Are there mosquitos in heaven?
I asked Julia the other day if there were mosquitos in heaven. I imagined her little voice say back to me, "mosquitos?" I exhaled a sigh of relief. I'm so glad you have no idea what I am talking about.
What will heaven be like? I grew up thinking heaven was up there somewhere -- somewhere outside of space and time. But heaven is right here, among us. Jesus taught us to pray "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus also declared, "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15). So, if heaven, or God's dimension, is right here among us, and Julia is with God in his dimension, then it makes sense that I would have visions of her hanging out with Jesus in a candle store or laying on the grass and looking up at the palm trees.
It also makes sense that she is still able to minister to me. Hebrews 12 talks about "a great cloud of witnesses" who surround us and who can cheer us on to keep living. The other night I woke up in the middle of the night, afraid of trying to get pregnant again. But just as I started to worry, I heard Julia's little voice say what she used to say so many times: "Try again!" I was able to sleep peacefully after that. It could've just been my memory or imagination, but it also could have been Julia herself, in God's dimension, cheering me on to keep going. Being able to minister to one another is one of the most fun gifts God gave us, so why would he take that away?
I've been captivated recently, not just by heaven, but by God's plan for a new earth. Isaiah 65 and 66 describe the new creation like the extreme joy of giving birth, without any pain. It will be a place where one hundred year old birthdays are normal. It will be a place where no one kills anyone, no children are snatched away, where no one is houseless, and where snakes only get to eat dirt (my translation: mosquitos have to back off!).
My mentor and theologian, Jon Ball, describes it to me like this: The earth is in the embryonic stage of creation right now. Everything happening now is preparing us to live in that new earth. It will be like earth gets thrown through the washing machine and everything evil gets washed out and everything good is more beautiful. God is right now, in heaven and on earth getting us all ready to really, truly live.
"I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating." - Isaiah 65: 17-18