by Randy Alcorn
Commentators routinely suggest, "Of course, these are not actual streets of gold." But why do they say that? In part, at least, because of their christoplatonic assumptions. Disembodied spirits don't need streets to walk on. Incorporeal realms don't have real cities with real streets, real gates, and real citizens. But isn't John's description of gates and streets further evidence that Heaven is a physical realm designed for human citizens? Why wouldn't a resurrected world inhabited by resurrected people have actual streets and gates?
Likewise, most books on Heaven argue that the city cannot really be the size it's depicted as being in Revelation 21:15-17: "The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. . . . He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using."
Twelve thousand stadia equates to fourteen hundred miles in each direction. According to one writer on Heaven, "It would dishonor the heavenly Architect to contend that its dimensions were meant to be taken literally"363 He doesn't say why it would dishonor God, and I have no idea why it would. But, as usual, taking Scripture allegorically or figuratively is considered the high ground, whereas literal interpretation is considered naive or crass.
If these dimensions are not literal, why does Scripture specifically give the dimensions and then say "by man's measurement, which the angel was using" (Revelation 21:17)? The emphasis on "man's measurement" almost seems to be an appeal: "Please believe it—the city is really this big!"
Suppose God wanted to convey that the city really is fourteen hundred miles wide and deep and high. What else would we expect him to say besides what this passage says? Is it possible for God to make such a city? Obviously—he's the creator of the universe. Is it possible for people in glorified bodies to dwell in such a city? Yes.
I have no problem believing that the numbers have symbolic value, with the multiples of twelve suggesting the perfection of God's bride. However, most commentators act as if we must choose between literal dimensions and ones with symbolic significance. But we don't. My wedding ring is a great symbol—but it's also a real object.
Some argue, "But this city rises above the earth's oxygen level." Can't God put oxygen fourteen hundred miles high on the New Earth if he wishes? Or can't he make it so we don't have to breathe oxygen? Such things are no problem for God.
Some argue that nothing could be that big. It would cover two-thirds of the continental United States. If the great pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China amaze you, imagine a city that extends five miles into the sky—let alone fourteen hundred miles! Envision the city disappearing into the clouds.
Some claim anything that big would weigh so much it would disrupt the earth's orbit. Of course, the New Earth could be much bigger than the present one. In any case, issues of mass and gravity are child's play to the Creator.
That the dimensions are equal on all sides is reminiscent of the Holy of Holies in Israel's Temple (1 Kings 6:20). This likely symbolizes God's presence, because the city is called his new dwelling place (Revelation 21:2-3). By suggesting there's symbolism, am I contradicting my suggestion that the measurements are literal? Not at all. Many physical objects, including the Ark of the Covenant and the high priest's breastplate and its stones, had symbolic significance.
Is it possible that the city's dimensions aren't literal? Of course. The doctrine of the New Earth certainly doesn't stand or fall with the size of the New Jerusalem. However, my concern is this: If we assume the city's dimensions can't be real, people will likely believe the city isn't real. If it doesn't have its stated dimensions, then it's a short step to believing it doesn't have any dimensions at all. Then we think of the New Earth as not being a resurrected realm suited for resurrected people.
Christoplatonism produces certain interpretive assumptions, which in turn reinforce the Christoplatonism that Scripture argues against.
SUBJECTIVE INTERPRETATION
An interpretive approach that makes everything symbolic also makes everything subjective. It will never allow us to break free of our assumptions and see what the Bible really says about Heaven, our bodily resurrection, and life on the New Earth. If we assume that our heavenly bodies won't be real, and Heaven itself won't be a tangible, physical place, and we won't really eat in Heaven, live in physical dwellings, or rule over actual cities or nations, then we'll automatically interpret all Scripture references to these things as figures of speech—which is exactly what interpreters often do.
