The Christ in Prophecy Journal

FHCO: Your Future in Heaven (Part 4)

Future Hope Conference Online

Your Future in the:
BibleTribulationRaptureMillennial KingdomHeavenQ&A

Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones
Evangelist & Web Minister
Lamb & Lion Ministries

PDF MP3 Facebook

Heaven Described (Continued)

Rewards
When we get up to Heaven, Jesus has rewards for us for the good works we’ve done in His name while on earth.

One tremendous reward is God gives us glorified bodies made in Jesus’ image. We won’t be like God and we can’t be like God, but we will be like Jesus’ resurrected body physically.

Jesus promises crowns as a reward to us. These crowns are physical representations of how our life here on earth was spent. What you are doing here and now on earth in making good use of your time and talents will be turned into physical manifestations that we can display eternally. This isn’t to selfishly brag on ourselves, but to give back to Jesus. The 24 Elders who sit around God’s throne in worship place their crowns in front of God and say, “Holy, holy, holy.” Our works are an eternal reminder of our sacrifice to the Lord and a forever act of worship.

The Bible says we’re also going to be given robes. They most likely will be white, but I’m hoping for a little style so that the clothes we are given won’t be so toga party like.

What is just awesome is that we will be given new names. When I was a kid I hated my name. It was a nerd name I thought, though it has become cool now, but at the time it wasn’t. I used to tell people to call me Jason. Kids would come up to the house and knock on the door and ask, “Can I play with Jason.” My family would look around and respond incredulously, “Who’s Jason?” So, finally, I will get a new name.

God puts your new name on a white stone, and it may very well be a marble stone. Revelation 2:17 tells us this. Our new names will be representative most likely of who we really are, so you could be renamed Bravery, or Power, or Faithful. Jesus was always renaming the people he ran across during His earthly ministry. What would it be like to have a name that represents you for the rest of eternity?

A great reward is living in a place like Heaven, a place of comfort with no tears, as Matthew 5 and Revelation 21 describes. You will never have to worry about crying or hurting anymore. The Lord will always be there to comfort us, to give us mercy, and to finally give us true justice.

Authority, that is anther reward we will receive. We will have ruling authority during Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. We will be administrators and teachers and executives and majors and governors, but not legislatures because Jesus Himself alone makes the law. When we are talking about authority, we maybe think of towns or cities, but don’t forget that God has made a whole endless universe. Our solar system has planets and there are more stars and so even more planets, and there are even more galaxies just filled with stars and planets. Who’s to say that we are limited to ruling a few cities on the New Earth? Maybe we will be ruling an entire solar system or two or more as people go out into the vast universe God has created. The possibilities put real meaning behind the verse that no mind can comprehend what God has prepared for us.

What do you think about salvation as a reward? The Lord will give us salvation from the Tribulation. He gives us salvation from what is called the Second Death in Revelation 2:11. We are saved from death into eternal life to have everlasting life. Salvation is a pretty impressive gift!

How about honor as a reward? Can you believe that God would give someone like me honor? We get the honor to live in Heaven, the very home God dwells in. I don’t particularly like people living in my home, but God is going to have billions of us living in His home. There Jesus brings us up to the Father and says, “Abba Father, look who I’m giving the honor of visiting you today.”

Matthew 10:32 and Revelation 3:5 tells us that we are confessed by Christ to the Father. God isn’t sitting way up on some throne somewhere so we have to look miles up at Him and never get to talk to Him or be near Him. The Father instead comes and honors us with His presence and words, as John 12:26 tells us. Can you imagine getting honored by God the Father? Now, it isn’t honor for us particularly, but it is honor for what Jesus accomplished and what we accepted in Him.

This always gets me, that we are loved and adopted as children as Romans 8:23 promises. That the God of the Universe would adopt us as His own children — wow — that is love!

Life in Heaven
What will life be like on the New Earth? What are we going to be doing throughout all of eternity? Are we truly going to be playing harps and singing all day long? I’m the worse singer in the world and I do hope that even with my new glorified body I’m not singing throughout eternity.

