There are two things you need to be aware of about the future of a Christian. For a Christian, when you die, your body goes to the ground and your soul will go straight to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus. Heaven is where we go when we die if we’re Christians if we’re trusting in Jesus. We’ll go to be where he is.
However, we will not remain just as souls in heaven. The life that the Lord created us to have is a life with a body as well as a soul. And so, we also need to think about something else the Lord Jesus is doing for the future, which is preparing a new heavens and a new earth. Or you could just call it the new creation. That’s what will happen when Jesus returns and our bodies are raised and reunited with our souls. We’ll be given new bodies, ones that are not wasting away, that haven’t rotted in a grave. New bodies delivered from the flesh.
And then we will play football. I don’t know what kind of football we’ll play in heaven when we are just souls. So, I can’t really answer that question. I know that our souls can see. We can see stuff in our dreams, can’t we? We know we have an experience of what it’s like to see. However, I don’t know what else we’ll be able to do. Sure, we’ll be able to talk and move and do other stuff.
But the thing we’re really looking forward to even more than heaven is the new earth. And that’s when we will play football. So, then the question comes, on the new earth, will we be as good at football as we are now or will we have to start again with our skills?
Well, let’s think about what we have in terms of the future. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about some things that will pass away when it comes to the future. He talks about ‘where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away’, but he says that love will not pass away.
So, a person that you love in this world, and he’s thinking especially about church, the investment that you put into a relationship with someone in church in this life, that will carry over into the next life, which is why Paul says we need to love each other in church. Love never ends, he says.
But that still leaves us with the question of what else will continue? And all I can say on that is that I know that because we have new bodies, we will be able to play football so much better than we did. So, even if some of the skills that we may have picked up pass away, the level that we will be at in terms of our football abilities will be so much better than this. Because we’re going to be delivered from our flesh.
Flesh is what causes the slowness and the ache and the shame and the pain and sadness that makes us bad footballers. Even Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe are not as good as they could be at football because they have bodies that are wasting away. They get injuries, and one day they will have to retire. In fact, we’ve already started to see with Ronaldo and with Messi that they’re not as good as they used to be because their bodies are wasting away. And yet, their souls could be renewed, and if they believe in Jesus, they’ll be given new bodies so that they will be able to play even better than they did before.
So, the key thing is to be looking forward to that day and making sure that we’re going to be on the new earth by trusting in Jesus, repenting of our sins, following Jesus, knowing that we deserve hell, we don’t deserve to be able to play football. We should be punished. But Jesus says, ‘I’ll take that punishment instead of you so that you can enjoy living for me and living with me on a new earth, and we’ll play football.’ It’s a very exciting future.
So, imagine the kind of football we’re going to have on the new earth. It’s going to be amazing.
And then imagine seeing Jesus face to face. And imagine no more tears, no more death or mourning or crying or pain.