I’ve been reading quite a bit of C.S. Lewis lately. I just finished Perelandra, a story about what would have happened had the the man and woman resisted the original temptation. Lewis makes an interesting point. When Jesus comes back to set things right here, it won’t be an ending. It will be a re-do after a false start.

Eternally speaking, we haven’t even really begun. If you look at history like a novel, everything that has ever happened is like the preface and title page (and maybe the prelude) compared to what’s coming. Or in movie terms, history is like a sneak preview.

Most of us think of heaven as the place where all adventures find their ending, but I’m beginning to think that heaven is where the real adventures start. This life is just about getting us ready and prepared for those adventures. Put it this way, the best chocolate, the best sex, the best day, the most fantastic vacation (or anything that causes euphoria and bliss) doesn’t even begin to compare to the real joy that awaits. All these things are pale shadowy imitations and substitutes for the real thing.

Probably the biggest disservice to heaven came from whoever painted it as sitting on white clouds in white robes playing harps all day. Honestly, to me that sounds like a good way to be bored to death. And that’s just not what I get from reading Revelation.

The best description of heaven that really got me excited was in The Last Battle where C.S. Lewis describes heaven as the first day of summer when you realize that classes are over and the first day of vacation (or as our British friends would call it, the start of holiday).

It will mean an end for some things. Like jealousy, comparison, worry, fear, hate, death, taxes, saturated fats, desk jobs, and humidity. Seriously, it will mean the end of injustice, poverty, hunger, and so many other ills that plague society. But every good thing you and I have ever loved and everything that made us truly come alive will be there in their truest forms.

If you aren’t looking forward to heaven, maybe it’s because the heaven you’ve always been taught about really isn’t all that exciting. I recommend C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy (as well as The Great Divorce) to get a better glimpse of what heaven’s really like.

And yes, there will be chocolate in heaven. Probably Ben and Jerry’s.