What Heaven Is Actually Like (This Will Change How You Live Today)

What if everything you thought about heaven was wrong — and the real picture was so much better it actually changed the way you live right now? Pastor Gabe Kolstad digs into what Scripture genuinely says about heaven, and it's not clouds and harps. This one will shift your perspective.

Discover:

• What Revelation 21 and Colossians 3 actually say about heaven and the eternal state
• Why the "new earth" is the ultimate destination — not a floating spiritual realm
• What your resurrection body will be like (more physical than you'd expect)
• Restoration, reunion, and rewards — what those really mean for eternity
• How your view of heaven directly shapes the way you live today
• The difference between living for the dot vs. living for the line
• How to know for sure that heaven is your destination

There's coming a day that will be better than anything we experience right now — and that's not wishful thinking, that's what every biblical author points to. If you let this sink in, it won't just give you hope for later. It will give you fuel for today.

Key Takeaways:

• Heaven will be a real, physical, tangible place — not a vague spiritual existence
• You will have a body, eat, work, rest, create, travel, and be in relationship
• Those who suffered on earth will be fully restored and comforted
• You will be reunited with and recognized by loved ones who've gone before you
• Sacrificing for God's kingdom now is literally building your future in eternity
• Stop living for the dot. Start living for the line.

Question for you to think about: Are you living your daily life with eternity in mind — or are you only building for right now?

