For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
Isaiah 65:17
Imagine you’re dead. You’re standing at the entrance to heaven. Peter is there to greet you. He takes your name and checks your reservation. Everything is in order so he welcomes you into heaven with a smile. As he escorts you to your room, he hands you a package: a white robe, a golden crown, and a theater ticket.
The robe and crown aren’t necessarily a surprise—you remember reading something, somewhere, about heavenly robes and crowns. But a ticket—that is unexpected. “What’s the ticket for?” you ask. “Oh, that’s for the movie,” Peter answers. “Tonight we’re having a double feature. The first stars your friend, the one who died with you in the car accident. It’s a tragedy . . . really, ‘horror film’ is perhaps a better description, because your friend didn’t make it here. He’s in hell. However, the second movie is about your life. It stars you, with a supporting cast that includes your mate, your children, and dozens of friends and acquaintances. The climactic scene is your funeral. It’s a real tearjerker. But I don’t want to spoil it for you. I think you’ll really enjoy the show!”
Before you have a chance to respond, Peter says, “Ah, here we are. Here’s your key. Get some rest. And be sure to get to the theater early. It’s going to be a sellout. All of heaven will be in attendance.” With that, Peter smiles, turns in his sandals, and walks away.
I’m pretty sure there aren’t tickets given out in heaven to movies depicting your life. Or movies starring those who enter hell. But many people do wonder whether residents of heaven can watch what is taking place on earth, or even peer into the darkness of hell. And if they do, could they be watching you right now?
Heaven’s Witnesses
After guiding us on a tour through the hall of heroes in Hebrews 11, the author concludes:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Heb. 12:1)
At first glance, this verse appears to imply that the current occupants of heaven are like spectators at a track meet, sitting in the stands watching the occupants of earth run the race of faith.
If we’re honest, there’s something a little creepy about the thought of a billion eyes watching your every move. To think that Solomon—the author of the manual on marital love that bears his name—might have a peephole into your bedroom might be a little disconcerting. Or what about your grandmother watching you as you . . . well, you get the idea!
But is that what Hebrews 12:1 teaches? Although the word “witnesses” does imply spectators, the verse doesn’t really teach that all of heaven’s population is sitting around watching us while munching on popcorn and slurping Coke. In the context, the “cloud of witnesses” refers only to those Old Testament saints mentioned in Hebrews 11. The point the writer is making is that in light of the example of those who persevered in their faith, we should also keep moving forward in obeying God regardless of the obstacles we face.
Nevertheless, there is some indication that those in heaven are aware of what takes place outside of heaven. For example, Christ must be aware of the obedience and disobedience of Christians on earth, since He condemned and commended the seven churches in Revelation 2–3. Furthermore, the apostle Paul realized that a heavenly audience was witnessing his actions on earth since he described his life as “a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men” (1 Cor. 4:9). We can assume from this verse that angels are also aware of the activities of people on earth.
But Scripture provides us with other examples of those in heaven who seem to know what is happening on earth.
We have already dealt with Jesus’s story in Luke 16 of Lazarus and the rich man in chapter 4. But there is one more observation we need to make from this story. Once the rich man arrived in hades—the temporary residence of the unsaved dead—he was immediately aware of his own agony and Lazarus’s joy in heaven. This is important because some theologians and Christian traditions (like Seventh-Day Adventists) teach that consciousness ceases to exist at death—an idea sometimes called “soul sleep.”1
The rich man addressed Abraham, and Abraham answered the rich man—indicating that both were fully conscious. Both men thought, spoke, heard, saw, felt, remembered, and recognized each other. And both men knew what was happening in each other’s world. The rich man knew of Lazarus’s pleasure, while Abraham knew of the rich man’s anguish.
It appears the occupants of hades are aware of what is taking place in heaven, and the occupants of heaven are aware of what is taking place in hades. But do people in heaven know what is taking place on earth?
The Tribulation Martyrs and the Judgment on Earth
During that terrible future time of God’s judgment on the earth known as the tribulation—the seven years between the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ—many will come to faith in Jesus. However, just as Christians in the Middle East today are being slaughtered for their faith, future “tribulation saints” will also be required to pay the ultimate price for following Christ. When John had his heavenly vision, he saw these martyred believers gathered around God’s throne, crying out for justice against those who had murdered them.
