mours (John Wimber, one of thefounders of the Christian Vineyardmovement, was one of the key-boardists in the group).

As they ended one performance,someone in the audience shouted,“That was righteous, brothers!”

Not long after, BillHadley and BobbyHatfield went on toform their own duoand called them-selves the RighteousBrothers.

In 1974 the Right-eous Brothers record-ed a tribute to deceased rock singersJanis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, BobbyDarin, Jim Croce, Jim Morrison andOtis Redding titled “Rock and RollHeaven.” In my conversation aboutthe “good old days” with the Trader

Joe’s employee this song titleprovided the bridge between adiscussion about music andtheology. Here’s the recurringchorus:

If you believe in forever Then life is just a one night standIf there’s a rock n’ roll heaven Well you know they’ve got a hellof a band.

If you feel that rock and rollis “the devil’s music” and there-fore object to the suggestionthat there’s a place in heavenfor rock and roll, you reallyneed to keep reading.

Speaking of “the devil’smusic,” the 1989 movie, “GreatBalls of Fire,” has Jimmy Swag-gart, who later became a tele-vangelist (played by AlecBaldwin), advising his cousin,Jerry Lee Lewis (portrayed byDennis Quaid), that rock androll is “the devil’s music.” But Idigress.

Rock and Roll…and BaseballToo?Of course, whether or not rockand roll music is or will be fea-tured in the kingdom of heavenis not the only question debatedabout the afterlife. You mayhave heard the story about Boband Luke—two guys who lovedbaseball and were worried thatGod might not think their favorite sport was important

enough to be played in heaven. Thesetwo die-hard fans couldn’t imagineeternal bliss without baseball games.They agreed that the first one who diedwould let the other one know whethercelestial baseball existed.

A few years later Luke died, and

within a few days Bob received anemail from baseballluke@heaven.org:“Bob, I have good news and badnews. The good news is that there arethousands of baseball stadiums uphere jam-packed with fans. The bad

RP036 LOOKING INTO HEAVEN PAGE 1

It was just anothertypical day at TraderJoe’s, a specialty grocerystore particularly well

known in Southern California(though the current ownersare a German family namedAlbrecht, no one has ever offered methe family discount). The backgroundmusic inspired me to share myappreciation for “oldies-but-goodies”with one of the “older” employees.Before long we were singing thepraises of the Righteous Brothers.Within a few seconds one of theirsongs brought heaven into ourdiscussion!

Back in 1962 Bill Medley andBobby Hatfield (who died in 2003)were part of a group called The Para-

We all want to know whether heaven really exists.We want to know more about heaven. What is heavenlike, exactly? The expectation of a heavenly afterlifeis a universal belief found in virtually all religions.

Who,What,Where

andWhen?

HEAVEN:

b y G r e g A l b r e c h t

Looking into

news is that next weekend you arethe starting pitcher for the Cloud #9Yankees. See you real soon, yourfriend forever, Luke.”

We all want to know whether heav-en really exists. We want to knowmore about heaven. What is heavenlike, exactly? The expectation of aheavenly afterlife is a universal belieffound in virtually all religions. Hu-manly we long for a “better place”after death. In Mere Christianity C.S.Lewis speculated that since humanshave desires that no earthly experi-ence can satisfy it is probable that wewere made for another world.

It’s possible that being created inGod’s image (Genesis 1:27) meansthat we yearn for the paradise of theGarden originally given by God, butrejected by Adam and Eve. We natu-rally hunger for the kingdom of heav-en and the Bible promises a heavenlyparadise God alone can impart andconfer. Beyond rock and roll andbaseball, we should focus on somefundamental details of heaven—where and when is heaven?

Heaven—The Devil Just Might Be inthe DetailsIs heaven a place to which we go whenwe die? The promise of heaven hastraditionally been explained as a two-step process:

• Given wide-spread Christian ac-ceptance of the Platonic assertionof the immortality of the soul,death is normally thought of as thetime when the immortal soul is re-leased from the mortal body—therefore heaven is felt to be a time

when the soul “goes to heaven.”Theologians call this first stage theintermediate state. But if we base ourbeliefs on New Testament evidenceand teaching, it’s difficult to dog-matically believe in a heavenlyplace or location where disembod-ied immortal souls fly aroundwaiting for angelic air traffic con-trollers to give them permissionto land.• However, the New Testamentis clear about the widely accept-ed second step of heaven. At theSecond Coming of Jesus, thosein Christ are resurrected, andtheir now resurrected, formerlymortal bodies become immor-tal. In some biblically unspeci-

fied way, the soul/spirit of Christfollowers is reunited with their nowglorified, immortal body.

