You'll Still Be You

Recap

Last week we explored how heaven comes down to earth, how God makes all things new rather than making all new things. This week, I want to get personal. What will you be like in the new creation?

Here’s how Randy Alcorn puts it: "You will be you in heaven. Who else would you be? If Bob, a man on earth, is no longer Bob when he gets to heaven, then, in fact, Bob did not go to heaven."

That makes sense! If you arrive in heaven and you're not the same person with the same identity, history, and memory, then you didn't go to heaven - someone else did.

Jesus As Our Example

The resurrected Jesus gives us the clearest picture of what resurrection will be like. After He rose from the dead, He didn't become someone else. He remained who He was. In Luke 24:39 (NIV), He says to His disciples, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

He still had his scars from the crucifixion. His past mattered - it wasn't just erased or forgotten about. He recognised his friends. He remembered the relationships they'd previously had. He ate breakfast with them on the beach. He was unmistakably Jesus, just resurrected. Which means his body had been perfected, but He was and is continuous with who he'd been before.

I know I said there that His body had been perfected - that doesn’t mean He wasn’t perfect to begin with. But his body was human, it still bled, could be damaged and ultimately it could still die and decay. But now He had His resurrected body - the same body but made new. A resurrected body that wasn’t subject to death or decay anymore.

It’s easy to overlook this and say this is just for Jesus or resurrection looks like this only for Jesus. But remember, Jesus is called the firstfruits of resurrection. What does that mean? It means he's the first example of what's coming for all of us. He shows us the pattern. His experience of resurrection shows us what is to come for us.

You'll Be Uniquely You

It might be tempting to believe that we’ll lose our uniqueness and personality when we get to heaven, as we’re all made perfect we might all start to be the same kind of person. But that isn’t true to what the Bible says. 

C.S. Lewis writes about the great diversity of people God created in his book  "The Problem of Pain." He writes: 

If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created more souls than one...Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract that is to be saved, but you - you the individual reader, John Stubbs, or Janet Smith,...Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it - made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.

When you're on the new earth, for the first time you'll be the person God created you to be. In the fullest sense. When you think about what makes you, you, what do you think? It’s not just your body, it’s your memories, personality traits, gifts, passions, preferences, and interests. On the New Earth, all of these parts of you will be restored and amplified, without the brokenness caused by sin.

You’ll still have your sense of humour but perfected. Imagine how great your jokes will be! You’ll still love to paint - and if I could paint I’d be excited about what I’d be able to paint on the New Earth. But I can’t, so I’ll have to stick with wondering how I’ll use my problem solving abilities. There’ll still be puzzles in Heaven.

The things that make you uniquely you - the way you think, what makes you laugh, what you're passionate about, your specific gifting - all of that matters eternally. God fashioned you specifically, intentionally, and that specific you will live forever. That’s pretty encouraging.

What Will You Look Like?

And what about how you’ll look?

We'll have glorified bodies. I know the bible says that much. And they will be beautiful but I don’t think it’s the sort of beauty we crave on earth. After all, even the most beautiful person you've ever seen is under the curse, and therefore is just a shadow of the beauty that once characterised humanity.

So you may not finally get that nose you want, or be as tall as you’d like to be, but if you’re like me most of the changes you’d make to yourself are just based on what others say looks good or conventional ideas of beauty. And as we know the idea of beauty has changed dramatically over time. 

Instead we’ll have the kind of beauty that we actually long for, bodies that are healthy and fit and right. And we won’t be stuck in comparison cycles. In the new creation, there'll be no self-consciousness or self-hatred. We won't feel insecurity or arrogance. We'll know that the Artist has fashioned us just as He desired and that we'll never lose the health and beauty He's graciously given us.

Sometimes our bodies fail us now but that won't happen then. We don't know all the plans God has for our bodies, but we do know they'll be good. I don't think we should assume we'll be able to fly, as I don’t get the impression Adam and Eve could - but who knows? - at the very least we'll probably invent something to help us explore creation in ways we can't now. And I’m really looking forward to that.

Will We Recognise Each Other?

And maybe you’re wondering whether we’ll recognise each other.

Well, think back to the example Jesus gave us, He recognised his friends didn't he? 

Amy Carmichael, a famous missionary, asked: "Would you be yourself if you did not love and remember?"

