Teaching Children about Heaven

Carolyn: My name is Carolyn, from North Carolina. This ministry has been a huge blessing in my life since the very first episode aired in September of 2001. The baton of teaching the everlasting truth of God’s Word passed through Gateway to Joy from Elisabeth Elliot to Nancy, who faithfully continues to proclaim the message of freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. Now, enjoy today’s presentation, brought to you in part by the Ministry Partner team.

Dannah Gresh: The normal “aha!” moments of life give parents a special opportunity, according to Joni Eareckson Tada.

Joni Eareckson Tada: By showing them, teaching them, that every joy, every delight, every pleasure that they experience here on earth has a direct connection to their heavenly Father, the Giver of every perfect gift, immediately as a parent, draw the line to God and His glory.

Dannah: You’re listening to the Revive Our Hearts podcast. It’s March 28, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh. Our host is the author of A Place of Quiet Rest, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Yesterday on this program, we heard Joni Eareckson Tada say something powerful. Now, keep in mind, Joni has been a quadriplegic for over fifty-five years. She needs help to do most of the ordinary physical things that you and I do almost without thinking. But I want you to hear again what she said.

Joni: Suffering, my wheelchair, has prepared me in that I can’t bear to be depressed, I can’t bear to be self-centered. I just can’t stand it when I have that sullen, self-centeredness, and my wheelchair kind of ratchets me up out of that like a big lever!

Nancy: I don’t know what the equivalent of Joni’s wheelchair may be in your life, but we all have something that reminds us of our weakness, something that helps us learn to look at the trials we face with a heavenly perspective!

If you missed that episode of Revive Our Hearts, you can hear it at our website ReviveOurHearts.com, or through the Revive Our Hearts app. Joni heads upJoni and Friends, a ministry to disabled people.

Today Joni and Dannah are going to continue their conversation about heaven. Joni will also help us think through how to talk to the children in our lives about eternity with Jesus. Now, let’s listen.

Dannah: Joni Eareckson Tada is back with us today. Welcome back, Joni!

Joni: Oh, it’s good to be with you and our listening friends! Thanks for having me on again. 

Dannah: What else do you have to tell us about the question, Is heaven boring?

Joni: Okay, well let me paint a picture using Isaiah chapter 6, verse 3. That’s where the seraphim—those incredibly powerful, awesome, heavenly figures, those angelic heavenly hosts (we can’t even understand what they look like, the seraphim)—this is what they say day and night, day and night, night and day.

They say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is full of His glory!” Okay? They repeat that day and night, night and day. You read that and you think, Man! Don’t the seraphim get tired of doing that?! I mean, that’s gotta be really boring after the four-thousand-five-hundred-and-sixty-ninth time!”

This is the way I want our listeners to picture it: they are standing before God. They are beholding Him. They are worshiping Him. And God is so multi-faceted; there are so many new and fascinating and intriguing and unique and wonderful things about Him!

It’s as though He were a diamond, okay? They see a diamond from one angle and they go, “Ohh! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” But before they finish the sentence, God is slightly turned and reveals some new other facet of His glorious character!

It’s, “Ohh! My goodness, holy, holy, holy. Would you look at that!” It’s a constant “aha!” moment with the seraphim! They’ve been doing that since the foundation of the world! Oh . . . my . . . goodness! There is so much to our Great Creator God!, Almighty God.

There are so many facets of who He is that we could never, ever tire of being absolutely stunned! Where we are going, “Oh my goodness, would you look at . . . holy, holy, holy!” So keep that picture when you’re tempted to think that heaven is boring, remember it’s about Him, it’s about God! 

It’s about finding our utter and fullest delight and joy in Him! We are constantly going to be joining with the seraphim saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” Because for all eternity—all of it!—we’re going to be discovering new, fascinating, wonderful things about Him and growing wiser, growing more in wonder and in love with the Lord. And, oh my goodness, I can't wait to meet the seraphim and join them in their chorus.

Dannah: I love that! Joni, another question that people ask is about their body, “Am I still going to have a body?” is how it shows up on the internet. Talk to us about our heavenly bodies.

Joni: Well, any of our listeners can flip open to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and there’s a big chunk of that chapter that’s dedicated to our bodies. I love where 1 Corinthians 15:42 picks up, and it says, 

“The body that is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (vv. 42–45). Okay, so with that as our background in picturing our new glorified bodies . . . and of course as a quadriplegic, I think a lot about that. I wonder what my new body is going to be like!

