Will We Eat Heavenly Food?
by Pastor Walter Snyder

Q: Will there be food in heaven or will we eat at all? A friend thinks that there will be food
if we choose to eat? What are your thoughts? Please give me the Scripture reference.

A: According to an old drinking song, "In heaven, there is no beer; that's why we drink it here."
In contrast, one of my seminary professors professed a belief (at least a strong desire) that there
will be lobster and other such delicacies for all eternity.

Certainly, good times with God are often defined by eating and drinking. Notice in Genesis 1 how
specific God was with Adam as to what could be eaten. When Noah left the Ark, the Lord
expanded the "menu" for mankind, giving meat as well as vegetation for food.

Passover, a meal commanded by God, also was a means of salvation for God's people.
Participation in the full rite, including the blood painted on the doorways, shielded Israel from the
death of the firstborn. This meal became an ongoing testimony to God's faithfulness and love for
His people.

At the right time, Jesus took this meal, particularly the elements of bread and wine, and expanded
its meaning. Christ brought His own body and blood into communion with the bread and wine.
No longer would the Passover look back to Moses' time. Instead, Jesus made it point to His own
suffering and death. He became the Paschal Lamb and His blood not only turned away death for a
time, but for eternity. When Christians eat and drink the body and blood, they "proclaim His
death"; that is, they declare to God, to each other, and to the world faith in the sacrifice of Christ
for our sins.

Eating and drinking often helped to seal a covenant. Enemies would not eat with each other, so if
one person dined with another, they would be morally bound to do each other no harm. When the
elders of Israel went up on Sinai with Moses (Exodus 24:9-11), not only did they eat and drink in
the Lord's presence but the Lord protected them from His own holiness and "he did not lay his
hand on the chief men of the people of Israel."

For a people who often made no more than a subsistence living, any promise of extra food and
drink got their attention. Occupying desert or near-desert lands, eternally flowing streams from
heaven were extremely attractive to them. Thus, when the Lord prophesied eternal life in Isaiah
25:6-9, He included a picture of a wonderful banquet: "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will
make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of
aged wine well refined."

As the Scriptures close, Revelation mentions both good and bad eating and drinking. While
sinners participate in the drunken feasting of the Great Prostitute, the righteous are invited to
remain faithful so as to eat of the tree of life "in the paradise of God. (2:7)"

The various pictures of the marriage feast, including those in Matthew 22 and 25 and Revelation
19:7 also indicate the possibility of eternal banqueting. While this "feast" may be figurative,
speaking of a great festival or celebration, we can't discount the possibility that God intends for
us to actually eat and drink, just as our first parents did even before the Fall.

Ultimately, while some Scriptures indicate at least the possibility of eating in the hereafter, we
cannot know for sure. We do know that we will have physical bodies in the resurrection and if
these will need food, God will provide better than we can imaging. What this might be, we'll leave
up to His perfect will and knowledge. Any food God will give, whether spiritual or physical, will
be the best beyond imagination.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version~<TM>, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

Ask the Pastor, © 2002 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this
disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and
redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States
and any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions
concerning the property of others.