Thoughts about Heaven

Are we too sophisticated to talk about Heaven? by Lieut-Colonel Maxwell Ryan

T

he fair city lures and beckons me with glimpses, no, intimations of unspeakable joy which is beyond all human understanding.  My soul is ravished with a swelling bittersweet fullness as I realize the desire of my heart.

At unexpected moments I am waylaid by the nearness of this other world, of the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us.

I remember, as a child, being excited and entranced at the prospect of Heaven while, at the same time, being warned of the dire possibility of hell. Many a visiting preacher and earnest corps officer echoed the words, “There’s a hell to shun and a heaven to gain.” I must say that while through the years, the terrors of hell have faded somewhat; I am still gripped with exultation at the thought of that fair, bright and glorious land.

But I feel somewhat of an anachronism in our present day Salvation Army. What, I wonder, has happened to our hopes of Heaven? Our forebears in the Army sang, “We’re bound for the land of the pure and the holy”, “There’s a land that is fairer than day…”. These haunting words spoke of a place where wrongs will be righted, where justice will meet injustice, where true values of goodness, meekness and life will be rewarded.

Perhaps it is that affluent Christians who have never felt the pinch of want, the cloying fear that there is nothing left - no food, no water, no hope - have it all. They don’t need Heaven, or so they think. It’s only the poor, the starving in developing countries and the dispossessed who sing about Heaven.

What is Heaven? - A place (Revelation 21, 22) that is not only the absence of wrong - tears, death, etc. - but a place of healing, light, glory, worship and everlasting life.  All that we need - and more.

I think we have a generation of officers and Salvationists who say nothing about Heaven because they are afraid of ridicule, or because of a damaging reaction against Victorian mawkishness. In so doing they deny themselves and other Christian pilgrims the sweet and nourishing reality of one of God’s great provisions for His children.

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of two series on theRubicon - Resurrected Writers and Thinkaloud

7 Comments to Thoughts about Heaven

1. Hi Colonel,

   I would disagree that there is no talk of Heaven. Perhaps that’s your experience, but my experience is that society in general talks about heaven more than I can ever remember. With the integration into society of many different religions, all of whom have a concept of heaven, talk of heaven and the afterlife is more prolific than ever.

   However, there is a difference in the focus and understanding. There would appear to be more of a focus on heaven here and now. I perceive two (2) reasons for this:

   1) The ‘ME’ attitude within society wants to know ‘what’s in it for me now?’ Hope of heaven in the future does not allure anyone anymore. Most religions offer that. What they want is something that will make their life more bearable, and to understand it better. They don’t want to set out on a path that will make life harder with only a ‘hope’ of a reward in the end. They want it NOW. I disagree that Christians have it so much easier now. It’s different - sure - but still very difficult, particularly in this credit crunch. People suicide, get into addiction, suffer abuse, are destroyed in the workplace for the gain of others etc. etc. etc. They want something that will help them cope with that now. This leads to the second observation….

   2) Christianity seems to have adopted some of the ideas of eastern mysticism, and rediscovered its’ Jewish roots with the idea of heaven here and now (realised eschatology/ and inaugurated eschatology). Such ideas teach that we can have peace within us no matter what is going on outside of us. That is experiencing heaven in the here and now. That is what people are wanting. This is evident when we see the number of people flocking to self-help seminars, to meditation classes etc. Something to help in the here and now, not make life more of a sacrifice/hardship with only a hope at the end. If I can know peace now, then the hope at the end is no longer a hope, but a certainty. The church I believe is slowly beginning to focus on that, not ‘believe so that you will go to heaven’. Salvation is for the here and now, not solely for the end of our lives. I am saved NOW and for a future eternity, not just for a future eternity.

   What has changed (praise God) is we are no longer focusing on Hell - which as far as anyone can work out, our perception of hell was a pre-reformation invention designed to scare the uneducated - who couldn’t read the Bible - into the church.

   Yours in Christ,
   Graeme.
Graeme Randall on October 11th, 2009

2. Max

   Thanks once again for hitting a modern problem on the head.

   We do not sing and talk about heaven as we once did for many reasons–you hit on one of the main reasons–Salvationists in Canada and other Western Nations are now among the more affluent rather than from the underclass.

   I believe another is that if we sing and talk about heaven we will be forced to also mention the alternative-hell. Hell is not politically correct in this pluralistic society.

   When have we lost heard a sermon about Hell as being the final place for the unreedeemed.

   Yes we avoid upsetting those who are not members of the Community of Christ by holding out heaven for the redeemed and hell for the unredeemed.

   Just some comments Max and we do miss you here in Winnipeg.

   John Stephenson
John Stephenson on October 12th, 2009

3. Max and John. We can’t scare the hell out of people. But we can love them into the KINGDOM in Jesus name. When my son Greg makes his visit to the remand center the guards say, “hey pastor come to save some souls”, I am sure Greg does not say to the men he talks with “you are going to hell”.

