Heaven, by Randy Alcorn: A Book Review

" Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21:1-3

Randy Alcorn spent 25 years researching the topic of Heaven for his book called Heaven. His main focus of study was on the scriptural accounts of Heaven, Old and New Testaments, although he studied other writings as well. The end result was an in-depth, comprehensive exploration of Heaven. Sticking faithfully and diligently to the Scriptures, his work is not only credible, it is genuine and authentic. Reading this rather lengthy book is worth the time and is quite frankly hard to put it down. It is a treasure chest of details on Heaven, our eternal home; the place that gives us hope when our lives are crumbling with despair, tragedy, and sorrow. The book Heaven, for me, and the few people I know who have read it, is a life-changing experience. Heaven is no longer for me, an ethereal, nebulous, uncertain place. Heaven has come alive for me and my anticipation to go there is one of the greatest hopes of my life.

In Christendom today, we do not hear a lot spoken about Heaven. We sing songs that mention Heaven, maybe even rejoice that we will go there some day, and when we share the Gospel with an unbeliever, we often tell them that if they accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, they will go to Heaven. Most unbelievers don't really know anything about Heaven other than angels and God live there, so the promise of Heaven is not often a great motivator to accept Christ into their lives. Many, believers and unbelievers alike, as Randy Alcorn suggests in his remarkable book, believe that heaven will be a boring, monotonous place where all we will do throughout eternity is recline on a cloud, and strum a harp. Alcorn points out the lack of biblical study and knowledge regarding the topic of Heaven from Christians and churches of today:

"We Christians who believe God's Word are partly to blame for this. Why? We have failed to explore and explain the Bible's magnificent teachings about Heaven. No wonder a flood of unbiblical thinking has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Because the human heart cries out for answers about the afterlife, our silence on Heaven is particularly striking."

On this same issue Randy Alcorn reiterates his statement with a quote by CS Lewis: "Most of us find it very difficult to want 'Heaven' at all--except in so far as 'Heaven' means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained; our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it." Oh how sad and true they are.

Alcorn's primary focus in the book is on the New Earth, the New Jerusalem, as the Revelation passage above talks about. There are brief looks into the present Heaven (also referred to as the intermediate Heaven), but because the present Heaven is not our permanent home, he spends most of his time focusing on the New Earth, which comes down out of Heaven, and will be our eternal home. Consider what he says in the chapter What Is the Nature of Heaven?

"The present, intermediate Heaven is in the angelic realm, distinctly separate from Earth (though as we'll see, likely have more physical qualities than we might assume). By contrast, the future Heaven will be in the human realm, on Earth. Then the dwelling place of God will also be the dwelling place of humanity, in a resurrected universe: 'I saw a new heaven and a new earth...I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God...And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Rev. 21:1-3). Heaven, God's dwelling place, will one day be on the New Earth."

Before I read this book, I had no idea the Bible provided so many details about Heaven. Following is look at a few of the topics Alcorn speaks on in his book called Heaven, allbased on scriptural evidence:

• Is Heaven beyond our imagination?
• Is Heaven our default destination...or Is Hell?
• What is the nature of the present Heaven?
• Is the present Heaven a physical place?
• What is life like in the present Heaven?
• Why is Earth's redemption essential to God's plan?
• Anticipating resurrection.
• The Restoration of the Earth.
• Will the old Earth be destroyed...or renewed?
• Will we actually rule With Christ?

Part Two of the book is a Q & A section which is very comprehensive and answers finely detailed questions we have always been curious about.

Part Three covers Living in Light of Heaven.

Alcorn does a phenomonal job of answering long, often pondered questions people have on Heaven. No stone is left unturned. The book is captivating, and as truth about Heaven is revealed, one ends up asking, "How did I not know this stuff?"

Also in this bookis a section on Hell. Alcorn brings up Hell because the does not want readers to think that Heaven is our default destination. Not everyone goes to Heaven, he reminds us. But most people in the world today believe they are. He reminds us that Christ said "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." He wants every reader to know that there is only one way to get to Heaven, and that is by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life

Throughout the book, Randy Alcorn encourages us to use our imagination to the fullest as we find out through the Scriptures all the details about Heaven. As you hear the details, allow yourself to let your mind go and imagine what these things will be like. Imagination make these facts come alive in your heart.

At the back of the book, Randy provides a couple of appendixes. Appendix A is Christoplatonism's False Assumption. Appendix B discusses literal and figurative interpretation of the Scriptures. Both discussions are enlightening and thought provoking. There are notes for every chapter, a bibliography, scriptual index, name index, subject index, and on the back cover, there is a DVD for small groups. Alcorn also put together a workbook which is sold seperately.

After reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn, I realize that Heaven is the most amazing place one could ever imagine, and to think that those who walk with God's Son, Jesus Christ, will live there for all eternity nearly renders me speechless. I try to take to heart Randy Alcorn's encouragement to use my imagination, but I know when I walk through those pearly gates, I will probably say to myself, "This is beyond my wildest imagination...beyond my wildest expectations... beyond my wildest dreams."

© Lori Colbo 2011