Heaven is a school, its field of study the universe, its teacher the Infinite One. A branch of this school was established in Eden, and, after the plan of redemption has accomplished its purpose, education will again be taken up in the Eden school.
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived," ... God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9, NRSV. Only through His Word can a knowledge of these things be gained, and even this affords but a partial revelation.
The prophet of Patmos thus describes the location of the school of the hereafter: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. ... Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:1, 2. "The city had no need of the sun, or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light." Revelation 21:23.
Between the school established in Eden at the beginning and the school of the hereafter there lies the whole compass of this world's history--the history of human transgression and suffering, of divine sacrifice, and of victory over death and sin. Not all the conditions of that first school of Eden will be found in the school of the future life. No tree of knowledge of good and evil will afford opportunity for temptation. No tempter is there, no possibility of wrong. Every character has withstood the testing of evil, and none are longer susceptible to its power.
"To him who overcomes," Christ says, "I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Revelation 2:7. The gift of the tree of life in Eden was conditional, and it was finally withdrawn. But the gifts of the future life are absolute and eternal. The prophet sees the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." "And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life." And "there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain: for the former things have passed away." Revelation 22:1; 22:2, RV; 21:4.
Restored to God's presence, the human race will again, as at the beginning, be taught of Him: "My people shall know My name; ... they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks: 'Behold, it is I.'" Isaiah 52:6.
There, when the veil that darkens our vision is removed, and our eyes see that world of beauty of which we now catch glimpses through the microscope; when we look on the glories of the heavens, now scanned afar through the telescope; when, the blight of sin removed, the whole earth shall appear in "the beauty of the Lord our God," what a field will be open to our study! Students of science may read the records of creation and discern no reminders of the law of evil. They may listen to the music of nature's voices and detect no note of wailing or undertone of sorrow.
There the Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 65:21, 22. There Adam and his descendants will be restored to their lost kingship, and the lower order of beings will again recognize their authority; the fierce will become gentle, and the timid trustful.
History of infinite scope and of wealth inexpressible will be open to the redeemed. Here, from the vantage ground of God's Word, students are afforded a view of the vast field of history and may gain some knowledge of the principles that govern the course of human events. But their vision is still clouded, and their knowledge incomplete. Not until they stand in the light of eternity will they see all things clearly.
Then will be opened before the redeemed the course of the great conflict that had its birth before time began, and that ends only when time shall cease. The history of the inception of sin; of fatal falsehood in its crooked working; of truth that, swerving not from its own straight lines, has met and conquered error--all will be made manifest. The veil that interposes between the visible and the invisible world will be drawn aside, and wonderful things will be revealed.
Ministry of Angels
Not until the providences of God are seen in the light of eternity shall we understand what we owe to the care and interposition of holy angels. Celestial beings have taken an active part in human life and business. They have appeared in garments that shone like lightning. They have come in human form, dressed like travelers. They have accepted the hospitality of human homes. They have acted as guides to lost travelers. They have defeated the robber's purpose and turned aside the stroke of the enemy.
Though the rulers of this world know it not, often in their councils angels have spoken. Human eyes have looked at them. Human ears have listened to their appeals. In the council hall and the court of justice, heavenly messengers have pleaded the cause of the persecuted and oppressed. They have defeated purposes and arrested evils that would have brought wrong and suffering to God's children. To students in the heavenly school, all this will be unfolded.
Every redeemed one will understand the ministry of angels in his or her own life. What will it be to hold converse with one's guardian angel and learn the history of divine interposition in the individual life, of heavenly cooperation in every work for humanity!
All the perplexities of life's experience will then be made plain. Where to us have appeared only confusion and disappointment, broken purposes and thwarted plans, will be seen a grand, overruling, victorious purpose, a divine harmony.
There all who have served with unselfish spirit will see the fruit of their labors. They will see the outworking of every right principle and noble act. Something of this we see here. But how little of the result of the world's most noble work is in this life manifest to the doer!
Parents and teachers lie down in their last sleep, their lifework seeming to have been in vain. They do not know that their faithfulness has unsealed springs of blessing that can never cease to flow. Only by faith they see the children they have trained become a benediction and an inspiration to the world, and the influence repeat itself a thousandfold.
Faithful workers send out into the world messages of strength and hope and courage, words that carry blessing to hearts in every land. But as they work in loneliness and obscurity they know little of the results. Men and women sow the seed from which, above their graves, others reap blessed harvests. They plant trees, that others may eat the fruit. They are content here to know that they have set in motion agencies for good. In the hereafter the action and reaction of all these will be seen.
Of every gift that God has bestowed, leading people to unselfish effort, a record is kept in heaven. To trace this in its wide-spreading lines, to meet those who by our efforts have been uplifted and ennobled, to see in their history the outworking of true principles--this will be one of the studies and rewards of the heavenly school.
Joys and Pursuits in Heaven
There we shall know even as also we are known. There the loves and sympathies that God has planted in the soul will find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages, the sacred fellowship that binds together "the whole family in heaven and earth"--all are among the experiences of the hereafter.
There will be music there, and song, such music and song as, except in the visions of God, no mortal ear has heard or mind conceived.
"As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there." Psalm 87:7, KJV. "They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing." Isaiah 24:14.
"For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3.
There every power will be developed, every capability increased. The grandest enterprises will be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations will be reached, the highest ambitions realized. And still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of body and mind and soul.
All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's children. With unutterable delight we shall enter into the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings. We shall share the treasures gained through ages upon ages spent in contemplation of God's handiwork. And the years of eternity, as they roll, will continue to bring more glorious revelations. "Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20) will be, forever and forever, the impartation of the gifts of God.
"His servants shall serve Him." Revelation 22:3. The life on earth is the beginning of the life in heaven. Education on earth is an initiation into the principles of heaven. The lifework here is a training for the lifework there. What we now are, in character and holy service, is the sure foreshadowing of what we shall be.
"The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve." Matthew 20:28. Christ's work below is His work above, and our reward for working with Him in this world will be the greater power and wider privilege of working with Him in the world to come. "'You are My witnesses,' says the Lord, 'that I am God.'" Isaiah 43:12. This also we shall be in eternity.
Why was the great controversy permitted to continue throughout the ages? Why was Satan's existence not cut short at the outset of his rebellion? It was that the universe might be convinced of God's justice in His dealing with evil, that sin might receive eternal condemnation. In the plan of redemption there are heights and depths that eternity itself can never exhaust, marvels into which the angels desire to look. The redeemed only, of all created beings, have in their own experience known actual conflict with sin. They have identified with Christ, and, as even the angels could not do, have entered into the fellowship of His sufferings. Will they have no testimony as to the science of redemption--nothing that will be of worth to unfallen beings?
Even now, "to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" is "made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God." And He "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 3:10, RV; 2:6, 7.
"In His temple everyone says, 'Glory'" (Psalm 29:9), and the song that the ransomed ones will sing--the song of their experience--will declare the glory of God: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? for You alone are holy." Revelation 15:3, 4.
In our earthly, sin-restricted life, the greatest joy and the highest education are found in service. And in the future state, freed from the limitations of sinful humanity, we shall find our greatest joy and highest education in witnessing, and learning anew "the riches of the glory of this mystery," "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27.
"It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2.
Then, in that great multitude which no one can number, presented "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24), the Son of God--He whose blood has redeemed us and whose life has taught us--"shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." Isaiah 53:11.