Let’s Talk About Heaven: Our Renewed Heavenly Body

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible. Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog.

Go to harvest.org. We all like to watch the story of someone who discovers they have superpowers, like Superman or Wonder Woman or whoever the character might be. Well, really, you're going to have superpowers. Pastor Greg Laurie says when we get to heaven, we'll be the same person we are today, only better, much better. You will be given a new body, but it will still be you. It will just be the radically upgraded version of you.

Ever fallen for that ruse at the supermarket? You see a package marked new and improved, and so you buy it. Then you get it home and taste it, and it isn't new or improved. Well, as believers, there'll come a time when we're new and improved for real. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out just how we'll change personally when we get to heaven.

Some things will stay the same, and so much will be radically upgraded. A While Back Newsweek did a cover story with the title Visions of Heaven. It revealed that 76 percent of Americans believe in heaven, and 71 percent of them believe it's an actual place.

But after that, the agreement began to break down. 19 percent thought heaven looked like a garden. 13 percent thought it was like a city.

17 percent did not know, and those that did not believe in it sneakingly wished there was one. Now, another poll done by the Pew Research Center had people talk about heaven and hell and define it. Their definition was heaven is a place where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded, and hell was a place where people who had led bad lives and died would be eternally punished. So right out of the gate, people have it wrong. That is not what heaven is, and that is not what hell is.

Now, here's the problem. People say they believe in heaven, and that idea of heaven comes uniquely from the Bible. So if you're going to say you believe in heaven, you need to read the rest of what the Bible says, right? Because the Bible tells us there is a heaven. We would not believe in heaven if we were not for the teaching of Scripture.

To say you believe in heaven but then not read what the Bible has to say about it would be like saying, well, I believe in Disneyland, but I do not agree with the price for getting in, and I would be with you on that, and I do not believe that the location is accurate. So I'm going to go to where I think Disneyland is, and I will enter the way that I want to enter Disneyland. Okay, whatever. So you're going to end up in some lame putt-putt golf course with one broken ride.

I don't know. But if you happen to make it to the Magic Kingdom, you've got to go in the Disney way, or you don't go in at all. If you try to just walk in, of course, you'll be stopped, arrested by the Disney police.

You'll be put in Disney jail, and I don't know what happens after that. But the idea is that you have to do it the right way. You have to pay the admission price. Well, in the same way, you say, well, I'm going to go to heaven, and I'll do it my way. Well, no you won't.

You do it God's way. All right, well, what's the admission price? Trust me when I tell you, you can't afford it. That's the bad news. You can't afford the price to get into heaven.

Here's the good news. The price has been paid. Admission is free through Jesus Christ. That's how you get into heaven.

Because of His death for us on the cross. So, as to good people going to heaven and bad people going to hell, listen to this. There will be people in hell who would be defined by some as good people. And in the same way, there will be people in heaven who lived bad lives.

Let me say that again. There will be people in hell who would be identified by some as good people. And there will be people in heaven who lived bad lives. But they repented of their sin.

How does this work? Being good doesn't get you to heaven. There's only one way to get to heaven. Being forgiven. Heaven is not for good people. It's for forgiven people. But then again, you can be a good person, relatively speaking.

But you're not good enough. And you could think you would get to heaven on your own good works. And of course you won't. And that's how you might end up in hell. Okay, so now let's answer some often asked questions about the afterlife. Number one, what will our new bodies be like in heaven? Number two, will we know each other in heaven? Number three, will we be married in heaven? Number four, what will we do in heaven? And fifth and lastly, and this is often asked, do people in heaven know what's going on with us on earth? Alright.

So let's go question by question. And by the way, in our last message, let's talk about heaven. We discovered of course heaven is an actual place.

Not a state of mind. It's a real place. Jesus said in John 14, I've gone to prepare a place for you. Jesus tells us and the rest of the Bible tells us, heaven is a city. Heaven is a country. Heaven is a paradise. It doesn't say it's like a city. There is city in heaven.

It doesn't say it's like country. It is a country. It doesn't say it's like a paradise. It is a paradise. In fact, it's better than any city you've been to on earth.

It's better than any country you have ever visited. And it is better than any paradise that you can imagine. Whatever you've experienced on this earth, the best of the best of the best doesn't even come close to the glory of heaven.

