Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace. . .

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

John Lennon’s followers were often foggy by reason of drug-induced insanity, but his own philosophy became pretty clear. The idea that there is no heaven, except the here and now, is pure existentialism. The idea that there is no hell, simply means, put aside worries about facing an afterlife or future judgement. Nothing to die for implies that, there is no cause greater than self-fulfillment. No religion is the thought that there should be no divine authority to rule over us. While John Lennon’s melody may have been somewhat charming, his mantra was altogether Satanic – it said, “Imagine but don’t believe”. In essence, “Give me the blessings of God; only, I don’t want to believe in God.”

In Lennon’s secular world view, God wasn’t the door to peace, He was the problem. This view that there can be a better life without rules or rulers, was echoed in a Burger King commercial years ago – “No rules – just right,” (I wonder if you would want to eat a burger made by a teen who really believed that… “Do I wash my hands before or after I make the burger?”) A nearby gym with the name of Planet Fitness carries a motto that follows suit, “The judgement free zone.” Just page through the Bible backwards and you will hear this seduction whispered by a snake to the first couple in Eden’s Paradise, “Hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden?” Gen 3:1. Satan, by inference (and a curled lip), asks Eve, “What sort of God has prohibitions? What God who really loves you would prohibit anything or punish any pleasure?” Lennon’s “god” would never rule over him or ask anything of him that was unpleasant, essentially because he believed in a godless world of his own imagination. Unbelief is not ignorance, it is rebellion.

Not unlike Alice in Wonderland, Lennon simply imagines God away and imagines peace in the world. Yet God cannot be wished away, and our sin must be washed away. God may be invisible to our eyes today but He was and is and always shall be. The psalmist declares that only a fool would dare to say, “There is no God!” (Ps 14:1). John Lennon met the righteous Judge of all the earth the moment he was violently shot and killed outside his home in 1980. Regretfully, the God he tried to “imagine” away was too late recognized as his only lifeline for true life and peace.

This past week at BBC, I spoke of the Millennial Kingdom as God’s last lifeline of mercy to planet earth. It is connected to Lennon’s song in this sense; it is true and good that in the heart of every person exists a deep desire for the ideal society. It is only natural for us to long for peace, and nothing will come as close to this earthly “utopia” as the final chapter of humanity. The Bible calls it the “regeneration” or the “Kingdom Age.”

However, this coming age is not the Hindu version of Nirvana or some strange and mythical netherworld. Rather, it is literal period of 1000 years of peace upon this planet. In God’s prophetic calendar it immediately follows the seven years of Tribulation, after which all the world’s nations, her ecology, environment, economy, and religion will be at peace (Rev. 20). The only reason it will be so is due to the theocratic rule of the only Righteous One. Good rules and good rulers are what bring peace – not the absence of them (Prov 29:2).

Think about it! Can you imagine all the people, all the believers of the Millennium? Their long held dreams turn to reality . . . “and the world will be as One.” The ancient prophets tell us that this coming Kingdom will be wondrous to behold. It will feature lions and lambs feeding together. Children will play with snakes unharmed. Hundred-year life spans will not be unusual. A global healthcare system will be so preventative to disease that hospitals will be considered unnecessary. Deserts around Israel will bloom like the rose and worldwide militaries will not exist. Swords will be refashioned into pruning hooks and the globe will know a moral goodness and productivity it has never experienced. No one will have to “imagine all the people, living life in peace,” for it will be the new reality of the final kingdom. King Jesus will rule all the nations with justice and all nations will come to worship the rightful Messiah. “Every rule will be just right,” and the orbit of every heart will be the worship of the Great King. What a time it will be!

Though some theologians allegorize this period of time and spiritualize it away, nearly every Old Testament prophet predicts this dispensation as a literal reign of Christ in Jerusalem where He will make good on His promises to King David (2 Samuel 7). Christ will return from heaven on a white horse and will rule the earth with a rod of iron. The devil will be shut up during this time and every man’s heart will be made tender by the work of God.

Even though it will be a glorious season, at the end of the 1000 years of nearly ideal universal conditions, there will be some born later in the Kingdom Age who still desire to rebel against the Great King. How incredible! How affirming of the truth found in Rom. 8:7, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.” John Lennon’s struggle for peace was not external but internal. The Millennium proves that the environment doesn’t bring peace to your heart – only God can do that!

To all those seeking Paradise Lost or Peace on Earth, may I suggest there is a yet far greater quest and the only one worth pursuing – peace of heart. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” Heb. 12:6.

What an invitation is found in Mt. 11:28, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

The invitation still stands! Don’t imagine it – believe it.

Four Rules to Know Peace with God:

1 – Know that your sin separates you from God. (Rom. 3:23, Is. 59:2)

2 – Know that the consequence for sin and unbelief is eternal. Hell and torment will be irreversible once you leave this life. (Rom. 6:23, Rev. 20:14-15, Nahum 1:3)

3 – Know that there is no way to get to heaven on your own, but that God loves you and paid the penalty for your sins by His death, burial, and resurrection for you. (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8, John 1:12, Eph. 2:8-9, 1 Cor. 15:1-8)

4 – Know that God wants you to be reconciled to Him and to be forgiven today, so receive Him before it is too late! (2 Cor. 6:2, 2 Cor. 5:20, 2 Pet. 3:9).

Prayers upward, blessings downward, power inward, gospel outward, church onward, heaven forward!

Love to all,