The Bible clearly teaches that there are some good and enjoyable things on this earth that will not exist after death.
Even though Scripture
promises enormous blessings for God’s people after they die, it is clear too
that some God-given and enjoyable things that can be found on this earth of
ours will cease to exist.
Enjoyable things
on this earth that will not exist after death
There are a number of
things that fall into this category.
For example, the
Bible teaches that after death there will be no marriage or having children (Matt
22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35). This means that Christians who never get
married or have children here on this earth will never, ever have an
opportunity to do these things.
Similarly, the Bible
teaches that this earth will come to an end and be replaced by the new earth (Isa
65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet 3:10-13; Rev 21:1), and it seems very unlikely that the
geography of both earths will be exactly the same. If this is right, it means
that Christians who never visit amazing places on our earth will never, ever
have an opportunity to visit them.
Sadness about
missing out on these things
It seems clear to me
that some Christians, who don’t experience some of these things here on our
earth, have a certain sadness about the prospect of forever missing out on them.
They understand that the blessings for God’s people after death will be
enormous, but they feel disappointed to a certain extent that they will permanently
miss out on things that exist here and now.
This especially
concerns getting married and having children. These are obviously huge and
life-changing events for those who experience them, and for some believers the
thought of forever missing out on these things is a painful one.
This thinking is
completely wrong
Although at first
sight it might seem reasonable for Christians to think in this way, it actually
doesn’t make sense.
I am not saying that
it doesn’t make sense for Christians to feel pain about missing out on these
things here and now. For example, a Christian might suffer being single and
long to be married here and now. Or someone without children might suffer and
long to be a parent here and now. Or someone who is unable to travel far from
where they live might be disappointed that they are unable to do this here and
now.
Suffering in these
ways does make sense. I am not suggesting that Christians who suffer these
things shouldn’t be suffering. Missing out on good things that God created does
hurt and it makes sense that it hurts.
My point is that being
upset at the thought of forever missing out on things doesn’t make sense. And
the reason for this is simple. When we are with Jesus after death, from that
time forward we won’t care at all that we missed out on anything while we were
here on this earth, and from the perspective of the present almost all of our
future will be with Jesus after death.
The vastness of
our blessings after death
It is impossible to
overstate the size of the blessings that will come our way after we die or the
Lord returns to earth.
In 2 Corinthians 4:17
the apostle Paul says:
‘For our momentary
light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight
of glory.’
In this verse Paul is
contrasting the sufferings of Christians here on our earth with the blessings
we will experience after death.
It is actually not
straightforward to translate the original Greek of the verse into English. Paul
seems to get a bit carried away with the language he uses, and he literally describes
the size of the eternal weight of glory we will experience as ‘according to
excess towards excess’. This could be translated as ‘absolutely incomparable’
or ‘utterly enormous’ or ‘unspeakably gigantic’ or ‘exceedingly vast’ or something
along these lines.
It really is
difficult to find words to describe how wonderful and joyful our lives will be
when we get into the immediate and visible presence of the Lord Jesus after
death or His return to earth. And it is not possible that in that state we will
have any feelings of sadness about what we missed out on while we were on this
present earth. And that state will last forever!
It doesn’t
matter what we miss out on
So for millions and
millions of years on into an infinite eternity we won’t care at all about what
we missed out on here on this earth. Therefore, because our future here on this
earth is as nothing in length to our future on the future earth with Jesus, and
because our future on the future earth will be nothing but happiness, it makes
no sense to feel sadness now at the prospect of forever missing out on
enjoyable things that exist on our earth.
It would only make
sense to feel sadness now about this, if after death the blessings we will
experience will not be all that great. But Scripture simply won’t allow us to
think that this will be the case. The blessings after death will be vastly
greater than the most enjoyable thing here on this earth.
Or perhaps it might
make sense to feel sadness now about this, if after death from time to time we were
going to feel some regret about what we had missed out on while we were on this
earth. But, again, Scripture won’t allow us to think that this regret will
exist.
As Christians we need
to be people who set our hopes fully on the unspeakably colossal blessings that
God has promised us after we die or Jesus returns to the earth. Compared to
that, it just doesn’t matter what we miss out on while we are on this earth.
So, although it may
hurt us in the here and now to miss out on some of these things, a time will
come when we couldn’t care less what enjoyable things we missed out on while we
were on this earth. And because, from the perspective of the present, almost
all of our future will be in that glorious state, it makes no sense to feel any
sadness at the prospect of forever missing out on things that can be found on
this temporary earth of ours.
See also:
Becoming
a Christian Is the Ultimate Bargain
What
Counts as True Success in Life?
How and
Why Should Christians Rejoice?