What more can we know aboutheaven? Will our pets join us? Will westill have disabilities we have now?What age will we be in heaven? Willwe look the same as we do now—ifnot, how will we identify each other?Will lots of people be inheaven or only those inour denomination?

According to one storymaking its rounds, oneday Saint Peter met anew group of arrivals atthe Pearly Gates and im-mediately put them on abus to tour the celestialpremises. Just as theyprepared to pass a gatedcommunity Peter toldeveryone to be reallyquiet, because the peo-ple inside that com-pound thought theywere the only ones inheaven!

When some of myfriends want to know ifthey can enjoy lobsterand steak dinners inheaven I assure themthat I have it on goodauthority (my own) thatItalian is the only cui-sine served in heaven’sbuffet. One of the mostburning questions I hearis—will we all be forcedto take harp lessons?

Of course, many stereo-typical notions of heavenare blatantly unbiblical.

One of the first perspectives we mustconfront as we wrestle with eternity isour human sense of space and time—is the biblical heaven a place and atime?

Just as hell has come to be accept-ed, over many centuries, as the placeor time (or both) where/when God sen-tences/confines those who fail to passmuster to eternal torture, popularviews of heaven are equally preposter-ous. The prevailing idea of heaven asa place/time of blissfully enjoying aneternal pass into a divine, glorifiedDisney World has no New Testamentfoundation. Theologian ReinholdNiebuhr once said, “The Bible tells usvery little about the temperature ofhell, or the furniture of heaven.”

The last chapters of Revelation(Revelation 21 and 22) reveal God, atthe end of human time, as transform-ing the heaven and earth we knowinto a new heaven and a new earth.The eternal Garden, paradise restored,is not described in Revelation as a tripup to heaven. According to the bookof Revelation heaven comes down to

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earth. Just as we can rightly rejecthell as eternal torture because of itsobvious incompatibility with the verynature of a loving God, so too must weexamine improbable and far-fetchedideas about heaven as a place and timewhere angels give harp lessons toeternally bored residents.

The most appropriate and authenticway to evaluate traditional perceptionsof heaven as euphoric ecstasy in the bye and bye is from a Christ-centered perspective. When Jesusspoke about eternal life he often spokein terms of a kingdom.

Heaven as a KingdomMention the word “kingdom” to theaverage North American adult and

chances are one of thefirst thoughts he or shecalls to mind will be WaltDisney’s Magic Kingdom.Many pre-school andearly elementary age chil-dren also interpret “king-dom” with a Disney-spin—the word causesthem to think of count-less Disney fantasy sto-ries they have heardand/or seen, involving

castles and forests and princes andwitches and monsters. These Disneystories often depict an enchantedfuture enjoyed by a handsomeprince and a beautiful young lady,who marry and “live happily everafter.”

But for many others, especiallymales between the ages of 12-30,the word “kingdom” brings to mindrole-playing, interactive action-filled video games. These fantasygames can either be set in past orfuture kingdoms, but they normallyinclude themes of battling forces ofdarkness and the adventures involvedin overcoming evil and sinister pow-ers. Warfare and combat are commondenominators in such games, replete

with either dungeons and dragonsand weapons of a bygone era or ofmythical, apocalyptic monsters andhigh-tech, futuristic weaponry.

Of course, those who lived in the

RP036 LOOKING INTO HEAVEN PAGE 3

What more can we know about heaven? Will our pets join us?

Will we still have disabilities we have now?

What age will we be in heaven?

Will we look the same as we do now—if not,how will we identify each other?