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:9–10)
These slain Christ-followers in heaven were acutely aware of what was happening—or not happening—on the earth. Their persecutors on earth were continuing their assault against God’s people without restraint. Their cry was, “God, how long are you going to allow these enemies of Christ to continue? It’s time to step in and do something!” Obviously, their frustration over God’s (seeming) inaction was only possible because of their awareness of what was taking place on earth.
Later in John’s vision, at the end of the tribulation and before the climactic battle of Armageddon, all the saints of heaven rose up with a great roar of approval over God’s judgment on earth. These saints shouted:
Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot [Babylon] who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her. (19:1–2)
Again, the praise of believers in heaven for God’s judgment against His enemies on the earth will only be possible if indeed the residents of heaven are aware of what is happening on earth.
Heaven’s Saints and the Salvation of the Unsaved
Jesus loved to tell stories. Three of His most famous are in Luke 15: the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. All three of these stories share the same purpose: to contrast the attitude of the self-righteous Pharisees, who hated sinners, with the attitude of the truly righteous God, who loves sinners. Jesus’s point in all three parables was the same: when you lose something of value—a sheep, a coin, a child—you don’t curse the lost object. Instead, you search for it and celebrate when you’ve found it.
God has the same attitude toward people who are living apart from Him. God doesn’t hate those who are “lost.” He loves them and is overjoyed when He is reunited with them. But Jesus said that God is not the only One who is ecstatic when a sinner is reunited with God:
I tell you . . . there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. . . . [And] there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:7, 10)
Jesus didn’t say angels rejoiced over repentant lost sinners—though they probably do. Jesus said rejoicing took place “in heaven . . . in the presence of the angels,” indicating that Christians in heaven are celebrating the salvation of sinners on earth. Think about this: besides God, who in heaven would appreciate the salvation of a non-Christian (especially if that non-Christian happened to be a friend or family member) more than those who had already experienced redemption?
If citizens of heaven rejoice at the salvation of sinners, then they not only know what is taking place on earth in a general sense but they are aware of the specific choices individuals are making on earth—whether they have accepted or rejected Christ’s offer of salvation.
Hell’s Captives
Since it appears that believers in heaven are aware of the faith commitments of those on earth, will those same heavenly believers lament the damnation of others? And if so, how could anyone ever be happy in heaven, knowing that people they cared about on earth are being tormented forever in hell?
These are intriguing questions. But before I address them there are some truths about hell we need to understand.
The Necessity of Hell
Hell was not part of God’s original creation—it wasn’t necessary. When God created the universe He called it “good.” In fact, it was “very good.” But when Satan rebelled and enlisted the first couple in his coup against the Almighty, hell became a necessity. Author Warren Wiersbe explains why:
Hell is a witness to the righteous character of God. He must judge sin. Hell is also a witness to man’s responsibility, the fact that he is not a robot or a helpless victim, but a creature able to make choices. God does not “send people to hell”; they send themselves by rejecting the Savior. . . . Hell is also a witness to the awfulness of sin. If we once saw sin as God sees it, we would understand why a place such as hell exists.2
Satan’s purpose in the world is both sinister and simple: use every means available to undermine and destroy God’s plan for His universe. And because every human being since the fall of the first couple has been infected with the sin virus, Satan has millions of willing accomplices to aid him in his efforts.
When people ask the question, “Why does God allow evil in the world?” they need look no further than the mirror! Human beings, not God, are responsible for the terrible conditions of our planet.
Why do our cities suffer with prostitution, gang warfare, and drug abuse?
Why do our corporations and governments struggle with lying, cover-ups, and corruption?
Why are families being destroyed by divorce, adultery, and pornography?
Why do churches split over issues such as worship style, pastoral personalities, and the pressure to be culturally relevant?
These are just some of the devastating consequences of rebelling against our Creator. But this rebellion will not last forever. One day the universe will be restored to its original state. Evil will no longer triumph—or even exist. But for that to happen, those who have refused God’s love will have to be quarantined from believers in the afterlife. If unbelievers were not isolated in hell from the rest of creation, then evil would once again infect God’s creation and destroy the new heaven and the new earth.
What Do We Mean by “Hell”?
As we saw in chapter 4, the Greek word hades refers to the temporary location of the unsaved dead. The New Testament uses two other Greek words to describe the destination of the unsaved we commonly refer to as “hell.”
