Have you ever said, “Well, it’s not my first choice, but considering my only other option, I guess I’ll go with it”?
This is the kind of logic we typically use when it comes to taxes. Is paying taxes your first choice of how you want to spend your money? Paying taxes is not your first choice, but what’s the other option? Jail for tax evasion. So you think about your two options—paying taxes or going to jail—and even though paying taxes wasn’t your first choice, you’ll go with it, because it’s definitely better than the other option.
This is the kind of logic you might use when it comes to turkey bacon. Your doctor says that you need to stop eating bacon. That’s a problem, because your first choice for breakfast is bacon and eggs. Your first choice for going out to eat is a Sonic bacon cheeseburger. Your first choice for a snack is bacon-wrapped smokies. But, if you want to get healthy, you can’t go with your first choice. So, your choices become no bacon at all or turkey bacon. And you look at the turkey bacon and say, “Well, it’s not my first choice, but considering my only other option, I’ll go with it.”
This is often our line of reasoning when it comes to elections. Maybe the presidential election came down to two candidates you didn’t like very much (your first choice got out of the race a few months before). So, you said, “Well, this candidate isn’t my first choice, but considering the only other option, I guess I’ll go with it.”
Our first choice of destiny
When it comes to life, for a lot of us, our first choice would be to live forever. Our #1 preference would be to never die, to just keep living forever on this planet. But, of course, that’s not going to happen. The statistics on death are that 1 out of 1 person dies. So, we have to settle for a second choice. And how does our line of reasoning go? “I’d most prefer to never die and keep living forever, but that’s out of the question. So while dying and going to heaven wouldn’t probably be my first choice, considering my only other option of hell, I think I’ll go with heaven.”
Yet, along the way there have been those strange people whose first choice has been heaven. They’ve considered themselves strangers on this planet and can’t wait to go to what they feel is their true home. Here are a couple of them, one from the Old Testament and the other from the New Testament:
- (Abraham) Hebrews 11:8-16, NIV – “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going….He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God….they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
- (Paul) 2 Corinthians 5:8, NIV – “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
When God called Abraham to leave his home and travel to a new place, we expect God to fill in the blank with a destination. But God says, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). What made him go? He was looking for something better and trusted that God would take him there.
Paul talks about two possible homes: “at home in the body” and “away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Again, which home does he prefer?
We might call Abraham and Paul’s first-place preference for another home “strangeness.” The Bible calls it faith.
What makes heaven so heavenly?
What is it that makes heaven some people’s first choice and not merely what you’d choose when there aren’t any other good options?
“That’s easy,” says the lover of knowledge. “Obviously, what makes heaven so heavenly is all the knowledge we will finally get in heaven. We’ll be able to ask all our questions and get them answered at last.” “Not exactly,” says the lover of beauty. “It will be all the beautiful scenery and astounding sights.” “Actually,” says the musician. “What makes heaven so heavenly is the beautiful melodies we will hear there.” “Nope,” says the restaurant connoisseur. “What makes heaven so heavenly is the amazing food we’ll eat there.” The golfer disagrees; it’ll be the amazing golf courses. The lady from Florida who married a man who found work up in Iowa—and they have to live up there during those frigid winters—just knows that heaven will be a place of unending sunshine. The quadriplegic dreams of heaven being a place where wheelchairs are forever left behind at the gate. The deaf person dreams of being able to communicate without any hindrance. And those things are obviously what make heaven so heavenly, right? Good health, sunshine, beautiful sights, sounds, tastes, even golf courses.
Now, let’s take all of those answers, wrap them up together, and put a sticker on it that says “perfect delight.” What makes heaven so heavenly? Perfect delight.
This is the kind of answer we find in a song by Andy Griggs called “If Heaven.” Heaven is a place of fireflies on the lawn, supper on the table, cherry pie, all in a summer evening in 1985.
“Let’s take all of those answers, wrap them up together, and put a sticker on it that says ‘perfect delight.'”
More than perfect delight
Makes sense, but I don’t think it’s the right answer. Will heaven be a place of perfect delight? Absolutely: perfect health, exquisite sights, sounds, tastes. After all, it’s called the “new heaven and the new earth.” It’s creation as it was intended to be. But I don’t think “perfect delight” is quite the correct answer to the question. What makes heaven so heavenly? It’s not just a place of perfect delight. Aren’t we missing something?
If you read the lyrics to the Andy Griggs song “If Heaven,” you’ll find it talks about all sorts of delights that heaven will have: cherry pie, my hometown, fireflies, supper on the stove. And yet, what’s missing? You’ll listen to the whole song and realize, oh yeah, there’s no God. And that’s a lot of people’s view of heaven. Perfect delight, but God is left out of the picture.
You can read through the Bible and file away all the snapshots of perfect delight: streets of gold, crystal sea, precious gems, no more tears, no more death, no more pain. And it’s all exciting. But that’s not the main thing that makes heaven heaven. Don’t forget about the point of heaven: Heaven is where God is. Heaven is where God reigns.
