The Joy Of Living With God Forever

The Joy of Living with God Forever

I will put my dwelling place among you. . . . I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

— Leviticus 26:11-12

If the goodness, beauty, and wonder of creatures are so delightful to the human mind, the fountainhead of God’s own goodness (compared with the trickles of goodness found in creatures) will draw excited human minds entirely to itself.

— THOMAS AQUINAS

In Eden, God came down to Earth, the home of mankind, whenever he wished (Genesis 3:8). On the New Earth, God and mankind will be able to come to each other whenever they wish. We will not have to leave our home to visit God. He will not have to leave his home to visit us. God and mankind will live together forever in the same home—the New Earth.

God says, “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Ezekiel 37:27) and “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

Consider this statement: “God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3). Why does it emphatically say God himself? Because God won’t merely send us a delegate. He will actually come to live among us on the New Earth.

God’s glory will be the air we breathe, which will make us want to breathe deeper. In the new universe, we’ll never be able to travel far enough to leave God’s presence. Wherever we go, God will be there. However great the wonders of Heaven, God himself is Heaven’s greatest prize.

In Heaven, we’ll at last be freed of self-righteousness and self-deceit. We’ll no longer question God’s goodness; we’ll see it, savor it, enjoy it, and declare it to our companions. Surely we will wonder how we ever could have doubted his goodness. For then our faith will be sight—we shall see God.

Jonathan Edwards said in a 1733 sermon, “God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.”

Many books and programs these days talk about messages from the spirit realm, supposedly from people who’ve died and now speak through channelers or mediums. They claim to have come from Heaven to interact with loved ones, yet they almost never talk about God or express wonder at seeing Jesus. But no one who had actually been in Heaven would neglect to mention what Scripture shows to be Heaven’s main focus: God himself. If you had spent an evening dining with a king, you wouldn’t come back and talk about the wall hangings and place settings; you’d talk about the king. When Heaven was revealed to the apostle John, he recorded the details, but first and foremost, from beginning to end, he kept talking about Jesus.

The best-selling novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven portrays a man who dies, goes to Heaven, and meets five people who tell him his life really mattered. He discovers forgiveness and acceptance. It sounds good, but the book fails to present Jesus as the object of saving faith. It portrays a “Heaven” that isn’t about God, but about us. God is not the main person we meet in this “Heaven”—he’s not even one of five people we meet there! That is why the “Heaven” portrayed in the book is ultimately shallow and unsatisfying.

Going to Heaven without God would be like a bride going on her honeymoon without her groom. If there’s no God, there’s no Heaven. Teresa of Avila said, “Wherever God is, there is Heaven.”^a The corollary is obvious: Wherever God is not, is Hell. Heaven will simply be a physical extension of God’s goodness. To be with God—to know him, to see him—is the central, irreducible draw of Heaven.

Jesus promised his disciples, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). For Christians, to die is “to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, NKJV). The apostle Paul says, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23). He could have said, “I desire to depart and be in Heaven,” but he didn’t. His mind was on being with his Lord Jesus, which is the most significant aspect of Heaven.

When Jesus prayed that we would be with him in Heaven, he explained why: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24, emphasis added). When we accomplish something, we want to share it with those closest to us. Likewise, Jesus wants to share his glory with us—his person and his accomplishments.

Christ’s desire for us to see his glory should touch us deeply. What an unexpected compliment that the Creator of the universe has gone to such great lengths, at such sacrifice, to prepare a place for us where we can behold and participate in his glory.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to walk the earth with Jesus, as the disciples did? If you know Christ, you will have that opportunity—on the New Earth. Whatever we will do with Jesus, we’ll be doing with the second member of the triune God. What will it be like to run beside God, laugh with God, discuss a book with God, sing and climb and swim and play catch with God? Jesus promised we would eat with him in his Kingdom. This is an intimacy with God unthinkable to any who don’t grasp the significance of the Incarnation. Think of it—to eat a meal with Jesus will be to eat a meal with God.

The infinitely fascinating God is by far the most important and most interesting person we’ll ever meet in Heaven.

The good news is that we can get to know this captivating God here and now. We do this when we come before him humbly in prayer, confess our failings, read and contemplate his Word, and gather together in Bible-teaching churches with other followers of Jesus.

Are you doing what it takes to get to know God? What else can you do?

God, free us from human-centered views of Heaven. These lead to a superficial view of Heaven that is unworthy of you, the King and core of Heaven. Help us see that as the sun is the center of the solar system, you are the center of Heaven, the center of the universe. It’s about you. We will be happily held in the gravitational pull of your infinite being, finding our joy not in self-affirming remedies, but in knowing, worshiping, serving, and enjoying you!