What happens in figurative interpretation? The river going through the New Jerusalem becomes God's grace, the tree becomes Christ, the city walls become security. Or the river becomes Christ, the tree God's grace, and the city walls God's omnipotence. Or river, tree, and walls all become Christ. Or the fruit from the tree of life becomes the fruit of the Spirit or the attributes of God, and so on. But if the text can be said to mean everything, it ceases to mean anything. One cannot have serious interpretive discussions with those who interpret all references to the New Earth figuratively. Why? Because as soon as you cite a passage depicting anything tangible, they will dismiss it by saying, "You can't take that literally."
Suppose someone believes that the tree of life symbolizes the cross of Christ, and its fruit is a blood-colored liquid. They decide that the tree bearing fruit means Jesus hangs on the cross every day in Heaven, his blood drips from the fruit and flows into the river, and we go to the river to drink daily of his freshly shed blood.
I don't believe this heresy—I just made it up to illustrate the point that once we allow symbolism and allegory and figurative interpretation to reign, "making it up" becomes routine. Anyone can believe and defend anything they want. Interpreters can twist any passage into heresy, as Origen and those of his interpretive school often did. Cults are built on this approach to biblical interpretation as people are taught "hidden meanings." "Experts" teach people hidden meanings, which conveniently correspond to whatever the expert believes or wants others to believe. Even within the church, people may be intimidated into believing that they're not smart enough to understand a text's "real meaning."
Interpreters end up doing exactly what Revelation warns us not to do—taking away from and adding to the words of the prophecy (Revelation 22:18-19). We take away from Scripture by denying its apparent meaning. We add to it by supplying new meanings not supported by the text. When I mentioned the tree of life in Revelation 22, someone told me, "But the tree of life is Jesus, not an actual tree." Was the tree of life in the Garden of Eden also Jesus, and not an actual tree? When Adam and Eve ate its fruit, were they picking Jesus or eating him? If it was a real tree on the original Earth, why wouldn't it be a real tree on the New Earth? If the rivers that ran through Eden were actual rivers, why wouldn't the river flowing through the city in Revelation 22 also be an actual river?
That we'll forever enjoy a resurrected life on a New Earth isn't true because we want it to be. It's true because God says it is. Paying attention to context and taking other Scriptures into account, we need to draw God's truth from the text, not superimpose our preconceived ideas onto it.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
THE SUBJECT O F HEAVEN
1 J. Sidlow Baxter, The Other Side of Death: What the Bible Teaches about Heaven and Hell (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1987), 237.
2 Harvey Minkoff, The Book of Heaven (Owings Mills, Md.: Ottenheimer, 2001), 87.
3 Edward Donnelly, Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell (Edinburgh: Banner ofTruth,2001),64.
4 Don Richardson, Eternity in Their Hearts, rev. ed. (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1984).
5 Spiros Zodhiates, Life after Death (Chattanooga: AMG, 1977), 100-101.
6 Ulrich Simon, Heaven in the Christian Tradition (London: Wyman and Sons, 1958), 218.
7 Aristides, Apology, 15.
8 Cyprian, Mort
ality, chap. 26.
9 Basilea Schlink, What Comes after Death? (Carol Stream, 111.: Creation House, 1976), 20.
10 C J. Mahaney, "Loving the Church" (taped message, Covenant Life Church, Gaithersburg, Md., n.d.); read the story of Florence Chadwick at http://www.vanguard.edu/vision2010.
CHAPTER 1
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAVEN?
11 Ola Elizabeth Wmslow, Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings (New York: New American Library, 1966), 142.
12 Jonathan Edwards, "The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1722—23)," JonathanEdwards.com, http:// wwwJonathanedwards.com/text/Personal/resolut.htrn; see also Stephen Nichols, ed.,Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions and Advice to Young Converts (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2001).
13 Blaise Pascal, Pensees, trans. W. F. Trotter, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, http://www.ccel.Org/p/pascal/pensees/cache/pensees.pdf, section VII, article 425.
