Wondering about heaven and the things you will be able to once you arrive is normal. It’s also normal to wonder about the myriad of things you will not be able to do. There are so many things we just don’t have enough information about, such as will we be able to fly, or will we be able to see the activities of our friends and family back home?
There are many things we do here on Earth that when we become a citizen of heaven we will not be able to do. Upon our arrival in heaven we will enjoy glorified bodies so we cannot get sick, suffer physically or die, nor can we sin or become sad or suffer emotionally because we will be in the presence of the Lord, living in a place of unimaginable beauty and perfect joy.
Revelation 21:4-5 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no pain, for the former things have passed away…Behold, I make all things new.”
Jesus Will Be There
In the Bible’s New Testament book of Luke 23:43, Jesus told the Thief on the Cross, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” All believers can have faith in what Jesus said. We can all be assured that we too will join Jesus in paradise at the moment of our death.
Jesus also promised in John 14:3, “Where I am, there you may be also.” Those of us who believe in Jesus will be in HIs presence in heaven.
And in heaven, a place of perfection, there will be things that are impossible to do.
We Cannot Get Sick or Suffer Physically in Heaven
According to the Bible, all Christian believers receive new bodies upon death. Billy Graham taught that when Jesus was raised from the dead, “God gave Him a new body that would never age or die.”
It’s comforting to know that our new bodies will be perfect in every way. And just like Christ’s new body, we will never experience sickness or physical suffering again.
We Cannot Die in Heaven
If we cannot get sick or suffer physically in heaven, it seems obvious that we will never die once we reach heaven.
Jesus said the following in John 10:27–29:
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California, says that our glorified bodies will not die. “Now these earthly bodies will die,” Warren says, “but the bodies that are raised will live forever. Our ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong.”
The Bible confirms that there shall be no more death. It will be gone forever. All residents of heaven will be immortal.
In the New Living Translation of the Bible, the First Book of Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 42-54 states:
1 Corinthians 15:42-54 New Living Translation 42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. 45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”[a] But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like[b] the heavenly man. 50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[c] this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.
“I’m glad that I don’t have to live for eternity with my habits and my hurts and my hang-ups,” Warren says. “God says I’m going to make it all perfect and then there’ll be no death.”
We Cannot Sin in Heaven
It’s impossible for sin to be a part of heaven. So how can God allow us into heaven without messing it up?
The Bible says that all have sinned and all have fallen short.
“We’ve all blown it,” Warren says. “We’re all sinners. We’ve all made mistakes. Nobody is perfect. But heaven’s perfect. Heaven is a perfect place and I’m not perfect and neither are you.”
You and I won’t taint heaven with our sin because it’s been washed away.
“That’s what Jesus Christ came to do,” says Warren. “To die on the cross and pay for all our sins. To wipe it all out. Forgive us and to make us perfect inside, so that when we go into heaven, he says we’ll go innocent of all our sin.”
The Bible says in Jude 1:24,”To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—.”
The verse articulates God’s truth that believers who ‘run the race faithfully’ will finish as winners, without fault through our redemption in Jesus.
Just imagine the prospect of being kept and presented faultless in heaven, anticipating the time when Jesus will present “to Himself the church (all believers) in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
If we follow the logic of of being without fault, holy and blameless, then all citizens of heaven will be sinless.
The Bible lists multiple sins. For example, there is a list of the seven deadly sins that includes pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. But we shouldn’t stop there. Following is a list of 60 other sins identified in the Bible:
Adultery Anger Arrogance Bitterness Blasphemy Boasting Brawling Burying our Talents Complaining Contentious Covenant Breakers Covetousness Deceit Defiling the Body Defraud Denying Christ Desiring the Praise of Men Dishonesty Disobedience to Parents Divorce Drunkenness Evil Thoughts Extortion False humility Fathers Provoking Children to Wrath Filthiness Filthy Lucre Foolishness Fornication Giving False Witness
Greediness Guile Hardhearted Hatred Heresies Hypocrisy Idolatry Judging Lasciviousness Laying Up Treasures on Earth Living in Pleasure Lovers of Self Lying Maliciousness Murder Slander Speaking Against the Holy Spirit Sorcery Stealing Unbelief Uncleanness Unforgiving Heart Unmerciful Unrighteousness Unthankfulness Wantonness Whisperers Whoremongers Witchcraft Wickedness
We Cannot Get Sad or Suffer Emotionally in Heaven
Can you imagine never being sad or emotionally distraught? It will be incredible. Because without sin in heaven, others will no longer impact our emotions in a negative way.
The Bible says “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
You will never suffer another broken heart. You will never suffer rejection. You will never suffer loneliness. You will never suffer sorrow. You will never suffer grief. You will never suffer heartache. God will wipe away every tear.
“There will never be a split second in the billions and trillions of years you live that you will have sadness or grief again, or depression,” says Warren. “Now those of you who are right now going through grief, and you’re carrying the grief of a loved one, or you’ve been going through a period of depression, one of the things that that does in our life is, it just makes heaven (feel) a little bit more close.”
For those unfortunate members of a sinful society who suffer debilitating depressive thoughts desire relief. And it’s only logical to believe that the promise of heaven offers us hope and relief from the suffering.
“Why?” Warren asks. “Because there is none there. Not only no sickness, no sadness. But no suffering.”
Summary
Heaven is a place where everything is good. It’s the absence of all that is bad.
As I mentioned before in my article “Seven Facts About Heaven,” Dr. Adrian Rogers stated that Heaven is a place of absolute perfection. And if something is perfect, there can be no flaws. A few of the specific flaws, most mentioned earlier in this article, that will not be in heaven include:
No more tears No more sighing No more crying No more dying No more pain No more sin No more suffering No disease No doubt No death
Dr. Rogers reminds us of what God has in store:
“Heaven is all that the incredible mind of God can conceive. And heaven is all the Almighty hand of God can create. Put it together. God’s love. God’s mind in God’s power. You think of God’s creative genius in this world. This world has been marred by sin and yet you go look sometime at a mountain range or sometime look into the face of a buttercup or see the God that sculpted the rose, or the God that painted the rainbow, a God that gives us these glorious sunsets, the God who crafted the delicate wing of the butterfly. Even in a world that’s marred by sin, you can see a glimpse of that glory. But heaven will be the consummate work of God’s creative genius. You will love heaven.”
Heaven will be unlike anything we can comprehend. No words can paint a true and glorious picture of heaven. But can you imagine how wondrous that will be for each one of us when we arrive? Remarkable. Joyful. Full of wonder. Beyond our imagination. God has given us a glimpse of heaven, but not until we arrive will we understand how heaven is a place of absolute perfection, without sin, suffering, sickness, sadness or death.