A reader asked our ministry, “Will people have technology in Heaven?”

Technology is a God-given aspect of human capability that enables us to fulfill His command to exercise dominion. Something in the human constitution loves to create, tweak, experiment, and play with machinery. This isn’t a modern development; it was true of ancient people as well.

We will find harps, trumpets, and other man-made objects in the present Heaven. What should we expect to find on the New Earth? Tables, chairs, cabinets, wagons, machinery, transportation, sports equipment, and much more. It’s a narrow view of both God and humans to imagine that God can be pleased and glorified with a trumpet but not a desk, computer, or baseball bat. Will there be new inventions? Refinements of old inventions? Why not? We’ll live in resurrected bodies on a resurrected Earth. The God who gave people creativity surely won’t take it back, will He? The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

In this two-minute video, I share some thoughts about technology to the glory of God.

When God gave Eden to Adam and Eve, He expected them to develop it. He’ll give us the New Earth and expect the same of us. But this time we’ll succeed! This time no human accomplishment, no cultural masterpiece, no technological achievement will be marred by sin and death. All will fully serve God’s purposes and bring him glory.

On this earth, we seek comfort and invent ways to get it. On the New Earth, comfort may seek us. It may be built into the environment so that our efforts can be spent on other concerns. Of course, we’ll have the technological knowledge and skills to control our environment, so if we can make ourselves more comfortable, we will.

If mankind had never sinned, would we have invented the wheel and created machinery? Certainly. On the New Earth, shouldn’t we expect machinery made for the good of mankind and the glory of God? On the New Earth people might invent machinery that could take us to the far ends of the New Milky Way, to other galaxies and beyond. Why not? Is this notion more unthinkable than it once was to imagine sailing a ship across an ocean or flying a plane across the world or landing a spacecraft on the moon? Because people in this fallen world have extended their dominion beyond our current Earth, might we not expect people on the New Earth to extend their Christ-exalting reach into the new universe?

With advanced science and technology, it seems we will build far greater things on the New Earth than we can on the old. Paul Marshall points out, “The Bible never condemns technology itself. . . . It does not make the modern distinction between what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial.’ Both are seen merely as aspects of what is ‘creational,’ a category that includes both the human and the non-human world in relation to each other.”

Even under the Curse, we’ve been able to explore the moon, and we have the technology to land on Mars. What will we be able to accomplish for God’s glory when we have resurrected minds, unlimited resources, complete scientific coopera­tion, and no more death?

Photo: Unsplash