My dear friend, these are great questions about wonderful things that born again Christians have to look forward to, our hope in the glories to come is sure and certain. We have many Scriptures which would give us a bit of a picture of what heaven will be like for us, and I’ll try to incorporate those into my response so far as I am able. But I do feel that Scripture gives us mostly glimpses of what heaven will be like. I imagine this is because our finite minds cannot begin to comprehend the reality of those images, or perhaps human languages simply cannot adequately define the amazing things we will encounter in glory. As to eating, I truly believe that we will be able to eat, but that it will not be required in order to sustain life. My rationale for saying this is that I believe our bodies will be “like unto His glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21), therefore I believe that our bodies when we have been caught up to heaven should be similar to that of our risen Lord’s. We read in Luke 23, the Lord Jesus when He was risen from among the dead could eat (see Luke 24:37-43). There is also a reference to the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb,” where I expect we will actually eat a meal in the company of the Lord (see Revelation 19:6-9). Furthermore, in Revelation 22:2 we do read about the tree of life with its abundant fruit, and I find no reason to believe that this does not depict actual fruit that can be eaten.

I believe as to working that there will be work to do, for I understand that during the millennium, the born again Christians will rule cities and will be local judges of affairs in those cities on the earth (see 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; Revelation 22:5). Thus, we will serve in whatever capacity the Lord wills, and certainly we will be occupied with worship (Revelation 5:8-10). Now, as to working and playing in a similar manner to what we did while on the earth, I do not find any direct references as to this, but that does not mean that glory will be any-the-less wonderful. There will be singing in heaven for sure, and this will be a part of the worship of our great Redeemer (Revelation 5:9, 10). But I would caution us not to think that because we do not read of eating our favorite foods, playing sports, or playing the piano, this does not mean that we will not fully enjoy being in heaven. We must always remember that once we are in the glory, we will be fully and perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, the old nature having been removed, and thus our desires and appetites will be conformed to heavenly things and we’ll live forever in the presence of our Savior in complete and happy bliss. As to our rewards, you’ll want to read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; James 1:12; and 2 Timothy 4:8.  However, as to those crowns, we shall be so taken with our redemption through the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, that we will fall down in worship and cast those crowns at His most worthy feet, thus giving Him all the glory (see Revelation 4:10-11”.

Now in general, as to what that place will be like, Revelation, chapter 21 gives us a snapshot of heaven, which I take to be the great city, “the Holy Jerusalem , descending out of heaven from God” (verse 10). If we read verses 10-27 in Revelation 21, we learn much about the heavenly dwelling place of believers, pictured for us, often in similes or likenesses to things that we might be able to relate to from our human perspective. But there cannot be any real comparison between that blessed realm and our current fallen world with all the marks of sin. One thing we are told in verse 27 is truly a wonderful thought: “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Thus, we see that in heaven, there will be no sin, and we must remember that this means that we ourselves will be perfected in Christ-when we get to heaven, every vestige of the old nature will have been removed, and only our new nature, that which is eternal and cannot sin, will remain. We read in verse 4: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Now, this corresponds to what we learn in John 14:1-3 about the permanent “mansions” (perhaps better stated as abodes), which may refer to our glorified bodies as much as to heaven itself. No pain, no sorrow, and no more death (compare with 2 Corinthians 5:1). Reading in verses 10-11 we have some more details: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (see also Revelation 22:5). So, heaven will be wondrously beautiful! But, the most compelling thing about the glory is what we find in Revelation 22:4 where we read: “and they shall see His face”. We have an old hymn that puts it best: “the Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel’s Land”. So, everything about heaven will be beautiful and delightful for us, but mainly, we will be occupied with our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.

In summary my dear friend, in 1 John 3:2 we read: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” When we are removed from this sinful earth, we will be conformed to the likeness of Christ, purified without any vestiges of the old nature which was in our earthly bodies, and we will have glorious new bodies which are incorruptible. Thus in heaven, we will no longer be subject to decay or death, we will be free of the presence of any sin or temptation, we will be able to eat but will not need to eat or breathe to remain alive, we will be occupied with worship and service for the Lord, and our glorious bodies will not be restricted to any of the physical limitations of this world. But, best of all, we shall ever be with the Lord!  (SF)  (666.2)