The apostle Peter used the word tartaros when he said, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [tartaros] and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). Just as hades is a temporary destination for unsaved people, tartaros is a temporary prison for a certain group of wicked angels.
Most demons (angels who chose to follow Satan in his original rebellion against God) are free to roam the earth, engaging in destructive activities whenever they find opportunity. But the imprisoned demons in tartaros are not free to roam because they committed a particularly heinous sin against God. Many believe this sin was their cohabitation with women on earth as described in Genesis 6—a sin that caused God to immediately dispatch them to this holding place of tartaros until their final judgment:
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, [God] has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6)
That “great day” of judgment will be when God throws Satan and all his fallen angels into “the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev. 20:10). The Greek word gehenna, which is also translated as “hell” in English Bibles, refers to this place of eternal torment for Satan and his demons, the Antichrist and false prophet, and all unbelievers. The name is derived from the Hebrew gen hinnom—“the valley of Hinnom” or “the valley of Ben Hinnom.”3 Eventually, the name was shortened to ge-hinnom and the Greek translation became gehenna.
The valley of Hinnom is located immediately southwest of Jerusalem. During Jeremiah’s day, the valley was the place where Jews offered human sacrifices, including burning children alive to the false god Molech.4 Jeremiah called the place “the valley of the Slaughter” (Jer. 7:30–33).
By the time of Christ, the valley had become Jerusalem’s city dump and a burial ground for criminals. Because of the valley’s sordid history with child sacrifices, Jews in the first century associated gehenna with the place of eternal damnation and punishment for the wicked. According to Jesus, gehenna was the place of “outer darkness; [the] place [of] weeping and gnashing of teeth . . . where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Matt. 8:12; Mark 9:48). This is the eternal destination of everyone who refuses to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
What Is Hell Like?
In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis puts into the mouth of hell’s chief demon these words: “Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”5 No doubt that is true. Jesus said the way to hell is broad and its gate is wide (Matt. 7:13). It’s easy to get into hell but impossible to leave it. What does the Bible reveal about this very real destination for those who die without Christ?
As we piece together what the Bible says about hades (the immediate but temporary destination of the unsaved) and gehenna (the eternal destination of the unsaved, also known as “the lake of fire” or “hell”), we can discover some important information about this terrible place. For simplicity, from this point on we will use the general term “hell” to describe both the temporary and eternal destination of the unsaved.
HELL IS A PHYSICAL LOCATION
Like heaven, hell has an address. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, hell is described as being “far away” (Luke 16:23), consisting of flames (v. 24), and being separated from heaven by “a great chasm fixed” (v. 26). These phrases describe an actual location, not a state of mind. And John described hell as “the lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14–15). At the end of the final judgment, before the unveiling of the new heaven and new earth, John observed, “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (20:14). Only a physical place (hades) can be thrown into another physical place (the lake of fire).
Jesus’s words in Matthew 25:32–46 about the separation of the sheep and goats strongly argue for the fact that hell is a geographical location. At the end of the seven years of tribulation Jesus will separate believers (sheep) from unbelievers (goats). He said the goats will “go away into eternal punishment” (hell), while the sheep will go “into eternal life” (heaven) (v. 46). It is simply illogical for Jesus to say that believers go to an actual location (heaven) while unbelievers are dispatched to an unpleasant state of mind (hell). Elsewhere in Matthew 25 Jesus leaves no doubt about the reality of hell when He describes unbelievers as being “accursed” and cast “into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41).
Though hell and its flames are real, the fires of hell will not consume the bodies or spirits of those thrown into them. Rather, these unbelievers will suffer physical and spiritual anguish for all eternity. Like burning your hand on a hot stove without scorching your flesh, those in hell will experience the sensation without the scars.
HELL IS A PLACE OF ETERNAL, PHYSICAL TORMENT
The Bible teaches that the bodies of everyone who has ever lived—Christians and non-Christians alike—will experience a “resurrection.” Christians will receive a new body that will allow them to enjoy the indescribable pleasures of the new heaven and new earth. Unbelievers will receive a body that will allow them to experience the real and eternal suffering of hell.
