BRING ON HEAVEN!: A biblical deep dive into the nature of our forever home

By Dan Chambers

"Let's talk about Heaven, shall we?" Unfortunately, a lot of folks don't think there's much to talk about. They think our forever home is a great big, glorious enigma. Except for the fact that we'll be with Jesus -- and that it'll be pain-free, tear-free, and death-free -- they think Heaven is pretty much a total mystery. I couldn't disagree mor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Faithworks Press
• Release date: Aug 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9780985890346

Dan Chambers

Dan Chambers has been in full-time ministry since 1988 (except for the two years he spent on active duty as a Personnel Officer in the United States Air Force). He has degrees in Applied Theology (D.Min.) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Bible from Lipscomb University (B.A., M.A., M.A.R., M.Div.), and in Business (M.B.A.) from Indiana University--Ft.Wayne. He's the author of several books including "Churches in the Shape of Scripture," and he currently serves as the Preaching Minister for the Concord Road Church of Christ in Brentwood, Tennessee.

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BRING ON HEAVEN!

Copyright © 2022 by Dan Chambers

ISBN: 978-0-9858903-0-8

ISBN: 978-0-9858903-4-6 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be produced in any form for commercial purposes without the written permission of the Publisher.

Published by FaithWorks Press, 2101 Georgian Circle, Franklin, Tennessee 37067

Unless noted otherwise Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ã 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright ã 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, The New International Versionâ. Copyright ã 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.â Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation ã 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Versionâ. Copyright ã 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by Permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bibleâ, Copyright ã 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by Permission. Christian Standard Bibleâ and CSBâ are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ã 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by Permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

SETTING THE STAGE

1. FIRED-UP AND WIRED UP ABOUT HEAVEN

2. BRING ON HEAVEN!

BUILDING THE CASE

3. I NOW CALL TO THE STAND PETER, PAUL, AND JESUS

4. RESTORATION, ISRAEL, AND THE LAND

5. MEANT TO BE TOGETHER

6. RECONCILED AND REUNIFIED

7. NO NEED FOR PLAN B

CONSIDERING THE OBJECTIONS

8. COUNTER ARGUMENTS? LET’S TAKE A LOOK

9. A FEW MORE COUNTER ARGUMENTS

FIELDING THE QUESTIONS

10. Q&A: ROUND ONE

11. Q&A: ROUND TWO

12. Q&A: ROUND THREE

13. Q&A: ROUND FOUR

INTRODUCTION

Do we go straight to Heaven when we die? Anytime I’m planning to do a Q&A session on the afterlife, I can almost bank on getting that Q.

So, do we? Well, some say yes. And some say no. And some, like me, say "yes and no. If it sounds like I’m trying to do my best imitation of Switzerland by refusing to choose a side, I promise that’s not the case. I’m just trying to go where the biblical data takes me, and I truly believe it takes me to yes and no."

Let me break it down for you in about a minute’s worth of reading (or maybe two . . . possibly three . . . definitely not more than three). I’ll start with the yes-side of my answer, and since the clock is ticking on my three minutes, I’ll leave it to you to look up the Bible passages I’ll be tossing out to support my answer. Okay, here goes. Hold on tight.

I think the math is pretty simple, and it starts with three crystal clear biblical facts. First, God is in Heaven (Matt 5:34; 6:9; 18:10; 23:22; Rev 4:2). Second, Jesus is also in Heaven with the Father (Acts 3:21; 7:56; Eph 6:9; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 9:24; 1 Pet 3:22). And third, when we die, our disembodied spirits go to be with Jesus (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; Phil 1:21-23; 2 Cor 5:8; 1 Thess 4:13-14). When those three truths are added up, the answer seems equally crystal clear: yes, we go straight to Heaven when we die.

And what’s it going to be like up there? I haven’t the foggiest idea. Life in the invisible, non-material realm of creation—the world of angels and disembodied saints—is an enigma to us. It’s a dimension of creation that none of us have ever seen or experienced (because we weren’t made for it). And, more importantly, it’s a dimension that God hasn’t given us much information about.

