The Other Side

Man, you guys. The more I read what Jesus has to say about eternity, the more I'm convinced that it's just not going to be like we think it is. 

Actually, I wonder if we really think that's what it will be like or if that's just what we've been telling ourselves for so long because it sounds good to us. It sounds like what heaven should sound like. 

A group of Sadducees famously came to Jesus and asked about a little family problem they were having. The problem was this: 

A man married and didn't have any kids, then died. So his brother married his widow, but they didn't have any kids, either, and then he died. So a third brother stepped in and married the widow, and they didn't have any kids either, then he died. All told, there were seven brothers, one widow, and no kids. Now, they asked Him, when we all get to heaven, whose wife will she be? 

And Jesus said, "Don't you understand? In eternity, you won't be married like you are here." 

Fast forward two thousand years, and the prevailing message of heaven is that when we die, we will be swept up into this great big reunion of family and friends, everybody we've ever known just waiting for us on the other side, happy to see one another again and finally together. For all eternity. 

Can you almost hear Jesus saying...don't you understand?

It's a comforting thought. At least, it's comforting here for human grief. This isn't goodbye, we say; it's see you later. This isn't the end; there's a new beginning coming. All the folks that we loved spending time with here will be waiting to spend time with us again and this time, it will never end. They go on living, we go on living, and then for eternity, we all go on living together and it's the greatest thing we can possibly imagine. 

There are a few problems with this. 

First, it implies that our loved ones live in heaven with one eye toward earth. If that's the case, then Jesus isn't the most wonderful thing in heaven. Being in the presence of God isn't the greatest gift of all eternity. They're just in eternity partying it up and hanging out and looking at the door, waiting for when we will walk through it and join them. 

Friend, I cannot say this plainly enough, although I hope I am also being somewhat gentle (maybe): Heaven isn't about you. There's absolutely nobody in heaven who is waiting specifically for you to get there because you're somehow going to make eternity better. 

Second, though, it's just not what Jesus says. Jesus says when we are swept up into eternity, we don't have the relationships that we had down here. And it's not just in this question with the Sadducees. At another point in His ministry, He says that anyone who has given up mother or brothers or sisters here will be given back even more than they have lost. 

Not "you will get more time with your mother when you're with Me." Not "your brothers will be waiting to reconnect with you." Just...you will get back even more than you have lost. 

Which means, I think, that eternity is full of mothers and brothers and sisters. 

Listen, I'm not out here trying to ruin eternity for you. I'm not trying to tell you that the end of this life is the end of those relationships. I'm just trying to say...that's a really small picture of heaven. That's a really small anticipation of eternity. 

The vision that Jesus gives us for what's actually going to happen is much greater. And, I think, even more beautiful. 

(Stay tuned.)