Will we eat and drink in heaven?
Question 10126
It may seem like an odd question, but it is one that many believers quietly wonder about: will we eat and drink in heaven? If our resurrection bodies are glorified and imperishable, will they need food? And if they do not need food, will we still enjoy it? The question touches on something deeper than the mechanics of digestion. It asks what kind of existence the eternal state will be. Will it be a purely “spiritual” existence, stripped of the physical pleasures that make embodied life good? Or will the new creation be a place of genuine, physical, embodied joy, where the good gifts of this life are not removed but perfected?
The Evidence from Jesus’ Resurrection Body
The single most important piece of evidence for answering this question is the resurrection body of Jesus, because His resurrection body is the template for ours (Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2). After His resurrection, Jesus ate. He ate fish with the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (John 21:12-13). He ate broiled fish in their presence in Jerusalem, apparently to demonstrate the physical reality of His body (Luke 24:42-43). He broke bread at Emmaus (Luke 24:30-31). The risen Christ, in His glorified body, consumed physical food.
This does not necessarily mean that His resurrection body required food for sustenance. It almost certainly did not. But it does mean that His glorified body was capable of eating and that He chose to do so. The capacity for eating was not removed by glorification. The resurrection body is physical, tangible, and real, and it is capable of interacting with the material world in ways that include the enjoyment of food.
The Biblical Imagery of Feasting
Scripture consistently uses feasting as an image of the blessedness of the age to come. Isaiah 25:6 describes a future 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.” Jesus spoke of people coming “from east and west and reclining at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). At the Last Supper, He told His disciples, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) is described with the language of an actual celebration feast.
The question is whether these texts should be understood literally or as purely symbolic descriptions of fellowship and joy. Within a literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic, there is no compelling reason to strip these promises of their physical content. Isaiah’s feast is described with sensory specificity that goes beyond what a mere symbol requires. Jesus’ promise to drink wine with His disciples again has the character of a personal commitment, not an allegory. The marriage supper of the Lamb may carry symbolic weight, but symbolism does not exclude literal reality. A real wedding feast can symbolise the joy of Christ’s union with His people while also being a real feast.
The Goodness of Physical Enjoyment
The question also reflects a theological issue that runs deeper than eschatological detail. There is a persistent tendency in Christian thinking, inherited more from Platonic philosophy than from Scripture, to assume that the “spiritual” is inherently superior to the “physical” and that the eternal state will therefore be a purely spiritual existence. But this is not the biblical picture. God created the physical world and called it good (Genesis 1:31). He created human beings with physical bodies, with taste buds and appetites, and these were not concessions to weakness but expressions of His generosity. The resurrection of the body means that the physical dimension of human existence is not discarded in the eternal state but glorified, perfected, and enjoyed without the frustrations and failures that the Fall introduced.
Eating and drinking in the new creation would not be driven by hunger or necessity but by delight. The difference between eating because you must and eating because the food is extraordinary and the company is perfect is the difference between the present age and the age to come.
So, now what?
The biblical evidence points strongly toward a new creation in which eating and drinking are part of the glorified life. Jesus ate after His resurrection. The prophets describe future feasts. The marriage supper of the Lamb is presented as a real celebration. None of this should surprise us if we take seriously the goodness of the physical world God created. The new earth is not a cloud-covered spiritual realm where disembodied souls float in ethereal bliss. It is a renewed, perfected, physical creation where embodied people enjoy the presence of God with every sense God gave them. If you enjoy a good meal now, the best is yet to come.
“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.” Isaiah 25:6
