Chuck Larsen

I like to think that there are lots of things we’ll be doing in heaven. We’ll renew old acquaintances. We’ll enjoy great fellowship with family members who have gone on before us. I like to think I’ll be able to finally trace my genealogy all the way back to Japheth, and even to Adam. We’ll get to meet the great heroes of our faith. I have lots of questions for Paul and Moses as I’m sure you do as well. Most importantly, we’ll get to have a personal relationship with our Creator and our Redeemer Himself. There will be worship beyond our imagination in heaven. There will be sights, sounds, smells, sensations, as well as tastes that defy our current imagination. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that our senses haven’t experienced these things yet. He writes, “eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man, what God has in store for those who love Him.” But it goes on to say that “spirit has revealed these things to us.” I think that means we know what’s coming, but we’ll have to wait till we get there to experience it all.

If there’s such a thing as time in heaven, I don’t have any idea how much time all of this will require. But, I believe there will be time for work as well. But, work will not be work! I think heaven will be much like God’s perfect creation at the fall. Just as Adam was given complete stewardship and even dominion over all of creation so too will the residents of heaven have meaningful and significant roles to play. Jesus made it clear that those “who have been faithful over a few things, I will make rulers over many things” (Matthew 25:23). I don’t think we can call this “work.” The word contains such negative connotations. It only became dismal and difficult after the fall. Instead of having “work” to do, we’ll have “dominion” to exercise.

Ephesians 2:6 says we have been “seated in heavenly places” with Christ. Just as we are saved now, but yet “will be saved” in the future, I like to think there’s an experiential aspect of the “heavenly places” where we are figuratively now, but will be literally then. Scientists now know that there are more galaxies in the universe than there are people that have ever been born on earth, or who will ever be born! Why did God create all that? What is their purpose, and what is their future? Could it be for our eventual dominion? And we will have all eternity to explore, giving glory to Him in it all, and pleasing Him with our faithful stewardship of the things entrusted to us! (I can dream can’t I?)

Chuck
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I’m convinced that Christians will have a real physical body in the afterlife. It seems that Jesus did. After His resurrection, He said in Luke 24:39 “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.” Jesus had flesh and bones, and so will we. We also find that he ate fish as a demonstration of his truly physical body as well. Thus, we too will follow in the same fashion in the resurrection.

Of course there were differences between his earthly body and his resurrected body. He could appear and disappear at will. He ascended into the clouds with a jetpack or without being “beamed up” to a starship. He could move through walls. He could mask his appearance so that he would not be recognized, then he could make himself recognizable also. Paul says that all believers will be changed. He calls Christ “the firstfruits” of those who are asleep in 1 Corinthians 15:20. It reads, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The raisings of Lazarus, Tabitha, and the widow’s son are not true resurrections, but simply revivifications. They were brought back to their old lives and old bodies only to die again. The resurrected body is imperishable and it’s immortal.

Paul sees Jesus’ resurrection as the pattern for those who are to follow. Geisler writes, “The contrasts that Paul makes do not suggest a disembodied state, but a perfected body. He says, ‘We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’ (vv. 51–52). This change is from perishable to imperishable, mortal to immortal, dishonor to glory, weakness to strength. The body is perfected, not by doing away with it, but by removing its imperfections. When Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (see 2 Cor. 5:6), we can easily see that he means absent from this earthly body. At the resurrection, we will be reunited with it as it is made an immortal body.” Further, there will be continuity between our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies. Just as Jesus was recognizable, so too will those who follow be recognizable. We will still be ourselves, but the best “ourselves” we could possibly be!

Chuck
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:21-22

I don’t think it’s going to make a whole lot of difference after death what we do with the human remains. Death is found for the first time in Genesis chapter 3 and God said, “Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.” He was of course addressing the physical bodies only. 2 Corinthians 5:1 tells us that when “the tent that is our earthly home” (our bodies) are destroyed; we have an eternal home made by God. God will not lose anyone! Even those who have been devoured by fire, lions, tiger, bears or sharks. Revelation 20:13 tells us “And the sea will give up the dead who were in it.”

The official position of the Jews today, according to the Encyclopedia of Judaism, is this: Reverent treatment of the body and speedy interment are biblically-ordained precepts. Cremation, freeze-storage of the body, and above-ground burial crypts, are all in violation of Jewish law and practice.” Yet, I might argue that there were several possible cases of cremation in the old Testament. Saul’s body and the bodies of his son’s were taken from the walls at Beth Shan and cremated. According to 2 Chronicles 16:13-14, it appears King Asa might also have been cremated. We read there, “They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.” Many argue that this is not reference to cremation but it sounds like it and it puts cremation in a positive light. Embalming is a requirement of the law today, I believe, and every corpse handled by a funeral parlor is necessarily injected with preservatives. I agree with J. Vernon McGee on this. He says, “I think the undertakers like to include it, whether it is required or not. …But if it has to be done, that settles the question.”

I would personally not choose to be cremated because of the figures of speech that are used in the Bible regarding the disposition of the remains of those that have died. One figure is that of “sleep.” According to 1 Thessalonians 4:13f, the body of a believer is put into a sleeping place (the word cemetery comes from this word), to be awaken and raised at the coming of the Lord. The other picture is that of 1 Corinthians where like a seed, the body is planted, and then brought back to life with incorruptible characteristics. Yet, the bible makes it clear that no matter what condition the body is in at the Lord’s return, its resurrection is assured.

Chuck
“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.” 1 Corinthians 15:42