What Eternity Will Be Like
Eternity is a complex subject. There are interim states before the eventual permanent states, plus there are four categories of creatures with souls who will have different states along the way, then there will be two permanent states for the remainder of eternity. And no souled creature is in their final state at this point, even if currently residing in heaven or in hell. To truly understand the subject of eternity one must understand all of these issues. And the Bible spreads the information out in rather small pieces, making it harder to pull together. But since you have made it to this point in the book, you know we can persevere and explain eternity in a way it can be understood. For those who quit reading several chapters back, too bad. They will miss out.
The first thing to understand about eternity is that the soul will be the same soul, meaning the person will be the same person during eternity, although believers will shed the sinful nature at death which will be a major improvement. The soul has self-consciousness, and the heart and other components will function as they did during the lifetime, therefore the person will know they are the same person who lived on earth. If you think about yourself now while reading this, and think about how you know you exist, this is the same way you will be able to think in eternity. The reason for bringing this up is that many seem to think they will be completely different and in some endless daze during eternity, and not be the same person as when on earth. Death transfers the soul, but does not alter it except that believers will lose their sinful nature, therefore the soul is improved, freeing it from all the negative thinking processes which held us back while on earth. And that soul will be in a greatly improved body, giving it much greater thinking ability, so everyone will be smarter, better looking, and so on. But the soul itself will be the same, so it is important to start with understanding the soul is the real person, and that it continues forever.
God created two categories of souled creatures, first angels, and then humans. Every single person in all human history and every single angel in all angelic history will live forever throughout eternity. No souled creature will ever simply cease to exist. The issue for each individual creature is whether eternity will be spent with God or apart from Him, which are the only two possible eternal end states. And eternal status affects both location and body type. As we discussed previously, human and angel souls are exactly the same, just in different types of bodies. Elect angels have both soul and spirit, while Satan and fallen angels have only a soul without a spirit since they lost the spirit at their fall when they revolted against God. Therefore fallen angels are spiritually dead and cannot have a relationship with God, either now or during the Eternal State, so their eternity must be spent apart from God just as with unbeliever humans who also have no spirit. The reason angels and humans have the exact same soul, and spirit for elect angels and human believers, but in different body types is because mankind was created to resolve the appeal trial of Satan and his fallen angels. And the only fair way to do it was by having the exact same immaterial components in both humans and angels so the decision making capabilities would be the same. But in eternity the body types for elect angels and human believers will be "reversed". More on that issue later.
The subject of eternity is further complicated by what happens while human history continues, and what happens after human history is completed, since there are both temporary and permanent conditions. Most people think that once a person dies they go into their permanent eternal status. That has not been true for any human being so far. The death of a person does not result in the immediate transfer into a permanent status, either for believers or unbelievers. Therefore at the point of death each person enters into a temporary eternal status until the final Eternal State occurs after human history is complete. And no angel has ever died, therefore none are currently in their eternal status. So the issue is rather complex since a discussion about eternity must include four categories of creatures under several sets of conditions which includes temporary and permanent statuses. And it is an understatement to say eternity will be very different depending on which category the creature is in.
Therefore to begin to unravel the issue of eternity it must be divided into the four categories of souled creatures which have an eternal status, then we can discuss for each category what has happened so far, what will happen during the remainder of history, and what happens after history is completed when the Eternal State begins. The four categories of souled creatures are:
1) Elect angels: Those angels who refused to join Satan’s revolt against God. These angels remained loyal to God and therefore remained in the status of being able to spend eternity with God. 2/3 of all angels remained as elect angels.
2) Satan and fallen angels: Includes Satan and those angels who joined Satan’s revolt against God. These angels sinned and therefore lost the status of being able to spend eternity with God. 1/3 of all angels revolted and became fallen angels.
3) Saved humans (aka believers in Jesus Christ): Those who accepted salvation from God even though unworthy, which qualifies them to live with God forever.
