I wonder if you ever travel by train, maybe to Reading. As you approach the end of your journey the automatic announcement comes over the public address system: “We will shortly be arriving at Reading, our final destination!” – I sometimes look at the people in the carriage and think, “I do hope this is not your final destination!” – Of course, the train station is not the final destination for the passengers; it is just a stopover. The passengers are still in transit and from there they will travel on to their final destination. Similarly, Christians who die before Jesus returns go to heaven – like transit passengers on a stopover, they are in heaven waiting to travel on to their final destination – the new heaven and the new earth; the new creation described in Revelation 21-22.

Author and theologian, Christopher Ash, says, “I hope I don’t go to heaven when I die… I realise that I might have to, but I am hoping not to.” – Why is he hoping not to? – Because he knows that if Jesus returns before we die we will not need to go to heaven at all. In that event there will be no need for a stopover because we will join the straight through train and go immediately to be with the Lord in the New Jerusalem, the new creation.

R. Ian Seymour