That is the city promised to the captives whom Christ shall make free; that is the kingdom assured to them whom Christ shall crown; there is the light that shall never go out; there is the health that shall never be impaired; there is the glory that shall never be defaced; there is the life that shall taste no death; and there is the portion that passes all the world’s preferment. There is the world that shall never wax worse; there is every want supplied freely without money; there is no danger, but happiness, and honour, and singing, and praise and thanksgiving unto the heavenly Jehovah, “to him that sits on the throne,” “to the lamb” that here was led to the slaughter that now “reigns”; with whom I “shall reign” after I have run this comfortless race through this miserable earthly vale.

~John Bradford, [“A Sweet Contemplation of Heavenly Things”]

Thinking of Heaven will motivate us to live each day in profound thankfulness to God: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).

In Perelandra, C. S. Lewis’s protagonist says of his friend Ransom, who has recently returned from another planet, “A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged.” A man who gives sustained thought to another world—the Heaven where Christ is and the resurrected Earth where we will live forever with him—also does not remain unchanged. He becomes a new person. He’ll no longer fill his stomach with stale leftovers and scraps fallen to a dirty kitchen floor. He smells the banquet being prepared for him. He won’t spoil his appetite. He knows what his mouth is watering for.

~ Randy Alcorn, [Heaven]

You and I have never eaten food in a world untouched by the Fall and the Curse. The palate and taste buds were injured in the Fall, as were all food sources. The best-tasting food we’ve ever eaten wasn’t nearly as good as it must have tasted in Eden or as it will on the New Earth.

The person who’s eaten the widest variety of meals on Earth still hasn’t tasted countless others. How many special dishes will you discover on the New Earth? As yet, you may not have tasted your favorite meal—and if you have, it didn’t taste as good as it will there. The best meals you’ll ever eat are all still ahead of you on the New Earth.

If it seems trivial or unspiritual to anticipate such things, remember that it’s God who promises that on the New Earth we will sit at tables, at banquets and feasts, and enjoy the finest foods and drinks. And to top it off, our Father promises that he himself will prepare for us the finest foods (Isaiah 25:6). Don’t you think he wants us to look forward to eating at his table?

~ Randy Alcorn, [Heaven]