The Census Taker of Heaven

The death of a close family friend last week has brought about some processing and questioning in the kids of late.  N especially.  As we were lying in bed a few nights ago having our cuddle time we got to talking about death and what happens afterwards.

"Are there a lot of people in Heaven?" N asked.

"Yes, there are," I answered.

"How many?"

"The Bible says a multitude from every tribe and nation that could not be numbered." (Rev. 7:9)

"How many is that?  Is it a googol?" N likes precision in his statistics.

"I don't know, N.  Probably not a googol, but it's a lot.  You can't even count that high."

N thought a moment, and for a bit I was afraid he was going to want to demonstrate that he could, indeed, count that high.  But his mind had moved to a different angle.  "I bet when Heaven was first starting out you could count that high."

"I agree," I agreed.

"Daddy, did Adam and Eve go to Heaven?"  My blood pressure went up a couple of percentage points at the thought of having to unravel such a theological conundrum.  I tried to play it safe.

"I really don't know, N," I said, hoping he wouldn't press me.  But figuring he would regardless, I abandoned my cop-out before he could challenge me and offered up a little conjecture anyway.  "It says that after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God covered them with animal skins.  In order to do that, He had to kill some animals.  That seems a lot like a sacrifice.  I think that would help Adam and Eve remember that the consequences of their sin is death, and that someone had to die for the sin, just like the animals did.  It was God's way of showing them what Jesus would do for us.  I don't know, but I like to think that if God took the opportunity to cover them in the robes made from the sacrifice, that He was probably saying that He forgave them their sins and that one day Jesus would cover them just like the robes."  N thought about this for a moment, but didn't challenge it or question it further.  Somehow this concept that blows my 44-year-old mind seemed to satisfy my newly minted 6-year-old.

We chatted a little more on related topics before kissing him good night.  Over the course of talking I came to realize for the first time that Adam and Eve would not have been the first to populate Heaven (even if my theory holds true).  Poor old Abel was the first person that God loved who died.  We discussed a few of the particulars.  N nodded knowingly.  For some reason he had no difficulty embracing the concept of a boy being sorely abused by a sibling.