Will lots of people be in heaven or only thosein our denomination?

first-century culture who heard Jesususe the word “kingdom” had no ideaabout Disney-like kingdom settings orof the kingdoms of video games, butthey were painfully aware of king-doms that oppressed, domineeredand ruled by the sword. In the OldTestament era the kingdom of Israel(sometimes separated as the kingdom

of Israel and the kingdom of Judah)was known and experienced, in thebest of times and the worst of times,primarily as a physical kingdom.Kings and princes, warfare and com-bat, occupation and oppression, vic-

tory and defeat were all part of thestory of the Old Testament people ofGod.

The New Testament uses the word“kingdom” as it characterizes the cen-tral message of Jesus. He came withthe good news that “the kingdom ofGod has come near!” (Mark 1:15).The Greek word basilea from which

our English word “kingdom” istranslated carries both the sense ofan actual kingdom as well as the in-fluence and sway of a king.

Matthew’s Gospel uses theterm “kingdom of heaven”while other New Testamentwriters use the term “kingdomof God.” In both contexts the“kingdom” is presented as: • the sovereign rule of theLord Jesus Christ, in whom hisfollowers might live a kingdomlife in their flesh, as well as• a future, yet-to-be realizedhope, when King Jesus returnsin his Second Coming, usher-ing in the fullness of the king-dom, in all of its glory.

The use of the word “king-dom”—even when it was modi-fied and explained as akingdom like no other—had tohave introduced somewhat of

a barrier to those Jews who first heardand read about the gospel of the king-dom of God. The kingdom in whichthey lived was the Roman Empire.Basilea for them could only mean theironic Pax Romana (the peace of

Rome) of Augustus, established in 27B.C.

Romans understood the peace ofRome as a time when warfare hadceased largely because Roman legionshad brutally defeated any and all adversaries so that potential enemieshad no will or wherewithal to do any-thing other than submit. Most Ro-mans enjoyed the peace of Rome andunderstood the idea of basilea/king-dom/empire from a positive perspec-tive. But for those, like the Jews to

whom Jesus first came, whosecountry became occupiedand oppressed under Pax Romana, the proclamation of a basilea/kingdom/empireonly meant servitude andtyranny. For that reason,Jesus did not merely proclaima kingdom but the kingdomof God and from heaven. Thekingdom of/from God andof/from heaven is a kingdomlike no other!

The Kingdom—Small, Insignificant and Already HereBut again, we ask, when andwhere is the kingdom of/fromGod/heaven? In Mark 1:15Jesus said “the kingdom of Godhas come near.” Since thedeath and resurrection ofJesus the precise nature of thekingdom of God and the

exact time of its arrival has been theobject of endless speculation amongChristians.

Have you ever looked for your mis-sing car keys, only to find, after a longand fruitless search filled with stressand anxiety, that they were in yourpocket, or in the ignition of your car?You may have looked all around thehouse for your hat only to find it sit-ting right there on your head. It wasthere all the while, even while youfrantically searched for it. ThomasMerton, one of the most influentialChristian authors of the 20th century,once said that apart from God,human perception of the kingdom ofGod is somewhat like a person ridingon an ox looking for an ox.

Once, on being asked by the Phariseeswhen the kingdom of God would come,Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdomof God is not something that can be ob-served, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of Godis in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21).

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I assure them that I have it on goodauthority (my own) that Italian

is the only cuisine served inheaven’s buffet. One of the

most burning questions I hearis— will we all be forced to take

harp lessons?

One obvious interpretation of thispassage is that the kingdom of heav-en had already come, and continuesto be present in our world, throughJesus, the King of the kingdom, ourrisen Lord. In Christ, the rule and do-minion of God was already being dis-played.

He came bringing the gospel, thegood news which proclaimed thekingdom of heaven. Just as the gospelof Jesus is one and the same as theperson of Jesus, the kingdom of heav-en is synonymous with the life of ourLord and Savior. He brought the king-dom with him. The kingdom did notdie at his crucifixion, for he rose fromthe dead, and is very much alive andpresent in our world in the lives ofthose who believe in him and truston him.

