Will Heaven Be Ruined?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Heaven is the thought that when we pass into our new lives, we will start from scratch and begin a new life. However, Scripture shows that our current lives prepare us for Heaven and there is direct continuity. In other words, as Christians we don’t stop this life and start over, our lives continue!  But all those sins and burdens that weighed us down in this life will be gone.

Will we still have memories of this life? Of course! After all, we are shaped by our experiences. If God suddenly did away with my past, “Blake” wouldn’t be going to Heaven… someone else who somewhat resembles Blake would be going to Heaven. I wouldn’t retain my identity.

One of the biggest questions I had about Heaven was, “How can I enjoy Heaven knowing the fact that loved ones are suffering for eternity in Hell?”

I John 3:2 says, “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.”

Won’t it be wonderful to finally see things through eyes untainted by sin? Won’t it be great to finally see things as God sees them?

With this understanding, we know that we will finally see sin as it is. Currently, sin is fun. It is tempting. It is appealing to us. In Heaven, we will see it as repulsive, disgusting, and totally unfathomable.

As harsh as this currently sounds, we will see that those who rejected God’s gift of salvation and lived sinful lives deserve punishment in Hell. Furthermore we will see that WE were also deserving of that same punishment. That thought can be disturbing, but to reject that idea is to deny God as He is. This is how our holy God views sin and plans to justly deal with that sin.

I used to think such a phrase sounded insensitive. But in Heaven we will not lack sense or feeling. In fact, we will have much more sense than we do now. Our feelings and senses will be unclouded from sin and corruption, and we will finally see things the way God does.

My previous thought was that knowing loved ones are suffering in Hell would be always at the back of my mind, ruining true 100% happiness.  

But that won’t be the focus. I think Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, said it perfectly:
“[In Heaven] we’ll never question God’s justice, wondering how He could send good people to Hell. Rather, we’ll be overwhelmed with His grace, marveling at what He did to send bad people to Heaven.” 

And how does this change how we live our lives now? Let the reality sink in that some of your loved ones may spend eternity in Hell. This should motivate us to do all we can to reach out to them with the gospel now!