There’s an old song by the hymn-writer Fanny Crosby called “Blessed Assurance.” There’s a line in the song “Blessed Assurance” that goes this way: “Perfect submission . . . perfect delight.”
“There’s a line in the song “Blessed Assurance” that goes this way: ‘Perfect submission . . . perfect delight.'”
Heaven is not only perfect delight; it’s also perfect submission. What do we learn about heaven from the Lord’s prayer?
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, NIV)
Heaven is where God is. Heaven is where God rules. Heaven is where God reigns. Heaven is where we submit to his kingdom, to his will.
Want verse 4? You need verse 3.
Again, heaven is a place of perfect delight. Here’s Revelation 21:4:
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, NIV)
But verse 4 comes only after verse 3:
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3, NIV)
Perfect delight, yes. But only because there is perfect submission. And if you think about it, it wouldn’t really work any other way. Any time any government has tried to create heaven on earth by kicking God and his Word out, it ends up looking a whole lot more like the other place. For instance, you might consider the Chinese people under the Communists and the people of North Korea under Kim Jung Un and the Russians under Lenin and Stalin. It was going to be heavenly, yet it ended up being hellish. You want perfect delight? Good. Don’t kick God out.
“You want perfect delight? Good. Don’t kick God out.”
More than perfect submission
So, is what makes heaven so heavenly that, in heaven, we have to submit to God? We have to do whatever he says? It doesn’t matter what we want, only what he wants? Is that what makes heaven so heavenly? Again, not exactly. Perfect submission on its own isn’t what will make heaven so heavenly, because, for a lot of people, having to submit to God isn’t heavenly at all.
In Paradise Lost, author John Milton has Satan say this: “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.” And Satan’s got a lot of people convinced that he’s right, that it’s better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.
Everyone wants Revelation 21:4 (no more death, crying, or pain). But who really wants Revelation 21:3 (“God himself will be with them and be their God”)?
Revelation 21:3 is precisely what people throughout history have not naturally wanted. God dwells with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and they decide they prefer forbidden fruit to God. Fast forward until God comes to his chosen people and says, “Israel, I’ll be your king.” “Um. No thanks. We’d rather have a human king.” Fast forward to when God puts on flesh and dwells among us in the person of Jesus. We respond by killing him. People don’t naturally want God living that close.
“People don’t naturally want God living that close.”
How can we experience perfect submission and perfect delight?
What makes heaven heavenly isn’t just the perfect delight, because you’ve got to keep in mind the glory of God. What makes heaven heavenly isn’t just the perfect submission, because you’ve got to keep in mind the arrogance of humans. It’s not an either-or; it’s a both-and.
How can those two be brought together? To where we experience the delights of heaven and are completely submitted to God? Heaven is both perfect submission and perfect delight, but how can that be? One word. It comes down to the word righteousness.
For the person who is truly righteous, heaven will be perfect submission and perfect delight. For righteousness is loving what God loves, desiring what God desires. It’s where your heart beats like his heart beats.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:6-8, NIV)
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
How can heaven be both perfect submission and perfect delight? Righteousness. What makes heaven so heavenly? Righteousness. Why did Jesus come? What was he trying to accomplish in us? Righteousness. What’s the point of coming to church every week, the small groups, the fellowship? Why do you come when there are so many other things you could do than church? What’s the point? Transformation into righteousness.
If you allow God to change the real you—and not just so that you look the right way or say the right things or believe the right beliefs—then you’re going to love heaven. The perfect submission will be perfect delight.
What is righteousness?
Righteousness is something God gives to you and something God grows inside you.
Something God gives to you:
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17, NIV)
Something God grows inside you:
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11, NIV)
As disciples of Jesus, let’s not stop with receiving God’s gift of righteousness when he saved us from our sins by grace. Let’s let the Holy Spirit grow righteousness inside us. How? By letting the Spirit lead us as we trust and follow Jesus.
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
In The Divine Conspiracy, Christian philosopher Dallas Willard asked this: “What would one do in heaven with a debauched character or a hate-filled heart? Surely something must be done now.” New York Yankee baseball player Mickey Mantle was a heavy drinker all his life. He got to the end of his life and remarked that he would have taken better care of himself if he’d only known how long he was going to live. He would have taken better care of himself if he’d only known how many years he would live to be. Willard comments: “Mickey Mantle gives us a profound lesson. How should we take care of ourselves when we are never to cease?”
You and I will never actually cease. Somewhere we will live forever. Just what kind of person do you want to be for eternity? Letting the Holy Spirit grow righteousness inside you as you trust and follow Jesus means that for you heaven will be heavenly. But it won’t just be a matter of you seeing heaven someday and enjoying it. It will also be a matter of others seeing you, and, in seeing you, they’ll see something heavenly. It’ll be as if you were some kind of window through which they can see into heaven. And by the grace of God, through you, people will begin warming up to the idea of calling heaven home.
