DAILY DEVOTIONAL – July 22, 2019
“Mad Science”
Prayer: Everlasting Father, our minds can’t even begin to comprehend the immensity of Your power and grace. We thank You and praise You because You are God, and because Your love is beyond measure. In the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-4
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Devotion – “Mad Science”
Fair warning here: today’s devotional is going to be a little different. If you have been listening to these devotionals regularly, you know I usually look at a text from the Bible and then expound on that for about 10-15 minutes. This past week I came across a quote from a very well-known and established scientist, who said something that I found absolutely astonishing and frustrating. I would like to spend just a bit of time for our devotional today addressing what this scientist said, because as I came to find out with a bit more research, apparently there are more people than I would have imagined that don’t believe in heaven or claim they don’t want to go there because…they’re afraid that heaven will be too, boring.
Isaac Asimov (1920 – 1992) was a scientist and professor at Boston University and one of the most prolific scientific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. He was best known for his science fiction works.
When asked about his beliefs on heaven and the afterlife, Asimov said, “I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”
To be honest with you friends, I don’t even know where to begin in response to Asimov’s comment. You would think that for such an accomplished man, with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree, and Master’s of Arts Degree and a Doctorate in Philosophy, Asimov wouldn’t make such an unintelligent, unscientific and quite frankly ignorant comment. No offense to Mr. Asimov or his intelligence, but to suggest even hypothetically that he would rather suffer the tortures of hell for an eternity rather than risk being bored forever in heaven is just naïve and juvenile. The afterlife aside, I find it impossible to believe that if Asimov were still alive today and was faced with something so horrific that it was worthy of being described as torture, that he would willingly submit himself to that rather than be bored. Furthermore, whatever we consider torture in this life is, sadly, only a shadow of the real horrors of living eternally separated from God. Hell is many horrible things; however, those horrible things only exist as a result of being completely separated from God. Hell is separation from God.
The truth is, now that Mr. Asimov has passed on from this life, he no longer has to speculate whether boredom would be worse than an eternity separated from God. I pray that somehow he came to know God’s grace before he died.
If Mr. Asimov was still here today, and I had a chance to respond to his comment, I would have loved to have asked him: Have you ever suffered tragedy in this life? Like heartbreak, sorrow, depression, sickness, helplessness or feeling hopeless? Mr. Asimov, if you have, do you think in the midst of that suffering you would have gladly been bored if it meant the suffering could end? Mr. Asimov, have you ever been to heaven? You’re a scientist. How can you know for sure that heaven is boring? Not only that Mr. Asimov, but you have spent your whole life researching this earth, and this universe and all of its mystery and beauty. Clearly, you were never bored with your pursuit of knowledge about Creation. How many more lifetimes do you think you would need to understand everything about it? I imagine there wouldn’t be enough lifetimes. If that is true of this physical world that is in constant decay, how many lifetimes do you think it would take to learn all there is to know about the God who made all things and who has said in His Word that He is making a new heavens and a new earth for His faithful children to enjoy in His presence forever? Finally, Mr. Asimov, if I am to take your remark seriously, then, assuming heaven and hell are real, and therefore God is real, are you suggesting that the God who made the universe that you spent a lifetime so fascinated with would struggle to keep you entertained or that your intellect would prove to outlast His own?
Now, I could go on in my list of flabbergasted questions that I would have liked to ask Mr. Asimov, but for the sake of time and my own sanity I think I have asked enough questions to illustrate how absurd it is for anyone not to want to go to heaven because they think they will be bored.
Most people that would make such a silly comment probably haven’t even bothered to read the Bible. Even a lazy and unsophisticated reading of the Bible would make it impossible to claim that God is boring. A burning bush that doesn’t burn, an entire ocean separated in half so that you could walk on the sea floor, bread coming down from heaven, talking donkeys, giant fish used as a submarine for Jonah, a den of lions tamed by prayer, a virgin birth, water turned into wine, the sick healed, demons cast out, life threatening storms brought to nothing with a simple command, feeding 5,000 people from one small boys fish and loaves, raising a dead man after 4 days in the tomb, and of course most exciting of all, God raising Christ from the dead after being crucified for our sins and appearing to masses of people before the disciples watched Him ascend to heaven in glory. Then of course you have Pentecost where the disciples received God’s Spirit and performed miracles themselves all throughout the book of Acts. Need I go on?
Which angry atheist or arrogant scientist, if they were being genuinely honest, would dare say that they think they would have been bored following Jesus as a disciple? Friends, I think the disciples were on a straight 3-year adrenaline rush following Jesus…and the only time they probably managed to get any sleep was when they reached the point of physical exhaustion. And that is being in the presence of Jesus while on this earth in His humbled state as the Son of God. Can you imagine what it would be like to live in the unmitigated glory of the real Presence of God?
Friends, I promise you that by grace through faith in Jesus Christ you have the assurance of having your mind blown forever and ever and ever as you live eternally in the Presence of God and Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. In our text for today from Revelation, John tells us just a little bit of what heaven is like. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” I think we can also safely add to that list that “there will be no more boredom.”
The most exciting part of heaven my friends isn’t all that there is to do, but who there is to see. Because of Christ’s perfect sacrifice for our sins, by faith in Jesus, we will see God, we will be with God, and I can promise you that just sitting in the presence of God will be infinitely more than enough to keep us eternally and joyfully occupied. Heaven is the very real inheritance for everyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
God bless you all and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