The Bible in that chapter uses the analogy of a dead seed that is put in the ground, like a dead acorn that’s buried in the earth. And when it germinates it comes to life, right? First as a seedling, and then this little acorn grows into this huge, gigantic oak tree, towering tall with huge branches and big leaves!

Now, there is absolutely no way that little acorn could ever imagine himself as a tree like that. It’s impossible! Yet that acorn is one and the same as the gigantic tree! Now, hold that thought, because that pretty much is the picture. That’s the metaphor that the Bible invites us to use when it speaks of our new bodies.

The promise of what an acorn is going to be one day is within that nut; it’s within its DNA. And even though it looks nothing like a gigantic oak tree, still the acorn and the tree possess the same physical DNA. And so it will be with our new glorified bodies.

We’re going to have a body that is perfectly suited for heaven but perfectly suited for earth. I think we get a picture of that when we see the examples of Christ and how He encountered the disciples after His resurrection.

He could appear. He could disappear. He could eat fish. He could sit down. He could walk through walls. He could speak. He could hide people’s understanding of Him and then suddenly open their eyes. I think that shows us a pattern of what we might be able to do as well. Our bodies will be perfectly suited for earth yet also for heaven.

Dannah, when I see you in heaven, I will recognize you as Dannah. I will know that you are Dannah. Okay, so Peter and John and James are up on the Mount of Transfiguration, and there Jesus Christ is transfigured before them.

And suddenly, appearing also with Christ are Elijah and Moses. (see Matt. 17:1–4) Nobody made any introductions, but the disciples were immediately able to recognize, “Aha! This is Moses, this is Elijah, and let’s build them a shelter, let’s build them a temple!” (I mean, they started going on and on with that.)

But I think it gives us, again, an idea of how we’ll have genuine recognizability in heaven. I think Charles Spurgeon was the one (or maybe it was C. S. Lewis) who said, “It’s going to be a place where we will wear our souls on the outside.”

And the best of who you are, Dannah, will be known in heaven. I’m going to know you for the best that you were on earth. I can’t wait to meet you there!

Dannah: Aww, I love that thought, it’s beautiful! I think, too, related to that, because you mentioned you’re going to recognize me. Another question people ask is, “Will I still be married?” They’re concerned about this relationship that they’ve enjoyed with someone on this earth. What do you say about that?

Joni: Well, number one, when I see my husband, Ken Tada, in heaven, I will know him as my husband, because heaven is a place where we’re not more dumb, we’re smarter. We’re not going to forget all the good things about earth. In fact, those things will remain: “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of light.”

So things about earth that have been good, we will remember. Things that bring sorrow, deep disappointment, they will be erased from our memory. So when I see Ken Tada, I‘ll say, “You’re the guy I was married to on earth!” 

However, the Bible makes it clear there is no marriage in heaven. (see Luke 20:340 There is something better! Oh my goodness, what could that be? What could it be? I don’t know, but I do believe my God when He says that the reason there is no marriage in heaven is because it is but a whisper, it’s a foreshadowing, it’s a picture of something far, far, far better to come!

Dannah: Yes, we’ll be the Bride of Christ at that point, collectively. And so it’s funny. If you’re taking your kids to Alaska, you show them pictures of the grizzly bears, and you show them pictures of the bald eagles that fly through the sky, you show them pictures of the glaciers and things like that.

When you get to Alaska, you’re not going to need the pictures, right!? You’re going to have the real thing! And so, our marriages are pictures of a much greater, much more satisfying love with Jesus Christ, that we’re going to be experiencing in heaven. 

Joni: Absolutely!

Dannah: Well, Joni, I am so excited that this book is going to help children understand some of these foundational truths about heaven, and you do it so beautifully! Why is it important that we get our children thinking about heaven, and how do we get them thinking about it?

Joni: Well, the messaging of our culture insists that children put themselves first, our culture says that life is all about them—their desires, getting what they want, doing what they please. And because of this many kids—Christian kids—look at heaven as though it were, you know, a free ticket to Disneyland. . .

You know, it’s going to be a place where, “I’ll eat all the chocolate chip pancakes I want!” or “I will ride the biggest, most gigantic water slide in the entire universe!” But that kind of self-focus is totally foreign in heaven.

We can best prepare children for heaven by showing them, teaching them that every joy, every delight, every pleasure, every “aha!” moment that they experience here on earth has a direct connection to their heavenly Father, the Giver of every perfect gift. 

So the next time, let’s say you do take your child to Alaska, or the next time they stand by a thunderous waterfall or at the edge of a roaring ocean, or they see a shooting star, and they gasp in wonder! Immediately as a parent, draw the line to God and His glory! 