No I don’t think I would be me. Everything points to the fact that we'll recognise each other. We'll have old friends and we’ll have eternity to make new ones. Revelation tells us that culture and nations remain, so each of our cultural heritages, our relationships, our history will all continue, just perfected.

Think about C.S. Lewis's Last Battle scene again. The characters recognised the new Narnia. It was more Narnia than before - more real, more vivid, more itself. Just as the characters recognised the new Narnia as more real than before, we'll recognise each other - and we'll be more ourselves than we've ever been, finally, truly who we were created to be.

What Will Daily Life Look Like?

So what will our daily lives look like? We'll work, and our work will be engaging and fulfilling. We'll rest - because God did before the fall, so rest isn't a consequence of sin. We will probably even sleep, since presumably Adam and Eve did.

We'll explore. The new heavens - that's not just God's dwelling place, but the atmospheric and celestial heavens too. Which means new galaxies, planets, moons, stars. If under the curse we've explored the moon, what will we be able to invent and explore when the curse is lifted? I’m excited to see that bit.

We'll learn. God alone is omniscient - which means we'll never know everything. I know we can sometimes easily fall into the idea of thinking we’ll know everything when we get to Heaven. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, and actually we wouldn’t want it to be, either. For starters, is it possible to know an eternal God fully? Instead, we'll keep growing in knowledge and understanding forever. Jonathan Edwards wrote that "the number of ideas of the saints shall increase to eternity."

We'll create. There'll be arts, entertainment, probably even sports. After all, competition itself isn't bad - it'll just be free from pride and envy. I quite fancy learning carpentry as that’s something I’m not going to have time to do here on the old Earth. You might finally read all those books you wanted to read - and yes, there’s good reason to think there'll be books in heaven. They weren't a product of the fall, and remember culture remains.

We'll enjoy good things. Things you love here on Earth too, like coffee. It's a plant, not a creation of the fall, so yes even coffee - and it'll be the best coffee imaginable. It might seem a bit hedonistic or indulgent to say we’ll get to enjoy good things in Heaven, but isn’t that exactly the point? Because all of those good things point to God. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:17: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 

Why This Changes Everything

Here's why all of this matters for how you live today: Who you're becoming now is who you'll be then, just perfected. Yes you’ll still learn and change and develop but this sets the starting point.

Sam Storms writes: "What we do now is not discarded once we enter eternity. What we learn now is not erased in heaven...What we experience in joy and understanding and insight is not destroyed, but it is the foundation on which all our eternal experience and growth is based."

What you're learning now, who you're becoming now, the skills you're developing, the character God is forming in you - it matters.

And that gives us a different perspective. When we live with this eternal perspective, we see things differently. That difficult situation at work is still difficult, but it’s given added meaning when we realise it’s teaching us patience. And that shapes who we’ll be in eternity. It’s eternal formation. It also means we get to practice for eternity now - enjoying hobbies, building relationships, investing in people, and actually taking a day off.

Nothing you're learning, nothing you're becoming is wasted. You're not killing time until heaven - you're laying the foundation for eternity.

This Week's Challenge / Question

So here's my challenge for you this week: Think about what you'd love to do if you had unlimited time and resources.

Maybe you've always wanted to learn an instrument but never had time. Or study astronomy. Or learn a new language. Or master woodworking. Or write a novel.

Here's the good news: You will have time. You'll have forever. And you can start now, even in small ways, knowing it's not wasted. You're laying a foundation.

Or maybe there's someone you keep meaning to invest in but life gets busy. Do it now. That relationship can continue forever so make it count.

Ask yourself: "What kind of person is God forming me to be? What am I learning now that I'll build on forever?"

A Final Encouragement

Adoniram Judson, a missionary, said: "When Christ calls me home, I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school."

That's the attitude we're aiming for. Not dreading eternity, not feeling like we're leaving behind everything that matters, but excited - like a boy running home at the end of the school day, knowing the best part is ahead.

And you’ll get to enjoy that part still you. Just the fullest, truest, most alive version of you. And you're becoming that person right now.

Prayer

Let's pray.

Father, thank you that you're not replacing us but renewing us. Thank you that our identities matter, that our formation matters, that who we're becoming matters. Help us to see our lives - our learning, our relationships, our work, our hobbies - as preparation for forever. Give us patience in the process and excitement for the result. We can't wait to be fully ourselves, fully alive, fully yours. In Jesus' name, amen.