I Hope I Don’t End Up in Heaven
It is not an overstatement to say that most people have some element of confusion as it relates to what happens to a person after he or she dies.
It is generally held in popular Evangelicalism (whatever that word means) that the final, ultimate “resting” place after we die or when all is said and done, is in “heaven.”
But is this true? Is this what the Scriptures teach?
This is sometimes informed by pop culture, where humans are portrayed as becoming angels or as semi-transparent beings who have the semblance of having once been human but now are something closer to a ghost. Or sometimes this belief is pronounced from the pulpit by preachers who are hell-bent on getting you to heaven before you die that they forget to tell you the truth because all that matters is escaping this hell hole called earth. Or sometimes it is because in light of not having the truth, you simply fill in the gaps with what you think the Scriptures might say on the issue.
I write to offer the hope of resurrection “as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). In fact, Romans 6:5 says this:
[5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
(warning: this post contains a lot of Scripture (ESV))
Now before we get into the teaching of resurrection of believers, it is important to mention that before Christ returns all believers who die are in heaven with God in some kind of conscious, immaterial state. You see that is exactly what death is. Death is the separation of the immaterial (i.e. your soul) from the material (i.e. your body). To be truly human is to have both a body and a soul. God created humans, man and woman, with bodies and souls. The soul is not more precious than the body, nor is the body more precious than the soul. A person’s soul is not the “real” you. The real you is what you have right now: body and soul. When a person dies, the body separates from the soul. This is why death is such a formidable enemy. Death rapes humanity of the dignity that God created us to have. Death “uncreates” us so to speak.
God’s restoration and redemption of humanity is not focused on “saving” your soul and leaving your body to perish. This would give death a half victory and give God a pitiful rescue.
God defeated death on the cross through Jesus Christ, the Righteous.
God is in the business of total restoration, and complete redemption.
So when a believer dies before the Return of Christ, that person is present with the Lord but absent in body in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8). So in one sense, yes, we do go to heaven when we die, but this is not the final, ultimate place of rest. All the saints who have died before are eagerly anticipating the day of redemption, the Return of Christ when we will be united with Him in our resurrection.
Before the resurrection, this is true. We will be absent from the body, but present with the Lord. Our existence will be conscious, but it will be an existence without the body. BUT, this is not the final existence. Christ will return and bring consummation to all things and eventually a new heaven and a new earth will be created. When all has come to pass, we will be reunited with a body, a new glorious heavenly body precisely what Paul speaks of when he says that we are “glorified” in Romans 8:28-30. This is the fullness of redemption. We were made human with a body, and in the future eternal state, we will continue to be human with bodies so that we can be the image bearers that we were created to be. There will be no more possibility for sin, and there will be no more death and our humanity will be what it was created to be. What death tried to uncreate, God has recreated.
What we have to get out of our heads and out of our conversations is that redemption is getting away from all things material. Redemption is not a deliverance from the material world, but the reestablishment and sanctification of it (Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev 21-22).
Listen to the message of hope from Romans 8:
Romans 8:18-25[18] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [23] And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
In fact, Paul writes in Philippians that his desire is to know Christ and the power of His resurrection so that he would attain his own resurrection:
Philippians 3:8-11
[8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
So what will our new resurrected bodies be like?
On one hand, the Bible doesn’t give us a run-down of the exact make-up of the resurrected body. In terms of what we know about our current bodies today, our knowledge of the resurrected body is far less. On the other hand, we are not completely without knowledge of what it will be like. We see through a mirror dimly. Given the predisposition in our culture toward a rejection of the material, it is helpful to think of our new heavenly bodies as being more like this old body (as opposed to an immaterial existence).
In fact Jesus even used the word flesh to speak about His resurrected body:
Luke 24:36-42
[36] As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” [37] But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. [38] And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? [39] See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” [40] And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. [41] And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” [42] They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
What Jesus does NOT mean by the word “flesh” is anything that could be construed as meaning “sinful” flesh or even “earthly” flesh. Jesus uses the word flesh to show that he was bodily, not an apparition or a ghost. His resurrected body could be touched, actually take up space, and even eat some fish. Christ is in his Glorified resurrected body and he is referring to it as flesh and bones. What he means is simply that it is not immaterial, that it is a body.
Other references to the Risen Savior are helpful in our speculation as to what our resurrected bodies will be like:
- Jesus ate breakfast with the disciples in his resurrected body (John 21:9-15).
- Mary clung to Jesus (John 20:11-18).
- Jesus shows the disciples his body with marks from the crucifixion (John 20:20).
- Thomas touches the Lord’s scars (John 20:24-29).
- The disciples take hold of his feet and worship him (Matthew 28:9-10).
- He appeared to over 500 people (1 Cor 15:6).
Scripture makes clear the reality of our future resurrection (Most notably in 1 Corinthians 15, specifically verses 35-49). God promises through Scripture to give us a glorified body. Though we do not have every detail on what this new body looks like or how it will be, we do have a general picture provided by scripture and the hope that it will be like that of Jesus Christ:
1 John 3:2
[2] Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
2Corinthians 5:1-10
[1] For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, [3] if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. [4] For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. [5] He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
[6] So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight. [8] Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. [9] So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
[35] But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36] You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37] And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. [38] But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. [39] For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. [40] There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. [41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
[42] So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. [43] It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. [44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. [45] Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Because of this reality, Paul can say:
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
[50] I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [51] Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. [54] When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
[55] “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
“Oh death where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting?” Because death has been swallowed up by the Life (and death) of Christ, death is fully defeated and we are able to live.
This is not an issue where we say “the Bible is silent so I don’t know.” Certainly some aspects of the resurrection remain a mystery, but it is not a total or complete mystery. The Scriptures give us something to understand.
This reality should bring us to a place of worship and gratitude for Christ has achieved for us what we could not. Our blessed hope is the future resurrection of the saints. And this should also change the way live today. Paul says that because of the resurrection (both of Christ’s and Ours) we should be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Our lives here are not in vain. We live as resurrected people preaching the Gospel in word and deed.
The resurrection of the body is a distinctive teaching in Christianity and is a pivotal point of doctrine. In fact, the resurrection of the body is one of the most widely held beliefs across denominations, geographies, and time. It appears in the Nicene Creed (325 AD):
And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
and I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Bible doesn’t map out each strand of the resurrected DNA nor give a break down off all the things that we will and won’t be able to do. However, it doesn’t need to. The beauty and hope of resurrection far exceeds the need for an exact blueprint. We can sing the song of resurrection even without knowing the exact words and make beautiful harmonies and melodies.
So I mean what I say: I hope I don’t end up in Heaven.
I hope that Christ comes to bring completion and consummation and that when he does, all those who have been adopted as sons and daughters of God, will be finally and completely saved (justified, sanctified, glorified): redeemed, restored, renewed, and resurrected to live in the City of God, with God on the new earth as the image bearers, both body and soul the way we were created to be.
Let us sing songs of the redeemed: the restored, the renewed, the resurrected people of God.
