Though some of my interpretations and speculations are no doubt mistaken, they are not baseless. Nearly every notion of Heaven I present in this book was stimulated and reinforced by biblical texts. It was only through years of scriptural study, meditation, and research on the subject that I came to the view of Heaven I now embrace. On the contrary, as a young Christian, and even as a young pastor, I viewed Heaven in the same stereotypical ways I now reject. I did not come to the Bible with the same view of Heaven that I came away with. Rather than ignore our imagination, I believe we should fuel it with Scripture, allowing it to step through the doors that Scripture opens. If God didn’t want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, he wouldn’t have told us as much about it as he has. I believe that God expects us to use our imagination, even as we recognize its limitations and flaws. Scripture provides us with a substantial amount of information, direct and indirect, about the world to come, with enough detail to help us envision it, but not so much as to make us think we can completely wrap our minds around it. But are they based on Scripture?” The answer, to the best of my understanding, is yes. As long as the resurrected universe remains either undesirable or unimaginable, Satan succeeds in sabotaging our love for Heaven.Īfter reading my novels that portray Heaven, people often tell me, “These pictures of Heaven are exciting.

And that’s why Satan will always discourage our imagination-or misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture. That’s why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bible-to fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts. We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine.

Book heaven by randy alcorn