What About Worship
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 14:1-3
What will we be doing in Heaven?
In Luke 23:43, Jesus declared, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.” The word Jesus used for “paradise” is paradeisos which means “a park, that is, (specifically) an Eden (place of future happiness, paradise)”. Paradeisos is the Greek word taken from the Hebrew word pardes which means “a park: – forest, orchard” (Strong’s). Jesus said, “Today you shall be with me “en paradeisos,” not “en nephele” which is Greek for “in clouds.” The point is that Jesus picked and used the word for “a park.” Not just any park but “the paradise of God” or park of God (Revelation 2:7) which for us will be a place of future happiness. Does this sound like a boring place? When you think of a park, do you think of boredom?
Jesus said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). It’s interesting to note that Jesus did not say “praise and serve.” Even the briefest examination of the word praise in the Bible quickly shows it’s a verbal thing and is for the most part singing. Worship, however, is from the heart. Worship manifests itself in praise. Serving God is worship, and Scripture is clear we will serve God in heaven. “His servants will serve Him” (Revelation 22:3).
We are unable to fully serve God in this life due to sin, but in heaven “every curse will no longer be” (Revelation 22:3). We will not be under the curse of sin any longer, so everything we do will be worship in heaven. We will never be motivated by anything other than our love for God. Everything we do will be out of our love for God, untainted by our sin nature.
So what will we do? My favorite thing is to learn. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Romans 11:34), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). God is the “the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15). God is bigger than forever, and it will take eternity “to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18-19). In other words, we will never stop learning.
God’s Word says we won’t have to be in His paradise alone. “I shall fully know even as I also am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). This would seem to indicate that we will not only know our friends and family, we will “fully know” them. In other words, there is no need for secrets in heaven. There is nothing to be ashamed of. There is nothing to hide. We will have eternity to interact with “a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues” (Revelation 7:9). No wonder heaven will be a place of infinite learning. Just getting to know everyone will take eternity!
Any further anticipation about what we shall do in God’s eternal park, heaven, will be far surpassed when “the King shall say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'” (Matthew 25:34). Whatever we will be doing, we can be sure it will be wonderful beyond our imaginations!
Will we work / have jobs in heaven?
Heaven is a place where believers “will rest from their labor” (Revelation 14:13), but many are surprised to learn that heaven, or the eternal state, will also be a place where we will work. We will have tasks to perform. In the New Jerusalem, the Lamb is on the throne, and “his servants will serve him” (Revelation 22:3). The idea of heaven being a place where we lounge on clouds, strumming harps, does not come from the Bible.
The thought of working in heaven may be distasteful to some, especially to those who have spent their lives in drudgery. But the “work” in heaven will be quite unlike our accustomed work in this world. Our job in eternity will simply be to serve the Lord. And we will be in a perfect environment.
God created us to work. From the beginning, humans were designed by the Lord to work; even before the fall, Adam had a job, as God placed him in the garden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Women, too, were designed to work, as God created Eve to be Adam’s “helper” (Genesis 2:20). Before the fall, the work God gave Adam and Eve was fulfilling, invigorating, and provided a sense of purpose. Only after the introduction of sin into the world did man’s job become difficult (Genesis 3:17–19). So, while work is good, the “painful toil” we experience today is a result of living in a fallen world.
Even in our sinful world, work is honorable and still has the capacity to provide purpose and fulfillment. The problem is that many things can get in the way of enjoying a job: interpersonal problems, mismanagement, unrealistic demands, physical or mental fatigue, etc. In contrast, work in heaven will be pleasant and satisfying. There will be no interpersonal conflicts, impractical expectations, or fatigue, and we’ll have the perfect Manager. As Randy Alcorn states in his book Heaven, “We’ll also have work to do, satisfying and enriching work that we can’t wait to get back to, work that’ll never be drudgery” (p. 331).
Another reason we believe that we will work in heaven is that God describes Himself as a worker. When asked by the Pharisees why He was, in their opinion, violating the Sabbath, Jesus replied, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). The idea of God’s children working in heaven should come as no surprise, since the Lord Himself works, and “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Believers will have jobs in heaven, just as the angels have special jobs that they carry out in worship and adoration. Angels are “servants” who do God’s bidding (Hebrews 1:7). The angel who spoke to John called himself “a fellow servant with you” (Revelation 22:9). There are no unemployed angels in heaven, and there will be no unemployed saints.
In our current world, we have this command: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). The work that Christians perform in heaven will have the same goal: to be an act of worship glorifying the Lord. The difference will be that, in eternity, the work that God has prepared for us will be instantly rewarding, constantly refreshing, and perfectly suited for who we were created to be.