What does Heaven look like? (Part 1 of 3)

Danielle, if you did share a room with your brother, you’ll like the resurrection version of him.”Well, heaven is big. God has a big house, and heaven is really big like a yard,” says Carissa, 5.

Yes, “big” is the key word. Heaven enters our hearts when we receive God’s gift of eternal life by believing in Jesus as the only way to heaven. This new life is far more than an eternal life-insurance policy. God wants us to live a big life on Earth before we arrive in heaven. Jesus called this the abundant life.”Heaven looks like a kingdom. No one dies, and no one cries, and everyone gets a lot of food,” says Sam, 5.

There will be a lot of food at the biggest party of all time, the marriage feast of the Lamb.

“Yellow dogs are in heaven because the streets are made of gold. They are both yellow,” says John, 6.

Remember the movie “Old Yeller”? According to John, there will be many Old Yellers in heaven.

Caroline, 7, has a plan to get her favorite pet past the pearly gates: “I will go up to God and praise him. Then, I will ask him, ‘If people are supposed to be happy in heaven, then if your pet makes you happy, will your pet be in heaven with you?'”

God knows what will make you happy. When you see Jesus in heaven along with all the spectacular sights and sounds, you might be hard-pressed to remember your pet’s name.

“I think that the streets are gold, the waters are crystal and the houses are made of clouds,” says Kristan, 10. “In God’s room, there are TVs so he can see what we’re doing all day.”

I doubt there will be television in heaven, but if there is, I can assure you that all the news will be good.

Kristan also mentioned crystal waters. Jesus once told a woman at a well how to have her thirst permanently satisfied: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

In the New Jerusalem, the river of life will flow from God’s throne. Concerning God’s throne, Stephen, 8, writes, “Jesus has his own chair. No one can sit in his chair, only if he says, `Probably, yes.'”

Actually, Jesus will invite some Christians to sit on his throne. Those who overcome are those who have fellowship with the Lord and follow him as disciples (Revelation 3:21). To sit with Christ on his throne means to have a position of authority in his kingdom. There is no greater honor. Jesus will reward faithful believers.

“There is probably a huge temple in heaven,” says an anonymous friend. Is there? In the Apostle John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, he wrote, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).

Think about this: The temple and all its priestly functions in the old Jerusalem were a shadow of a greater reality. God’s presence dwelt in the temple. When Jesus was born, his name was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”

Memorize this truth: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Ask this question: Who or what occupies your mind?

 — Carey Kinsolving