The kingdom of God or the king-dom of heaven, as it is called inMatthew, was frequently describedand discussed by Jesus. In John 12:24Jesus explained that he was the seedof the kingdom, and that just as a sin-gle seed dies so that many other seedsmay be produced, his death enabledmuch fruit to be borne. The seedplanted by the King of the kingdomhas continued to grow for almost 20centuries. Many of the parables ofJesus are about the kingdom—here’sone of the kingdom parables:

H e t o l d t h e m another parable:“The kingdom of heaven is like a mus-tard seed, which a man took and plantedin his field. Though it is the smallest ofall seeds, yet when it grows, it is thelargest of garden plants and becomes atree, so that the birds come and perch inits branches” (Matthew 13:31-32).

Jesus introduced this parable with aformula common to many of hiskingdom parables: “the kingdom ofheaven is like.” Interpretations of theparable of the mustard seed can be-come sidetracked with commentarythat reveals the “shocking” realitythat there are seeds smaller than amustard seed. Other interpreters, whoalso miss the point, explain thatwhile there are many forms of mus-tard plants, none grow into what wewould call a tree.

But the parable of the mustard seedis a parable, not a botanical lecture.Parables, as a teaching method, donot invite specific, microscopic exami-nation of each word picture—parablesare stories that provide one or perhapstwo major lessons and insights. The

constituent parts of parables are nor-mally incidental—they are stage set-tings that create the mood and thebackground so that the story can betold.

Jesus did not tell stories so that hisfollowers could write horticulturaland agricultural instruction manuals.So let’s first of all deal with the triviathat some make the primary focus ofthis parable: 1) Yes, there are seedsthat are smaller than mustard seedsand 2) No, mustard seeds do notgrow into trees.

Now, let’s consider the teachingpoint of this parable. Jesus used themustard seed as a symbol of the king-dom, in that the mustard seed was aknown example of something that start-ed small and became large. That’s the

point Jesus makes in this parable—the kingdom of heaven starts smalland becomes larger.

Jesus was telling his disciples, andyou and me, to be content with beingsmall. Jesus said that when it comes tothe kingdom of heaven, size and num-bers don’t matter! But according to thekingdom of religion, small is spirituallyinconsequential, whereas large is mean-ingful and relevant.

In the kingdom of religion bigger isbetter, but according to the values ofthe King and his kingdom, small isbeautiful. In the kingdom of religionbig cathedrals and mega-church park-ing lots requiring an army of atten-dants is desirable. Jesus said that thekingdom of heaven is present whereonly two or three are gathered togeth-er (Matthew 18:20). Big business reli-gion scorns the small and admires thelarge. Size matters in the kingdom ofreligion.

Jesus was born in a backwater vil-lage. He spent much of his time withnobodies who were believed to beunimportant and inconsequential.His main message was the kingdomof God, yet much to the dismay ofthe Jews whose land was occupiedand whose lives were oppressed byRome, the kingdom Jesus started did-n’t appear to even make a dent in themilitary armor of Rome.

Jesus and his ministry was so smallthat it would have seemed to any ob-server who lived at the time that heand his little kingdom were defeatedby Rome. So at the end of Jesus’earthly life it appeared that size andpower and all of its trappings mat-tered most, because it was the RomanEmpire that defeated King Jesus andhis fledgling kingdom of heaven. Butthe mustard seed of the kingdom wasstill growing, undetected by most.

God Grows the KingdomIn addition to asking when/whereabout the kingdom of heaven, it’shelpful to remember how. It mightseem obvious, but how exactly doesthe mustard seed of the kingdomgrow? The kingdom of God, in the

person of Jesus, was within the midstof those who first heard and experi-enced Jesus. And as Christ lives hislife in us today, the kingdom ofheaven is within us. The kingdom ofheaven is everywhere—hiding inplain sight. But how does it hap-pen—how does it grow?

Some assert that they and their ef-forts can “grow the kingdom.” Nohuman grows the kingdom. Jesusplanted the kingdom—it’s doing justfine, thank you very much. The onlyspiritual kingdom that humans can“grow” is the kingdom of religion.

The kingdom of God grows because Jesus planted it and the king-dom grows as he determines, accordingto God’s plan. In that regard, the king-dom of God is a mystery to humans,because it defies our predictions. Itgrows outside of churches that attemptto hoard it and control it and it growsinside of churches that attempt to up-root the kingdom, in favor of theirown kingdom.

If the kingdom of God could havetaken over the entire world by peoplecarefully studying the Bible, or bypeople evangelizing the world, or bypeople marching to the drum beat ofreligion—then the kingdom of Godwould have completely overgrownthe entire solar system by now.

The ultimate success of the salva-

RP036 LOOKING INTO HEAVEN PAGE 5

In John 12:24 Jesus explained that he was the seed of the kingdom, andthat just as a single seed dies so that many other seeds may be

produced, his death enabled much fruit to be borne.

tion of the world has not been as-signed to human beings—God willtake care of that—in fact, he alreadyhas. As intoxicating as the notionmay be, we Christ-followers must be-ware of the presumption that God ex-clusively depends on our efforts tosave the world. The kingdom of heav-en has been planted, by Jesus, God inthe flesh. He himself is the seed thatgave its own life that much fruitcould come out of it (John 12:24).The kingdom of heaven has leavened

this world. Jesus’sacrificial deathcaused the king-dom to grow:

And I, when I amlifted up from theearth, will draw allpeople to myself (John12:32).

For several cen-turies Christianshad no idea of aninstitutional church

with buildings and treasuries and hier-archies. When Constantine declaredthe Roman Empire to be one and thesame as the kingdom of God, Romebecame the Holy City. Grand cathe-drals were constructed and dedicated“to the glory of God.” The RomanEmpire redefined Christianity. Chris-tians were no longer defined as pil-grims here on earth and citizens ofheaven—they were now identified ascitizens of an organized, politicized,polarized, militaristic, materialistic

and blood-letting earthly king-dom. Doctrinal creeds that

dictated conformity of be-lief became the standard ofmembership and citizen-

ship rather than belief in JesusChrist.

As we fast-forward to 21st centuryChristendom, we can see that manyidentify themselves as the kingdom ofGod, and rather than glorifying Godas he grows his kingdom in the worldat large, they draw a boundary aroundwho they are and what they practiceand believe. They and their group ef-

fectively attempt to monopolize thekingdom of God as they believe it tobe primarily, if not solely, presentwithin their institution and its creeds,doctrines and distinctives.

This belief is a travesty and blatantcorruption of the gospel of JesusChrist. The mustard seed is small, andit remains relatively small for a longtime. The mustard seed’s growth isnot spectacular. Neither is the growthof the mustard seed limited by some-one’s theological garden or field.

Jesus didn’t say that the kingdomwould be contained in a churchbuilding or confined by denomina-tional dogmas and doctrines. Jesusnever hinted that the kingdom ofheaven was limited to those who be-lieved in certain doctrines or thosewho practiced the “right” things andavoided the “wrong” things.

The kingdom of God is for everyoneand grows everywhere for the simplereason that God doesn’t march to themusic religion composes and per-forms. It is impossible to build a fencearound or put God into a denomina-tional box. Jesus was resisted and re-jected by religion because according tothe religion of his day, and its leader-ship, he didn’t look or sound reli-gious.

Jesus used themustard seed as a

symbol of thekingdom, in that the mustard

seed was a known exampleof something that started

small and became large... Inthe kingdom of religionbigger is better, but

according to the values of the Kingand his kingdom, small is beautiful.

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Religion at the time of Jesus, andreligion ever since (religion today) islooking for a different kind of king-dom than the one Jesus planted. Thekingdom remains hidden to Christ-less religion because it is simply look-ing in all the wrong places.

Christ-less religion is looking for akingdom it can help establish, by itsmissionaries, by its religious activitiesand hard work—but the kingdomdoes not need human efforts to grow.

The kingdom of God grows bestwhen humans don’t get in its way.The kingdom of God is here—already—athough as far as much ofinstitutionalized religion is con-cerned, it might as well be hiding—and it is hiding in plain sight.

The kingdom of God, heaven onearth now and heaven in its futurefullness, when it comes down to thisearth, is never as neat and tidy asChrist-less religion wouldprefer. Many discoverthat just when theythought they had “heav-en” all nailed down, themore they search andstudy the teachings ofJesus the more his per-spectives about the king-dom of heaven mess uptheir fairy-tale mythickingdom of heaven.