He has told us that it’ll be a paradise existence (Luke 23:43), and that it’ll be far better than our present one (Phil 1:23). He’s also revealed that we’ll be with Jesus (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; Phil 1:23), and that we won’t have a body—we’ll be, as I’ve said, disembodied spirits (Acts 7:59; 2 Cor 5:8; 1 Thess 4:14-16). Oh, we also know that life there will begin immediately when we die (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; Phil 1:23). Unfortunately, that’s about all we can say for sure about life after death for God’s people. But, fortunately, that’s enough to fill us with peace as we march toward our date with death.

But guess what? Are you still holding on tight? The Heaven where we’ll go after we die isn’t our forever home. It’s not our eternal state. Let me say it like this: it’s Heaven, but it’s not our final Heaven. Think of it as the present Heaven. And this is where the other side of my answer—the no-side of it—comes in. Yes, we’ll go directly to the present Heaven when we die. But no, the present Heaven is not where we’ll spend eternity.

When Jesus comes back, God will prepare us for our eternal state by resurrecting our bodies, removing all the effects of sin from those bodies, and then reuniting our spirits with our newly resurrected, sin-free bodies (Rom 8:23; 1 Cor 15:42-57; Phil 3:20-21; 1 Thess 4:16).

After that, our next stop will be the Day of Judgment (Matt 25:31-32; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 9:27). And then, after that—drum roll please—it’s on to our final destination . . . our eternal home sweet home . . . the final Heaven . . . or, as I like to call it, our forever home. And that Heaven—the one for resurrected saints—will be dramatically different from the one where disembodied saints presently dwell.

Unlike the present Heaven, I’m convinced that our final Heaven isn’t a total enigma. I’m not suggesting there isn’t any mystery surrounding it because there is. And plenty of it. I’m just saying that it’s far less mysterious than the present Heaven. I believe God has graciously pulled back the curtain that separates us from eternity and revealed more about the nature of our forever home than many people realize. And, man, it’s exciting!

If you’re interested in taking a lingering look behind that curtain, then this book is for you. It’s all about exploring the nature of our final Heaven. That is, it’s all about trying to better understand what God has in store for us after the Day of Judgment.

Before you read on, though, you need to know what’s in store for you over the next 270-ish pages. This is going to be a Bible study, plain and simple. And when I say a Bible study, I mean a deep dive into God’s Word. You’re going to have to concentrate. You’re going to have to think. Occasionally you may have to read something twice, and then read it again. But if you’ll stick with me as we carefully unpack what the Bible says about our forever home, don’t be surprised if your heart starts soaring like never before in anticipation of the world to come.

Now, one more thing before we get started. Maybe you noticed in the Table of Contents that I’ve divided this study into four parts. Let me give you a snapshot of each.

In the first section—which consists of two chapters—we’ll start thinking about our eternal state, and you’ll see what I believe the Bible teaches about its basic nature. I think these two chapters will pique your interest and whet your appetite for the study ahead.

The second section is the real meat of the book. In the five chapters of this section, I’ll present my case. You’ll be the jury. I’ll attempt to convince you that the overall teaching of Scripture supports what I said in section one about our final heavenly home.

In section three I’ll take on several But Dans and what abouts. In other words, in this section—which also consists of two chapters— I’ll deal with some of the most common objections to my understanding of our eternal home. I don’t believe any case is ever complete until the objections of thoughtful Bible students are carefully considered.

And, finally, there’s section four. Since I love doing Q&A about the afterlife, this might be my favorite section. It’s four chapters of thought-provoking questions about what life will be like in our forever home. I’ll go ahead and admit that there’ll be quite a bit of speculation going on in these chapters.

The words quite a bit of speculation may make some of you wonder if it’s even worth our time and effort to address our curiosities about life in the eternal state. I think it’s worth it . . . for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I believe there’s a solid biblical basis for much of my speculation. For another thing, I’m convinced that contemplating life in our forever home encourages people to think about Heaven; and I’m for anything that does that. I want the anticipation of Heaven to capture the imagination of every believer, and I think questions like the ones you’ll encounter in this section can help do that.

Well, I guess that about covers it. I’m ready to dive in. Are you? If so, I’ll meet you in chapter 1.

