CHAPTER 13: WILL WE REALLY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
NEARLY EVERY MYTH, legend, and utopian prophecy expresses the hope that Earth and its inhabitants will be restored to the happiness we instinctively know was somehow tragically lost.
“They all lived happily ever after” is more than a fairy-tale ending. It’s the deep-seated dream of the human race.
In AD 60, Seneca (c. 4 BC–AD 65), the Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman who advised Nero, wrote, “No happiness lasts for long.”[1] At the same time in history, the apostle Paul and others were spreading the good news that happiness in God lasts not just a long time but forever.
In Rome, about five years later, both by Nero’s decree, first Seneca and then Paul were executed. Three years later, when the political tide turned against him, Nero killed himself. Since as far as we know the evil emperor didn’t repent and turn to Christ, whatever meager happiness he knew ended forever at his death.
So Seneca was right when he said happiness is short lived . . . unless the Bible is true and death is not the end of us or the world; a happy God has purchased his people’s redemption; and a happy, resurrected life in a resurrected world awaits those who trust Jesus for their eternal well-being. Those who believe this—I’m among them, and I hope you are too—know the happiness that will last forever.
For people with no faith in Jesus, these are their best days ever, winding down to a fixed end. But for genuine Christ-followers, these are decidedly not the best days of our lives. Jesus has promised us eternal, abundant life, with the best by far yet to come.
We Will Experience Eternal Joy
A. W. Tozer said, “When the followers of Jesus Christ lose their interest in heaven they will no longer be happy Christians, and when they are no longer happy Christians they cannot be a powerful force in a sad and sinful world. It may be said with certainty that Christians who have lost their enthusiasm about the Savior’s promises of heaven-to-come have also stopped being effective in Christian life and witness in this world.”[2]
A culturally engaged young man, a bestselling Christian author with a large following, interviewed me concerning my book Heaven. Before the interview, he told me apologetically, “Truth is, I didn’t read your book.”
I had read his books, so I smiled and said, “Let me guess why. You think Heaven will be boring, and it’s the beauties and wonders of this life—the natural world and human culture and the arts—that you’re really interested in.”
Obviously surprised, he said, “Yes!”
“That’s exactly why you should read the book,” I said. “It’s about the New Earth the Bible reveals, a place with resurrected people on a resurrected planet; with resurrected nature, nations, and cultures; with animals, art, music, literature, drama, galaxies, and planets—all existing for the glory of God and the good of his people.”
He smiled broadly, and his eyes brightened a moment before fading, as if to say, “If only that were true.”
Well, it is true. The gospel—the Good News—is way better than we believe it to be. If we pay attention when we read the Bible, we’ll see it:
Be happy and rejoice forevermore over what I am about to create! For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness. Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.
Death Is Not the End
For Christians, death is not the end of our adventure. Rather, death is the doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, into a far better world where they forever expand.
We normally think of going up to Heaven to live with God in his place. Indeed, that happens when we die and go to the present Heaven. But God ultimately promises to come live with us in our place, on the New Earth. The final state will not be “us with God” but “God with us” (see Revelation 21:3).
The best part of our resurrected lives on the New Earth will be seeing God. “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face” (Revelation 22:3-4, NIV).
Based on this and other passages, ancient theologians often spoke of the “beatific vision,” from three Latin words that together mean “a happy-making sight.”
Because God is the fountainhead of all happiness, and because he’s forever happy in his triune oneness, to gaze on him will be to enter into happiness.
We Won’t Become Ghosts
One of the greatest gifts we can give our children and grandchildren is to teach them the doctrines of the Resurrection and the New Earth. God made us to be physical beings in a physical world, living meaningful lives—eating, drinking, playing, working, loving, worshiping, and laughing to God’s glory. That’s the promise of the Resurrection—eternal delight and joy in the presence of the God who redeemed us.
Imagine sitting around campfires on the New Earth, wide eyed at the adventures being recounted. Yes, I’m talking about real stories around real campfires. After all, friendship, camaraderie, laughter, stories, and campfires are all good gifts from God for physical people living in a physical world . . . and the Bible tells us that’s what we’ll be and where we’ll be!
On the New Earth, we may experience adventures that make our current rock climbing, surfing, skydiving, and upside-down roller-coaster rides seem tame. Why do I say this? It’s an argument from design. We take pleasure in exhilarating experiences not because of sin but because God wired us this way. We weren’t made to sit all day in dark rooms watching actors pretend to live.
Perhaps an alarm is going off in your head: But that’s unspiritual. We should only want to be with Jesus. Well, seeing Jesus should certainly be at the top of the list. But that doesn’t mean the other things God promises shouldn’t be on the list—things he tells us are ahead, things that fully honor him and flow out of his grace and kindness to us.
We’ll Inhabit Earth as It Was Meant to Be
Imagine the delight of Jesus’ disciples when he said to them, “At the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28, NIV).