Connect that emotion of wonder that they experience, that response, connect it with God! Cultivate in your child an appreciation that all joy, all delightful things find their source in the Lord Jesus. And you will be preparing his heart to lay up treasures in heaven.

Because, it’s not the day of our children, it’s not the day of Joni—even though I get my new body and I’ll be able to walk and run again and do all kinds of things with my hands—it won’t be my day. It’s the day of Christ!

And all the glories, all the delights, all the pleasures that we end up enjoying in heaven are nothing but, like, party favors to the really big party of Christ’s Day. It’s the day of Jesus Christ. It’s His Coronation!

We can best prepare our children for understanding that and laying up treasures in heaven if we would but teach them that these “aha!” moments (I like to call them) find their source in Christ!

Dannah: Yes, that reminds me of Romans 1:20, where Scripture says that Creation reveals God’s power and His character to us. So when we stop at that waterfall, or at that place where our children are experiencing that “aha!” moment, that is revealing something of God to them. But we have to teach them that. They need to learn that from us.

Joni: Absolutely! They’re not going to connect the dots themselves. A good parent will use godly wisdom and connect that “aha!” experience of their child directly to the Lord Jesus. “Let’s stop. Let’s stop right now and pray about this. Let’s thank God for this!” That’s a good way to, again, to grip their little hearts for heaven.

Dannah: Yes, I love it. Well, Joni, the big question. And this book that you wrote answers it so well. The Awesome, Super, Fantastic, Forever Party written for children ages three to six answers, “How do we get there? How do we get to heaven?”

Joni: Oh, Dannah, that is the most important question you could possibly ask me over these last two days: “How do we get there?” Better yet: “How do we know the King, the Prince, the God of all Heaven—Jesus Christ?” 

I think in yesterday’s edition of our program I talked about coming to Christ and making it all about me. I came to Christ because He was going to help me lose weight, and I was going to get a new boyfriend and get great grades. Sometimes we think, “Oh, we’re going to come to Christ because we want to escape hell and go to heaven!”

But a relationship with Christ is not putting your signature on the bottom line of an “insurance policy” that guarantees you, “No hell, all heaven,” and then you go on your merry way. Let’s remember that knowing Christ is a matter of dying to yourself daily. It is a matter of, “Jesus, I am full of such sin, I am full of such stiff-necked stubbornness. I’ve got this itchiness to get things my way. I fudge the truth. I manipulate my husband with precisely-timed phrases. I hog the spotlight. I do not give credit where credit is due. I do not easily forgive others. I keep a record of their wrongs.” I mean, we go on and on and on. Knowing Jesus is taking that stuff and putting it at the cross and saying, “I’m not going to do that again!”

By the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit, I’m going to believe that Jesus died for that sin! I want Him to sit on the throne of my heart and give me His Holy Spirit power to every day keep saying “no” to that stuff and living in a way that delights Him! 

I want to make it my ambition to be pleasing to Him! That’s your starting point right there. And you’ve got to live it every single day. Don’t be thinking that just because you say the right prayer—the “sinner’s prayer”—that you’ve got a fast track into heaven. No.

When you get to heaven and you stand there at the pearly gates, God’s going to look in His flat file folder, and He’s going to say, “Let me see some evidence. Did this lady really know Me?” Because it says in Scripture, plenty will say, “Lord, Lord, I did this, I did that.” And He will say, “Depart from me; I never knew you!” (see Matt. 7:22–23)

So, let’s make certain that every single day you’re “working out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). You are getting actively engaged in your own sanctification. You’re sanctifying yourself with the truth of God’s Word. You’re saying “no” to sin and “yes” to His grace. And that’s a great starting point right there!

But let me add, Dannah, that there will be those who are great in the kingdom and those who will be least in the kingdom. (see Matt. 5:19) Man, I don’t want to be least in the kingdom! 

So I want to do everything down here on the earth to get rid of sin. I want to do everything I can to increase my capacity for joy and worship and service in heaven, by every day doing drastic little obediences that demonstrate to God that, “I love You, and I choose You over this world! I want You! I want to reflect You!”

I can’t wait for that day! Because if I get a lot of crowns, guess what? I’ll have more to cast at the feet of my Savior! I’m not a mercenary when I say I want to be great in the kingdom of heaven . . . uh uh, no way.

All I want is more reward to just pour back on my Savior and say, “Thank You, Jesus! You gave me a little thimble full of faith, and I expanded it into a tanker truck! I exercised that muscle of faith. My capacity for You became greater. It means I can give you more and more and more praise here in heaven!”

