Behold, I make all things new. —Revelation 21:5, KJV
My worship and knowledge of God are not a means to an end, but an end in itself. For that is the way I will spend eternity: worshiping God for God’s own sake and knowing that this brings Him pleasure. That is what will make heaven, heaven.
What will there be in heaven? First, restoration. Have you noticed that little phrase in Acts 3:21 (KJV): “until the times of restitution of all things”? This means the restoration of what was lost in the Fall. What was lost in Eden will be restored, never to be threatened again.
In heaven we will worship as Adam did before the Fall, with one big difference—we will worship with hearts overflowing with gratitude, for we will worship with the knowledge that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus.
There will be fellowship— “a great multitude, which no man could number” (Rev. 7:9, KJV). So in heaven there will be restoration of friendships.
There will be righteousness in heaven. That means transparent holiness and perfect justice. There will be no miscarriage of justice in heaven. There will be no discrimination, no racial prejudice, no conspiracies, but total fairness. God looks forward to that. Do you think God doesn’t care when somebody is kidnapped, mugged, or slandered? But He sees the end from the beginning. He never panics. He can wait for His name to be cleared.
What will heaven be like? It will be revelation. The truth will be equally clear to all then. And best of all, Jesus will be fully revealed. “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). We are all going to see Him. My Lord and my God. The one I love.
There will be rejoicing in heaven. Rejoicing that will never end.
I don’t know all we will be doing in heaven, but I do know we will worship spontaneously, by the Holy Spirit, without any limitation or hindrance whatever.
Excerpted from Worshipping God (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).
