Imagine this scenario.
Sometime before your birth, you are having a conversation (of some type, in some setting, just use your imagination) with someone about your future life in a place called Earth.
You: “And this Earth, it’s supposed to be beautiful, right? With glorious landscapes and fresh air and it has seasons? This planet is situated just the exact right distance from the sun to sustain life? And there are oceans and mountains, rivers and seashores, farms and villages and cities? You can spend your days fishing or mountain-climbing or flying a kite? And the food is incredible, every kind imaginable?”
He: “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
You: “You know this is preposterous, don’t you?”
He: “Why?”
You: “Because look around at the rest of the universe. There is nothing like it. In the entire Galaxy, do you see another planet just like that? They are all balls of stone or globes of fire or poisonous gases.”
He: “That’s right.”
You: “That’s why I have difficulty believing in earth. There is nothing like it in the universe, nothing to prepare me for believing in Earth.”
He: “Not only is there an Earth, but it is so perfect, once you get there, you can live in peace and comfort all your days–three score and ten and possibly beyond–without a single thought as to how it’s all happening. If you like, you can spend your existence studying, say, the life of Abraham Lincoln or even trying to become a leader like him, and never wonder about the air you breathe, the spinning of the Earth on its axis, the orbit it’s taking around the sun, the condition of the sun, or the journey of the Galaxy throughout the universe.”
You: “None of that? I don’t have to worry about how this is happening? I can just get on with living?”
He: “That’s right.”
You: “That’s preposterous.”
He: “I know. Isn’t it wonderful?”
The word preposterous comes from pre meaning “before” and posterous meaning “to come after” (think “posterior”). Something that is both “before and after” at the same time might be said to be reversed or backward. In other words, absurd.
If someone had come from Earth to tell the pre-existent you about life on this planet, would you have believed? Would that have helped?
The point of which is someone has come from Heaven to tell us of Heaven. Really.
That One is the Lord Jesus. And here is what He said…
Truly I say to you, we speak that which we know. We bear witness of that which we have seen…. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has been to Heaven other than the One who descended from Heaven. And you’re talking to Him right now. (My slight paraphrase of John 3:11-13)
This is why I believe in Heaven: It’s so preposterous, so absurd, so other-worldly.
Just like earth.
Professor Fisher Humphreys says, “One reason I know Heaven is going to be so fascinating is that Earth is so interesting.”
Here is something else the Lord Jesus said…
“Do not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I do that, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
It is not important that I understand a single thing about how Heaven operates, although I find the subject fascinating. In truth, I don’t even understand how Earth manages to hang here on nothing and to provide everything we need for life without so much as messing up my hair as I sit here at the laptop.
And that leads me to say this about Heaven…
- Everything Jesus said about Heaven is true. He’s a native. Our authority. He knows.
- Nothing you and I have ever experienced has prepared us for the wonderful delights and aspects of Heaven. It’s different there. For one thing, we recall the Lord Jesus telling us that in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven (Matthew 22:30).
- Get ready to be surprised.
I am so ready.
I believe, Lord Jesus. Help my unbelief. (And that is a quote from Mark 9:24.)