I have this image of heaven. No particular reason to think it’s a valid one. In fact, the main thing the Biblical descriptions of heaven convey to me is that we shouldn’t waste our time trying to characterize something for which we have no frame of reference, no empirical analog, no handle to grasp. But here I go anyway.

I think this image is rooted in the permanent damage I sustained from repeatedly reading E. E. “Doc” Smith’s execrable “Lensman” series as a young adolescent. In a weird form of negative synergy, this was compounded, rather than rectified, by C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, especially “Out of the Silent Planet”.

So imagine if you will, after human history ends and humankind is complete and redeemed. We assume our intended place in a cosmos full of planets, races, and all kinds and variations of sentient creatures. But of all these, only mankind fell and only mankind was redeemed.

Even in a sinless world, won’t creatures still misunderstand each other? Won’t there be conflicts of interest? Here and now, these can become exceedingly thorny even between people of good will. Couldn’t there be comparable problems in my hypothetical heaven? Won’t there sometimes be unintentional hurt inflicted?

I can easily (and probably hallucinatively) imagine situations coming up that these other races cannot resolve. They don’t know good from evil the way we do, not when it’s complicated. They can’t readily tell who is doing right and who is doing wrong- who is correct and who is mistaken. They look at each other and say: we need to get a human to sort this out.

Why a human? Well, who else understands good and evil? Who understands sin? Who has BEEN evil? Who can grasp the intricacies of the heart? Who could rightly understand, judge, and resolve such a situation?

The Bible says we’ll judge the angels. Could it be that God is preparing us to be the Lensmen of heaven? The arbiters? The far-sighted ones? I find this enormously exciting. To see the pain of this world, the wreck of our sin, redeemed and turned to such use- that we would be the guardians, the ones to discern good from evil, and ward it away from the rest of creation… that sounds like it would be worth it.