Wondering …

I was thinking about Heaven this morning … actually the New Heaven and New Earth talked about in Revelation 21 and 22, and other scriptures. Having recently finished my second trip through Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven, I’m excited to see how God will restore and renew everything to its original pristine state, and the New Jerusalem will be visited by people who “will bring the glory and wealth of the nations into it.” But, as I was pondering what that might be like, something new struck me.

If my understanding is correct, in Heaven we will be surrounded by every believer from Adam and Eve through all the New Testament Apostles and believers, right on through history until the moment when God brings the curtain down on the earth as we know it. The opportunities to listen to amazing people and wonderful music, look at fabulous works of creativity, explore places we’ve never seen and revisit those we have, plus have just plain old-fashioned conversations and Q&A sessions, boggles my mind.

If that wasn’t enough, think about this for a moment: if all the physical places on earth are going to be restored, at what period of time will they be taken to? In other words, if I go to Rome will it be the Rome of 1st century A.D.; or will it be Rome as it is now? How about visiting North America – will it resemble North America as it was before Columbus was born? Or sometime during the 1800’s? Or will it be North America as it will be 100 years from now, if the Lord tarries that long? Or will God design it so each individual can view it during any time period that he or she wishes, just by requesting a particular era? If you’re like me, and you use your imagination a little bit, you’ll discover that the possibilities never end. And every possibility that has popped into my head so far seems equally as enticing as the one before.

I spoke in Clandestiny about the dangers of playing the “what if?” game. And I still believe it’s a dangerous way to go if you’re second guessing a past decision. The key there is ‘past’ – so there’s no way for you to change it, and the end result of that game is usually not a positive one. But this game of “what if in Heaven …” has worked to bring me out of some very deep emotional/mental ditches. In addition to the time travel scenario above, here are some of the things I’ve been pondering:

What if all the animals in heaven can speak? Which one would I want to talk to first?

What if classes are available for all the things I wanted to learn here and didn’t? I’ve always wanted to really learn how to tap dance well – would that be what my hand shot up for?

What if I’ll be able to swim in the ocean without a breathing apparatus? Will I choose to swim with the dolphins first? Or the whales? Or whale sharks?

You might be able to see how one question could lead to a few more and those lead to a dozen others. And the beautiful thing is that I won’t need any of those things to be completely joyful in Heaven; but isn’t it exciting to start with “What if”? and let the imagination you were gifted with take off? After all –“what seems impossible to you is never impossible to God!” Matthew 19:26 TPT