Dannah: Joni, you have whetted my appetite! I have one more question for you today. It’s a really important one. For the woman who’s been listening—maybe she listened yesterday and identified with suffering—and she’s suffering in her life right now. 

She’s at a hard place, a painful place—maybe her body, maybe a battle with cancer, maybe economically—and as she listens to us talking about heaven, she’s not sure she’s headed in that direction. 

She wants some clarity, “Like, how do I know that I am entering into that kind of relationship with Jesus?” What should she do today, right now, as she listens?

Joni: Well, I identify with that woman. Please don’t be thinking this is a smile made of Colgate. I struggle a lot. I struggle against depression, especially most recently because my pain is getting harder. And at night, I mean even last night, I felt, “I can’t do this, Jesus! I cannot, cannot do this!”

I imagine our listening friend is saying the same, “I cannot do this! Who am I? I can’t do this!” Well, I will hearken to something I said yesterday: find a Bible promise and anchor your emotions to it. Push aside the box of Kleenex for now and find a Bible promise, and don’t let it go!

And you just hold on to that promise, and you say, “Jesus, I can’t do it! I can’t face this cancer. I cannot deal with my husband. It’s a dead-end marriage! This job! I can’t make financial ends meet! Lord God, my children! I am at my wit's end!”

Whoever you are, anchor yourself to a Bible promise and trust that God is going to give you the grace. You’ll say, “I can’t do it!” But then in the next breath please say, “[Yet] I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Your weakness and your discouragement is actually your best ally. Because even Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3 KJV). Just come to Him with your impoverished spirit, your empty self, and let Him fill you. Because if you do that, yours “is the kingdom of heaven!”

And every day as you keep that discipline of going to Jesus out of desperate need, out of empty-handed spiritual poverty, let Him fill you. Then out of nowhere you’ll discover not just a spring, but a river of living water filling your heart, flowing out to others in streams of encouragement and rising back to God in an ecstatic fountain of praise!

Keep that in your vision. That’s you! You can get there if you take one day at a time. “Sufficient unto the day are the troubles thereof.” (Matt. 6:34 KJV). So, no grace available for tomorrow, just for today, and need Jesus desperately!

Dannah: Amen! Thank you for being with us today. 

Nancy: Wow! You know, the thing I love about Joni Eareckson Tada is that in every conversation, she’s always pointing us to Jesus and His Word. That’s because that’s what keeps her going, day after day, serving Christ with a smile through the pain.

Joni’s book for young children about heaven is called The Awesome, Super, Fantastic, Forever Party Storybook. I love that! We’ve linked to it in the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com. Also in the transcript there’s a video you can watch of Joni reading from her book. Be sure to check it out!

Now it’s possible that you heard and understood the Good News about Jesus and heaven for the first time today. If that’s new to you, we’re going to pray for you in just a moment. But I want to also tell you about a book we’d like for you to read. It’s by a longtime friend of mine, Pastor Erwin Lutzer. The title says it all: How You Can Be Sure You Will Spend Eternity with God. 

If the whole idea of trusting in Jesus as your only hope is a new concept and it’s just starting to make sense, then would you contact us? Don’t wait! Ask for the book on spending eternity with God, and we’ll get a copy to you right away at no cost. You can contact us by calling 1-800-569-5959. 

Again, if God’s Spirit is working in your heart and drawing you to Jesus, this is something you need to deal with now! Call that number. Tomorrow we’ll keep thinking about heaven and the joy of being with Jesus.

We’re going to hear from a husband, a widower, who is grieving the death of his wife . . . but he’s grieving with hope. Author Randy Alcorn will be here on Revive Our Hearts. I hope you’ll join us for that.

Now, let’s close in prayer, and I specifically want to pray for you if the Holy Spirit has been tugging on your heart and making you aware of your need for a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you’ve known Jesus for a long time; would you just be praying right now for those who may need to repent and believe the gospel? Let’s pray.

And so, Father, I pray for anyone who’s listening that may need to know Jesus as their personal Savior. I pray that You would show them the beauty and the richness of Jesus, the grace of Christ who died in our place for our sins that we would not have to suffer Your wrath, but we could spend eternity with You in heaven.

I pray that You’d give faith. I pray that You’d give the gift of repentance. I’d pray that You’d open their eyes, their ears, their hearts to believe the gospel and be saved! So, Lord, even in this moment would You be giving salvation to someone—or someones—who are listening. Draw them to the Savior. Give them the gift of eternal life! I pray in Jesus’ name, amen!

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth invites you into the freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness found in Christ!

All Scripture is taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted.
 

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