Section One

SETTING THE STAGE

CHAPTER 1

FIRED-UP AND WIRED-UP ABOUT HEAVEN

Let’s talk about Heaven, shall we? Are you up for it? I hope so, because I sure am. In fact, I’m always up for that conversation, for one simple reason: I can’t wait to get there. And I really mean it. I’m not just saying it because it’s the right thing for a Christian to say. I absolutely, positively can’t wait to get to Heaven!

Now, with that said, I’m gonna come clean and confess that I’ve not always been as pumped about going to Heaven as I am now. Don’t get me wrong though. I’m not suggesting there was a time when I didn’t want to go Heaven, or a time when I was indifferent about going. I’ve always wanted to go. It’s just that, as I said, once upon a time I wasn’t quite as wired-up and fired-up about going as I am now. Let me explain.

IT SURE BEATS HELL

A few months ago, I finally got around to reading a book about Heaven that someone had given me a couple of years earlier. I had every intention of reading it sooner but, as is often the case, I parked it in a very special stack of books that might as well be called my books-I-intend-to-read-very-soon-but-probably-won’t stack. Odds are it would still be languishing in that stack if I hadn’t decided to finally make good on a longtime threat to write my own book about Heaven.

Anyway, as part of my pre-writing research, I blew off the two years’ worth of dust which had settled on that book, assumed my favorite reading position—which would be feet up on my desk—turned to the introduction, and plowed right in.

Saying I began at the introduction may sound like I’m stating the obvious, but I’m notoriously hit-and-miss when it comes to reading the front matter of a book—you know, stuff like the dedication, preface, forward, and introduction. When I tackle a book, my natural impulse is to make a beeline for the first chapter. This was one time, however, I resisted that impulse; and I’m sure glad I did because the introduction contained a very interesting—and very unexpected—personal confession from one of the book’s two authors.

He confessed that throughout much of his adult life and ministry he had suffered from an intense fear of going to Heaven. Yep, you read that correctly. That’s not a typo. The thought of Heaven had at one time— and for a very long time—left him shaking in his shoes.

Just listen to some of his dread-of-Heaven confessions. He basically started off with this bombshell: I was terrified by the entire concept of Heaven. And he followed that up with this one: I felt trapped; it was either [Heaven] or Hell, and I wanted neither of them.

He then described the time he decided to share his emotionally debilitating secret with a fellow preacher. He was hoping their meeting might yield a soul-calming insight or two. As he recounted their conversation, he wrote, I poured my trepidation out on the table. . . . I summoned enough courage to tell him about my fear. And how did his preacher-friend respond? Check it out: I feel the same way. Dying and going to Heaven forever scares me beyond my ability to explain.

How about that? So much for finding a sliver of comfort. Not surprisingly, he summed up their little powwow by conceding that nothing his preaching-buddy said gave me any decrease in emotional turmoil.

After he and his friend finished wallowing in their mutual misery over the thought of Heaven, he pretty much surrendered to the despair. He just resigned himself to regular periods of depression and disillusionment at the thought of his eternal home. He did, though, find a tiny morsel of comfort in his discovery that at least he had some company in his misery. His exact words were, Maybe there was some small comfort in finding a fellow sufferer.

Here are a few more thoughts he shared about the hell that he imagined Heaven to be. When he would think about going to Heaven, he said, I felt this churning in the pit of my stomach and almost a panic that every day I was closer to facing this than I had ever been before. And a churning stomach wasn’t the only thing triggered by his thoughts of Heaven. When the idea of Heaven would creep into his consciousness, depression would creep in with it. I’d be depressed for a couple of hours, he wrote, and then not think of it again for months on end. Then came this lament: It’s just the idea of living there forever that made my blood run cold.

Two thoughts came to mind as I read that introduction. First, I really felt sorry for the guy. Being thoroughly petrified of both Heaven and Hell would be a miserable way to go through life. Second, I could not identify with his feelings.

As I said earlier, once upon a time I wasn’t exactly amped-up about going to Heaven any time soon. At the same time, though, I definitely wasn’t, to use his words, terrified by the entire concept of Heaven. By the way, the concept of Heaven that terrified him was pretty much the same one I grew up with (I’ll get to that in a minute).