If you have difficulty believing that God would give non-Christians a “new” body for the sole purpose of experiencing everlasting suffering, read carefully Jesus’s words in John 5:
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of God’s] voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. (vv. 28–29)
John “saw” this future resurrection of the unsaved in his vision recorded in Revelation 20:11–15:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Some theologians have attempted to rescue God from the charge of cruel and unusual punishment by advancing the doctrine of annihilation. This belief theorizes that unbelievers are destroyed—or annihilated—instead of physically punished for eternity. One of the arguments proponents of annihilationism use is the fact that Jesus and Paul speak of the “destruction” of those who go to hell.6 But the Greek word translated “destruction” (olethros) doesn’t mean annihilation. It means “sudden ruin.” It refers to separation from God and the loss of everything that makes life worth living.
As a pastor I frequently witness such destruction. For example, when a man destroys his family through adultery and divorce, or when an alcoholic destroys his reputation and dignity through addiction, the suffering they experience is not momentary but continues as long as they live.
The doctrine of annihilation also contradicts the clear teaching of Revelation 19:20 and 20:10. After the climactic battle of Armageddon and return of Jesus Christ to the earth, the Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the eternal “lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20). After a thousand years, Satan and his minions are also cast into this same lake of fire:
The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast [the Antichrist] and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (20:10)
Notice the phrase “where the beast and the false prophet are.” If the Antichrist and the false prophet—both human beings—had been destroyed the moment they were cast into the lake of fire, John would have written: “where the beast and the false prophet were.” But after one thousand years, these two are still alive and suffering in this place where “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
The phrase “forever and ever” is important because it reiterates Jesus’s claim that hell is a place of “eternal [physical] punishment” (Matt. 25:46). It’s also important because it is the exact same phrase used by John to describe our endless worship of God, the endless life of God, and the endless kingdom of God.7 My predecessor at First Baptist Church Dallas, Dr. W. A. Criswell, used to observe that if you reduce by one minute the time unbelievers have in hell then you must logically subtract the same amount of time believers will have in heaven, since the phrase “forever and ever” is used to describe the experience of believers and unbelievers alike.
HELL IS A PLACE OF INDESCRIBABLE LONELINESS
Many people joke that they’d rather go to hell than go to heaven because hell will be “party central.” But there will be no parties in hell. No one will socialize in hell because no one will be able to see anyone or anything. Jesus described hell as a place of “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12). It’s a place without the light of Christ because everyone in hell will be “away from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9).
A friend of mine likes to explore caves. Many caves, like Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, are lit to accentuate stalagmites, stalactites, and other unusual rock formations. But on one of my friend’s tours in a cave in Colorado, there was no light—except the light of flashlights or headlamps. Crawling on his belly over the muddy floor of the cave and squeezing himself through small holes, my friend was having the time of his life. However, when the guide told everyone to turn off their lights, the blackness of the cave enveloped him. He described the darkness as claustrophobic. Not only could he not see his hand in front of his face but he wasn’t even sure whether his eyes were open or closed. He lost all sense of direction. And if it wasn’t for his feet firmly planted on the floor of the cave, he couldn’t have told you which way was up or down. There wasn’t a speck of light anywhere. And though he knew people were around him—his wife, the guide, and other tourists—he had never felt so cut off from humanity in all his life. It was, he said, a darkness and isolation that cannot be explained or comprehended—only experienced.
That is something of what hell must be like for those who enter there—an abyss of utter darkness and loneliness.
HELL IS A PLACE OF NO RETURN
Hell is a forever destination. This was the point of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Abraham told the rich man, who was suffering temporary agony, that “a great chasm fixed” separated heaven from hades, “so that those who wish to come over from here [heaven] to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there [hades] to us” (Luke 16:26). Once we die our eternal destinies are just that—eternal.
Novelist James Joyce, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, captures a hint of the hopelessness and despair all in hell must know. After describing for his congregation the suffering that takes place in hell, a preacher said:
Consider finally that the torment of this infernal prison is increased by the company of the damned themselves. . . . In hell all laws are overturned—there is no thought of family or country, of ties, of relationships. The damned howl and scream at one another, their torture and rage intensified by the presence of beings tortured and raging like themselves. All sense of humanity is forgotten. The yells of the suffering sinners fill the remotest corners of the vast abyss. The mouths of the damned are full of blasphemies against God and of hatred for their fellow sufferers and of curses against those souls which were their accomplices in sin. . . . They turn upon those accomplices and upbraid them and curse them. But they are helpless and hopeless: it is too late now for repentance.8
No one escapes the confines of hell. Hell is a forever destination. If you wait until you enter the gates of hell to repent, you will have waited too long.