For one, there will be fellowship with Creator God. That is the very reason why we were created. As John 4:23 tells us, we were made to fellowship with God forever. But, it’s a choice that we make in life if we want to spend eternity with God or not. He never forces us to have to live with Him forever.

I hate to tell some of you this but, yes, there will be work in the afterlife. We will have lots of work to do. But, what if it is work that is fulfilling and satisfying as Matthew 5:6 tells us, then it isn’t really work at all, is it? We’ll be in our sweet spot doing what we love to do. It may be work, but if you love to do it, then it just doesn’t feel like work, does it? God will have some great works planned for us to do.

Think about the talents you possess. God has given each of us special abilities and gifts which enable us to achieve goals while we work here on earth. Think about augmenting those talents and making them better and better with no limitations made by our human bodies.

We will have eons of ages to learn the vast sums of God’s library. When I was a middle schooler I played the violin until my teacher asked me to stop. I was that bad! Well, I would like to learn the cello. It’s my goal to learn to play the cello, and it’s probably going to take me a few thousand years to actually learn it, but we have forever to get really good. I could have ten doctorate degrees and still have forever to work on more. We could be studying all the riches and the knowledge of Christ, but since He is infinite, it’d be like chasing our tails. We could spend forever studying and we would still not learn it all. But, think about how smart we will be by then, and we will have a brain that’s not just using 10% of it’s capability, but all 100% is working. Just think of what number our IQ’s will be!

We will also mature. I won’t have stupid immature thoughts, or say stupid things, or react immaturely. It’s not that we will become all stuffy and boring, but we will mature into the truly developed humans that we were meant to be. No matter how old you are on earth, in God’s eyes you are a child who needs to rid yourself of that immaturity. We will have all of eternity to mature.

And, yes, there will indeed be worship. People get this strange idea that worship is just singing “Oh, Holy, Holy, Holy” endlessly, but that’s just not true. True worship is thanksgiving. It’s thanking God. When you’ve got all of this eternal blessing of life and rewards and honor and more, how could we possibly not be thankful? You will want to proclaim with all your heart, “Oh, Lord, Holy, Holy, Holy is your name!”

Speaking about a choir, I once went on a men’s retreat and there were nearly 500 men attending. When you have 500 men singing, “A Mighty Fortress is Your God,” it’s strength just blows you right out of your seat. What power! Now, think about five million people all singing to the Lord. What a choir!

Do you know what else is exciting about our coming eternal lives? There is a great big universe out there to explore. God created so much, and we are only just beginning from our little pinpoint in the universe to fathom where it starts. We will have an eternity to explore what God has created.

Again, we will be kept busy reigning with Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom and the nations that Revelation 21 talks about, this group of nations that will exist. We aren’t given any more information than that about those nations, but we know we’ll be given ruling authority over them.

Can you believe that God would actually share His power? He’s never been a selfish God, has He? No. So, it’s an amazing, amazing future that we have in store for us.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

RELATED ARTICLES

ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

10 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • They way you put this together sounds great!

    When I get to heaven I want to sit at the feet of Jesus and just worship Him, hanging off of His every word. Just to have Him look at me and put His hand on my shoulder and say, "I love you". Would be enough to satisfy me forever.

    Blessings,
    <><

  • I bet I shall be in charge of the dusting and cleaning up all the dirty habits 🙁

    A former pastor used to look at me and say 'uh-oh, here comes trouble'! If I get given that on me white stone I shall sulk :-[

    Sue 😀

  • Heaven's just that exciting, Child of God!

    Sue, I could easily see you getting "Wise Mother of Many," or "Guardian of the Faith." Hey, for you Brits, that's equivalent to "Queen Mother," right?

  • This future in heaven is what is keeping me sane through the grief of losing my 17 year old son almost 3 years ago.My son has been playing his guitar for Jesus for almost 3 years.
    Saved

  • Hello Nathan
    😀

    They used to call my Nan 'the Queen', and she really was wise.

    I was thrilled to bits when my boys started calling me 'The Queen'. However – truth will out, I am now 'Court Jester' NOT to be taken seriously or heeded!