Some realize that the narrow, exclu-sive view they once had of heaven, asconsisting of only those who were apart of their denomination, is prepos-terous when they embrace the gospelof Jesus Christ. They discover thatGod’s amazing grace rocks their rosy,comfortable view of heaven. God’samazing grace becomes God’s exas-perating, unpredictable and evenscandalous grace, from a humanviewpoint.

By contrast with God’s graciouskingdom of heaven, the creeds and be-liefs of institutionalized Christendomabout heaven can amount to spiritualProzac, intended to keep its convertsassured of eternal bliss as long as theykeep popping religiously prescribedpills and potions. The carrot of heavenis used by some religious professionalsas yet another control mechanism inreturn for loyalty and obedience.

The Not-Yet, All-Encompassing, Universal KingdomEven though the kingdom of heavenis already here, even though it is

thriving in the hearts and souls ofmen and women everywhere, it obvi-ously doesn’t cover every part of ourworld yet—we still live in the midstof suffering, heartache, hatred, war-fare and evil of all descriptions.

Human beings still live with ignorance and superstition—not tomention the fear, shame and guiltcaused by Christ-less religion. Rough,rugged places and crooked paths stillremain (Isaiah 40:3-4) but when themustard seed is fully grown:

…the earth will be filled with theknowledge of the LORD as the waterscover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).

The kingdom of God is the reign ofGod, characterized by God’s grace,love, peace, mercy and justice. Thekingdom of God is not physically located—it is a Divine dynamic thatis always growing in the hearts andsouls of men and women. It is not

somewhere as opposed to not beinganother place. The kingdom of God isnot like a medieval kingdom located ina castle—protected by high walls, amoat and a drawbridge. The kingdomof God is not in heaven—it is fromheaven.

Jesus, God in the flesh, the King ofthe kingdom, came down to thisworld from heaven and in his fleshproclaimed the good news of thekingdom. Jesus came down fromheaven, bringing the kingdom ofheaven with him, living with us andamong us as one of us. Then, after hisresurrection, Jesus started to live hislife in his followers. He is with us, inus and for us!

By coming down out of heaven,Jesus established and planted the flagof the kingdom. Jesus claimed theearth for the kingdom of heaven andhe purchased it with his blood. Oncehe planted the flag the kingdom start-ed to grow. Thus the kingdom is anongoing kingdom—it is already, it’spresent. But the kingdom is also not-yet—it has a future tense.

The not-yet kingdom will also come

down to this earth from heaven, in theperson of Jesus, in his Second Coming.The not-yet kingdom is described inRevelation as new heavens and a newearth, in which all things are madenew. The Bible insists that out of hislove for us God, in Christ, became ahuman being, one of us. Jesus didn’tdiminish life here on earth. He didn’tspeak of the ultimate goal of his fol-lowers as “going to heaven.” Thekingdom was already here, on earth.

At the end of time as we know it,when God makes all things new inthe not-yet kingdom, he will not takeus away from the earth, but he willinstead bring heaven down to earth.

The kingdom of heaven is God’sgrand masterpiece of art, a work hehas planned and continues to workon, throughout all time.

Each of us are part of that greatwork of art—we are the clay he, the

Master Potter, is fashion-ing (Isaiah 64:8). We aresaved by grace for works,so that we can becomehis handiwork (Ephesians2:10).

God’s work now, andGod’s work then—al-ready and not-yet, isearth-centered. Com-menting on how in all

things God works for the good of thosewho love him… (Romans 8:28) PeterKreeft, in Heaven—The Heart’s DeepestLonging says, “Galaxies revolve anddinosaurs breed and rain falls andpeople fall in love and uncles smokecheap cigars and people lose theirjobs and we all die—all (that’s what itsays, “all”) for our good, the finishedproduct, God’s work of art, the king-dom of heaven. Earth is not outsideheaven, it is heaven’s workshop,heaven’s womb.”

The kingdom of God, the kingdomwhich comes down from heaven, isthe foundation of God’s work ofgrace here on earth. We don’t,through our efforts to evangelize,“build” or “grow” the kingdom.

Religious institutions don’t create,build or bring about the kingdomhere on earth. God alone can dothat. Humans are invited to personal-ly embrace his kingdom, to accepthis invitation to live in his kingdomforever — but this one thing re-mains—he and he alone brings aboutthe kingdom.

