Granted we don’t really spend much time thinking about what our thoughts in heaven will be like. We can imagine ourselves being there, see our Savior and all the splendor that heaven will have for us to behold. We can visualize us meeting, hugging and talking with our past departed friends and family members. There is a lot we can’t even imagine because it is beyond our capacity to think about things that are so high above us.
When we are with Jesus Christ will we be perfect? Will all that has bound us here on earth be removed? Will God give us all knowledge in heaven, will we have all the wisdom of Solomon and more? Will we be able to perform the miracles of Jesus? Will we have every heavenly power all at once? Will we be perfect?
Well, I guess that depends on how you define perfect. When I used to think of the word perfect and tried to relate it to myself, I would always come up short. I couldn’t do anything perfectly or say or think anything perfectly. To never make a mistake about anything would be my definition of being perfect. Error free, knowing everything, understanding everything and doing everything just perfectly. So when I compared my definition of perfect to myself I came up wanting… really wanting!!
How could I ever be perfect this side of heaven? With that definition, how could I ever be perfect of the right side of heaven? Is anyone perfect except God? Are we to strive for perfection? Well once again, it all about how you define perfect.
Jesus says in Matt 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Is Jesus saying we need to be just like our Father is? All knowing, all powerful, never making a mistake, totally holy in all ways. If that is what Jesus wants for us?
The sense of the word perfect in the Matt 5 passage carries more of the meaning of consistently acting and thinking in a righteous and moral pattern towards everyone without partiality, just like our heavenly father does.
So what part of “perfect” will we experience in heaven? The one most compelling feature of us in heaven will be the absence of our sin nature. When we first get there, we will immediately feel the weight of comparison, justification, and condemnation removed from our thinking. We will be able to see others in heaven without the filter of pride, selfishness, and control. We will be perfectly satisfied to be who we are, a person that is totally accepted and utterly significant in the heart of our groom, Jesus Christ!
What a feeling, what a state of mind, what a joy be filled with all the fullness of the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will be as we have never been before. Sinless, totally forgiven and full of the Holy Spirit operating in cooperation with who we are. No more the tugging of our sin nature causing us to rebel against God, instead our heart will be 100% for God, we will be hearing and willingly obeying the voice of God at every turn. It will be like Adam and Eve before the fall, and like Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry, we will know the truth and obey it because we want to, not because we have to.
Does perfect mean we will know everything and understand everything and never make a mistake in heaven? Will we never have to learn anything because we will know everything all at once? Will we never have to struggle to understand anything because at the moment after we leave this earth we will know and understand everything?
The New Testament word “perfect” doesn’t imply that. Only God is all knowing, all seeing, all understanding, and is all wise and all Holy. Does that mean that we will carry into heaven our current mental capacity? If we were only of average intelligence while living in this life, will we be only average intelligence in heaven? Some might say, “who cares, I will be just satisfied to be in the presence of Jesus Christ”, and I would hold heartily agree with that. But to try to answer the question of what perfection means, we need examine the word on both sides of heaven.
In heaven, we will be in a continuing state of learning and experiencing things about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will also be in an ongoing up hill climb to grow in our understanding of ourselves. We will have the capacity and awareness to see and perceive things in the spirit that we never could imagine while living on earth. Learning by it’s very nature implying going from one level of knowledge and understanding to another. When we learn something, we position ourselves for another learning step. As our learning on a topic increases we grow, not only in the knowledge of the topic but also in ourselves. The by-product of knowledge, understanding and experience is a personal awaking of parts of ourselves. The “who am I” questions get answered as we experience life. In heaven, it will be the same way. We grow to perfection as we increase our knowledge, understanding and experience. Being in heaven will be the ultimate classroom for maturing in Christ and the fullness of His perfection.
Did Jesus have to learn anything in His earthly ministry or did He know everything at birth? I believe there was a progressive learning process Jesus went through during his 33 years of earthly living. He was without sin, and He had no sin nature, but He still had to learn about his surrounding and himself. I believe he had to go through a similar process of learning and experiencing just like we will when we are in heaven. If Jesus knew everything from His birth that would mean that the scriptures would not have recorded any learning experiences of Jesus. If we find 2 or 3 passages (witnesses) that talk about an ongoing learning process of Jesus on earth, we can infer we also will continue to go through a learning experiences in heaven, since Jesus is our model.
1) In Heb 5:8 we read: though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Each morning when Jesus woke up He received instructions from His Father for that day (Isa 50:4). Jesus listened to and obeyed His Father. In some mystical way this process of learning obedience to the father prepared Him to understand and sympathize (Heb 4:15) with each one of us as we going through our own process of learning obedience to the same heavenly Father.
2) In Luke 8:45-47 – This is the passage talking about Jesus healing the women with the issue of blood. If Jesus know everything from birth, He would of not asked the question, “Who touched Me?”. Jesus would of not of tried to deceive those around Him by asking the question if He all ready knew who touched Him.
3) Luke 9:30 – The mount of transfiguration. Jesus is instructed by Moses and Elijah about is going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. Jesus at this time already knew that He was the Lamb of God that was going to be sacrified for the sins of the world. We can only imagine that this time spend with Moses and Elijah were meant as an encouragement and providing more information about the coming time of completion for Him in Jerusalem.
4) In Luke 2:52 – Jesus returning from the Temple with His parents at 12 years old. Here is another passage that implies that Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and men. If Jesus was totally wise there would be no need to grow in wisdom.
So, will we know everything about everything the moment we are in heaven? No. We will be forever learning and experiencing the length, breath, depth and height of Jesus Christ and all that He has prepared for us in His kingdom.
Daniel
June 25, 2015
Millennium Kingdom