The purpose of this new body will be to rule wisely over God’s new world. Forget those images about lounging around playing harps. There will be work to do and we shall relish doing it. All the skills and talents we have put to God’s service in this present life . . . will be enhanced and ennobled and given back to us to be exercised to his glory.

According to a recent survey, roughly 73 percent of adults in the United States believe in heaven. Drilling down further, about 60 percent believe the afterlife entails a future free of suffering where we’ll have “perfectly healthy bodies.” But I suspect the majority have thought little about what they’ll do in these bodies for all eternity. This article considers what activities the church will perform for eternity as described in Revelation 22.

The Bible teaches that believers will dwell intimately with God in the new heavens and earth. Revelation 21–22 depicts a cosmic sanctuary, where all creation houses the glory of the triune God (21:1–4). As Revelation 21 unfolds, John narrows his focus to the church’s identity in this new cosmos. He depicts the church as a city-bride, two symbols that underscore the church’s identity as true Israel and the end-time temple (vv. 9–21). There’s no need for a physical structure that houses God’s glory on the new earth, for creation and redeemed humanity function as a massive sanctuary (v. 22).

High Priests of the New Sanctuary

While John emphasizes the church’s identity, he also drops two clues about its function. According to 22:4, believers “will see [God’s or the Lamb’s] face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” We can pick up on John’s incredible grasp of the Old Testament here as he recalls Exodus 28:36–38:

You are to make a pure gold medallion and engrave it, like the engraving of a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fasten it to a cord of blue yarn so it can be placed on the turban; the medallion is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron’s forehead. (CSB)

On the Day of Atonement (the holiest day of Israel’s calendar), the high priest (the holiest person in Israel), twice entered the Holy of Holies (the holiest place on earth). When the high priest entered for the first time, he poured two handfuls of incense over the hot coals taken from the altar of incense to create a “cloud of incense” to “cover the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:12–13). The purpose of this cloud was to obscure the ark from the high priest, because “it is here, above the lid [of the mercy seat], that the LORD manifests his presence . . . and full exposure to such glory would be lethal.”

Consider the gravity of the situation: God only permits the high priest to enter into his presence once a year, and when the priest enters, he must still create a buffer of incense between himself and God’s glory. And the glory that resides behind the temple’s backroom isn’t even the full manifestation of God.

Applying what we’ve learned from Exodus 28 and Leviticus 16, we discover that every believer in the new heavens and earth is, strikingly, a high priest. The Spirit has so radically anointed and transformed believers’ bodies that they’re utterly holy. There’s no stain of sin, uncleanness, or defilement.

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