When it came to my expectations of Heaven, I can honestly say I never felt emotional turmoil, or near panic, or depression, or a churning in the pit of my stomach, or my blood running cold. I guess my feelings about my earliest concept of Heaven can be summed up as . . . oh no, this is going to sound really bad, and I sure hope what I’m about to say doesn’t disappoint you.

Anyway, as I was saying, Heaven as I envisioned it, well, let’s just say it didn’t exactly make my pulse race. To be brutally honest and radically transparent, I just never found my vision of Heaven to be intensely appealing. Again, it didn’t depress me or make my stomach churn. It just didn’t really light my fire.

I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you about the image of Heaven that used to bounce around in my head, so here goes. Simply put, for many years I envisioned Heaven as a 24/7 church service. That’s right, I use to envision Heaven as a never-ending church service. And, yep, I’m confessing that the thought of a never-ending church service doesn’t really appeal to me.

Now, before any of you start judging me too harshly, let me say that, in more than three decades of full-time ministry, it’s been my personal experience that most Christians—even the most faithful ones I know—tend to get a little antsy . . . a little restless . . . a little impatient . . . even, dare I say it, a little grumpy if church services go into overtime too often. Shoot, my church family has been playfully busting my chops over my long sermons since I was in preaching diapers . . . at least I think it’s been playful . . . surely it has been . . . hmmm. Anyway, there’s no use denying it. If we were having this conversation face-to-face, I’d probably be giving you one of those raised-eyebrow looks. You know, the kind that says, I know you know I’m right. So, I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say I’m not the only one who doesn’t get all giddy at the prospect of a church service that never ends.

Okay, back to my long-held image of Heaven. It wasn’t just an ordinary eternal church service that I envisioned, but rather a perfect eternal church service. Actually, it was more like a perfect eternal congregational singing service. Most of you probably know what I mean by that. I mean everyone really wants to be there, everyone really loves to sing, everyone sings with gusto and enthusiasm, everyone knows all the songs, everyone sings on key, and everyone nails their part (obviously my vision of Heaven included four-part harmony).

By the way, in case you’re wondering why I envisioned singing as the only act of worship in Heaven, it’s because in Heaven there’ll be no need to pray, preach, or eat the Lord’s Supper since we’ll have perfect, face-to-face fellowship with Jesus.

I’ll just sum up my longtime image of Heaven this way: all praise, all the time. Perfect singing . . . forever . . . and ever . . . and ever . . . and ever . . . and ever . . . and nothing else . . . without end . . . amen.

There, I said it. And, boy, I was right, that sounds terrible. That sounds like I don’t like church. But I do like it. And I mean really like it. In fact, I love it. I especially love to sing, and I love being with others who love to sing. In my book, getting together with a group of God’s people for a period of enthusiastic praise is not only spiritually uplifting, but it’s also downright fun.

So, it wasn’t the idea of praising God throughout eternity that gave me an emotional pause about Heaven. I honestly can’t wait to praise God forever and ever. What gave me an emotional pause was my mental image of non-stop singing for all eternity. In other words, I was perfectly content to see this ol’ world spin a little longer because I thought worship was going to be our only activity in Heaven.

And when I say I thought worship would be the only activity in Heaven, I really mean it. I never envisioned a heavenly scenario where there would be any activity other than worship. I couldn’t even envision any significant socializing among the saved. I did, admittedly, think we might be able to slip-in some pleasantries with the neighbors to either side of us if there were an occasional pause between some of the songs. But that was about the extent of heavenly socializing as I imagined it.

Assuming there would be an occasional brief pause between our heavenly song selections, I thought it might—just might—be possible to whisper a few quick words to a fellow worshiper like, That’s my favorite song, or This sounds awesome, or How many years did you live on the old earth? But, again, other than a little small talk of that nature, I didn’t see any real conversation happening among the saints inside the pearly gates.

Now, get this. Even though I always lacked passion for that particular image of Heaven, I never lacked passion about going to Heaven. Wait a second, I can almost hear someone saying, a minute ago you said there was a time when you weren’t as fired-up about going to Heaven as you are now, and now you’re saying you’ve always been passionate about going. What gives? You can’t have it be both ways.