Why? Because earth at its best is a pale imitation of the real thing which is heaven. Heaven is not a watered down version of earth.

It's kind of the other way around. And so whatever you are thinking, it's going to be far better than you ever imagined. Alright. So what about these new bodies the Bible talks about?

What will they be like? Short answer. Amazing. You know people love these superhero movies. You know you have the DC Universe. You have the Marvel Universe.

And there are just so many of them coming out. And we all like to watch the story of someone who discovers they have super powers. Like Spiderman or Superman or Wonder Woman or whoever the character might be. Because they can fly. They have superhuman strength.

They can do all kinds of amazing things. Well really you are going to have super powers if you will one day in this new body that God is going to give you. Why? Because your resurrection body is going to be like the resurrection body of Jesus Christ. So let's think about that for a moment. Jesus was crucified on a cross.

Right? He rose again from the dead three days later. Did He rise in a physical body? Yes or no?

The answer is yes. And so in a physical body was He a different person or was He still Jesus? Well He was still Jesus. In fact He even said to His disciples, It is I not another. To the point He still bore in His hands and in His feet the marks of the crucifixion. Remember when He appeared to the disciples in the upper room He extended His hands to Thomas who was a bit doubtful. And said go ahead and put your hands in the wounds in my hands.

And of course Thomas didn't need any more proof. So He was still Jesus but He did things in this resurrected body that He did not do before. It is not that He couldn't have done them before but He didn't. And so afterwards He did some unusual things like appearing in a room without using the door.

That is pretty cool. How about flying? Well Jesus never flew.

Yeah He flew. What do you think the ascension is? He just went right up to heaven. So why do I bring this up? Because the Bible tells us over in 1 John 3 where the children of God it hasn't been revealed what we will be but we know when He is revealed.

Listen. We shall be like Him for we will see Him as He is. By the way Jesus ate in His resurrection body.

And I don't think it was like translucent. You know you could see it go down His throat or something. But to prove He was in a real body He said here give me something to eat. Here here is a piece of fish. Awesome.

You know just jot it down. But He was in a real body and we will get to this a little bit more but you will be given a new body but it will still be you. It will just be the radically upgraded version of you.

Ok. Here is what the Bible says. 1 Corinthians 15. Our bodies now disappoint us. Can I get an amen on that?

Amen. But when they are raised they will be full of glory. They are weak now but when they are raised they will be full of power. They are natural bodies now but when they are raised they will be spiritual bodies. So listen to this. Our new bodies that God will give to us later will be both different and at the same time the same as our body here.

By that I mean you are still you as I have already said but again a radically upgraded version of you. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It is a Bible study. It is a worship service. It is church in your home. Maybe you are not able to get out to your church right now. If so join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world.

Listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg is addressing a number of questions people have about heaven. The first one, what will our bodies be like in eternity? Let's continue with the biblical insight. Okay so Jesus says in John 14, In My Father's house are many mansions or dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you. If I go I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am you may be also. In My Father's house are many mansions. So sometimes people say I can't wait to get to My mansion in heaven.

Will we actually go to mansions? It reminds me of a story of a minister and a New York cab driver that both died and went to heaven on the same day. So Peter meets them both and the cab driver is first in line and Peter says welcome to heaven. I am in charge of housing. So I hear you are a cab driver in New York.

I says yes sir. He says all right well I have got your house picked out for you. You see that mansion over there in the hill.

That is yours. Oh the cab driver was so excited. He ran off to his mansion. The minister standing behind him stood a little taller. Oh because he was a famous preacher. Peter says yeah I hear you are a well-known minister.

Yes I am. Ok well you see that little shack down there in the valley with the roof coming apart. That is your place. What do you mean that is my place? I preach the gospel the minister said. I taught the Word of God.

I was a holy man of God. Yeah whatever. That is your place. It doesn't make sense.

I should be given a better place. Bottom line. When that cab driver drove people prayed. But when you preached people slept. He gets a mansion. That is a true story by the way.

No it isn't. So what is this mansion referring to in John 14? A couple of options. One it may be our new body that God will give to us. II Corinthians 5 one in the New Living Translation says, When this earthly tent we live in is taken down. When we die and leave these bodies we have a home in heaven. An eternal body made for us by God Himself. We will put on the new body like new clothes.

