The best is yet to come

"But your dead will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead. " Isaiah 26:19

Puffy clouds, harps, cuddly angels in diapers, an eternity of doing...I'm not sure what.  It's no wonder few people get excited about the idea of going to Heaven.  It seems to most people Heaven is a consolation prize rather than the grand prize.  "Well, if we can't continue our life on earth, at least we get to go to Heaven."  Consider these lyrics from Kenny Chesney's "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven",

I said, "Preacher maybe you didn’t see me
Throw an extra twenty in the plate
There’s one for everything I did last night
And one to get me through today"

"Here’s a ten to help you remember
Next time you got the good Lord’s ear
Say I’m comin’ but there ain’t no hurry
I’m havin’ fun down here"

Don’t you know that
Everybody wants to go to heaven
Get their wings and fly around
Everybody want to go to heaven
But nobody want to go now

For most of us Heaven is such an abstract idea that it's hard to get excited about.  I'm humbled by the story of a group of Sadducees in Matthew 22 who came to Jesus and inquired about a theoretical dilemma regarding marriage in the next life.  They began by saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies..."  After asking their question Jesus responded, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."  Clearly the Sadducees knew what Moses said but they did not understand it nor did they really believe it and Jesus admonished them.  We must not be caught in the same error.

In today's Christian teaching I hear a lot about forgiveness of sins.  I hear a lot of teaching about moral and life issues that encourage us to "live in this manner" and not in "that manner".  What strikes me as odd is that I do not hear much about the post-death experience.  In fact, you usually have to attend a funeral to hear anything about it and yet the reality of what happens after this life was the driving force behind the apostles' ministry.  And ironically Heaven was not what they were striving for.  Consider what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-21:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Oh the suffering that Paul endured! And here he states his motivation--that he would be able to attain the resurrection.  What?  Resurrection?  Not Heaven?  The only resurrection most people are familiar with is Jesus Christ's resurrection.  Yet that was only the beginning.  Paul calls Christ's resurrection the "firstfruits":

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

The Anglican bishop NT Wright refers to the resurrection as the life after life after death.  In 2008 he was interviewed by TIME magazine.  Here's an excerpt:

In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."
...

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a "distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope."

Wright: It really is. I've often heard people say, "I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.

Wright: There are several important respects in which it's unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, "Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven." It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html#ixzz25dF9OmNG

In Hebrews 11 we have the Christian faith's "hall of fame".  The author lists many of the Biblical individuals you are probably familiar with and describes how their accomplishments were all done "by faith," which the author defines as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  What's most interesting to me is how the author ends the list.  He says, "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40)  If Heaven was the end-goal as most people consider it today then when these people died their spirits would have left their bodies, gone up to Heaven and that would be the receipt of what was promised.  But some abstract ethereal place was not the promise.  The promise entails the resurrection of their bodies from the dead and that will occur when Christ returns.  The Bible tells us when Christ returns all believers (all of those who eagerly yearn(ed) for His return) will instantly change into glorious bodies and meet Him in the sky to welcome Him back to claim His kingdom.  Imagine that, all believers from all generations coming together to welcome the King!

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Bible says there is an interim period between bodily death and the resurrection where believers' spirits are with Christ, but this interim state is what most people think of as the end result.  Jesus called this interim period "Paradise" when he told the thief on the cross next to him, "today you will be with me in Paradise."  As Wright notes, "we must take account of the well-known and striking saying of Jesus to the dying brigand beside him, recorded by Luke (23.43). ‘Today,’ he said, ‘you will be with me in paradise.’ ‘Paradise’ is not the final destination; it is a beautiful resting place on the way there." (reference)  Paul describes it as being with Christ and said that while his first preference is to remain alive until Christ returns and hence be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, if he must die before Christ returns he'd rather be present with Christ now than still in his earthly body.

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

And in Philippians 1:21-23,

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

John Piper explains it this way (in reference to 2 Corinthians 5:1-5):

If Paul had his preference, he would choose to receive his new resurrection body at the second coming of Christ without having to die. And the reason he gives is that the experience of "nakedness"—that is being stripped of his body—is not something as good as having his body swallowed up by life as he is changed in the twinkling of an eye at the second coming of Christ.

This means that the great final hope of the Christian is not to die and be freed from our bodies, but to be raised with new, glorious bodies, or, best of all, to be alive at the second coming so that we do not have to lose our body temporarily and be "naked" (souls without bodies, cf. Matthew 10:28; Revelation 6:9; Hebrews 12:23) until the resurrection.  

So why is this important? Wright has one view and here is a complementary one.  I do not disagree with what I've read from these guys.  But one additional thought I have is that the resurrection completes the story of God's redemptive plan.  It is the Garden of Eden re-made on the earth.  God created the earth for us to inhabit in relationship with Him, we messed it up, He fixed it, and the ultimate conclusion is that His plan is fulfilled through us inhabiting the place He re-creates (a new Heaven and a new earth; Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1-5) and being with Him in it forever in glorified bodies.  This new creation is much easier to imagine and desire when I know all the best parts of life--the belly laughs, the cookouts (for those who enjoy food and fret there will be no eating after the resurrection you can rest easy), watching my son play--are mere shadows of the good times to come and they will never be spoiled by tiredness or old age or sickness or death.  And all of those shadows will find their substance, their ultimate fulfillment, because they will all be done in worship and the glory of the Lord.