4) Unsaved humans (aka unbelievers who reject Jesus Christ): Those who rejected salvation from God, leaving them unqualified to live with God forever.
We have previously discussed Satan's fall so that will not be repeated here, but a brief review of how angels got separated into two groups helps understand the overall subject of eternity for angels.
Satan was the most favored angel in Heaven for a very long time, maybe thousands or even millions of years. He was created by God to be the best looking, smartest, most likable angel of all. He was very close to God and had the best of everything available to him. At some point Satan became arrogant and wished to have more authority than God allowed, so he led a revolt against God. Satan's original coup attempt occurred long before the creation of man when he revolted against God and declared “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars [angels] of God...I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Satan and the other fallen angels battled God and His elect angels, and of course Satan's side lost. A trial occurred in Heaven, and Satan and all fallen angels were judged guilty and sentenced to the Lake of Fire before mankind ever existed. We can surmise from what the Bible says about associated issues that Satan objected to his punishment by saying an eternity in the Lake of Fire was unfair, and not what a loving God would do. As a result God allowed an appeal trial, and this is where mankind entered the picture. God created one man and one woman and placed them on earth to start the process to resolve the issue of God's fairness. When man eventually sinned, following a similar pattern of Satan's sin, God provided salvation through Jesus Christ proving God's love and fairness to unworthy mankind. Mankind was allowed to expand to provide a broader test to further disprove Satan’s assertions about God being unfair. Man's role was then to accept the gracious gift of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ the Savior, showing Satan that God is not only perfect righteousness and justice, but also perfect love and completely fair. These combined traits can legitimately put Satan and all fallen angels into the Lake of Fire as punishment due to the finality of their rejection of God. This sentence will be carried out after human history has ended when Satan and all fallen angels will be put into the Lake of Fire. This also shows how human history is tied directly to the angelic conflict. And unbelieving humans will eventually be put into the Lake of Fire since they joined Satan's side by rejecting God, but not until they are all finally judged at the end of human history. In the meantime the ancient angelic conflict continues, with Satan attempting by any means to avoid his ultimate fate in the Lake of Fire which has already been decreed. And contrary to popular belief, Satan has never been to hell, and he certainly does not rule over it. Hell (Torments) is a temporary holding cell for human unbelievers until they are judged at the end of history, and it is not meant to house angels.
Although Satan and all fallen angels have already been judged guilty and sentenced to the Lake of Fire, they are obviously not in their eternal status. Neither are human unbelievers, who have not yet been judged, therefore dead unbelievers are in the temporary prison called hell awaiting their final judgment. The appeal trial of Satan must play out before both fallen angels and unbelievers are all put into the Lake of Fire as their eternal status.
With this background of the angelic conflict in mind, we will now begin to discuss the eternal status of each of the four groups in order, one at a time.
Elect Angels
Elect angels never sinned so did not require reconciliation with God. They remained loyal to God, therefore defining their eternal state is not as complicated. During the pre-mankind portion of the angelic conflict there were battles between the elect and fallen angels over a long period of time, and elect angels earned certain rewards for their actions. These rewards were granted at some time before the creation of man, and it included certain body changes such as the number of wings, level of power, and other undefined rewards and honors. These rewards made some of the elect angels into six winged Seraphs (plural Seraphim) which became more powerful than Satan, who was formerly the most powerful of all angels as a four winged Cherub (plural Cherubim). So for elect angels their body type has been locked into final form, which is the only finality of any type for any of the four creature types. But the elect angels are not in their final eternal state location, even though they are currently in heaven, or in and out of heaven. This is where we learn that heaven will not be the eternal location of any creature. The location of their eternity will change in the future, as their location will be linked with human believers, which will be discussed later. Meanwhile, they currently reside in heaven and on the earth where they worship God, support believers, oppose fallen angels, and have functions which change during the various Ages of human history.