HELL WILL BE THE DESTINY OF THE MAJORITY OF HUMANITY
Many people believe there ought to be a hell for truly evil people—the Adolph Hitlers, Joseph Stalins, Pol Pots, Charles Mansons, and Osama bin Ladens of the world. But those same people find it inconceivable that many good people who’ve simply not trusted in Jesus for forgiveness would also be sentenced to a place of eternal torment. What about all those who’ve never heard the name of Jesus? Or those who have sincerely embraced other religions and are living moral, upright lives? Would God really consign them to such a horrendous place?
As I discuss in my book Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, Jesus taught that only a small percentage of the earth’s population will ever discover the true path to eternal life. In Matthew 7:13–14, Jesus said:
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
As difficult as it may be to accept, the “many” on the wide road are not just mass murderers, child rapists, and terrorists. Sincere, religious people who make good neighbors and love their children are also on the “highway to hell.” Even people who claim they have performed religious works in the name of Jesus will be cast into hell by Jesus on the judgment day, as Jesus Himself revealed:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day [of judgment], “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matt. 7:21–23)
We struggle with Jesus’s claim that the majority of people will be in hell because of our low estimation of God. We assume that God should be as tolerant of sin as we are. After all, we regularly overlook sin in others and ourselves, so why can’t God? However, our tolerance of sin is not evidence of our godliness but of our godlessness.
Listen to God’s scathing indictment of the Israelites—and all of us—in Psalm 50:21: “You thought that I was just like you.” God isn’t anything like us. His “eyes are too pure to approve evil” and He will not “look on wickedness with favor” (Hab. 1:13). And for that reason, He must and will punish sin. Every sinner has an opportunity to receive Christ’s offer of forgiveness. To do so means heaven. And every sinner has an opportunity to reject Christ’s offer of forgiveness. To do so means hell.
We also struggle with Jesus’s words in Matthew 7 because we have too high an estimation of ourselves. Our own inflated sense of goodness and justice causes us to set ourselves up as the measure of all goodness and justice. And by that measure, especially compared with the Hitlers or bin Ladens of the world, we measure up quite nicely . . . or so we think.
But God utilizes a different standard of moral measurement than ours. For example, the difference between the North Pole and the South Pole is negligible compared to the distance between the North Pole and the furthest star in the universe. In the same way, the moral difference between Adolph Hitler and us is substantial, but it’s minimal compared to the difference between a perfect God and an imperfect humanity.
God’s standard is perfect holiness. None of us meets that standard. And because we don’t, Paul wrote: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Unbelievers will spend eternity in hell, not because they’re not good but because they’re not good enough. In this, Christian philosopher Peter Kreeft was correct: “Hell is not populated mainly by passionate rebels but by nice, bland, indifferent, respectable people who simply never gave a damn [about Jesus Christ].”9
Will the Joy of Heaven Be Diminished by What Happens on Earth and in Hell?
It seems clear that believers in heaven know what is taking place on earth—at least in some sense. And they know what is taking place in hell according to the story of Lazarus and the rich man. So a natural question is how can we be happy in heaven while watching those we care about on earth suffering from devastating illnesses, broken relationships, or destructive addictions?
And how could we ever enjoy one pleasure of the new heaven and new earth knowing that some of those friends and family members we love the most will be suffering in hell? To put a finer point on it: Could you really enjoy all that God has prepared for you—no matter how spectacular—knowing that one of your children is being tormented day and night forever and ever?
This is a difficult question to answer because we lack the wisdom and insight to fully understand the mind of God. However, here are three possible answers to the question of how we can reconcile our joy in heaven with our knowledge of the suffering of our loved ones on earth and in hell.
Will God Purge Our Memories?
One Christian thinker frames the theory this way: “God may erase memories for a wayward son from the mind of his mother so that she may enjoy the full bliss of heaven unaware that she even had the son who is now damned.”10 This idea comes from Isaiah 65:17:
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
However, this can’t mean that we’ll forget everything about our former lives on earth. Many of the relationships we formed here will continue there—including our relationship with Christ. For example, Scripture says Jesus retains His scars (John 20:24–29). Seeing them will be a constant reminder that our sin compelled Him to endure the cross. And the reminder of our sin that necessitated His death will compel us to enthusiastically worship Him for eternity.
