Randy Alcorn

Last Friday, May 19, author and retired pastor Tim Keller entered into the presence of His Lord and Savior. I have always appreciated his thoughtful, biblical,  and Christ-centered insights, and have often recommended his books, messages, and online videos.

Despite both personal experiences and studies indicating money alone doesn’t bring the good life, countless people think and live and make choices as if it does.

Randy Alcorn was on the Do Hard Things podcast with The Rebelution to talk about the hope we have in Heaven (and what Heaven is really going to be like). He shared how this hope has sustained him through his own season of loss and suffering.

Many Christians think about the present Heaven, where Christians go now when they die, but have never considered the future Heaven, after the resurrection, which will be a physical place occupied by physical people who will live forever with Jesus and all those who love Him.

Christians faced with terminal illness or imminent death often feel they’re leaving the party before it’s over. They have to go home early. They’re disappointed, thinking of all they’ll miss when they leave. But the truth is, the real party is underway at home.

God put everything under Adam’s dominion and stewardship. Genesis 3 tells us God cursed the whole earth as a result of Adam’s sin. That Curse had an ongoing dramatic effect on both humankind and animals, as part of creation. 

I was not speaking literally. As you point out, angels are not biological humans. “Twins” simply means an equal opposite in this case.

By putting God first and His creation second, the world and its beauties become instruments of joy and worship. We love them better when we love God more than them.

I think we underestimate just how much of our lives here is from the hand of God in the first place. The life that we now know and the things we enjoy so much—the parts untainted by sin—we would naturally expect to have carried over, including distinctive personalities.