What Does the Bible Say About Eternity? When Kids Fear Heaven

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Hello, friends! Today's podcast question says: "My kids—six, eight, and nine—are struggling with the concept of heaven. It's such an abstract thing to grasp, especially they're concerned that we won't be together as a family in the same way since God's word says men and women won't be given in marriage. Can you speak into that?"

I am so grateful that this question came in because if we want our children to have a distinctly biblical worldview, it is vital that they have a correct understanding of eternity. So that's the question we're going to dive down deep into today on the Foundation Worldview Podcast, where we seek to answer your questions so you can equip the kids that God has placed in your care to carefully evaluate every idea they encounter and understand the truth of the biblical worldview. I'm your host, Elizabeth Urbanowicz, and I'm thrilled that you've joined me for another episode today.

Special Announcement: New Book Release

Before we dive into answering this question, I have a special announcement—and it's the first time I'm saying this publicly! I'm so excited to announce the release of my upcoming book: Helping Your Kids Know God's Good Design: 40 Questions and Answers on Sexuality and Gender.

This book has short chapters—40 of them—where we look at questions that we need to talk through with our kids about the goodness of God's design for sexuality, gender, marriage, and family. In each question we examine: What is this question? How does Scripture address this? And how can we explain this concept to our children in both developmentally appropriate and theologically accurate terms?

We cover everything from "When should I have the first sex talk with my child?" to "How do I talk with my child about pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, or transgenderism?" We look at questions such as "What do I do about the library pushing so many books with an LGBTQ+ agenda?" and "Is it okay for my young child to dress up as the opposite sex when playing dress-up?" We examine tons of questions and ground all of them in Scripture, showing that Scripture is sufficient for answering even the thorniest of topics.

This book releases in October 2025. However, you can pre-order it now on Amazon with a pre-order price guarantee, which means that if you order it today, whatever price the book drops to—the lowest between now and when it's released—you will only pay the lowest price for this book. So head on over to Amazon and order your copy today. Or if you're interested in hosting a book club for moms, maybe order five or ten copies.

Why Understanding Eternity Matters

As we think through this question about helping our children understand eternity, I was thinking about a situation in my own life. I have a really good friend who, when we were still in our growing-up years, confided in me that she was just terrified by the thought of eternity—specifically for this same reason that the questioner's children have given. She was like, "Nobody's married, we're not going to be in our families. It just sounds like it's going to be so lonely."

At the time, I didn't really know how to address her fears. But several years later, when my friend was newly married—several years into her marriage—she found out that her husband was involved in a very, very serious sin pattern that was affecting their marriage. This sin pattern was not biblical grounds for divorce; however, it was deeply impacting their marriage, and she was just devastated about it. We would talk on the phone almost every day because she was just in a place of huge brokenness.

One day as we were talking, I said, "This is a situation that would be heartbreaking for anyone, and I think it's particularly difficult for you because you are actually scared of eternity. So you're viewing this life right now as your only chance for hope and happiness, and you feel like your one shot at hope and happiness was just destroyed because now, for the rest of your life, you're stuck in this marriage that's probably going to be very, very difficult."

We talked through that, and she was like, "I never thought about that." Then we were able to talk through what eternity is actually like and why that's where our true hope lies.

If our children are similar to my friend and they do not have a biblically-based understanding of eternity, they're never going to truly see the goodness of the gospel or understand where their true hope lies.

Getting Our Theology Right

Part of this may be our fault because sometimes, in an effort to be succinct in our explanations as we teach children, we fail to be biblically accurate. For example, just in this question, it talked about "going to heaven" as if we were going to spend all of eternity in heaven. But the truth of the matter is: Christians will not spend eternity in heaven.

Now, those of us who are redeemed who die before Jesus's second coming—before His return—we will enter into heaven with God as disembodied souls. What I mean is that our soul separates from our body, our body decays here on this earth, and our soul goes to heaven to be with God. However, Scripture is clear that this is not the permanent state for Christians.

Once Jesus returns, He will make all things new. He will make heaven and earth new, and our souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies. So even to say that we will spend eternity in heaven is not technically accurate. We will go to be with God in heaven if we die before Jesus returns, but we will spend the rest of eternity on the new earth.

What Scripture Says About the New Heaven and New Earth

Scripture speaks to this throughout the entire narrative. I'm going to read several passages that speak to this concept.

Isaiah 65:17 says: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." So even back in the days of Isaiah, during the times of the divided kingdom, God was saying, "I am going to remake heaven and earth."

