Praise the Lord for the month of November. Yesterday was the All Saints Day in the church calendar. One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Revelation 21. The following is a part of the message I preached yesterday.
The Bible is full of wonderful promises, but perhaps the most wonderful of all is this: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). There are many things we do not know about what Heaven will be like, because it is beyond our ability to comprehend, but one thing we can be certain of is that Heaven will fulfill our greatest longings, dazzle us with its beauty, obliterate our greatest problems with its power and splendor, be greater than anything we could imagine or dream, and be a place where love and joy will reign unspoiled. Our Lord is busy preparing all of this for us.
Our granddaughter, Micah, will be four years old tomorrow, the 3rd of November, and our grandson Simeon is two years old. They are planning to be with us here in New York, for part of the Thanksgiving season. We make all kinds of preparations to make their time with us memorable and enjoyable. When they come, we give them our bedroom. Grandmom Alice makes all kinds special have special baking sessions with Micah (with a little bit of little Simeon in the mix, I expect). Why did we do all that? It is because we love our grandchildren and want the best for them. The point is, if we make those kinds of preparations for our grandchildren’s visit, how much more does a Lord of love prepare for the time his children will come to his eternal home. The Bible says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). Jesus said, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3).
Heaven is a real place with real, meaningful and rewarding work for us to do. The Bible says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. . . . But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10,13). The old earth will pass away and our Lord will create a new earth which will be the home of righteousness. Dallas Willard assures us that “The life we now have as the persons we now are will continue in the universe in which we now exist.” It will not be a strange apparition, but the real world we have known, only new and better.
T. S. Elliot wrote:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
If this fallen world in all of its brokenness can be so wonderful, what must heaven be like? Heaven will be right. It will be a place of righteousness, where all the wrongs of the world will be made right. It will be a place where everything evil is absent, and everything good is present; everything sad will be gone, and only joy will exist; everything disappointing will disappear, and everything exciting will appear; everything depressing will be gone, and everything hopeful will come; everything violent and hateful will be gone, and everything born of love will be prevail; every unfaithfulness will be in the past, and steadfast loyalty will be present; everything detestable will be gone, and everything desirable will abide with us; every sickness will be gone, and complete wholeness will take over our lives; every struggle, frustration and failure will be over, and only success will be possible. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Every wrong done to you in this world will be made right. Every injustice will be met with justice. Every sorrow will be reversed, and joy will wash over you like a waterfall. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). He went on to say, “They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 65:23-25).
The corrupted, fallen part of the world will be gone, and our Lord will restore the world to the way it was meant to be in the beginning — unspoiled by human sin. Everything false will disappear, and everything good and true will prevail. The Bible says, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27).
We will recognize our loved ones, and we will be recognized by them. Our relationships will not be lost, they will be regained and renewed. We will experience these relationships at a level we have never known before. Deep, rewarding and fulfilling relationships will be the hallmark of heaven. On earth we let each other down and disappoint each other. Many times, without knowing it, we hurt each other and fail each other, but there, “we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Our fallen, imperfect nature will be healed and we will be capable of intimacy in relationships that we cannot even imagine here and now.
Our relationship with our Living Lord will be healed as well. No longer will our love for him be compromised by a selfish love for ourselves and an enchantment with the things of the world. Our love for Him, and our relationship with Him will be unspoiled. There will be no separation between us. Our sinful nature will be taken away, and we will no longer struggle with sin and temptation. Our relationship with Him will be so intimate that the book of Revelation describes it as a bride coming to her husband — full of love and passion, with arms open wide.
Justice does not always happen in this world. This world is not heaven, and we should not expect it to be. The accounts are settled and our rewards are given in another place and another time. That is what heaven is all about. It is delayed gratification, but gratification nonetheless. C. S. Lewis, in his great book, "The Problem of Pain", struggles with the problems caused by the pains of life. In writing, he says, “Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12). Every sacrifice you have made will be remembered. Every sorrow you have experienced will be dispelled with countless joys. Every rejection will be overcome by an explosion of love. Every work will be rewarded. Far from every mistake being brought out, every good thing you have done will be honored and recompensed.
Heaven will be the residence of God. The greatest reward of heaven will be God himself. Nothing we see or experience will be greater than the fact that we are with God and see him face to face. Paul wrote, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). How wonderful it will be to be in the presence of God where we will perfectly know him and know that we are perfectly known and loved. John wrote in the book of Revelation, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3). We will have no greater reward or relationship than being with our wonderful God and seeing him face to face.
In C. S. Lewis’ wonderful book, "The Final Battle", which is the last volume of "The Chronicles of Narnia", the characters who have lived in Narnia, or visited there, have completed their time and work there. In a closing chapter entitled, “Further Up and Further In,” Aslan, the Lion who represents Christ, has come for them in order to take them home. They are headed away from Narnia and are about to enter Aslan’s country, but they are met with familiar scenes. One of the characters cries out, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. .”
I believe that when we enter the real heaven, we will say, “This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now."
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEjRLlL9iE
The following is Micah and Simeon on Halloween, going out as "Extreme Sports" - a rock climber and a kayaker.
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