Fallen Angels
This group is much more complicated. God has already sentenced Satan and all fallen angels to the Lake of Fire for revolting against Him, a place designed specifically for them (Matthew 25:41, John 16:11). But none of them are there now since God is currently allowing them to make the argument that they should never be sent there. In fact, the Lake of Fire is empty at this time. The Lake of Fire is not the same as what is commonly called Hell (Torments) where human unbelievers are now temporarily held. After human history ends, Hell will be eliminated and Satan, fallen angels, and unbelieving man will reside forever in the Lake of Fire.
Fallen angels are currently in several places, but none are in their eternal status. Several groups of apparently millions of angels are in underground prisons deep in the earth, a result of disobeying God’s rules for the angelic conflict. Satan’s appeal trial must be accomplished within the rules established by God, and serious cheating is punished by imprisonment. The reason is not given for most of the fallen angels being in prisons, but they committed prohibited acts which resulted in imprisonment. They will all be released during the Tribulation for a short time, only to be re-imprisoned at the end of that period.
Those fallen angels who are not imprisoned roam the universe, mostly staying on earth, and sometimes they reside in heaven. It may seem odd that God would allow fallen angels into heaven, but Satan spends a lot of time there since he likes it better than the earth. But he also roams the earth looking for ways to gain an edge in the angelic conflict. Job 1:7 says: “The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it."
Fallen angels will enter their eternal status after the end of human history. The end of history will conclude Satan’s allotted time to make his appeal trial arguments about God’s fairness. When human history ends, Satan and all fallen angels will be put into the eternal Lake of Fire since they will have failed to prove their claim that God was unfair to sentence them to the Lake of Fire forever.
During eternity all fallen angels and human unbelievers will be put into eternal bodies of condemnation, and they will all be equal; even Satan will be no better off than any human unbeliever in the Lake of Fire. As noted earlier, Satan does not rule Hell, but rather will simply be one more tortured soul in a lowly body in the most awful place imaginable in total misery for all eternity. There is equality of suffering in the Lake of Fire, and it is forever.
Humans Overview
The human race is divided into two groups in God’s view, namely believers (saved) and unbelievers (unsaved). Believers are those who at some time during their life on earth believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. That is all it takes. God makes it easy to accept His grace so no one will have any excuse for rejecting salvation. (Those who die too young to make a decision about Christ, and those with very low mental capacity who cannot make an informed decision are treated the same as believers.) Believers have a human spirit, while unbelievers lack a human spirit which is only gained at salvation. A human spirit is required to have a relationship with God, both during the person's lifetime and in eternity. Therefore unbelievers must spend eternity apart from God. We will now look at the two groups of humans, and how their eternity will play out.
Unsaved Human Unbelievers
Unbelievers are dealt with in stages after death. First they go to a temporary holding facility commonly called “Hell” or “Hades” but more correctly known as Torments. We will not fight common terminology, so will use the word Hell. Every unbeliever who has ever died is currently in Hell awaiting the end of human history when they will be judged. Hell is a very uncomfortable place and is characterized by torment from extreme heat and lack of respite from it. Luke 16:23-24: “In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’” Of course the request was rejected. But this gives us a glimpse into the current Hell. The eternal Lake of Fire will be much worse.
After human history is complete, the current earth and universe will be destroyed, and all unbelievers in Hell will be brought out and taken before Jesus Christ to receive their final judgment. This “second resurrection” of all unbelievers of all time occurs as a single event after the Millennium is completed, and is called the Great White Throne Judgment. After the Millennium ends human history is complete, and all unbelievers from all time are taken out of Hell and assembled in Heaven for judgment. The earth and universe are now empty of mankind and angels, and since that universe is no longer needed it is destroyed. This is a literal and complete destruction whereby the very elements of the entire universe including all atoms are unzipped in a single flash and cease to exist forever. 2 Peter 3:10 says: “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” The earth, every star, every planet, every atom will vanish in an instant. History is complete, and the final remaining action is to judge all unbelievers of all time, then the Eternal State can commence.
