I really like how NT Wright describes heaven in his introduction to the participants guide of “Surprised by Hope: The Hope of Heaven”:
Heaven will not be a boring place, off in distant space, where we play harps, sit on clouds, and sing the same stanza of the same song forever. Heaven is God’s space, filled with peace, justice, and beauty. Heaven and earth are overlapping realities and the resurrection of Jesus has connected these two spheres more closely than we know.
Heaven is the control room of earth and God’s sovereign rule is present today. As we learn to walk with Jesus and live as God’s people in this world, the kingdom plan of God continues to unfold and be revealed. We are not waiting to fly off to heaven one day, but heaven is breaking into our present circumstances with each passing moment. If we pay close attention, we will see that heaven and earth are overlapping today.
One of the ways God brings his kingdom, “on earth as it is in heaven,” is through his people. You and I are invited to be vehicles God can use to bring his love, justice, and beauty to a world desperate for all of these things. The hope of heaven is not something we are waiting for, but it is what we enter each day as we follow Jesus and let his heavenly plans unfold in us.
