a tiny glimpse of heaven

Excerpted from the book "Faith and the City" by Jennifer Ruisch.

After years of afterlife hypotheses, I finally consulted the Bible for its description of heaven. According to Revelation 21, heaven is not an ethereal idea; it is a literal city. It's a city that is 1,400 miles wide and 1,400 miles long. The city walls are 1,400 miles high and 200 feet thick, made from twelve precious stones including jasper, saphire, emerald, and amethyst. There are twelve gates into the city, three on each side of the four walls. Each gate is made of a single pearl. The main street of the city is made from pure gold that looks like transparent glass.

Revelation 22 talks about a flowing, crystal-clear river running through the main street of the city and the tree of life, yielding an abundance of fruit. It says that the city doesn't need the sun or moon to shine because the glory of God gives it light. Apparently, God had to hang the sun to give light to the earth because He could not be there Himself. But in heaven, the light of God radiates magnificently through the jeweled walls. There is no evil, sadness, or confusion within the city; there is only goodness, happiness, and peace.

Plato believed that whenever we see something beautiful, good, or right on earth and feel that deep inner sense of appreciation and awe, it is because we are "remembering the Forms." We might be recalling the Form of Beauty, Truth, Goodness, or Virtue. Forms are the true reality that exists somewhere beyond the shadow of reality we experience here on earth, and we will always feel a pang of emotion whenever we see the Forms captured in our world.

Maybe fairytale-like surroundings that evoke our awe-filled silences are limited to just that ... fairy tales. Perhaps there is no wonder beyond. Or maybe every sunset and rainbow is trying to remind us that there is something more. Perhaps when we "ooh and ahh" over someone's new diamond ring, we do so because we've literally just experienced a tiny glimpse of heaven.