He says this again in Isaiah 66:22: "For as the new heavens and the new earth that I shall make remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain." So we see even in the Old Testament, the new heavens and the new earth are mentioned.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, Paul writes: "We shall not all sleep" (meaning we shall not all die), "but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'"

In this passage, Paul is making clear that not everyone's going to die. Some of us are going to die, but some of us will live—maybe not this generation right now, but some in the future will live until Jesus returns. When Jesus returns, the dead will be raised imperishable, our mortal bodies will be clothed with immortality, and we are going to have a glorified body just as Jesus had at His resurrection.

2 Peter 3:9-13 says: "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

Here Peter is saying that one day the heavens and the earth will burn. They will be dissolved, and Jesus is going to make a new heaven and a new earth for the righteous—those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ—to dwell on.

The final passage is Revelation 21:1-5: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"

Here John is outlining again: the heavens and the earth will be destroyed, they will be made new, and in the new heavens and new earth, God's going to wipe away every tear from our eyes. There's going to be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. God will have made all things new.

We want our children to have this understanding of eternity.

What About Marriage and Family?

The Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot about what life will be like in the new heavens and the new earth, but it does make some things clear, and we want to make sure our children understand this.

As the questioner wrote in, it is true that there will be no more marriage on the new earth. In Matthew 22:29-30, Jesus answered them: "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."

So on the new earth, we are not going to be married. Those who are married will no longer be married; no one will get married on the new earth.

This means that the structure of our relationships will look different. We can't imagine life on this earth without anyone being married or having families. As I said before, there's a lot that Scripture does not tell us about eternity. However, from what we are told, we can know those things clearly and we can make inferences based off of them.

For example, if in this fallen, cursed earth we gain so much comfort and joy from marriage and family—even as we are dealing with the results and consequences and curse of sin—this means that in the new earth, when there is no more curse of sin, when there is no more division in relationships because of sin, we can't even imagine how wonderful relationships will be on the new earth, where we're going to live with God and the family of God for the rest of eternity.

We also need to think about how God is relational in and of Himself. He's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has always been in perfect loving relationship with Himself. As His image bearers, we desire relationships because God has made us in His image—He's relational, so we are relational. We can know that we will still be made in His image on the new earth, which means relationships on the new earth will be even better than what we have here.

Three Steps to Address Children's Fears About Eternity

If our children are fearing eternity because of this fear of different relationships or some other fear, there are several things that we can do to help address their fears. I'm going to give us a list of three things and then walk us through how we can do these three things with our kids:

1. Ask what makes them scared about eternity
2. Address how their fears are unfounded
3. Create an anticipation for eternity in the everyday

Let me model how the questioner could go through these three steps with his or her children.

Step 1: Ask What Makes Them Scared

Getting to the root of our kids' fears is key because we need to understand what they're fearing in order to address that fear. From what the questioner said, it sounds like his or her kids' fear stems ultimately from a fear of loneliness or isolation. They're thinking, "I'm not going to be with Mom, I'm not going to be with Dad, I'm not going to be with my brothers and sisters or grandma and grandpa. Things are going to be different. This is going to be really scary. I'm going to be all by myself."

I recommend that you talk through this with your kids. Say, "It sounds like you're scared that you're going to be lonely—you're going to be all by yourself in the new earth. Is this why you're feeling scared?" Maybe this isn't it; maybe their fear is stemming from something else. But ask questions to get to the root of their fear.

Step 2: Address How Their Fears Are Unfounded

You're going to want to take them right to Scripture. We don't want to give our kids just some false assurance from what we're saying. We want to help them see how the truth is rooted in Scripture—how Scripture speaks to the fact that their fears are unfounded.

For this questioner, I recommend that you take your children to Revelation 21:4, which says: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Ask your kids: "According to this verse, what things won't be on the new earth?" Talk through how there won't be tears, there won't be death, there won't be crying, there won't be pain.

Then you can say: "If these things are gone—if there's no more tears or death or crying or pain—will there be any loneliness?" No! Because loneliness usually involves sadness (which is tears or crying) or it involves pain. It involves feeling scared inside because you're all alone. So if tears and crying and pain and death are gone in the new earth, there will not ever be loneliness. You will never, ever feel lonely again on the new earth.

