Question About Heaven (3)

In Heaven, can we talk to God one-on-one?

            This is one of those questions we have that is not expressed in Scriptures, but we can make a pretty knowledgeable answer based on the Scriptures we do have.  Revelation 22:4-5 says, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”  Add to that 1 Corinthians 13:12 which says we will see God face to face.  The picture we get is YES, we will see God face-to-face and we will be with Him.  Don’t forget that God is omnipresent and can be talking with us face-to-face and on His throne.  In fact, He can be talking to each person who ever lived face-to-face and still be everywhere all at once.  God has always been like this and even Genesis 3:8 describes God interacting with Adam and Eve on a very personal level.

            On one other note, this will be actually face-to-face and one-on-one, not like what Moses experienced.  Deuteronomy 5:4 says about Moses, “The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.”  What Moses got was just a glimmer of what Heaven will be like. 

In Heaven, how do rewards work?  Will some people have better “mansions” or “robes” than others?  How does that work?

            This is one of the most difficult questions about Heaven (in my opinion).  The issue is that there seems to be Scriptures on both sides that mentions “reward” singular indicating that everyone will get the same thing and “rewards” which seem to indicate there are levels or different rewards give to different people.

REWARDS ARE ALL EQUAL	REWARDS ARE DIFFERENT
Matthew 20:1-15	Matthew 19:28-39
Matthew 5:11-12	Matthew 6:20
Matthew 6:1-6	Matthew 16:27
Matthew 6:16-18	Matthew 25:14-30
1 Corinthians 9:24-27	Romans 2:5-6
	Proverbs 24:12
	Revelation 4:9-11

There are undoubtedly more passages than this.  These were ones that I came across in my reading.  I can’t help but notice that in my surface reading of the issue, the passages for “rewards are different” outnumber the “rewards are equal.”  BUT, Matthew 20:1-15 does seem to answer this question directly stating that everyone gets the same reward no matter when they came to faith or perhaps even how well they worked.

            I suppose the answer for me is “I don’t know.”  What is the answer for you?

Will we have to worship all day in Heaven?  I like church, but not that much.

            I know where this thought and question comes from and it is a question I have often thought of.  It comes from passages like Revelation 5 which describe constant non-stop never changing praise of God.  Heaven is pictured like never ending praise choruses that we will sing 56x through… and then we start over. 

            First of all, the short answer to this question is I HAVE NO IDEA.  This is one that I could not even guess on because the Scriptures do not address it.  There are passages however, that describe Heaven as a feast or wedding banquet and those are not non-stop singing events… unless Heaven is more like a Disney Musical which has a song every 5 minutes.  Also, Heaven is described as a place where the Earth is totally restored.  Why do all that if all of us will be around the throne singing non-stop… seems like a waste.

            Second of all, there are a couple of issues even with the question which may help us direct our thoughts about heaven and help us when it comes to worship at church.  Worship is something that does not happen only in church.  Worship is “telling God how great He is” (worth-ship) which can happen any time, any place, and many ways.  Romans 12:1-2 tells us our whole lives CAN be worship.  I sorta think that in Heaven, our whole lives WILL be worship.

Troy Borst

Associate Minister