Rev 20:11 says: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
All unbelievers of all time are judged individually and personally by Jesus Christ. They refused to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and accept His salvation work on the cross, and instead they relied on their own “good works” during human history for salvation. But every unbeliever is found to have come short of achieving the required perfect righteousness necessary to live with God, since perfect righteousness is only available through faith in Jesus Christ, and only through faith in Jesus Christ can anyone be given a human spirit. Every unbeliever is therefore guilty of imperfection and thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire alongside Satan and his demons. They will all be equal. Satan will not rule in the Lake of Fire, but will be just like the most insignificant unbeliever there – he is nobody special, and is tortured forever just like all the human unbelievers.
All will be put into common lowly bodies, both man and angel, which makes them all equal in suffering. Satan will not rule humans in the Lake of Fire. Their eternal body will not be very functional except that it is maximized for pain. All people during their life on earth have a sinful nature. When a believer dies that sinful nature is shed, but when the unbeliever dies it is not shed, but is retained forever, which adds to the torment due to the anger, bitterness, remorse, and other negative thought processes. So also with fallen angels and their sinful nature. While elect angels never took on a sinful nature, the fallen angels did and will retain it forever. Not only will they be in agony, they will also be bitter, resentful, remorseful, and have all the other negative thoughts which intensify their misery and suffering. The Lake of Fire is described as burning sulfur, a picture of intense torment. Although one might think this fiery place would have light, it is absolute darkness since all light in eternity is only from God's glory and through Jesus Christ, and only for His own people. Therefore the Lake of Fire is totally dark, intensely hot and horribly painful. There will be no respite from the suffering. God can have nothing to do with any of them forever.
Most of what people think about Hell comes from the writer Dante and his poem “Divine Comedy”. Just to be clear, Dante is not a book in the Bible. Dante describes 9 levels of Hell based on the degree of sins as defined by the writer. This is fiction in every respect. Neither the current temporary Hell nor the permanent Lake of Fire have levels of punishment. All residents are equally punished for one single reason alone, which is rejection of salvation for humans, and rejection of God by Satan and fallen angels. The degree of sins are not the issue. Jesus Christ paid for all sins, at least human ones. They cannot be judged again, even during eternity. It is the rejection of salvation through Jesus Christ which is punished.
Saved Humans (Believers)
In extreme contrast, eternity for believers in Jesus Christ will be wonderful, but it is not so simple as saying all believers go to heaven when they die and remain there forever. For a long time no believer even went to heaven when they died. And heaven will not be the eternal dwelling place for any believer. And not every believer will be equally happy during eternity. Let us take these issues in sequence since most believers do not understand any of them.
Until Jesus Christ actually provided salvation by His death on the cross, was resurrected three days later, and ascended to heaven 40 days after the cross, no one who died went to heaven. All Old Testament believers at the point of death went to a place called Paradise in the middle part of the earth. It was a very nice place, and the name is all the description we have. No human was allowed to enter heaven until the work providing salvation was actually completed by Jesus Christ on the cross. God complies with His own plan, and allowed Satan to attempt to make his argument and even attempt to thwart the cross to some degree, so no humans could enter heaven until salvation was a completed task. Therefore all Old Testament believers waited in Paradise after death until the cross had provided the reality of salvation. After His death, Jesus went to Paradise and told the believers waiting there that salvation had been completed. The thief being crucified alongside Jesus said to Him: Luke 23:42-43 “Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The saved thief went to Paradise after death, not heaven. And Jesus resided there for three days until He was resurrected. Also during those three days Jesus visited Tartarus where fallen angels were imprisoned deep in the earth and told them they had failed to prevent the Messiah from providing salvation. After resurrection and ascension Jesus Christ brought all believers out of Paradise into heaven with Him. Salvation was a reality, so they could now be with God in heaven. Since that time all believers who die go directly and instantly to heaven. So we see there was a difference regarding how believers began their eternity depending on whether they died before or after the cross when salvation became a completed fact. However, believers now in heaven will not remain there during the Eternal State, as will be explained shortly.
