The other day our third grade teacher asked me to spend some time with her class, because they had some questions about heaven. I don’t consider myself an expert on “heaven,” but I suppose in third grade eyes, I’m about as close as one can get to knowing at least a little about the topic.  So they submitted some very thought-provoking questions to me before I walked into the classroom.

Today’s third graders want to know some interesting things about heaven. They want to know who they’ll see there.  They want to know how old they’ll be and what their body will be like.  They want to know what the place will look like.  They want to know if there will be toys, video games, and time to play.  They even want to know if you’ll be able to have lions for pets in heaven!

Here are some of the questions to which I answered “yes.”

• Will we see people who die before us?  (Those who die in the faith!)
• Will I still be me? (I don’t think you’ll be anyone else…)
• Will we see Moses, Joseph, Adam, and Eve?  (Heaven is filled with all kinds of wonderful people!)
• Will heaven be fun?  (If it ain’t fun, I don’t know what is!)
• Is Jesus going to be there?  (He’ll be the Center of it all…scars and all.)
• Can you talk in heaven?  (If you can sing, you can certainly talk.)
• Do you celebrate when you go to heaven?  (What greater thing is there to celebrate?)
• Can we eat in heaven?  (…I sure HOPE so!…)
• Can we give things to people?  (I think that is one of the glories of heaven: everyone will be generous and giving.)

Here are some of the questions to which I answered “no.”

• Does hell have fire?  (It’s got something worse than fire: total separation from God)
• Is heaven made of gold?  (The Bible uses that image to help our human minds know just how great it will be.)
• Are we going to be dead in heaven?  (You will be more alive than you are right now.)
• Will we be able to see the devil?  (He will never be seen or heard from again.)
• In heaven can you have kids?  (Matthew 22:30)

Here are some of the questions to which I answered “I don’t know.”

• What kind of body will I have?  (All I know is that Jesus’ new body could pass through walls; ours too?)
• How old will I be in heaven?  (The ideal age?)
• What are we going to do?  (I’m pretty sure we’ll enjoy even more the gifts and talents we already have.)
• Can you have a lion for a pet?  (The lion will lie down with the lamb…why not with the child?)
• Can you do anything you want in heaven?  (Within godly reason; we’re not going to be playing harps, folks.)
• Can we play video games?  (They’ll probably be high def, 3-D, interactive, and so real they’ll be surreal.)

And one more, just for good measure:

• Will you like the name that you get?

What insights did you learn from these 3rd grade questions?  What questions about heaven do you have?  What do you think it will be like?