Heaven and the Bodily Resurrection - Chapter 2

I'm a little late on this posting, but I thought Chapter 2 was very good.
The key point I see in this chapter is that the Bible reveals heaven to be a physical place. A main reason for this is that our residence in heaven is linked to the bodily resurrection. This is pretty exciting.
Many years ago I came to realize that the Lord had promised to raise us up bodily at His return. That meant that for all eternity, we would inhabit our glorified bodies. Just as Jesus'body was physical after His resurrection, so will ours be also. This imples that heaven will be physical, as we will live there in physical bodies. I also began to see this more clearly when I realized that Jesus ascended to heaven in a bodily form. That means that when he sat down at the right hand of the Father, He did so in His glorified body. What an amazing thought.
This opens up entire new realities concerning heaven. The concept fo floating on a cloud somewhere is clearly unscriptural.
The other main thought I got from this chapter was that we should be heavenly minded. We should think about heaven...a lot.
Some people have cautioned about being "too heavenly minded" so as to be no earthly good. I so agree with the words on page 21, that the more truly heavenly minded we become, the more earthly good we can accomplish.

The Broad Road

The third chapter briefly speaks about the significance of hell.

First, we're reminded that Hell is the default destination for all people.  We have nothing to gain by giving ourselves or others the benefit of the doubt with regard to Hell.  Jesus' tells us clearly that most people will not be in Heaven; most are headed down the wide road that leads to Hell.

The second section highlights the severity of Hell. I don't think any of us would deny that the notion of Hell is not taken very seriously in our culture.  However, I found myself challenged to take it more seriously.  If I believe Hell is real, if I believe most people are on their way to Hell, and if I believe those people will suffer real agonizing punishment in Hell, why am I so shy about the topic?

On the occasions when people have asked me frankly whether I thought they were going to hell for rejecting the Gospel, why do I initially hesitate to affirm such a basic truth?  Am I somehow afraid of how he might react?  If I let that fear guide me, then I'm now in a position where man's reaction takes precedence over God's reaction.  Furthermore, it's absurd to think that God hasn't accounted for the way people would respond to truths about Hell.  On the contrary, hearing the truth about Hell is supposed to make an unrepentant sinner feel awful inasmuch as he realizes the awfulness of his situation.

I appreciated the way Alcorn connected the severity of Hell to the glory of the cross.  To the degree that we try to "out-love" God and soften the realities of Hell, we weaken His work on the Cross.  I want to be careful about entering the realm of unprofitable disputes, but... would it be correct to say:  An ironic effect of over-emphasizing God's love, when it neglects the harsh but true realities of His disposition toward sin, is that the love itself loses some of its potency.

Christ's death was not primarily a solution to the problem of meaningless living.  Christ's death was not primarily a solution to the problem of dysfunctional families.  Christ's death was not primarily a solution to the pain of earthly suffering.  His death was a solution to the problem of sin and its eternal penalty in Hell.

Alcorn lays it out well in the fourth section.  The idea that it's unloving to speak of Hell is not an idea that comes from God.

One popular way that we seem to try to soften Hell is by explaining Hell in terms of separation from God.  I haven't found that this always carries much weight with those who don't value closeness with God in the first place.

Does anyone else sometimes struggle explaining the disaster awaiting those on the wide road?  I know it's easier for me to appeal to a person's desire to know and act according to truth rather than appeal to the need to escape sure judgement.

"Don't Dump Cold Water On All That God Has Revealed"

When I started talking to people about this book study, one staff member commented, "Since there is so much mystery surrounding Heaven, should we even speculate about what we cannot understand? Doesn't the Bible say that Heaven is beyond our imagination?". Chapter 2 answers this common question.
First of all, it is pointed out the Bible uses familiar concepts to bridge the gap of our small minds when discussing Heaven. A garden, a city, a kingdom are a few such pictures. The problem is that too many times, we think Heaven is a non-physical place and therefore these pictures are only analogies of something far more spiritual. Our failure to see Heaven as a physical place causes us to push Heaven aside under the excuse that it is beyond our mere minds to think about, let alone long after our future home. Remember to read 1 Cor 2:9 in context and see that God has revealed mysteries to us through His Spirit and His Word. Also, while there are many things we cannot know about God, Jesus spoke often of Heaven. Additionally, Paul commands us to diligently keep seeking things above. We must be careful not to get caught up in the stereotypical views of Heaven. One of the ways we can do that is by viewing Heaven through Scripture. What a novel concept!!
One encouragement Randy makes is to "look around you and imagine what all this would be like without sin and death and suffering and corruption". It is wonderful to think that such a place awaits for us where fellowship and worship will take place and sin will not creep its dirty head. I know that too often I get distracted in my worship-not in Heaven!
I know that these first couple of chapters are introductory, but it is good to set out some of these principles so that we can know for ourselves and encourage others that Heaven IS a physical place and there is Scripture we can meditate on.