Homesick For Heaven

Homesick for Heaven

In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

— 2 Peter 3:13

When I heard that I was in the wrong place . . . my soul sang for joy, like a bird in spring. I knew now . . . why I could feel homesick at home.^a

— G. K. CHESTERTON

Do you recall a time when you were away from home and desperately missed it? Maybe it was when you were at college or in the military, were traveling extensively overseas, or needed to move because of a job. Do you remember how your heart ached for home? That’s how we should feel about Heaven. We are a displaced people, longing for our home. C. S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”^b

Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us.

I like G. K. Chesterton’s picture of feeling homesick at home. We can say, “Heaven will be our eternal home,” or “Earth will be our eternal home,” but we shouldn’t say, “Heaven, not Earth, will be our eternal home,” because the Heaven in which we’ll live permanently will be on the New Earth.

Years ago, a Christian I met in passing told me it troubled him that he really didn’t long for Heaven. Instead, he yearned for an Earth that was like God meant it to be. He didn’t desire a Heaven out there somewhere, but an Earth under his feet, where God was glorified and he could fellowship with and serve God forever. He felt profoundly guilty and unspiritual for this desire.

At the time, my eyes hadn’t been opened to Scripture’s promise of the New Earth. If I could talk with that man again (I hope he reads this), I’d tell him what I should have told him then—that his desire was biblical and right. In fact, the place he’s always longed for, an Earth where God is fully glorified, is the very place where he will live forever.

Christ’s incarnation brought Heaven down to Earth. The coming New Earth will be God’s permanent dwelling place, as pure and holy as Heaven has ever been. Thus, it cannot be inappropriate to think of Heaven in earthly terms, because Scripture itself compels us to do so. Paul Marshall writes, “What we need is not to be rescued from the world, not to cease being human, not to stop caring for the world, not to stop shaping human culture. What we need is the power to do these things according to the will of God. We, as well as the rest of creation, need to be redeemed.”^c

To say “This world is not your home” to a person who’s alive and alert to the wonders of the world is like throwing a bucket of water on a blazing fire. We should be fanning the flames of that fire to help it spread, not seeking to put it out. Otherwise, we malign our God-given instinct to love the earthly home that God himself made for us. And we reduce “spirituality” to a denial of art, culture, science, sports, education, and everything else human.

When we do this, we set ourselves up for hypocrisy—for we may pretend to disdain the world while sitting in church, but when we get in the car, we turn on our favorite music and head home to barbecue with friends, watch a ball game, play golf, ride bikes, work in the garden, or curl up with a cup of coffee and a good book. We do these things not because we are sinners but because we are people. We will still be people when we die and go to Heaven. This isn’t a disappointing reality—it’s God’s plan. He made us as we are—except the sin part, which has nothing to do with friends, eating, sports, gardening, or reading.

Like you, I’m tired of sin and suffering and crime and death and most of the things on the evening news. I’m tired of living with myself as I now am. But I love towering waterfalls crashing on rocks below. I love the spaciousness of the night sky over the desert. I love playing tennis and riding my bike and snorkeling in clear waters, as the physical person God has made me. I love the coziness of sitting next to Nanci on the couch in front of the fireplace, blanket over us and dog snuggled next to us.

These experiences are not Heaven—but they are little glimpses and foretastes of Heaven. What we love about this life are the things that resonate with the life God made us for. The things we love are not merely the best this life has to offer—they are previews of the greater life to come.

Do you ever feel homesick for Heaven?

Thank you, Father, for this great Earth. Remind us that the earth wasn’t made by Satan, to mock and oppose you. Rather, it was made by you to bring you glory. Thank you that you have made us physical beings, connected to the earth. Thank you that our destiny is to live on a renewed Earth, cleansed of sin and all that’s wrong. Thank you that the wonders of creation, which declare your glory, will not disappear but will re-emerge on the New Earth as greater testimonies to your glory than we can now imagine.