Heavenly Arts
In these training worlds, we cannot imagine that we would be without high art and supernal culture to provide diversion and rest. Our perfecting would certainly not be all work. We know that God “rested” from creation.
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
– Genesis 2:3
We are told that we will be able to “enter into” God’s rest (Hebrews 4:1-11), and Acts 3:19 speaks of “times of refreshing.” Also, when Jesus was on earth, he periodically encouraged his apostles to take time for themselves to refresh themselves. So we are certain that there will be pleasant diversions in between our study and work. Probably even types of entertainment that we had not even considered. What might we do during our periods of rest?
In our previous article, we postulated that there would be new, beautiful and complex singing. (Revelation 14:3) We also expect that with these new strong, healthy, beautiful bodies, we will probably dance. In ancient Israel, King David is said to ‘leap and dance.’ (2 Samuel 6:16) In the parable of the prodigal son, there was “music and dancing.” (Luke 15:25) Why would music and dancing be taken away? Here on earth, while some dancing can be vulgar and offensive, there are many other forms of dancing that is extremely beautiful and inspiring. We are certain that in the training worlds, any music or dancing would be done in a way that would honor our Father and each other.
In fact, we believe there will be many things to entertain and refresh us. What do you suppose heavenly comedy is like? When we think about humor, we notice that some of the most entertaining humor has to do with reflecting on things we did in the past, or things we did because we did not know better. So we think it is possible that there could be humor and comedy in the training worlds that would not be offensive or belittling to others.
Remember, too, that being artistic is considered a “God-given gift.” Some among us are especially gifted singers, dancers, painters, poets, songwriters, musicians, sculptors, etc. Why wouldn’t such people be able to continue to pursue and perfect their “God-given” talents? And maybe some of us who were not gifted with such talents would like to learn them. We suspect there will be master teachers – artisans – who will instruct us in the new and varied forms of art.
Teachers and masters of not only music and singing, but also such things as painting, sculpting, building, horticulture and various forms of designing. Maybe we will learn to paint with not just pigments, but maybe with light. Maybe there are chefs who design tastes. Maybe the music scale will have more than seven notes. Maybe poets will have new words or a completely new vocabulary to formulate their pieces. Maybe there will be dramatic acting, orating and storytelling. Perhaps these master artisans will perform for us – heavenly concerts. In fact, we have often wondered if the visions seen by prophets of old were actually dramas acted out by angelic personalities! So many possibilities; so little time to postulate!
