is wonderful, but we are incomplete, in a pre-resurrected state, anticipating Christ’s return to earth, and our resurrections. The place we’ll live forever will be where God comes down to dwell with us, on the New Earth (Revelation 21:1-3).

Misconception 2: The physical realm is evil, and God’s plan is to permanently destroy it and deliver our spirits to live without bodies. In fact, God created the physical realm and called it “very good.” He has never given up on his original plan for physical human beings to rule the earth for his glory. God sent his Son to permanently become a man and redeem and restore the physical universe-including our bodies and the earth-to become all He desires it to be. That’s why Jesus spoke of the “renewal of all things” (Matthew 19:27-28), and Peter preached that Christ will “remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21). Isaiah and other prophets speak in detail about the Earth being returned to the perfection God designed for it. Speaking of an earthly kingdom, an angel reveals, “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever-yes, for ever and ever” (Daniel 7:18). This is not for a thousand years, but forever.

Misconception 3: There will be nothing to do, and it’ll be boring and predictable, without adventure, discovery, process and progress. This is as wrong as it could be, as I develop in the book.

Misconception 4: We’ll be absorbed with God and lose our identities. That is Hinduism, not Christianity, but surprisingly many Christians seem to believe it. In fact, resurrection means we will retain our identities and be forever reestablished as individuals, liberated to see God and worship him as our primary joy and the source of all derivative joys. Job said, “And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-I, and not another” (Job 19:26-27).

Solomon tells us, in Ecclesiastes 3.11: “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…” 

Let’s consider the eternity God has set in our hearts through  more biblical and less fantasy-laced lenses.