Thus both the Bible and Christian theologians help us to correct the misunderstanding of heaven as a boring place of rest where we will have nothing to do. Indeed, the opposite is true. When God created man and woman, He knew they needed meaningful work to validate their significance. Thus He gave them full dominion over the earth and the creatures in it. It will still be true in heaven. God has great plans for us to participate with Him in executing enormous tasks with eternal significance. Not only does He want us with Him forever; He wants us to find immense joy and satisfaction in our new home.

A Place of Ultimate Reality

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven… We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

—2 CORINTHIANS 5:2, 8

We who are believers groan knowing that there is still something more, something that we have yet to experience that is not being experienced in our earthly life. There is something more that we have not known—something we long for. And heaven is the answer to the eternal quest of our souls. Heaven is what we have been waiting and longing for. It is the fulfillment of our dreams.

At the beginning of time, God’s creation was perfect. And so it would have remained had not Adam and Eve chosen to reject God’s command, causing Him to withdraw His intimate companionship with them. This withdrawal allowed evil and sin to invade their lives and the earth itself, afflicting the entire planet with death, disease, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and droughts. We are born into this fallen world and suffer all the consequences of the Fall.

Yet, as Ecclesiastes affirms, God has placed eternity in our hearts (3:11). We know that what we see and what we experience are not what was intended. Even unbelievers unwittingly know this when they are outraged by evil. They could not complain of evil unless they sensed that it is a violation of what they felt ought to be.

When we go too long without eating, our stomachs groan; when we live in an imperfect world, our spirits do the same. And the world itself, God’s creation, groans for the perfection that God will someday bring about (Romans 8:22).