The context of Isaiah 65:17 is verse 16. Speaking to the nation of Israel, the Lord said, “the former troubles are forgotten . . . they are hidden from My sight!” It is God who does the “forgetting,” not us. This doesn’t mean our omniscient God can’t recall Israel’s past transgressions. Rather, God chooses not to hold Israel’s sin against her. When I forgive someone that doesn’t mean I do a “memory wipe” of the wrong he or she committed against me. Even if I wanted to forget the offense, it would be biologically impossible to do so, since every experience we have is chemically and electrically embedded in our brain. Instead, forgiveness means letting go of my right to hurt another person for hurting me.
Nothing in Scripture indicates that God is going to erase our memories of those we know and love who may be suffering on earth or in hell.
Christians Will Be Preoccupied with the Joys of Heaven
We are all aware of the multitude of starving children, disease-ridden acquaintances and loved ones, and persecuted Christians in the world around us. Yet the knowledge of these suffering individuals does not prevent us from enjoying a good meal, a day at the beach, or time with our family. Some would claim that our ability to enjoy these blessings, in spite of others’ suffering, is a testimony to our selfishness. “In heaven, we will be like Jesus, who wept over the fate of the lost,” they argue.
While it is true that Jesus cried over the eternal destiny of the residents of Jerusalem while He was on earth, there is no indication that Jesus will do any crying in heaven. The writer of Hebrews notes that Jesus willingly “endured the cross” so that He could experience “the joy set before Him” when He “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).
Additionally, Scripture teaches that complete joy will be the primary emotion of those in heaven:
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Ps. 16:11)
In heaven we will be just like Jesus, who experiences the “fullness of joy” in spite of all that is happening on earth and in hell.
We Will Understand the Plan and Justice of God
In his book The Eighth Day, Thornton Wilder compares our lives to a tapestry. Viewed from the right side—the side facing out—we see an intricate work of art made from thousands of multicolored threads woven together to form a beautiful picture. But if we look at the backside of the tapestry, we see a jumble of threads of varying lengths crisscrossing one another. Nothing seems to make sense. Some threads are knotted, others are short, and still others are long.
The point Wilder is making is simple: God has a design for our lives. Some lives are twisted, knotted, or cut short. Other lives are of impressive length and color. Why? Not because one thread is more important than another thread, but because God’s tapestry requires it.
Only from the perspective of heaven will we be able to see the right side of God’s plan for our lives and understand how He is working all things “together for good” (Rom. 8:28). The tangled mess of broken relationships, catastrophic accidents, and sudden deaths that make no sense to those of us trapped in time and space on earth will be viewed completely differently from the perspective of heaven—even as we witness those tragedies being experienced by those we care about most.
But what about those we love who will be condemned to eternal torment in hell? It’s important to note that God doesn’t send people to hell; they freely choose to go to hell by rejecting God’s gift of salvation through Jesus’s death and resurrection. “God’s wrath . . . is something which men choose for themselves,” theologian J. I. Packer wrote. “Before hell is an experience inflicted by God, it is a state for which man himself opts, by retreating from the light which God shines in his heart to lead him to Himself.”11
As difficult as this truth is to accept on this side of heaven—especially when talking about loved ones—the people in hell are there because they deserve it. But on the other side of heaven, we’ll see God’s justice in punishing those who refused to accept Christ’s sacrifice as perfect, holy, and just. The apostle Paul claims that when we see Jesus Christ “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8), none of us will accuse Jesus of injustice. Instead, Jesus Christ the Judge will “be marveled at among all who have believed” (v. 10).
Although this truth is hard to fathom, Packer offers some helpful words:
Remember, in heaven our minds, hearts, motives, and feelings will be sanctified, so that we are fully conformed to the character and outlook of Jesus our Lord. . . . In heaven, glorifying God and thanking him for everything will always absorb us. All our love for and joy in others who are with us in heaven will spring from their doing the same, and love and pity of hell’s occupants will not enter our hearts. Their hell will not veto our heaven.12
And we can add with certainty that our awareness of anything happening on earth or in hell is incapable of diminishing the fullness of our joy in that place called heaven.