Christ did not speak of the destruction or abandonment of all things but their renewal. That word affirms continuity between the past, present, and future Earth. The old world is the new world that will be radically refurbished to an even greater version of its original self.
God designed humans to live on Earth to his glory. Christ’s incarnation, life, death, and resurrection secured a New Earth, where life will be the way God always intended.
Similarly, Peter preached that Christ must remain in Heaven “until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21, NIV). This cosmic restoration is not God bringing disembodied people to fellowship with him in a spirit realm. Rather, it’s God returning humankind to what he designed us to be. The entire physical universe will not just go back to its pre-Fall glory but will go forward to something even more magnificent.
Spurgeon explained the gospel this way:
Now that Jesus Christ has come to restore the ruins of the Fall, He has come to bring back to us the old joy—only it shall be even sweeter and deeper than it could have been if we had never lost it! A Christian has never fully realized what Christ came to make him until he has grasped the joy of the Lord. Christ wishes His people to be happy.[3]
Sadly, most of us don’t live as if we believe in God’s promise of a New Earth.
Hanging on, white knuckled, to this life proves our disbelief in an afterlife that is physical (with real health), material (with real wealth), social (with real culture and relationships), and personal (with real happiness, fulfillment, and continuity of identity).
Despite Scripture’s claim to the contrary, even Christians end up thinking, If I can’t live my dreams now, I never will.
How easily we buy into Satan’s lie: “You only go around once . . .” But if we know Jesus, we actually go around twice—and the second time lasts forever. It’s called eternal life, and we will live it in resurrected bodies in a redeemed universe, on a New Earth, with King Jesus!
There’s No Need for Bucket Lists
Life after death will afford us unlimited opportunities to enjoy with physical bodies and renewed minds a renewed physical universe. Tomorrow will never disappoint us, because, as C. S. Lewis said of the world to come, “every chapter is better than the one before.”[4]
My friend Calvin Miller wrote about the world that awaits us:
I once scorned ev’ry fearful thought of death,
When it was but the end of pulse and breath,
But now my eyes have seen that past the pain
There is a world that’s waiting to be claimed.
Earthmaker, Holy, let me now depart,
For living’s such a temporary art.
And dying is but getting dressed for God,
Our graves are merely doorways cut in sod.[5]
I’ve heard it said, “We can’t begin to imagine Heaven and what life will be like there.” Certainly, our imaginations can’t presently do it justice, but we can, in fact, imagine it, based on what Scripture tells us.
If we fail to imagine Heaven, it won’t appeal to us and we won’t anticipate it as we should. If we eagerly await vacations and what we’re going to see and do, how much more should we anticipate our eternal life with King Jesus!
Puritan pastor Richard Baxter (1615–1691) said,
Can you think that anything is fitter for the chiefest of your thoughts and cares, than the God and kingdom, which you hope for ever to enjoy? Or is there anything that can be more suitable, or should be more delightful to your thoughts, than to employ them about your highest hopes, upon your endless happiness and joy?[6]
Not only does putting our hope in Jesus and clinging to his blood-bought promises make the tunnel endurable, it gives us something to look forward to when we emerge. Not just into a better world, but into a new and perfect world. A world alive, fresh, beautiful, and devoid of pain, suffering, and war; a world without disease, accident, and tragedy; a world without dictators and madmen. A world ruled by King Jesus—the only one worthy to rule.
In reflecting on his life’s work, which included Les Misérables, writer Victor Hugo spoke with excitement of anticipating the work he would do for God in the eternal state:
I feel within me that future life. I am like a forest that has been razed; the new shoots are stronger and brighter. I shall most certainly rise toward the heavens. . . . The nearer my approach to the end, the plainer is the sound of immortal symphonies of worlds which invite me. For half a century I have been translating my thoughts into prose and verse: history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these I have tried. But I feel I haven’t given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies within me. When I go to the grave I can say, as others have said, “My day’s work is done.” But I cannot say, “My life is done.” My work will recommence the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes upon the twilight, but opens upon the dawn.[7]
This Is Not Our Last Chance for Happiness
This life is neither our only opportunity nor our best one for happiness, adventure, and fun.
I’ve read books on happiness stressing that we must be happy right here and now, living in the moment, because this is our one and only chance. How sad!
Thankfully, God says otherwise. His people will have an eternity of present and future happiness. Anticipation of an upcoming vacation or adventure brings us delight even in the midst of busyness and fatigue. On a larger scale, God’s assurance of our never-ending happiness in his presence, on the New Earth, should front-load Heaven’s joy into our lives today.
Ponder this reality until it floods your heart with gladness: Jesus will be the center of everything. Happiness will be the lifeblood of our resurrected lives.
And just when we think, It doesn’t get any better than this, it will!