In Jesus, God brought the already-

RP036 LOOKING INTO HEAVEN PAGE 7

By contrast with God’s gracious kingdom of heaven, thecreeds and beliefs of institutionalized Christendom aboutheaven amount to spiritual Prozac, intended to keep itsconverts assured of eternal bliss as long as they keep

popping religiously prescribed pills and potions.

here kingdom from heav-en to this earth. WhenGod sent the law, he senta human being. But Mosesdidn’t establish the king-dom at Mt. Sinai with theTen Commandment s .When God sent grace andtruth, he delivered it him-self. Jesus, God in theflesh, came personally, es-tablishing the kingdom.

When God brings thenot-yet kingdom to thisearth he will also bring itin and through Jesus—thenew Jerusalem, the newheavens and the new earthwill come down from heav-en. You and I can say withall assurance that we arenow living in the kingdomof God. We are now expe-riencing, by God’s grace,the already-here kingdomof God.

We can also believe, with all ourhearts, that we will experience thefullness of the not-yet kingdom,when it descends from heaven—when the King of the kingdom makesall things new—when the heavensand this earth are made new.

A Place and A Time?So, is heaven a place and a time? Yesand no. Yes, the already-here dimen-sion of the kingdom of heaven is defi-nitely a place and a time. It is here,

now. No, the already-here dynamicof God’s kingdom is not confinedby physical boundaries. It is notsomewhere at the expense of beingin another location. The already-here kingdom of heaven is a Divinedynamic.

Yes, the not-yet dimension of thekingdom of heaven will exist intime, in the future tense (as humans

experience time) and space. The com-ing kingdom of/from heaven will beearth-centered, integrating the eterni-ty of heaven with our planet earth.

The book of Revelation describesthis conflation of heaven coming toearth as new heavens and a newearth. The not-yet kingdom of Godwill be “inhabited” by residents whohave been given resurrection bodies.Citizens of the kingdom are not dis-embodied spirits. The not-yet comingkingdom will be an incorruptibletemporality.

Does this mean that we,once given immortal resur-rected bodies will perceivethe flow of time—before,now and after? Will wesense and experience loca-tion—going here andgoing there?

We don’t know all thespecifics, but as long as ourspeculations are Christ-centered, and as long as werefuse to accept or enforcedogmatic details aboutheaven, we are free inChrist to imagine anddream and hope.

One day God will inau-gurate the fullness of hiskingdom on this earth—itwill come down fromheaven—he will make allthings new. The kingdomsof this world will becomethe kingdom of our Lordand of his Christ, and hewill reign forever andever. In the parable of thegreat banquet (Luke14:15-24) Jesus uses theimagery of eating anddrinking to depict the joyexperienced when thekingdom comes downfrom heaven.

The book of Revelation tells us thatwe are invited to the great banquet,the wedding supper of the Lamb(Revelation 19:9). While the Bibledoesn’t give us precise details aboutthe specific menu, nor of the sumptu-ous desserts (will it be okay to callheavenly pastries “sinful”?), we cansafely assume that as good as thekingdom might be right now, …noeye has seen…no ear has heard…nohuman mind has conceived the thingsGod has prepared for those who lovehim…” (1 Corinthians 2:9). q

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By coming down out of heaven,Jesus established and planted theflag of the kingdom. Jesus claimedthe earth for the kingdom of heavenand he purchased it with his blood.Once he planted the flagthe kingdom started togrow. Thus the kingdom isan ongoing kingdom—it isalready, it’s present. Butthe kingdom is also not-yet—it has a future tense.

We don’t know all the specifics, but as long as our speculations are

Christ-centered, and as long as werefuse to accept or enforce dogmaticdetails about heaven, we are free in

Christ to imagine anddream and hope.

“Galaxies revolve and dinosaurs breedand rain falls and people fall in love anduncles smoke cheap cigars and peoplelose their jobs and we all die—all (that’swhat it says, “all”) for our good, thefinished product, God’s work of art,the kingdom of heaven. Earth isnot outside heaven, it isheaven’s workshop,heaven’s womb.” —Peter Kreeft, Heaven:The Heart’s DeepestLonging