| Age in Heaven? How Old will we Be? 06/18/2006 Q. How old do you think we will be in heaven? Is there anything in the bible about it? If you die old will you still be old in heaven? What about babies who die? Will they still be infants in heaven? (J.M., Mt. Vernon, WA) Answer: Hmmm…good question. Never thought about this before.  How Old will we be in Heaven?The famous Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1225 – 1274, pondered this very question. Aquinas used the following verses for his conclusion, Maturity in Heaven “He (Christ) is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ . Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth” (Ephesians 4: 11-14, NLT). Aquinas’ theorized that because Jesus attained the “fullness of Christ,” then we will too as we become mature Christians. Bodies like Yeshua’s Many teachers point to these verses to hint at our heavenly ages: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him…” (1 John 3:2, NASB). “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21, ESV). These teachers feel that since Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) was about 33 years old in His resurrection body, then age thirty will be the approximate state of our resurrected bodies, too. DNA Code Others, such as Jack Van Impe, suggest that our DNA stops aging around thirty years of age. Since that is an optimal age, and because Yeshua was crucified at around 33 years of age, perhaps this is one more reason to assume a resurrected body of about 30 years of age. Babies And some think that all of the children and babies who died will be allowed to grow up in the midst of believing family members until they attain their optimal age in the city of New Jerusalem. Why not? Everything else seems to be literal concerning our future home in New Jerusalem. Why not that, too? 100 Year-Old Kids Not to be forgotten, people are considered young when they are 100 years old during the Millennium. While the 1000 year Millennial rule of Christ occurs prior to the New Jerusalem, verses about it say, “No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old…” (Isaiah 65:20, ESV). Supernatural Men & Women Last, we suspect “age” will become an irrelevant topic in Heaven. We will be supernatural men and women, filled with new power and new duties to perform in the magnificent universe of our Lord. It will be a busy, fulfilling time. Don’t forget that we will be given the task of “governing” angels, for example (1 Corinthians 6:3). Living within new, extra Dimensions We will also function in new dimensions which enable us to appear and disappear (Luke 24:31), float through the air (Luke 24:51), visit parallel universes (Matthew 18:20), and master other areas where Yeshua demonstrated superior abilities. Super IQs Our IQs will likely be much higher – some have theorized as high as 100,000 rather than 100 for mortal men. Angels, for example, are thought to possess IQs superior to man’s due to their ability to manipulate several dimensions (Heb. 1:14, Dan. 10:12-14, 2 Kings 6:16). I’m ready! Are you? “Beam me up, Scotty” (Star Trek & 1 Thessalonians 4:17). _____________________________________________ Sources: Alcorn, Randy. 2004. Heaven. Carol Stream, Ill: Tyndale. Eastman, Mark and Chuck Missler. 1997. Alien encounters. Coeur d’Alene, ID: Koinonia House. Emilio, V & K. 2005. Heavenly space odyssey. Articles: science & scripture. Available from: remnantreport.com. Hitchcock, Mark. 2005. 55 Answers to questions about life after death. Sisters, OR: Multinomah. Rhodes, Ron. 1994. Angels among us. Eugene, OR: Harvest House. |
