The Eternal City

The Biblical heaven and hell are very physical realms in the midst of the divine presence despite being often conceived of as spiritual voids of matter.  At least after the resurrection of the dead, there is no unembodied existence for human minds, as the mind-body unity broken at biological death (James 2:26) is restored for some people to perish on both metaphysical levels (Matthew 10:28) and for others to flourish in eternal life (John 3:16).  Resurrection of the dead, annihilation of the general wicked, and everlasting life for the redeemed in a world devoid of sin collectively do away with human death once and for all.  The individuality and emotion of the saved would be preserved in their consciousness, and for those who have chosen reconciliation to God, there would be freedom to enjoy everything from the abstract logical truths that dictate the very possibility of an afterlife (nothing else can be true unless it is consistent with logical axioms and other necessary truths) to the scientific laws of a physical heaven (even if the laws of physics are different in some foreign physical location, however matter behaves pertains to laws of nature) and more.

Despite many details being left unaddressed, there is actually far more clarity about what eternal life and heaven, or New Jerusalem, are like than there is about hell.  For hell, the Bible emphasizes its justice in matching a person's deeds (Luke 12:47-48), how the unsaved will at some point cease to exist at all as souls (Ezekiel 18:4), and how there will be fire (Matthew 18:8, Revelation 20:14).  When it comes to heaven, or the metaphysical realm where God's presence is more directly manifested and where the saved are to exist in eternal life, the Bible reveals many more details, going so far as to describe its dimensions and decorations in Revelation 21.  Not only this, but there are other things that logically follow from other Christian doctrines about what would be permitted in a sinless world.  The Biblical heaven is or likely will be far more similar to things in the present life than is usually expected.

There is architecture, as New Jerusalem is a city (Revelation 21:15-16), after all, one with a great deal of living space (John 14:2-3).  John describes it as having gates (Revelation 21:25), a river (Revelation 22:1), a throne (again, 22:1), and the tree of life as it is once again made accessible to humanity (22:2).  That the gates are open and the nations will enter according to John (21:24-27) would require that there is no confinement to the city of New Jerusalem itself, as people will have the clear freedom to travel to and from the broader world.  New Jerusalem could also certainly have technology pertaining to artistic mediums and beyond, for it is sin that is removed from this paradise, not matter itself or any of the thoughts or behaviors that do not involve sin.  Technology for entertainment, pleasure, or practicality is not sinful (Deuteronomy 4:2).  Although it would be much better to be in the divine presence without the glories of terrestrial life than for the inverse to be the case, there is not necessarily an absence of any nonsinful pursuits and activities in heaven.

What of sexuality?  While a universal asexual existence in heaven would not in any way be hellish when God's presence, eternal life, freedom from agony, maximized mental and physical health, and endless human relationships can all be experienced, the mere fact that there is nothing sinful about sexuality itself and many sexual behaviors means there is nothing logically impossible about sexuality continuing in heaven if Christianity is true.  Even aside from what reason and Mosaic Law illuminate on this issue, Eden was paradise on Earth, and yet sexuality and sensuality were still very present in the human condition, called "very good" along with every material and immaterial thing God had made (Genesis 1:31).  Either way, the Biblical heaven is not a purely spiritual place.  It is a physical place where human consciousness is extended beyond death to partake once again in the status of confinement to a body, the human body being the utter pinnacle of God's physical creation as the material shell for beings made in his own image.  Just as it can be sexually or nonsexually appreciated in this life without sin, the same could easily be true in the next.

Whatever the exact experience in this New Jerusalem would be like, it is the dwelling free of death, the last enemy of humanity and God (1 Corinthians 15:26), as Paul calls it, that is to be destroyed.  Human death is ultimately conquered when the unsaved dead are killed in the lake of fire and the saved bask in the wonders of reality forever.  The former are forever shut out from the joys of knowing and savoring reality itself: reason, God, morality, and fellow humans, along with the physical matter of the eternal city and its grand universe beyond this one.  Jesus said he came that we might have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).  This is true in some ways in the present life, but it would be most realized when people who commit to Yahweh and Christ experience what is ultimately a continuation of this life without sin marring God's creation and the ensuing devastation of humans and the cosmos alike.  Despite the ultimate unknowability of the afterlife or if one exists, the Christian heaven, which has evidence in favor of its existence since there is extensive evidence for Christianity as a whole, is far from a trivial realm to inhabit.