Dear Editor,
I look forward to enjoying glory with the Lord forever, but second guessing almost any other detail about eternity seems problematic. Surely Scripture doesn’t clearly specify much more than that we ‘will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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’ (Rev. 21). The wonderful thing about that statement is the way it thrills people from all cultures across all ages.
I’m puzzled that Chris Sinkinson last month is confident there will be animals there – on the basis of Isaiah 11:6-8, which could be interpreted in a number of different ways. There are far bigger unknowns than ‘will our pets be in heaven?’ – as our church recently discussed midweek on ‘Why we should long for heaven!’. Questions like ‘will I know my spouse’ lead on to wondering how it will be for the person whose spouse is unconverted, or someone with a child who rejected the Lord. How will we be able to selectively remember all the good things, without the pain of closely linked sorrows? If we try to imagine glory as like this earth but better, we come up against mind-boggling imponderables. The very questions are misplaced – like the Sadducees’ trick question regarding the bride who successively married seven brothers (Luke 20:27-40)