All believers currently in heaven are waiting to receive their eternal resurrection body, a body like that which Jesus Christ received at His resurrection. Philippians 3:20 says "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." But if a person has died and is already in heaven, why do they need to be resurrected? What does that add beyond already being in heaven? Resurrection is about the believer being given an eternal body, one which elevates the believer above the status of the angels. And it also allows eternal rewards to be granted. The rewards cannot be given until the eternal body is in place since the rewards are dependent on the believer having the powerful resurrection body.
Most believers will have three bodies during their existence, temporal and eternal. The soul and spirit require a body to interface with the outside, whether on earth, in heaven, or wherever. That is because the soul and spirit require "senses", otherwise they are isolated. First, while during the natural life on earth the soul has a mortal body, with its many limitations. The soul and spirit interface with the outside world using the mortal senses of the earthly body. When the believer dies the soul and spirit are put into a temporary body capable of living apart from the earth, and that body is used while the believer waits to be resurrected. This body is a fairly "plain" non-mortal interim body in which all believers are equal while waiting for their resurrection. Eternal rewards and honors have not yet been awarded to this interim body, so all believers are equal in status. Then the final eternal body is the resurrection body, given at the point of resurrection. This is the body the believer will have forever. It is a body more powerful than any angel. It is a body like that of Jesus Christ. And it is a body which will have the eternal rewards and honors bestowed on it.
There are multiple resurrections for believers of the various Ages of time. The only human currently in a resurrection body is Jesus Christ. His resurrection occurred three days after His crucifixion. The next group of believers to be resurrected will be the Church, and this will occur at the Rapture (resurrection) of the Church at the end of the Church Age. Before the Tribulation begins every Church Age believer who has died will be brought out of heaven to receive a resurrection body in the outer atmosphere of the earth. At the same time every living believer will be removed from the earth apart from death, and will be put directly into a resurrection body, and this is the exception to having three bodies during existence since they will skip the interim body. After resurrection bodies have been given to every Church Age believer they will all re-enter heaven and will be given their eternal rewards.
Therefore as of now all believers are in a relatively "plain" interim non-mortal body because the soul and human spirit need to be in a body to have sensory function, therefore after death and until resurrection every believer is put into an interim heavenly body without rewards, so all believers in heaven are currently equal in status. Those who are in this status can interact, converse, recognize each other, and so on, much like on earth but without a sinful nature in the interim body, so life is certainly much better after death for believers.
As mentioned, the resurrection body will be a body like Jesus Christ has. We know some things about His body from what Jesus said about it, and since He spent 40 days on the earth after His resurrection the disciples noted several things about it. Jesus said during the Last Supper He would eat and drink wine during the Millennium in His resurrection body, so we know that these will continue for our pleasure. Matthew 26:29 says "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." After the resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples, and Luke 24:36 says "While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence." We see Jesus in resurrection body eating, showing Himself to be flesh and bone, and showing the scars of His crucifixion. The rest of us believers will not have physical scars or even imperfections of body, since the scars of Jesus are a memorial to His salvation work on the cross. But we will be something called "flesh and bone", however in a form very different than now. Our bodies will be able to travel instantly through space, will be able to walk through solid earthly objects, and will be immortal. We will have this body during the Millennium when people are living out their natural lives on earth, and this will be our same eternal body. But this helps us see how eternity will be like our life on earth, except perfect and without sorrows, pain, or death. Life in eternity will be organized, orderly, structured, and have a hierarchy of rulership. It will be a societal structure with Jesus Christ ruling nations of groupings of believers. There will be rank and structure based on how well believers lived out their spiritual lives while on earth. We can also assume other physical things we enjoy in our earthly body may also continue, but we are not told the specifics. One would