What Will We Do in Heaven?

At some point in life, we have all seen a cartoon that suggests Heaven will involve sitting on a cloud playing a harp. Yet there is nothing in the Bible that would suggest this is what heaven is about. Not to mention that in the era of air travel, we can be certain that no one is sitting around on any clouds.

So is there anything at all accurate about that concept? What is it that we will actually spend our time doing in heaven?

What Will We Do in Heaven? 

We may or may not play harps in Heaven, but if there is one thing that we can be absolutely certain of it is that we will sing! I have occasionally heard people wonder why it is we sing in church services, and this is just one reason – it is clear that we will be singing the praises of God for eternity in heaven.

But won’t all that singing start to get boring at some point? Absolutely not! I confess that singing everyday all the time on earth will probably get boring after a while. Yet the music we will experience in the very presence of our Creator, our Almighty God who created the cosmos yet knows every hair on our heads, will be beyond what we can possibly imagine.

If we know anything, it is that we will worship our king.

Can We Know for Sure What We Will Do in Heaven?

We can know this for sure because the Bible lays it out clearly and repeatedly.  

Revelation 4:8 reads, “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, ‘who was, and is, and is to come.’” So this tells us about the four creatures (more on them in a moment), but what about everyone else?

Revelation 5:11-12 continues to tell us about singing, this time adding in the angelic host. “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’”

After the creatures and the elders and the angels, finally we are added in to this singing. Revelation 5:13-14 reads, “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ The four living creatures said, ‘Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

That pretty much covers everyone. All creation singing out in glory and praise to God.

What Else Does the Bible say about Heaven?

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In this verse, Paul is speaking to the fact that we can’t truly know all there is to know about heaven until we are there. It is like looking into a blurry, foggy mirror; we can get an idea but not really the full, clear picture of all it will be. That is partly because it is beyond our human understanding. Yet this is a comforting and amazing promise, that we will one day understand and know everything about heaven as God already knows everything about us.

We are fully known in this life, and in the next life all the confusion and questions will finally and perfectly be answered. Including the knowledge of exactly who the four creatures are and what their singing sounds like!

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/bowie15

Is Heaven Really Forever?

One significant thing that Jesus tells us about Heaven is that it is a fulfillment of everything that we do on earth. For example, Jesus says this about heaven, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3).

Heaven really is forever, and we will spend that eternity in a place of perfect joy, peace, rest, and hope. It is a house unlike any we have seen before. We will never have to wait for something to happen to make us happy, or have to work in hopes that we will rest later. Jesus promises that our life will be eternal and filled with perfect peace.

Will We Need to Eat or Sleep in Heaven?

“Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat” (Revelation 7:16).

In heaven we will no longer need many of the things that we need in this life. Things such as food, naps, friends, sports, movies, and days at the beach are enjoyable now, but we no longer need these things in heaven.

Paul writes of it this way, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1). The things we enjoy in this life are just a preview of what our joy will be in heaven. We will all be perfected and complete in the presence of Christ.

Why Should We Live Now with Our Minds Focused on Heaven?

We should live with our minds focused on heaven because it gives us the correct perspective. Heaven is our home, and it is where we as believers truly belong for eternity.

When we live for the here and the now, we oddly enough lose sight of what really matters in life. The “here and now” is made better when we focus beyond it. This doesn’t include just the afterlife, and what we will experience in heaven, but it focuses us away from the immediate and the trivial. It can become easy to think that what we are experiencing in our own lives and in our current culture are all there is. Yet with a focus to heaven, we know that we are experiencing nothing compared to the glory that awaits us in His presence.

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Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Biletskiy Evgeniy

Jason Soroski is a homeschool dad and member of the worship team at matthias lot church in St. Charles, MO. He spends his free time hanging out with his family, exploring new places, and writing about the experiences. Connect on Facebook or at JasonSoroski.net.