The bible does not give us very much detail about what heaven is like and the reason for that is simple. God never created us to dwell there, for God created man to dwell on the earth and so earth is our home. And so it is in God’s new earth and the New Jerusalem which has been built by God that we will spend eternity. That is why there is far more detail in the bible telling us about God’s new earth and the New Jerusalem. However, while they wait for the time when they will once again return to the earth with our Lord Jesus, heaven is the temporary home of all believers who have fallen asleep in the Lord. And so we will examine in this section, just what scripture does reveal to us regarding what heaven is like for the saints.
Revelation 14:13 “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' ““Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them.”
Heaven for the believer, who dies in the Lord, is a place of comfort and rest. In the scripture quoted above, the Lord told the apostle John to write to the church and tell us that all who died in Him from that time onwards were blessed. The Lord said that the reason that we are blessed is because we would rest from our labours. Notice that our works will follow us. The reason our works will follow us is because our works will only be judged at the regeneration. Until that time all saints in heaven are resting from their works.
Revelation 6:9-11 “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. (10) And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (11) Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”
In the scripture quoted above we see the Lord’s martyrs under the altar of God, which would include Able, the eleven of the apostles of the Lamb (John died of old age), the apostle Paul and every other saint that has been martyred for the Lord over the ages. Because they are destined for tremendous blessing on the day of the Lord, they are separated in heaven from the rest of the Lord’s saints. But notice that they too have been resting until now, and they are told to continue resting until their number is completed, which will only take place at the end of the age, for many of the Lord’s saints are still to be martyred in the final years of this current age. Nevertheless the point remains that none of the Lord’s martyrs are doing any work in heaven, for their works have ended and they are resting from their labours.
Michael E.B. Maher
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