What will heaven actually be like, according to this teaching?
Heaven will be an eternal setting of intense activity, not a boring, monotonous place. It follows the thousand-year reign of Christ and moves into the new heaven and new earth. Praise will be part of it, but eternity is described as a viable exercise, free from present problems, tribulations, and sorrows.
Les teaches that the earthly kingdom promised to Israel is limited by Revelation to a thousand years, the millennium, a definitive period. That thousand-year reign of Christ is merely the introduction for the eternal setting. Revelation chapter 21 then presents a new heaven and a new earth, and the whole kingdom economy moves right on into eternity. Les explains that this gives a better concept of what heaven will be. He recalls that as a young person he feared heaven would be boring—just sitting on a cloud, strumming a harp, and doing nothing but shouting hallelujah or holy, holy, holy. He says that praise will certainly be part of it, but eternity will be a viable exercise, a place of intense activity, though without all the problems, tribulations, and sorrows we have now. Therefore, heaven should never be viewed as boring and monotonous; it will be quite the opposite.