Calls to Action: If this episode stirred something in you, share it with someone who needs hope today. Drop a comment — what's one thing about heaven that surprised you or encouraged you most? If you said yes to Jesus for the first time today, text the word JESUS to 503-905-9067 — Pastor Gabe wants to hear from you and get you started.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to this week's Midweek Motivation. This Sunday, Pastor Gabe shared a message on what happens when we die. And that may have stirred up some questions for you. And if you're interested in going deeper, um, we dove into podcasts of the past and found a really great podcast where Pastor Gabe actually dove deeper into what heaven is actually like. So if you're interested in that, which I'm sure that you are, you're gonna love this video. Check it out.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast, where we bring practical help for your faith and life. Here's today's episode. If you're not ready to die, then you're not ready to live. Oh, that got your attention. Hey, my friends, this is Gabe Colstad with Westside Community Church, and I'm here with the Midweek Motivation episode of our podcast just to kind of catch you in the middle of the week and get your reframed kind of attention focused on living your best life. But you cannot do that if you're not ready to die. And that's the topic that I'm tackling today is what is heaven really gonna be like? You know, uh the the your view of the afterlife determines literally everything about the way you live your current life. I mean, a right view of what's coming after you die will help you have a right approach, the best approach to the life that you live right now. And I'm gonna read you some some scripture from the New Testament. I'm gonna I'm gonna walk through some things. We've been learning last Sunday at Westside, we talked about heaven, hell, and hope. And um, if you didn't catch that, go back and listen to it. I think it might be enlightening for you not only to know what's heaven gonna be like, but also what does Jesus say about what hell is gonna be like, and then why do we have hope? Uh, but I want to read you some scripture from the New Testament that just kind of shares what is heaven gonna be like? Because, you know, we see, we see these pictures in our minds. And in fact, I showed one last weekend of like a, you know, a cat with a harp on a cloud, you know, all these weird images that we have or that we've seen in some book or, you know, some cartoon or just whatever image we might have in our mind. What is having a place? You on a cloud with a harp? I mean, God forbid that be our eternal sentence, right? That is not what the scripture teaches. It's not what Jesus talks about. Um, it's not what is waiting for those who follow Jesus and say yes to him. He's promised us a home in heaven. He's promised us eternal life if you're a follower of Jesus. And um, and so what is it like? Well, here's a a little bit from Revelation, or excuse me, from Colossians chapter three. It says that it says, since you've been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven. I like the word reality. Paul's like, it's real. He says, Where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. He says, think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Why? Because it motivates us to think about the fact that there's coming a day that's gonna be better than what we experience right now, according to all of the biblical authors. He says, For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ and God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. I mean, there's coming this incredible day that uh we get to experience, we get to share in all of his glory. And then he says in verse five of Colossians three, so put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you. He talks about how we then use what we know about our future to determine how we live our now. And uh, and so there's great motivation then in knowing what is heaven gonna be like. Paul the apostle in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 says to be absent from the body, meaning to die and leave what he calls this earthly tent, uh, which is temporary and failing, and you know, I don't I'm um don't tell anybody, but I'm turning 50 next month. And um, there are like new squeaks in my knee. Every morning I wake up and I'm like crack, crack, crack, crack, crack. And it sounds like the floor is creaking, but it's actually different joints all across my body. You know, like these things are failing, they're not meant to last forever. Um, and there's this great motivation coming for when we cross the line into eternity from our now. And uh, so what do you think heaven's gonna be like? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever like made a list of, well, it's probably gonna be like this and like this and like this? If you think that heaven is gonna be this kind of surreal, weird, otherworldly, kind of non-physical experience, maybe you you're just playing a harp for millennia, you know, then it's not gonna be very motivating. But if you understand what scripture says, what Jesus promises about it, it could change everything for you every day. And I think that's what the Bible intends for you and me to experience. So before I get into it, I want to recommend a book. It's it's Heaven by Randy Alcorn. It is a humongous book. It is an incredible reference. It's got chapters with very specific questions, uh, like what will our day-to-day be like in heaven? Uh, great question, you know, like will there be games? Uh-huh, like, will we work? All these different chapters in this book that I think will that are all based on scripture that I think you'll find incredibly helpful. But let me read to you from Revelation 24, from the the apocalypse of John, the the apostle John saw this vision that God gave him of heaven, and he wrote it down. And this is part of the the Bible. And it says this in Revelation 21, it says in verse 1, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. I want you to know that what we think of as heaven right now is heaven, but it's temporary. Uh, you know, the Bible even refers to it as heaven, but also lets us know that heaven is going away. And so currently there are people in a place, uh according to scripture, a real place, a physical place right now called heaven, and uh they're waiting for judgment day, and it is right now a place of peace, a place of perfection. It is it is a place where uh they're in the presence of God, because Jesus is there right now. And uh and yet that is going to disappear and be replaced with a new heaven. We're gonna talk about that in a minute. The the apostle John says, And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God, from God out of heaven, like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. This is the eternal state that when you think of heaven, this is the heaven that will always be heaven. And what might be surprising is that it is going to be on earth, the new earth, the recreated earth. Randy Alcorn in the book Heaven goes into great length about this entire thing. And he calls it the eternal state. And a few things about the eternal state that are definitely true. So when you think about if you're a follower of Christ, if you believe in Jesus and the grace that he offers, if you've accepted his forgiveness, Jesus said, then you're his child, and he's going to prepare a place for you, and this is what your future is going to be. A new body. Paul says, We will not be spirits without bodies. And uh and so we we will have bodies, we will we will physically be able to operate. Um this is a physical place that we're gonna be of beauty, of indescribable, ex elaborate beauty. Uh, it is a we will do things like eat and drink. Um the this is like how our future will be. It's gonna be as physical as what we experience now. Isn't that fascinating? Uh, God will dwell there. There's descriptions of how we won't need a a sun or a moon or stars because the light will be coming from Jesus Christ, that he will be the light. That we there's so much brightness in his glory. And if you look back in the Old Testament, you see anytime ever ever God started to reveal himself to somebody like Moses, uh, the brightness was so bright