Ok so it could be a description of our new body. But it could be a house. I mean literally a house in heaven.

Why not? Is not heaven a city? Is not heaven a country? Is not heaven a place? So we could have a house.

And by the way. We are told over in Isaiah 65 21. In the millennium.

That is when Christ is ruling on the earth. That we will all build our own houses. Ok so it might be an actual house.

And I love how Jesus says. My fathers house. So that suggests spaciousness. Big place.

But then He says. In my fathers house are many rooms. That sort of suggests coziness.

Right? I mean even if you are in a palatial estate. You can't live in 300 rooms at once. You are going to find a nice little spot. And sit down in front of a fire.

And have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea or whatever. You know so. The idea is that it is a real place waiting for you. What it is exactly.

I don't know. But it is going to be amazing. We know that. And you know I will tell you what. The thing is with life.

As you get older it seems like it goes more quickly. You know. This is true. Billy Graham was once asked the question. What has been your greatest surprise of life?

And he said in response. The brevity of it. And there is a reason that it seems like time goes faster as you get older. I read that they did a study on it.

And what it revealed was. The reason it seems like time goes faster when you are older. Is because you get into routines.

Right. Older people like to go to the same restaurant. Sit in the same spot.

And order the same thing over and over again. But when you are young you like adventure. You like things happening. You like to try new things. When you are older. Not so much.

Right. And so there are tell tell signs you are getting old. You know you are getting old when you go to pull up the wrinkled socks you are wearing.

And you realize you are not wearing socks. That is not a good sign. You know you are getting old when your pacemaker opens the garage door accidentally.

But hey blessed are the pacemakers. Right. Ok. So you know you are getting old when you bend down to tie your shoe and you wonder what else you can do while you are down there. Right. Is that not true? I am down here already.

Is there anything else I can do? Because I don't want to come down here again. Right.

So but to the point here. Life goes by so quickly. But here is the good news.

Though your body is wearing out like a tent which is not meant to last forever. God is going to resurrect it. And your soul will live forever and your body will be resurrected. So now when we are in heaven will we know each other in heaven? Do you think you are going to be more stupid in heaven than you are on earth?

Maybe I should ask the question well do you know each other on earth? Well then you are going to of course know each other in heaven in the same way. You know on the Mount of Transfiguration remember Jesus was transfigured. He shined like the sun. On one side was Moses. And on the other side was Elijah. Now how do we know it was Moses and Elijah?

Were they wearing little name tags? Hi. I am Moses. Did Moses was he holding the tablets?

Here. That's Moses. Elijah calling fire down. No.

I don't think so. Somehow they were recognizable as they made this guest appearance if you will on each side of Christ. So I think when you get to heaven yes we will see each other. Yes we will know one another. We are told in 1 Corinthians 13 we will know as we are known. We will know everything we know on earth except more.

We will know everything we know on earth but with divine perspective now. Various people have this mistaken notion that when you get to heaven you have some kind of a brain wipe. Like remember that movie Men in Black. They would do that little thing and they forgot everything they saw. I think people think when they are in heaven they are just like it is almost like heaven is a giant lobotomy or something. No I want to know. There are memories of earth and heaven.

Oh that can't be true Greg because we would be sorrowful. Well you have perspective. See I understand things now. How can I be rewarded for something I did on earth if there is not a memory of what I did on earth? So you are going to remember earthly things but now with that supernatural perspective.

There is no break in my love for my loved ones. Death breaks ties on earth but renews them in heaven. For the same people we were here. Pastor Greg Laurie with great insights on what's to come when we reach our heavenly home.

Maybe these are questions you have wondered about. Pastor Greg will have more answers as he continues this message including some thoughts before we close today here on A New Beginning. But if you missed any part of this insight you can get a replay at harvest.org or download an MP3 for a spouse or a friend. Just go to harvest.org and look for the message title Let's Talk About Heaven Part 2 or for a CD copy call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. And then we're excited to make available Pastor Greg's book on the Jesus movement. The spiritual awakening of the 60s and 70s.

The book is called Jesus Revolution. And you know Pastor Greg what would a real revival look like? And more importantly what's our part in bringing it to pass? Well I would say revival starts with you Dave. It starts with me. It starts with us.

