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by Wayne Blank
"Heaven" (the English word translated from the original Bible words which
meant either the sky, or outer space, depending on the context) is a very big
place, perhaps infinite, perhaps destined to expand forever from the "big
bang" creation event. See The Seven Days Of Creation. A journey at a million miles per hour for a million
years would still not get us to very many of the places there are to go.
There may be vastly more inhabitable planets orbiting the billions of stars
than there are people who have ever lived.
If you add together this infinite amount of time, with the infinite amount of space that's out there, you get the potential for very much to do for a great many people - or rather, the spirit beings that we will one day become if we choose to accept God's offer of eternal life.
Does God plan to make us immortal "couch potatoes," sitting around doing nothing for all eternity? Such never-ending idleness and the resulting boredom would seem to fit the traditional idea of "hell" much more than "heaven."
On the other hand, is there a Plan, a Divine Purpose, for God to transform all the billions of mortal humans into immortal spirit beings as He has plainly stated that He is going to do? God does not do things in vain, and He did not create us in vain. Could it be that we are going to be sent out there as pioneers, settlers, creators of worlds?
Consider:
"The creation [i.e. the universe] waits in eager expectation for the sons [i.e. the transformed children, male and female] of God to be revealed [i.e. transformed to spirit beings]. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it [i.e. God halted its development until we are ready], in hope that the creation itself will be liberated [i.e. planets transformed from undeveloped, dry, lifeless hulks to living, breathing ecosystems] from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:19-21)
Have you ever wondered how you would go about creating a world if sent out to do so? Why not give it some thought sometime, because there is a very real possibility that it could happen.
Fact Finder: Did the apostle Paul actually travel (bodily or in vision)
into space and see "Paradise"?
2 Corinthians 12:2-4