14 Barry Morrow, Heaven Observed (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2001), 89.
15 John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire: Searchingfor the Life We've Only Dreamed 0/"(Nashville: Nelson, 2000), 111.
16 Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1996), 6.
17 Mark Twain, quoted in Charles Ferguson Ball, Heaven (Wheaton, 111.: Victor, 1980), 19.
18 Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, April 25, morning reading.
19 J. C Ryle, Heaven (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2000), 19.
20 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 2 (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1942).
21 W. G. T Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.).
22 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible, vol. 3, The Church and the Last Things (Wheaton, 111.: Crossway, 2003), 246-48.
23 A. J. Conyers, The Eclipse of Heaven (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity, 1992), 21.
24 Ibid., 58.
25 K. Connie Kang, "Next Stop, the Pearly Gates . . . or Hell?" Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2003.
26 Ibid.
27 John Baillie, And the Life Everlasting (London: Oxford University Press, 1936), 15.
28 C S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Collier Books, 1970), 151-61.
CHAPTER 2
IS HEAVEN BEYOND OUR IMAGINATION?
29 Alister E. McGrath,^ Brief History of Heaven (Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003), 5.
30 Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans, and ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964—76), 2:288.
31 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York Collier Books, 1960), 118.
32 C. S. Lewis, "Bfuspels and Flalanspheres: A Semantic Nightmare," quoted in Walter Hooper, ed., Selected Literary Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969).
33 Francis Schaeffer,Art and the Bible (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity, 1973), 61.
CHAPTER 3
IS HEAVEN OUR DEFAULT DESTINATION . . . OR IS HELL?
34 K. Connie Kang, "Next Stop, the Pearly Gates . . . or Hell?" Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2003.
35 Dante Alighieri, Inferno, canto 3, line 9.
36 Clark Pinnock, "The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent," Criswell Theological Review 4 (1990): 246-47,253.
37 W. G. T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment (1885; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1986), 153.
38 C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefy on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1963), 76.
39 Dorothy Sayers, A Matter of Eternity, ed. Rosamond Kent Sprague (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), 86.
40 C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York Macmillan, 1962), 118.
41 E. Allison Peers, trans, and ed., The Complete Works of St. Teresa (London: Sheed and Ward, n.d.).
CHAPTER 4
CAN YOU KNOW YOU'RE G O I N G T O HEAVEN?
42 Ruthanna C. Metzgar, from her story "It's Not in the Book!" copyright © 1998 by Ruthanna C.
Metzgar. Used by permission. For the full story in Ruthanna's own words, see Eternal Perspective Ministries, http://www.epm.org/articles/metzgar.html.
43 Ron Rhodes, The Undiscovered Country: Exploring the Wonder of Heaven and the Afterlife (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1960), 39-40.
44 C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 147.
CHAPTER 5
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE PRESENT HEAVEN?
45 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1158.
46 Anthony A. Hoekema, "Heaven: Not Just an Eternal Day Off," Christianity Today (June 6, 2003), http://www.christianitytoday.eom/ct/2003/122/54.0.html.
47 Salem Kirban, What Is Heaven Like? (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Second Coming, 1991), 13.
48 "Sight Unseen," World (November 8, 2003): 13; see the article "One Unseen Divinity?
Ridiculous! Billions of Unseen Universes? Sure, Why Not?" discussed at "Easterblogg," The New Republic Online, http://www.tnr.com/easterbrookmhtml?week=2003-10-21.
49 Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1159.
CHAPTER 6
IS THE PRESENT HEAVEN A PHYSICAL PLACE?
50 John Milton, Paradise Lost, b k 5, lines 574—76.
51 C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefy on Prayer (New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1963), 84.
52 Randy Alcorn, Safely Home (Wheaton, 111.: Tyndale House, 2001), 376-77.
53 Peter Toon, Heaven and Hell: A Biblical and Theological Overview (Nashville: Nelson, 1986), 26.
54 Alister E. McGrath,^ Brief History of Heaven (Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003), 40.
55 Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans, and ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964—76), 5:767.
