Have you ever wondered what happens to you after you die? What’s in store for you when you get to the “other side”? — If indeed there is another side. Is there a Heaven? If so, what is it like? Would you be happy there? Would you find your loved ones there? How different would it be from your life on earth?
If you’re interested in knowing the answers to these and many more questions, read on!
You may wonder how I know anything about Heaven anyway. Well, the Bible tells us a lot about what to expect when we get to Heaven — what it will be like, what we will be like, what our bodies will look like, and what we’ll do there. There have also been numerous accounts from people who have had a near-death experience where they have died momentarily, gone to Heaven and returned to tell the tale of what they found. Some people have even seen their departed loved ones in visions or dreams, and received messages from them with details of what they found life in Heaven to be like.
One of the most important things about life in Heaven — which many people find surprising — is that it’s not entirely different from life on earth! I realize this may not sound like good news, considering all the evils in this world and the sadness that so many people feel and that you may have experienced in your own life. But when I say Heaven is similar to life on earth, I mean that you’ll find many things very relatable to your life here. However, the big difference is that Heaven’s a perfect world, a world where we can enjoy all the beauties and pleasures that we have here on earth, but without the sorrow, pain, emptiness, loneliness and fear that so often grips us, and without the selfishness, greed and destruction that we see in the world around us.
In Heaven there is only love, beauty, peace, comfort, understanding, joy, willingness to help and to give, thoughtfulness, caring for one another, and most of all, being enveloped in the love of the One who loves us more than anyone — God Himself. The Bible tells us that God is a God of love. In fact, He is the Spirit of Love itself. Therefore His home, Heaven, is a home of love, where you will feel no pain, no sorrow, no rejection, no loneliness — only love! Isn’t that wonderful?
Heaven holds many similarities with our physical world. We know from the Bible and from the accounts of those who have seen glimpses of Heaven that we’re going to look much the same as we do now. We’re not going to be faceless, bodiless spirits, wisping around with no form whatsoever. We’ll have bodies, much like we do now, but without the sickness, discomfort or pain we experience here. We’ll have our loved ones, our families and children around us. We’ll be able to enjoy each other’s company, and live happily together forever! If that sounds like paradise, well, that’s what Heaven is!
Many people have the mistaken impression that Heaven is going to be a very boring place where we’ll have nothing to do but sit around and play harps and sing praises to God. Well, I’m sure that people can play the harp if they want to, and we certainly will be praising God, but our life in Heaven will be much fuller than that!
In fact, we’ll probably be even busier there than we are here on earth, except that we won’t have the stress, worry, competitiveness and struggle for survival that we presently endure. We’ll be busy with things that truly matter, things that make a difference in other people’s lives. We’ll be investing our time in things that make us happy, inspire us and give us joy; instead of the drudgery, the drab routine, and the senselessness that many of us have experienced in our daily lives here.
We don’t know all the details of what we’ll be doing in Heaven, but one thing we do know is that we’ll be helping people on earth — helping to inspire and encourage them, whispering in their minds and implanting good, happy, uplifting thoughts. We’ll help them make the right decisions, so they can be happy too, so they can experience God’s love and know that He loves them.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ Himself will soon return to reign over the earth, together with the inhabitants of Heaven, for a period of a thousand years known as the Millennium. One of the tasks of those in Heaven — those who love God and have gone on to be with Him after this life — will be to help reconstruct, reorganize, and re-educate the people on earth, in order to make this world a better place — a place where love predominates; where everyone has enough, but no one has too much; where everyone can be happy and can enjoy the fruits of their labors; where there is no more war, deceit or cruelty.
