The Mystery of Heaven

Heaven is mystery.
Scripture gives symbols and metaphors.

Enough to seed our imagination.
Enough to nourish our faith.
Enough to give hope for a better tomorrow.
But not enough to give clarity.

We are like an acorn
that has no idea
it will become an oak tree.

Paul said as much,
“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body that is to be,
but a bare seed…” 1 Cor 15:37–38.

Paul’s point is simple:
the seed cannot imagine
the future body it will become.
It carries a life it cannot picture,
a form it cannot foresee,
a future it cannot comprehend.

A baby in the womb has no categories
for the world he will enter
or the person he will become. Ps 139:13–16

A caterpillar on a fence
has no idea
it will become a butterfly. Rom 8:19–21

But we do.
We have seen an adult
who was once two cells. Ps 139:13
We have seen an oak tree
that was once an acorn. Gen 1:11–12
We have seen a butterfly
that was once a caterpillar. Rom 1:20

And we believe
all we see now
will become more
than we can envision. 1 John 3:2

Paul wrote this eloquently,
“Eye has not seen,
nor ear heard,
nor the human heart imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love Him.”
1 Cor 2:9

Paul’s point is simple:
we cannot envision
what God has prepared.
Our senses cannot grasp it.
Our minds cannot picture it.
Our hearts cannot conceive it.

We live inside an acorn. 1 Cor 15:42–44
We live within a chrysalis. Rom 8:23
We are an embryo
within our mother. Col 3:3–4

We are people on an earth
unaware of what we will become
or what our new world will be like. Rom 8:18

But unlike the acorn,
the caterpillar,
or the embryo,
we can see — only dimly —
what heaven will be like,
what our Father has prepared for us. 1 Cor 13:12

He has prepared a place
with His presence. Rev 21:3
And the presence of Jesus. Phil 1:23
And conscious awareness. Luke 16:22–24
With comfort. Rev. 21:4
And joy. Ps 16:11
And recognition. Matt 17:3
And work. Rev 22:3

And you may not know this about Jesus:
He spoke of heaven as a place
He would come from and return to.
He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2

The mystery of heaven
is the certainty of Jesus
waiting for us there.