If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?
(Thanks John Piper for posing the question - italics added)
So, could you?
Not even remotely...all those "treasures" are earthly possessions, or earthly constructs of human desire. While they seem very important for us in the here and now, I suspect they'll hold ZERO weight in a heavenly realm.
ReplyDeleteBeing with Christ for eternity = heaven. I don't even think you could call a place without Christ, heaven.
That being said, there is reason to believe (based on Biblical narrative) that heaven (eternity with God) will be unlike anything we can even begin to imagine. So, the above scenario sounds like quite a place for humans to hang out in, but I'm not sure it's God's concept of what will make heaven heaven. In other words - will these things really matter to us?
Yes, Rev 21-22 talks about a place much different than our current 'earth', and yet there's much debate as to what John was really referring to when he speaks about a new Jerusalem. But that's for an entirely different conversation!