When they ask questions, you can talk through: "I don't know exactly how this is going to look. I don't know if I'm going to see you every single day on the new earth. Maybe we will see one another every single day. Maybe we'll spend most of our time together, but I don't know. But what I do know is that all of the bad things from this earth will be gone, which means your loneliness will be gone, and it means you'll be happier and more filled with joy in one day on that new earth than you have been in your whole entire life on this fallen, cursed ground."

Step 3: Create an Anticipation for Eternity in the Everyday

This is key for helping our children understand how amazing eternity will be. Think through: How can you create anticipation for eternity every day?

Just this past weekend, I was visiting one of my siblings, and my niece was having a really difficult time sharing with her brother. One time I was playing with them in their playroom, and I told her: "You know what? You need to share with him because God has given us everything we have. God shares with us, and we reflect Him in the way that we share."

She was kind of pouting, so I called her over to me and gave her a hug. I said, "How are you feeling inside right now?" She said, "I'm feeling sad." I said, "Well, why are you feeling sad?" She said, "Because I don't like sharing."

We talked through that, and I said: "You know what? The reason we feel sad, the reason we don't want to share, is because of sin. We have sin in our hearts, and our sin makes us not want to reflect God by sharing."

But then I flipped it around to point her towards eternity: "You know what? When we get to the new earth with Jesus, we're not going to have any sin in our hearts—it will be completely wiped away. And you know what? On the new earth, we are going to love sharing. Won't that be really exciting?"

Now, did she get really excited and suddenly stop being sad about sharing? No. But what I was doing there was just planting little seeds for how exciting eternity will be.

Practical Examples for Everyday Conversations

So when your kids argue, talk about how on the new earth there will be no more disagreements. (Did you see how I just said "heaven"? I even slipped up with being theologically inaccurate—we're not going to be in heaven, we're going to be on the new earth! You can see from my example that it's really easy for us to use these terms that we've been told our whole lives but aren't completely theologically accurate.)

• When your kids are arguing, talk about how in eternity there will be no more disagreements.
• After your child gets disciplined, talk about how in eternity there will be no more desire to sin, and therefore there will be no more punishments.
• When your kids are sick, talk about: "Won't it be so amazing on the new earth when there's no more sickness, there's no more germs? We never have a fever again, we never have a tummy bug again, we never get a cold again."
• When they get injured, after you've taken care of them, talk about how amazing it is that on the new earth there will be no more pain.
• When they feel sad, talk about how in eternity there will be no more sadness.
• If your kids don't want to go to school or they don't want to do a chore that you've assigned for them, talk about how on the new earth our work is going to be enjoyable because we're no longer going to be working the ground by the sweat of our brow. We're going to return to that initial state where work was enjoyable.

I know my sister-in-law did such a great job of this with her two oldest kids. Her two oldest kids are boys, and when they were two and three, they were obsessed with Komodo dragons. But Komodo dragons are—at least according to the books they were reading at the time—dangerous because their spit could cause your skin to fall off or decay or whatnot. My nephews were just heartbroken that they could not touch Komodo dragons.

But every time they expressed disappointment over that, my sister-in-law would say: "But on the new earth, when there's no more sin and no more death, you'll be able to touch Komodo dragons!"

So my nephews would talk about that. The three-year-old would say, "Oh, I can't touch Komodo dragons now, but on the new earth I can." And my two-year-old nephew would just say, "New earth, touch 'modos!" He was just so excited about that.

These are the kinds of things we want to do. Make this an everyday conversation that leads our kids' hearts to long for eternity. And when we make this an everyday conversation, our hearts even more will long for eternity.

Conclusion

Understanding eternity correctly is foundational to helping our children develop a biblical worldview and find their true hope in Christ. When we ground their understanding in Scripture and help them see eternity as the wonderful reality it will be—not something to fear—we're setting them up to live with eternal perspective even now.

Ready to continue equipping your children with a biblical worldview? Don't miss out on future episodes where we tackle the tough questions parents face today. Join thousands of other parents who are intentionally raising the next generation by subscribing to our email list at FoundationWorldview.com. You'll receive practical resources, episode updates, and exclusive content to help you confidently guide your children through our culture's challenging questions. Plus, be the first to know about resources like my upcoming book on sexuality and gender—because these conversations can't wait.

That's a wrap for this episode. If you have a question that you would like for me to answer on a future Foundation Worldview podcast, you can submit that question by going to FoundationWorldview.com/podcast.

As we leave our time together, my prayer for you is that no matter the situation in which you and the children that God has placed in your care find yourselves, that you would trust that God is working all things together for your good by using all things to conform you more into the image of His Son.

I'll see you next time.