Actually, you can have it both ways, and I did. Here’s how. On the one hand, as I just said, I wasn’t so passionate about Heaven because I thought the only thing I’d do there is hang out in a big room and worship. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love to worship. I just can’t honestly say that, in my present human condition, worship is the only thing I love to do, or that it’s the only thing I want to do. On the other hand, I was still passionate about going to Heaven because I always knew that Hell was the only other option for an eternal destination.

While the image of a never-ending church service may not be the most enticing image I can conjure up in my present human condition, it sure beats an eternity in Hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). An eternity of nothing but worship is way better than an eternity of nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:42).

That’s how I had it both ways. In fact, I’m sure that’s how a lot of folks have it both ways. Maybe that’s how you have it both ways. Maybe you’re not all that amped-up about what you imagine life is going to be like in Heaven, but you’re definitely amped-up about staying out of Hell.

HELL AVOIDANCE? YOU BET!

If it sounds like the fear of Hell used to motivate me to follow Jesus more than the hope of Heaven, I’d say that sounds about right. That’s a fair assessment. I have no problem admitting that, for much of my Christian life, staying out of Hell has motivated me to remain faithful to Jesus far more than going to Heaven.

Before I move on, though, let me say that Hell avoidance is a very legitimate motive for obeying the gospel and following Jesus. If you have any doubt about that, let me remind you that Scripture is chock-full of terrifying references to Hell and God’s judgment. Here’s just a sampling of those references from the first few chapters of the first book in the New Testament:

⁷But when he [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? . . .¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. . . .¹²His [Jesus] winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire" (Matt 3:7-12).

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire (Matt 5:22).

²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell (Matt 5:29-30).

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many (Matt 7:13).

¹⁸A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt 7:18-19).

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 10:28).

With wall-to-wall warnings in Scripture about Hell and God’s righteous wrath, I don’t feel the least bit spiritually immature to admit that I’m still terrified of Hell. And I don’t feel the least bit spiritually shallow to say that staying out of Hell continues to be a big-time motivation for me to keep my arms wrapped around Jesus. Just about every time I pick up my Bible and start reading, Jesus or one of His Spirit-filled spokesmen scares Hell out of me.

My point is that none of us should feel as though our relationship with God is broken, or lacking, if our main reason for serving Him is to stay out of Hell. Whether you’re a brand spanking new Christian or you’ve been a disciple of Christ for a long, long time, the fear of Hell is still a perfectly legitimate reason to follow Him.

Let me go back now to what I was saying about my earliest image of Heaven as a never-ending church service. Even though that image of Heaven didn’t particularly thrill me in my present human condition, there’s another reason why it never scared or depressed me. By the way, I know I keep saying in my present human condition but I just can’t help it. It makes me feel a little better to blame some of these feelings on the unredeemed body that I’m still dragging around. Now back to what I was saying.

Besides taking comfort in the knowledge that Heaven of any type beats Hell hands down, another reason I was okay with my earliest image of Heaven was my belief that God would change me at my resurrection to ensure that I’d be eternally ecstatic in a worship-only eternal state. The psalmist says, in your [God’s] presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psa 16:11). I think that makes it pretty clear that nobody’s gonna be moping around Heaven and whining about their limited activity options.

You’ve probably figured out by now, though, that my current image of Heaven is very different from the church-service-that-never-ends image that I carried around for so long. And, obviously, I believe my present image of Heaven is more biblically informed than my previous one.

I’m willing to admit, though, that it may not be. That is, I’m willing to admit that my current image of Heaven—which I’ll spell-out for you real soon—may be way off base. It may be as far from reality as I think my previous image of Heaven is.

Of course, I don’t think I’m off base, but I’m open to that possibility. After all, one of my guiding principles of life is to doubt my ability to always be right. Okay, when my wife, Leola, reads that statement, she’ll probably snort derisively, roll her eyes, and utter two words: yeah, right. I’m always ready to concede that I may misinterpret evidence and draw wrong conclusions (cue Leola’s snort of derision and eye roll again).

Seriously, though, I really do mean it. But one thing is for sure if I’m wrong about what Heaven is going to be like. If I’m wrong, I’m not worried about it. After all, whatever it’s going to be like,