   First he makes a friend then they ask him questions. The method changes but not the message. We are better together in Jesus name.

   Regards Henry
Henry Armstrong on October 12th, 2009

4. Graeme and Henry

   Graeme, I would not disagree with you about the fact that people do talk about heaven but not in the way of it being an prize to be attained. When we are first saved, when we first become members of the Community of Believers, we inherit heaven–the future place where we will reside and also experience heaven—in the new life we are living.

   What we tend to do is forget that there is alternative to heaven for those who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Master, for those who do not repent and accept the free gift of salvation.

   I believe it is very important for us to remember (and Henry I agree with you) that it is through you and I as members of His Family showing love and concern that peop0le begin to ask about what is it we have or believe in that makes us different.

   In today’s society I think more people are won through friendship style evangelism than through the large evangelisitic campaigns.

   But we must be clear that it is only through the Christian Expereince that a person can experience their fullness as humans and be followers of the ONE TRUE GOD. Clarity demands that we must show why Islam, Hindusim, et al are not the way to fullfillment.

   And for both of you , I will say that I do believe in a place caled hell where those who have not accepted Christ will end up and Booth firmly held to that believe as he reached out and brought people into the family.

   JS
John Stephenson on October 13th, 2009

5. I have made various comments on this forum regarding this subject but unfortunately have yet to find anyone who appears to resonate with what I have suggested. So at the risk of again falling upon deaf ears again I will lightly sketch out my thoughts:

   To think of heaven as our future goal is an inadequate way of going about it. Colonel Ryan alludes to Revelation 21-22 as a key text of heaven as a goal but if you read that passage it talks not of simply heaven but “A new heavens and A NEW EARTH”. The prospect is not for us to be snatched up to heaven but rather for heaven to ‘come down’ to earth, for the veil to be lifted up, the curtain to be divided, for a new creation.

   I’m afraid the old hymns that allude to going to lands far, far away, of simply passing through this world of lyrics such as:

   We’re bound for the land of the pure and the holy”, “
   There’s a land that is fairer than day…”.

   … these are great examples of how the New Testament’s description of new heavens and new earth has long be forgotten by the majority of the Western Church and rather we hold on to the the medieval pictures of it as seen in the Cistine Chapel and works such as ‘Dante’s Inferno’. Let me spell this out…

   The hope of going to heaven when you die, of that being the ultimate goal of human life is SUB-BIBLICAL.

   Let us read and understand the likes of Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 40-55, Isaiah 65-66; Daniel 12; Matthew, Mark Luke and John; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 15; Colossians 1-2; Revelation 21-22 with the realisation that God does NOT want to blast the earth to smithereens and snatch us up to a neo-platonic spiritual existance but rather has been working to finally bring about NEW CREATION, the fulfilment of creation, the grand renewal and transformation of not just human beings but of the entire cosmos.

   The death and resurrection of Jesus DEFEATED death, its final grip on human life. Death says no to God’s goodness and his life given purposes for human beings. Resurrection says that death will not have the last laugh.

   Think of the last of our doctrines:

   ‘We believe… in the resurrection of the body…’

   The hope is right there from the earliest of our times, but yet we fail to understand what the resurrection of the body actually entails. It means that those who have died and are with the Lord will one day be resurrected to new life, just like Jesus, to go THROUGH death and out the other side, to possess renewed and physical bodies that will no longer succumb to decay, corruption and death. That is part of the hope.

   The wider hope is that the entire cosmos will also undergo that transformation, that renewal, that restoration. The good news is that we don’t have to sit around waiting for it to happen. Jesus’ resurrection has already caused God’s new creation to break in to the present, we have been given the ‘down payment’ (2 Corinthians) the Holy Spirit, to enable that further in-breaking of new creation into the lives everyone on this planet.

   We live in between the moments of the start of new creation and the final completion of it. It is that hope which should motivate us to do what we do, to say what we say, to even bother with taking part in God’s mission, knowing that ‘our labour in the Lord will never be in vain’ (1Corinthians 15.58).

   Craig G
Craig Gaudion on October 14th, 2009

6. Hi Craig,

   Well thought out and presented. Guess what - I agree with you. I suspect there would be few who do agree with such a view, but I am one.

   Keep up that kind of thinking and talking.

   Yours in Christ,
   Graeme.
Graeme Randall on October 14th, 2009

7. When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be, When we all see Jesus, we’ll shout and sing for victory.

   My sisters Ruth’s last words were “see you in heaven”. My brother Col. Stan Armstrong’s last words were “I’m going on a long journey”. The nurse asked “Where are you going Col?” “To heaven, are you coming with me?”

   Heaven is my home.

   Sincerley Henry– ”Together we are Better”
Henry Armstrong on October 17th, 2009

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