Heaven!

This week has been pretty busy for me, so I haven't had the time to answer the many interesting questions I received. Luckily, I found out the my friend Glo has her own question answering service, so I posed this question to her:

"Will we ever sleep in heaven (New Jerusalem)? Is there going to be night? Are we ever going to play basketball again?"

Here's her response:

Thank you for asking such thought-provoking questions. As far I know, there are no passages in the Bible that talk directly about sleep and heaven. But there are passages that in heaven: "...He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'" (Revelation 21:3-5) In that sense, there will be a way of life beyond our current comprehension and beyond our imagination. Whether this new way of life includes sleeping, I'm not sure. BUT, from my own personal opinion, I don't think there will be sleep in the sense that we experience it here on earth. I'm only saying this because I think we'll be more like God once we get to heaven, and He is known to "neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:3-4). Yet He is still a God who rested (Gen. 2:2). So, I'm guessing no sleep, but a form of rest.

As for the question about "night" in heaven... It mentions in Rev. 21:23 that, "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." Again, I think there won't be "night" in the sense that we understand it now...because there won't be a sun or moon. But who knows what light from "the glory of God" or "the Lamb" will be like?

Finally, with the question of basketball...there's nothing that talks about this sport in the Bible. But, its safe to assume that if basketball is the delight of your heart, something in heaven will far exceed the joys you gain from playing even your very best game. I'm sure that is hard for you to imagine. I love what this individual says about what heaven will be like:

"No one but God knows for sure. But obviously it will be a whole new way of life. And, if the current world is any indication, we can expect the next one to show even more of God's creativity. We're talking different dimensions of time and space, and new activities and recreations we never even dreamed of. And that's just the point: it's beyond our imagination.

Do you think you could have come up with the idea for the giraffe? Or the tiger? Or the zebra? Maybe. Okay, you're feeling pretty confident. What about the four seasons? What about having the earth spin on its own axis while it rotates around the sun? (That's a pretty good one, you have to admit.) Or having the moon effect the ocean tides here on Earth? What about the human eye? Okay, what about sex? (That got your attention.) Have you ever wondered if God has something better than sex planned for the next life? You say: "No way!" But what if he does?

The point: God is very creative. All we have to do is look around us. Our world is amazing. And yet, it could be that God hasn't even shown off yet. It's likely that he hasn't. But we can be confident of this: whatever heaven is, it will be much more than we ever imagined, or could imagine. We just have no idea." (Taken from http://www.everystudent.com/wires/heaven.html)

A pretty interesting answer ... thanks glo. I always wondered if we'll ever play competitive sports in our renewed body in heaven. How will that even work?