56 Ibid., 9:654-55.
CHAPTER 8
THIS WORLD IS NOT OUR HOME . . . OR IS IT?
57 Douglas Connelly, The Promise of Heaven: Discovering Our Eternal Home (Downers Grove, 111.:
InterVarsity, 2000), 120.
58 Ibid., 121.
59 Paul Marshall with Lela Gilbert, Heaven Is Not My Home: Learning to Live in God's Creation (Nashville: Word, 1998), 11.
60 Gary Moon, Homesick for Eden (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Publications, 1997).
61 John Eldredge, The fourney of Desire: Searchingfor the Life We've Only Dreamed Of {Nashville: Nelson, 2000), x.
62 Ibid., 104-5.
63 Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 1232.
64 Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology (Downers Grove, 111: InterVarsity, 1981), 880.
65 Walton J. Brown, Home at Last (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1983), 145.
66 Marshall with Gilbert, Heaven Is Not My Home, 247, 249.
CHAPTER 9
WHY IS EARTH'S REDEMPTION ESSENTIAL TO GOD'S PLAN?
67 C. S. Lewis, Christian Refections, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 33.
68 Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basicsfor a Reformational Worldview (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 58.
69 Philip P. Bliss, "Hallelujah, What a Savior!" International Lessons Monthly, 1875.
70 Wolters, Creation Regained, 62.
71 Ibid., 58-59.
72 Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans, and ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964—76), 1:686.
73 J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966), 300-301.
74 David Chilton, Paradise Restored (Fort Worth: Dominion Press, 1987), 23, 25.
75 The Westminster Shorter Catechism may be viewed online: "Westminster Shorter Catechism with Proof Texts," Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics, http://www.reformed.org/ documents/WSC_frames.html?wsc_text=WSC.html
76 In my summary of Isaiah 60,1 am indebted to Richard Mouw's When the Kings Come Marching In (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
77 Mouw, When the
Kings Come, 5—21.
78 Ibid., 12-15.
79 A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology: A Course of Popular Lectures (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1976), 399-402.
CHAPTER 10
WHAT WILL LT MEAN FOR THE CURSE TO BE LIFTED?
80 Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 277.
81 Maltbie D. Babcock, "This Is My Father's World," 1901.
82 Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basicsfor a Reformational Worldview (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 64, 71.
CHAPTER 11
WHY IS RESURRECTION SO IMPORTANT?
83 Marcus J. Borg and N. T. Wright, The Meaning offesus: Two Visions (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 129-31.
84 Time (March 24, 1997): 75, quoted in Paul Marshall with Lela Gilbert, Heaven Is Not My Home: Learning to Live in God's Creation (Nashville: Word, 1998), 234.
85 R. A. Torrey, Heaven or Hell (New Kensington, Pa.: Whitaker House, 1985), 68-69.
86 Anthony A. Hoekema, "Heaven: Not Just an Eternal Day Off," Christianity Today (June 6, 2003), http://www.christianitytoday.eom/ct/2003/122/54.0.html.
87 Herman Bavinck, The Last Things: Hope for This World and the Next, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 157.
88 Ibid., 158.
89 Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 251.
90 Hank Hanegraaff, Resurrection (Nashville: Word, 2000), 68-69.
91 Peter Toon, Longing for Heaven: A Devotional Look at the Life after Death (New York: Macmillan, 1986), 141.
92 The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. XXXI, "Of Synods and Councils," Presbyterian Church in America, http://www.pcanet.org/general/cof_chapxxxi-xxxiii.htm.
93 Joni Eareckson Tada, Heaven: Your Real Home (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 39.
CHAPTER 12
WHY DOES ALL CREATION AWAIT O U R RESURRECTION?
94 Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basicsfor a Reformational Worldview (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 11.