Imagination sets the horizons of life, for it opens up what’s possible. People who lack imagination are unprepared to face their future. The United States was blindsided on 9/11 because we couldn’t imagine that terrorists would fly airplanes into buildings. The world economy became depressed because financial leaders couldn’t conceive that home values could go down or that legendary institutions could go bankrupt. And the agnostic woman sitting beside me on our transatlantic flight is headed for an eternity without God because, in her words, she “can’t imagine that there is a personal being behind the forces of nature.”

Imagination does not necessarily mean make-believe. While much of what people imagine is imaginary, Christians are called to imagine—or form a mental image of—what God has promised.

And what is that? Unlike the unimaginative lyrics of John Lennon, “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try,” Scripture promises that we will live forever on a new earth (Isaiah 65:17-25; Revelation 21:1-4). Jesus will return one day to restore His good creation. He will resurrect the dead, judge evildoers, and live with us.

What Lennon longs for in “Imagine”—“all the people sharing all the world” and “living life in peace”—will occur by heaven descending to earth (Revelation 21:2), not by us wishing for changes to our world.

An unbeliever debating a Christian theologian stated that he couldn’t imagine that what the Bible says about our resurrection and the restored earth is true. The theologian replied by saying that the problem wasn’t the Bible, but his debate partner’s imagination.

Scripture promises an everlasting future of earthly peace and delight in the presence of God. As Lennon sings, then “the world will live as one.” Imagine that.