that it blinded people. And that's a part of the reality that we're gonna experience is this brightness, only our new bodies will be able to take in the glory of God. Uh, it's a place of restoration. So let's say uh maybe you were born with some sort of birth defect. Um, guess what? You're gonna be restored a hundred percent, you're gonna be perfect in that sense. Um, it's a place of reunion. Like let's say you've lost a family member, they've gone on before you to heaven and you're gonna be reunited with them. It's gonna be amazing. Uh, you're gonna see them, you're gonna know them, and they're gonna know you, according to the apostle Paul. We are gonna be known as we know each other, and so you will be recognizable, and the others that you know, they will be recognizable. It's gonna be a place of reward where we're gonna be given rewards. Right now, Jesus even says, you know, lay up treasure in heaven. What is he saying? He's saying save some of the money you would normally spend on yourself, this is literally what he's saying, and spend it on God's kingdom, spend it on you know, other people, spend it on investing in eternity, spend it on doing things for other people that declare God's kingdom, invest in God's work. And he's going, so so lay up treasure in heaven. What he's saying is if you will sacrifice right now the things you'd normally spend on yourself for the work of God, you're gonna be rewarded in heaven. He says 30, 60, 100 times what you give up now is gonna be given back to you then. In what way? Well, he's talking about uh a home that he's preparing for you. He's talking about literal rewards that you're gonna have. He's talking about um actual levels of service and responsibility that he's gonna give us. That uh, you know, these are it's kind of like getting a job, you know, there's gonna be a promotion, there's gonna be uh more responsibility for those who have who have worked toward that. And uh, does this mean you earn your way to heaven? No, it does not. But it does mean you can earn eternal rewards. And this is all a part of what the Bible teaches about heaven. Uh, we know that it is not some utopia we create. Jesus, praise me, your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Some people have misinterpreted that to say, hey, we could create heaven here. That is not what Jesus was saying, and it's certainly not what the Bible teaches. We know that the current earth, the current heaven have to be done away with so that a new heaven and a new earth can be created. And um, you know, one of the cool things I love about this is that the new heaven and the new earth, it's a carryover of cultures and nations. And what we know is there's every tribe, tongue, people, and language is going to be there. It's gonna be very diverse. So every expression of culture that we see is going to be in heaven. I mean, so I've been to Africa before, and one of the things about a church service in Africa is it is so loud. I mean, people are clapping. I've never heard louder clapping in my life and singing with such joy and exuberance. I mean, these are the kinds of things that we're gonna experience. Uh, we're told that there are gonna be scrolls in heaven, elders who have faces, martyrs who wear clothes, and even people with palm branches in their hands. It's gonna be so tangible. I mean, so real. In some ways, I think we'd be better off thinking of heaven as like like when we're gonna go on vacation and we're looking forward to it, because we know we're gonna be sitting on a beach, you know, in a chair, the sun on our faces, we're gonna feel things, we're gonna experience things, we're gonna have relationships, we're gonna have conversations, we're gonna eat meals. I mean, these are the kinds of things that the Bible talks about that we get to experience. One of the greatest things I think we get to experience is that in heaven, those who endured bad things on earth are comforted for them. I mean, we know there's no more sorrow or crying or pain or any of that stuff, but we're also given the indication that there's some awareness of uh for those who are going to heaven now, the the heaven that will be done away with, but while there still is humanity and earth and history unfolding and crime on earth and all these things, there's some awareness in heaven, as Hebrews chapter 12 teaches, that there's this, there's this great uh witness, crowd of witnesses cheering us on, aware. I mean, I always think of my mother-in-law in that case, because my my wife lost her mom a number of years ago. And I think about I think she knows, you know, what we're going through. I think, I think she sees what we experience. And and so it's always created this question mark in my mind. Well, okay, but how how could she know about the events of Earth and not be sad? I mean, think about all the stuff that we see. But here's what she gets she gets perspective. Because she's separated from the time and space that we are currently living in, in the sense that she knows the end of the story. And so there can be this great joy to go, oh, I see you're struggling right now, but I know, I know what's coming. And I know the bigger picture, and I know the end of the story. And so there's this great comfort for people who have endured bad things. And, you know, I in one way, you could just go, okay, anything you can do on earth within reason, you know, obviously short of sin, you can do in heaven. You can rest, sleep, eat, work, create, travel, play, all of these things mentioned in Scripture about what heaven is gonna be like is gonna be exhilarating forever. It's gonna, it's, it's almost like picture this. Picture your life here on earth as a dot. And then picture eternity as a line that goes on forever, and it's going up and to the right because it's gonna get better and better and better and better, and it's never gonna stop. The real learning from all of this is okay, if this life, what is it, 70, 80 years? I mean, my my grandma on my stepdad's side uh lived to be 103. Long life, right? My great-grandfather, 97, his sister, 101, my great-grandmother, 101. You can live a long time. That's nothing though compared to eternity, right? Sometimes we live our whole life just for the just for the dot. And I think scripture's teaching us live for the line, you know? Live for the line. If you're not sure about your own destiny because you're not sure about your relationship with Jesus, you know you can you can actually have a relationship with Jesus. You can be sure of this, you can actually claim your own spot in heaven simply by believing in Jesus Christ. And if you've never said yes to him, all he's asking you to do is to believe. Tell him this. Tell him, Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in your life, your death on the cross, your resurrection. I believe you paid for my sins on the cross, and I receive you as my Savior. The Bible tells us that if we believe, he gives us the power to become the children of God. So if you just said yes to Jesus, you can actually text that to me. You can tell me that you did that by texting the word Jesus to 503-905-9067 so that I can send you some resources and get you started on a new journey. And uh, we are so excited for you. I thank you for listening in. I hope this has been motivational for you. I hope you can start thinking now about what is your future gonna be like? Because this life we live, very temporary. The trouble we go through, very, very temporary. What's coming, forever amazing. And so we can be motivated to start, as Jesus said, laying up treasure in heaven, you know, working toward the things that matter most, thinking longer term than just right now, so that our lives can actually make a bigger splash in not only this world, but the world to come. I hope this has been encouraging. I want to ask you to just do two favors. One would be would you subscribe and share right now? Because we love to get this word out as far as we possibly can. And the second thing is stop by a Westside service. We love to talk about stuff that matters to your daily life on a weekly basis, and you can join us online at Westside Community Church.com any weekend, or you can come to our campus right here in the Portland, Oregon area. We'd love to see it either way, and we hope you have an awesome week.