Heaven (Part 18) - Will We Interact One-On-One with God?

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Heaven (Part 18) - Will We Interact One-On-One with God? 25. Will we interact one-on-one with God? (Carey) There is one Jesus and a whole lot of His children, so will we be able to converse with Him any time when there are so many of us who will want to do so. (Judy) A. In the present heaven i. The essence of eternal life is that we might know God (Joh 17:2-3). a. We know God now through our understanding of Him by the scriptures which resonates with the word of God written in our hearts through regeneration (Heb 8:10-11). b. In heaven we will see God face-to-face and know Him experientially (Mat 5:8; 1Co 13:12). c. "Our primary joy in Heaven will be knowing and seeing God. Every other joy will be derivative, flowing from the fountain of our relationship with God." (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p. 176) ii. God is our God both corporately as His elect (Rom 3:29) and personally as individuals (Gal 2:20; Php 4:19). a. God is (not was) the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Mat 22:32). b. This indicates that they have a personal relationship with Him now in the present heaven. c. In the present heaven the martyrs speak directly with God and ask him questions, and God responds to them (Rev 6:9-11). d. This indicates that they have a personal relationship with Him now in the present heaven. B. In the new earth i. The new earth and heavens will be a restoration and glorification of the original earth and heavens (see Section IX - The nature of the new earth). a. Adam and Eve interacted personally with God in the garden of Eden (Gen 1:28-29; Gen 2:15-17; Gen 3:8-9). b. This pattern will be continued on the new earth. ii. When we are resurrected we will see God personally with our eyes (Job 19:25-27; Job 33:26). iii. We shall see Jesus Christ as He is (1Jo 3:2), and we will know Him as we are known (1Co 13:12). iv. On the new earth God will dwell with us (Rev 21:3). a. Tabernacle n. - 1. A temporary dwelling; generally movable, constructed of branches, boards, or canvas; a hut, tent, booth. 3. fig. In phraseology chiefly of biblical origin: A dwelling-place. a. spec. The dwelling-place of Jehovah, or of God. b. gen. A dwelling-place, a dwelling, a place of abode. b. Dwell v. - 7. To remain (in a house, country, etc.) as in a permanent residence; to have one's abode; to reside, ‘live’. (Now mostly superseded by live in spoken use; but still common in literature.) c. We will live with God in His dwelling place. d. When you live with a person, you spend intimate time with him. e. God will be with us on the new earth (Rev 21:3). v. We will see His face (Rev 22:4). vi. Therefore, we will have personal contact and interaction with God. C. How will millions or billions of God's children each be able to have personal time with Him? i. God is omnipresent (Pro 15:3; Jer 23:24). a. God hears the prayers of millions of His children simultaneously at any given time (1Pe 3:12; 1Th 5:17). b. On this earth each of His children can presently have personal, intimate time with Him through prayer and studying His word. c. I see no reason why that will not be the case in the present heaven and on the new earth when God dwells with us in person and we see His face. ii. Jesus Christ is God (Joh 1:1, 14). a. Therefore, Jesus Christ in His divinity is likewise omnipresent. b. Even on earth prior to His resurrection and glorification, Jesus' body could do things that a regular human body could not do (Joh 6:19). c. After His resurrection, His physical body could do miraculous things such as appear and disappear (Luk 24:31) and move through walls (Joh 20:19). d. I see no reason why Jesus in His glorified body in heaven and on the new earth could not do miraculous things such as be at multiple places with multiple people at the same time. e. This would mean that we could each have personal time with Jesus Christ simultaneously. f. Randy Alcorn commented on this question in his book Heaven. (i) "But Christ's deity may well define the extent of his presence in his second coming and life on the New Earth (deity thereby trumping the normal human inability to be in two places at once). Jesus has and always will have a single resurrected body, in keeping with his humanity. Yet that body glorified may allow him a far greater expression of his divine attributes than during his life and ministry here on Earth. "Since we can accurately say that Jesus' functioning as a man does not prohibit him from being God, we must also say that Jesus' functioning as God does not prohibit him from being a man. So, although we cannot conceive exactly how it could happen, I believe it's entirely possible that Jesus could in the future remain a man while fully exercising the attributes of God, including, at least in some sense, omnipresence." (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p. 189) (ii) "Consider the promise that when Christ returns "every eye will see him" (Revelation 1:7). How is that physically possible? By the projection of his image? But every eye will see him, not merely his image. Will he be in more than one place at one time? "If God took on human form any number of times, as recorded in Scripture, couldn't Christ choose to take on a form to manifest himself to us at a distant place? If he did that, might he not take on a temporary form very similar in appearance to his actual physical form, which may at that moment be sitting on the throne in the New Jerusalem? Might Jesus appear to us and walk with us in a temporary but tangible form that is an expression of his real body? Or might the one body of Jesus be simultaneously present with his people in a million places? "Might we walk with Jesus (not just spiritually, but also physically) while millions of others are also walking with him? Might we not be able to touch his hand or embrace him or spend a long afternoon privately conversing with him―not just with his spirit, but his whole person? "It may defy logic, but God is capable of doing far more that we imagine. Being with Christ is the very heart of Heaven, so we should be confident that we will have unhindered access to him." (Ibid, 190)