I've always been perplexed by the idea of heaven and hell, and it's something I get asked often about when talking to people who aren't sure about God. What will heaven look like? Is it just a beautiful landscape? How will all of the people fit there? How will they talk to one another? Or, people are afraid of death and of what happens after. They worry about heaven and hell, whether they exist as places that our spirits can go. Believe me, this is something I've thought about a lot too. But as I read more about what is said about heaven and what is said about hell through scripture, I'm beginning to see to see a different version of heaven...a version that allows heaven to be almost within reach here on earth, if only we are able to allow our humanness to be completely subdued (which I believe might only be possible through the release of our spirit from our humanly body. But more on that later!) If we think about heaven and hell not as being places, but as being spiritual states, then the question "where do we go when we die?" becomes obsolete. Roger Willer, ELCA director for theological ethics and ELCA churchwide liaison for faith and science puts it well: "Since God is not a place, and the absence of God is also not a place, we can help people focus on their relationship with the triune God and their lives now, rather than focus on fears and the question 'Where will I go when I die?'" If we define heaven not as "the place in which God lives", but instead as "being with God", then we've changed the way we can look at heaven. Paul writes in Philippians 1: 21-23, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Paul's desire is to be with Christ; note, he doesn't say he yearns to die and be with the Christ in heaven, but instead that he wants to depart and be "with Christ." Jesus himself gives us some glimpses of what heaven is like, too, by what he reveals through scripture:
Matthew 5:20: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. John 14:16: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" Luke 23: 42-43: And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Jesus tells us- the only way we can get to the Father is through Him. The only way we can be in paradise is to be with Him in His holiness. There just isn't a way around it. When we choose to have that absolute peace and rest that we can only get by believing in a Father who loves us unconditionally and a life after death, it is then that we begin to experience heaven. We are becoming closer to being with God, through Christ by walking with him and allowing His peace to take over ourselves and our actions. But don't confuse what I'm saying by thinking that walking with God and doing good works will get you into heaven; time and time again the new testament reminds us that this simply is not true, and that nothing we do can get us with God. Going to church won't get us to heaven. Worshiping every single Sunday for your entire life will not get you to heaven. Serving God with your life, your heart, and your soul will not get you a into a state of heaven. The only thing that will truly get you to heaven is Jesus Christ--a peace and love from and through Christ that removes all fear, all doubt, all worry, all pain. We might serve and worship God as a result of the transformation we feel once we've accepted Christ's gifts, but they themselves will not save us. And while we all strive to get to a state of heaven in this life, our humanity, our humanness holds us back from experiencing it at its fullness while here on Earth. And then there's the idea of hell. Again, I ask you to think about it as a state of being away from God, or without God, rather than a place. It's a state that, I believe, every person on Earth experiences in some form or another, and it's a state of being that we can directly or indirectly place ourselves. When we remove ourselves from God, when we take away or block that peace and love from entering into our lives, it is then we begin to see what hell truly is. Without choosing to accept his love and truth, without choosing to embrace the peace he brings about death, we find ourselves attempting to separate ourselves from God (though He never really is away from us). It's a concept that repeats itself time and again in the bible: Isaiah 59:2: "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you" 2 Thessalonians 1:9 "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" We are human, and this life is not meant for us to experience heaven in its fullness. As long as we have this human body, we are going to be able to experience some parts of heaven, but also some parts of hell. That separation from Christ occurs every time we doubt, we sin, or we don't trust in His promise...and we feel that hole and that fear as we separate ourselves away from what Christ has said and into instead what our humanity tells us to believe. It is then we begin to fear death. And we experience, too, that glimpse of heaven when we truly give ourselves over to Christ and trust Him and where he is taking us, not relying on our own selves, but on him as our guide. We all fall short of experiencing true heaven here, no matter if we want to experience it or not. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. That doesn't mean, though, that we can't experience some of it here if we work towards that relationship. Humanity is something that even Christ could not avoid. Christ, while completely God, was still completely human. On the cross, as he hung in pain and agony, he cried out in Matthew 27:46: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Those words echo in my mind...He was afraid. He believed God, himself, left him. He wasn't using his reasoning, the pain was too strong, and he separated himself from God. The human Jesus took over and the divine Jesus, his spirit, separated. At our last Friends in Faith group, we talked about the fact that perhaps he couldn't die to truly experience heaven until he released his heavenly holy spirit: “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last" (Luke 23). As he died on the cross, Jesus experienced his own hell. He found himself separated from the promise of his Father. But, later, he released his spirit, his divinity, to die to experience the heaven that we all desire to be one day. Today I challenge you to focus upon the journey you're on with God right now. Choose Him. Choose to enjoy those glimpses of heaven that we are privileged to see when we allow God into our lives and trust him in Christ. Though the world tells you otherwise, don't build up those walls and put yourself in hell, away from God. He wants you. He loves you. Choose him. The Living Lutheran put out a really nice article called By the Light of Grace: How does the ELCA understand heaven and hell? by Timothy J. Wengert, and this was the inspiration behind this post. If you have a minute, I strongly suggest reading it. I really enjoyed it! Thanks for reading. May you always have the peace and joy through Christ to experience your own glimpses of heaven, Sadie
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Sadie JensenI'm a follower of Christ seeking to know Him and live like Him. If you'd like to learn more, read my blog post about my faith journey here. Archives
November 2018
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