It starts with the person listening to me right now. You know it's very easy to point the finger and say the church should do this and the country should do that. Well let the awakening begin with you. You know there's five takeaway truths that I saw in the Jesus movement.

Five distinct features of it. Number one, when we came to church there was a sense of anticipation. We expected that we were going to hear from God.

And you could sense that anticipation in the air and openness. You know in the book of Acts we read of the early church and it says they received the word with gladness. You know a lot of times we talk about the fact of how we need anointed preaching.

True. But we also need anointed listening. Giving our attention with intention.

There was a sense of anticipation. Number two, the word of God was proclaimed in every service. At Calvary Chapel where I experienced the Jesus movement there was always a Bible study. We always opened up the word of God.

It wasn't about emotional experiences though some had them. But it was about what does the Bible say. And the Bible was so relevant to our lives.

It always is but we believe the Bible is something to say to us. Number three, there was heartfelt and passionate worship. You know and new worship choruses being born before our very eyes effectively contemporary Christian music and contemporary Christian worship were starting at this moment.

And up to that point it was not common to see drums and electric guitars and such in church sanctuaries but that's how our songs are coming to us sort of through the musical culture of that day. And also there was a sense that Christ could come back at any moment. We believed in the return of Jesus Christ and that belief permeated what we said and did. And I think it's so important for us to understand that the message of scripture is Christ is coming back so be ready. And any theology that would cause you to not be wanting to see God return, any theology that would cause you to not believe Jesus could come back is not a good theology. Because we're told in verse John, he that has this hope that is the hope of the return of Christ purifies himself even as he is pure.

So it has a spiritually purifying effect on your life. And the last trait, the fifth trait was evangelism. We proclaim the gospel all the time. People came to Christ in pretty much every one of our services. Well listen, I think if a Christian would say I'm going to get into the word of God every day, I'm going to come with a sense of anticipation to what his word says, I'm going to believe that Jesus could return at any moment and I want to worship the Lord with fervor and I want to share the gospel, I think you'd have a personal revival. I think if a church focused on those things, they would have a revival.

So I don't think we can organize it but I think we can agonize for it. And as I've said before, the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival. So the more we learn about what God has done in the past can better prepare us for what he may want to do in the future. So I've written extensively about this in this book that is called Jesus Revolution. And also we have a special study guide that we prepared that comes with Jesus Revolution to help you dig in even deeper.

And we'll send this to you for your gift of any size. And whatever you sent will be used to further enable us to bring the gospel to people around the nation, around the world, and to teach the Word of God. So order your copy of Jesus Revolution. I pray it'll cause a revolution in your life.

Yeah, that's right. Revival begins in the house of God. And we'll be glad to send you a copy of the book and the new study guide to thank you for your investment in these daily studies.

It's only through listener support that we can make these programs available. And we're so thankful to those who do support us regularly. In fact, if you'd like to support us on a regular basis, when you're in touch, ask about the special ways we thank our Harvest partners.

But with your first gift right now, we'll send you Jesus Revolution with our thanks. So write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. And we won't be mentioning this much longer, so contact us soon. Well, we've been talking about heaven today and what things will be the same and what things will be different when we get there.

Pastor Greg closes with some thoughts on what we'll know in our eternal home. I've used this illustration before, but I only have five illustrations, so I return to it. So one of my grandkids might be playing with a toy and it breaks, a doll. The head comes off. And they're freaking out because, you know, a headless doll is alarming in many ways.

Even to me. Papa, the doll's head came off. I'll fix it. And then I'm trying to screw the, which is not a, I'll go away when I'm doing it because it's not a good thing to watch.

I can't get the head to screw back in. So I'll say, well, don't worry about it. Papa, the doll, they're so unhappy, I'll take it. Don't worry about it. It'll be okay.

But Papa, it'll be okay. Why? Because I know in a cupboard I have five more of those dolls. Because I'm smart and I plan ahead.

So the reason I can say it's okay is because I know it's going to work out better for them. And so in the same way we're here in this life and we say, God, what are you doing? God, why aren't you paying attention?

Lord, where are you? The Lord says it's okay. Well, yeah, it's okay. You say it's okay. You're in heaven. Yeah, I'm in heaven. And I know it's going to be okay. And you'll see it one day. So in heaven I have memory of things on earth, but with perspective.