Millennium Kingdom Thinking – Part 5

Ever wonder what we will be feeling in heaven?  In the past when I thought about heaven I would always imagine I would be  joyful and full of praise and worship for our heavenly Father.  I could imagine heaven a place of great feelings of peace and comfort.  I would be home at last, secure in the knowledge that I would be experiencing an eternity of completeness and love.  All the struggles about myself doubts and loathing would be gone.  My hidden personal secrets that brought me waves of guilt would finally be subsided.  My old prejudices and judgments of other would be gone.  I could approach my fellow saints with total acceptance and genuine love.

Do the scriptures give a hint of other emotions we will experience in heaven?

Let’s look at one emotion that is not something we would look forward too,  shame.  You would think in heaven that all we would experience are good things, good feelings and good times.  That’s what we expect from a loving God, who scarified His Son on our behalf.  For every believer there will be a time of accountability for our actions here on earth.  As a result of this accountability, shame could be one of the emotions each of us will face.  Let’s take a look at some verses:

1) Mark 8:38  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”2) 1 John 2:28  And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

As part of this accountability (2 Cor 5 & Rom 14), every action and hurtful word will be examined and will require an answer for the motive behind it.  As this is going on would we shrink in shame from the presence of Christ.  Not something we are looking forward too.  It is for that reason that the John encourages us to “abide” in him always so we won’t feel ashamed at His coming.

Glad that is over, let’s go on to other emotions.  How about the emotions and thoughts that are a result of our senses?  Will sight, sound, touch, smell and taste be part of our resurrected body?  Since believers will be operating in a reigning position during the millennium kingdom, we can only assume that the senses we have in our earthly bodies will also be in our resurrected body.  Let take another look at the resurrected Jesus Christ, who is the model we look to for clues about what our resurrected body will be like.

How many senses can we derive from this passage in Luke 24.  Starting at vs 36, we see that stood in the presence of the 11 disciples.  He saw them, and the disciples saw Him.  Jesus in His resurrected body clearly had sight, and He could perceive, by the looks on their faces, that they were fearful.  He offers them the chance to touch Him.  He assume that had they did touch Him, He would have felt it.  Starting in verse 13, the conversation between Jesus and the two on the road to Emmaus is recorded.  Jesus could both hear and speak to be heard.  In verse 42 & 43 we see Jesus both taking and eating food that was offered to Him.  Jesus had the opportunity to both smell and taste the food that was offered.

Will we be able to do the same in our resurrected bodies?  Absolutely.  What Jesus demonstrated in His resurrected body we also will be able to do.  All five senses and more will be available to us.  I can only image that all the issues with our current senses will be removed and replaced instead with a heighten ability in each sense.  No more glasses, hearing aids, numbness in our fingers and legs.  Those that cannot smell or taste food will then be able fully to enjoy every scent and taste.

Let’s take a look at the emotions of Jesus during His earthly ministry.  Since Jesus was without a sin nature, we can get a glimpse of what our emotions will be without the tug of our old nature.  Some believers might think that being a resurrected body would mean that we would no longer get angry or frustrated with anything or anyone.  But as we shall see, the expression of these t2 emotions along with a lot of other ones will be part of our emotional makeup in our new bodies.

Let’s take a look at some of the emotions Jesus expressed during His ministry.

Righteous Anger and Frustration:

1) MarK 3:1-6  And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

3) Mark 9: 17-19  Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”  He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”

4) Matthew 14:30-31  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

5) Mar 5:38-40  Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.

Anger and frustration in certain situations was evident in the life of Jesus.  Both of these emotions stemmed not from a sin nature, but from the the unrighteous responses of people.  Jesus anger and frustration was out of righteous and holy understanding of the hearts of the people he was dealing with.  So it will be with us.

The purpose of a resurrected body is to do our duty for Jesus Christ, the King in He earthly Kingdom.  Remember we will reign with Him on earth (Rev 5:10).  Part of responsibilities will be to manage the peoples in nations and regions that Jesus has placed us in charge over.  We will have the responsibility to judge and direct those that Jesus have given sub-authority over.  We will be leading people by our words and actions.  We will be talking with people and administrating God’s truth and righteous.  Guided by the Holy Spirit and the Wisdom of God we will make decisions that will effect potentially large numbers of people.  Since the people we will be responsible for will still be guided by there sin nature we will have to face situations where we, like Jesus will be angered and frustrated by the unrighteous acts and thinking of those that we love and want the best for.

Will we weep for the souls of those who are under our charge? (John 11:35 &38)  Will our hearts, in the resurrection, have the capacity to feel and express the emotion of love and longing for a people who are still struggling to find and trust in God?  I say YES.  Our heart will have the same capacity as Jesus our model of the resurrected Lord.  We will shed our tear and groan in our hearts for the souls of people in our charge.