    C'est la vie 😀

    Sue
    x

  • Anonymous

    That's REAL heartbreak, it puts mine in the shade and my heart breaks for you.

    Three years is a long parting, but it is only temporary, as I write your son and all the others are gathering to Jesus preparing for the Rapture.

    Soon, not long now, and you will meet again with Jesus' arms around you both. Praise The Lord!

    Keep looking up and God bless you abundantly.

    Big hug from all of us here.
    Sue
    x

  • Nathan and all

    Remember ‘my’ Postie Bob Mitchell of Shofar U.K.???

    Using Scripture, grammar, Greek and copious prayers over the last few years I have challenged his folly in a concerted effort to show him that the track he is laying to reach his determined destination of a Post-tribulation Rapture, is entirely a figment of his own imagination, fed by the inept erudition of men equally ill disposed.

    At the time he blustered to try and defend Post but failed utterly with irrational replies that were unbelievably, and embarrassingly, illogical and void of Biblical exegesis as context was conveniently ignored.

    In particular, and especially, he had no defence for Rev3:10. He tried, but his reasoning was so frail and twisted, he was literally grasping and clawing at the wind. Even claiming the Septuagint supported his interpretation of ‘tereo ek’. He was easily proved wrong, as were his ‘supporting’ N.T. Scriptures. Eventually he did not respond at all and pulled the drawbridge up.

    He now has six You Tube videos which, not only ignore the facts given to him, but has turned those same facts onto their head to wilfully and brazenly pillage them in cultish mode to defend Postie.

    One is his abuse of imminency; feebly ‘taking on’ respected scholar Dr Reynald Showers, believing instead his own untutored, tortured rationale.

    These are horribly deceptive, because to those who are unaware, his blarney is weaving a lie by dismantling the truth. It truly grieves my spirit that his recklessness is being accepted by the Biblically uninformed as ‘plausible’; as is ever the way of a cult, and I use the word advisably and purposefully.

    People are following this personality cult, as his faulty eschatology is steadily dismantling doctrine one after the other. For example; in order to ‘prove’ the church is in the Tribulation, the ‘saints’, HAVE to be the church. To keep that error supported it tracks back to believing Israel and the Church are one and the same, without distinction, in his own personal brand of ‘replacement theology’. Eternal Security is also denied adding ‘works’ to the Gospel.

    When he was idling along on his blog it was only a few being misled; but now he has gone ‘international’ by using You Tube. Being deceived, he is now open to deceiving the world by gross misapplication of Scripture and vain philosophy.

    “Imminent Pre-Tribulation Rapture Proved Wrong” by ‘shofaruk’.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhWj6e89ZOs

    Sue

  • I second Sue, Anonymous, the parting will be short and the joy eternal.

    Sue, out of the mouth of babes… my elementary age kids observed at last night's Bible reading that since there are 7 Seal, 7 Bowl and 7 Trumpet Judgments = 777 = God's number = God's signature on the whole Tribulation. Hence, all the judgments are the wrath of God and therefore the Rapture is Pre-Trib. My eyes bugged out of my head. I'm sure you all have heard that argument, but I'd never thought of that obvious and simple concept. Kid's do understand God better, don't they?

  • Jason,

    One thing I can't wait for – getting a new name. I HATE my name! (William) I truly hate it because I'm a junior (Jr.). I feel like I don't have my own identity. (What's worse – my Dad is NOT a good person so I don't like being named after him).

    Darek*

    *I asked my Mom what she would have named me if it wasn't after my Dad and she said Darek (that's how she spelled it).

  • Hello Nathan

    The dear little loves; that is STUNNING! God bless their hearts, the truth is so obvious to them.

    Tell them the queen mum is delighted with them and will give them all a knighthood when her sword gets back from the cleaners.

    On second thoughts, better make that a group hug as it may take some time getting the rust off. 😀

    Love, hugs and blessings to them and their smashing teacher.
    Sue
    x

    P.S. I see we have our very own prince William – my dad was a Billy / William as well. I like it 🙂

Leave a Reply to Expected Imminently Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *