Category: Heaven

Return to Eden

Today we come full circle. One year ends. And tomorrow, another begins.

We experienced another year of God’s grace. And we will experience another year of God’s grace in the coming year. We will discover new talents and abilities. New jobs, new friends, new babies and new adventures will merge into our lives. More forgiveness, more peace, more hope will work its way into our hearts because of our Savior Jesus.

Because we live in a fallen world, under the curse of sin, we will need God’s grace in the coming year. Alongside the many blessings, there will also be pain and sorrow, hardship and difficulty. In the coming year there will be illnesses and accidents. There will be losses and grief. There will be guilt and shame over sins committed, and hurts caused.

Here we want to thrive, yet often we find ourselves struggling to survive.

We have not yet arrived in heaven. But we should know that our sin-cursed and fallen world is moving toward a destination. One day, it will be destroyed by fire, and its elements will melt in the heat.

And then will come a new heaven and a new earth. As John, the apostle, draws back the veil on this wonderful home for mankind, we see a place God has built for his people to thrive for eternity.

It’s a place very similar — perhaps identical — to the first place God created for mankind. That too was a place built for God’s people to thrive for eternity.

There we will drink from the river of life, and eat the fruit of the tree of life. There will be not one, but twelve harvests a year. Health will be a permanent state. The curse — along with the death it brings with it — will be gone forever.

There God will live with us. We will see him face to face. And his name will be imprinted on us for all to know whose we are.

No more darkness or night. No more fears (or sins) brought about by the darkness either. Hunger and thirst, gone forever. Pain and sorrow will never be seen again. Nor will loneliness or discord ever be known there.

We will have returned to life as God originally intended it. Through the work of Jesus Christ, our Savior, we will enter a restored Eden. A fallen existence will end. A glorious future will begin.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5, NIV).

Jesus, thank you for another year of your grace, blessing, providence and protection. Grant that in 2016 I will continue to experience your forgiveness, mercy, peace and hope. Through the teaching of the gospel, send me your Holy Spirit as my Comforter and Counselor, so that I may trust in you always, and one day enjoy your presence forever in a restored Eden.

Our Bible reading for Thursday, December 31, is Nehemiah 13:1-31, Revelation 22:1-21 and Psalm 150:1-6.

Header image based on "2014-001 new journey" by Robert Couse-Baker, CC By 2.0

Everything New

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. But one of his most well-known sayings, written in 1789, is this: “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Death and taxes. And having lived in places in the world where taxes are far from certain, I would reduce that to one: death. Death is the single, solitary experience that all mankind will experience in common.

So one would think that more people would be truly interested in the question, “Is this life — this world — all there is?” Because all of us are certainly going to find out the answer to this question one day.

But what if God has shared the answer with us already? What if the author of the universe has written into the script of our universe — his word — hints of what’s coming next? What if he gave one of his apostles a vision of a future universe — a new heaven and new earth that will one day replace our current heaven and earth?

Well, in fact, that’s exactly what he did. And John, the apostle, gives us a report of what he witnessed when God gave him a preview.

There will be, following the death of this world, a new material world. The church, the “bride of Christ,” will find a home there. And God himself will come down and live in our midst.

God will be with us there for eternity. He will make everything new, and everything will always be safe and good. Grief and sorrow will be a thing of the past. Pain will be unknown in this new heaven and earth.

The old sin-mangled, death-demolished order of things will pass away. And he will make everything new.

As the “old order” of 2015 passes away, and God takes us into a new year, let’s take the cue that the passing of the years is a hardy reminder to us: A far more important new beginning is coming soon.

And we can be certain of it.

“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘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. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true'” (Revelation 21:1-5, NIV).

Jesus, thank you for saving me from sin, death and the power of the devil. Thank you for dying on the cross for me, and for rising from the grave for me. Thank you for promising to prepare a new heaven and new earth where I will live with you forever, and never again experience grief or pain.

Our Bible reading for Wednesday, December 30, is Nehemiah 11:22 – 12:47, Revelation 21:1-27 and Proverbs 31:21-31.

Header image based on "Clouds cover the top of the Andes..." by Matthew Straubmuller, CC By 2.0

Worship, Our Present and Our Future

In the apostle John’s vision that he is given on the island of Patmos, he sees people from every nation singing praises to Christ. This is a picture of what it will be like in heaven. God’s message of salvation through faith in Christ is not limited by race, ethnicity, culture or national origin. What a beautiful picture of eternal life!

All these people are singing to praise the work of Jesus. He was killed so that he could pay a ransom for our souls with his own blood. He gathered us into a kingdom. He turned all of us into priests who serve him. And one day we will reign with him in the new heavens and the new earth.

Worship is a beautiful privilege. It’s something we get to enjoy now, and by God’s grace, something we will enjoy forever in heaven.

Jesus makes all of that possible. More than that, actually. Jesus makes it all a present and future reality.

And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10, NIV).

Lord, thank you for redeeming me and giving me every reason in the world to thank and praise you. I will worship you now, and eternally, for all that you have done for me.

Our Bible reading for Monday, December 14, is Esther 9:1 – 10:3, Revelation 5:1-14 and Proverbs 30:11-23.

Header image based on "Worship" by Ashley Campbell, CC By 2.0

Imperishable Inheritance

There are a lot of things in life that get old, fade, spoil and eventually go away. Relationships end. Health fails. Money is squandered. Old t-shirts become rags. Possessions end up at the dump.

It gets old that everything in life gets old. It’s all temporary. And the suffering that results from our grief is inevitable. Because, sadly, the momentary, transitory nature of things applies also to the things we love the most.

But in the gospel there is hope. We have the promise of something that will never, ever get old. Something that will not fade or spoil. Something that will never perish.

There is something that is permanent.

That something is our eternal inheritance being kept for us in heaven. This is the inheritance that Jesus won for us through his death on the cross and three days later, his resurrection.

When the apostle Peter thought of the permanence of this inheritance, he couldn’t keep himself from rejoicing. The joy overflowed from his heart, tumbling from his lips in poetic words of praise.

Even in the midst of suffering, Peter proclaims, this promised inheritance brings us great joy. It gives us patience and perseverance. It stills our troubled hearts.

As the Psalmist wrote, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5, NIV). And Peter says it this way:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:3-6, NIV).

Heavenly Father, I praise you for your gift of heaven, and I thank you that because of your Son, Jesus, I can be confident that by faith in him, this inheritance is assuredly mine.

Our Bible reading for Sunday, November 22, is Ezekiel 41:1 – 42:20, 1 Peter 1:1 -2:3 and Psalm 131:1-3.

Header image based on "Entrance to heaven" by Wonderlane, CC By 2.0

Eternity In Our Hearts

Solomon is one of the wisest and wealthiest men who ever lived. He truly had it all. When it came to power, position, possessions, prestige and the playthings of this life, he seemingly had no peer in his own lifetime.

And yet, as he pens the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wonders aloud where all this has really gotten him. His book starts with him writing, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Apart from faith, God is inscrutable to us. From our point of view, he often seems to have hidden himself behind his creation. God’s hiddenness is a burden on us as humans because we sense that God exists and yet we can’t see him without the eyes of faith.

Is God really real? We have a “burden” in our hearts to know!

Yet, God has also left plentiful hints intended to “unburden” us. All around us are signs of his existence and his presence. As Solomon points out, the beauty and order that we see around us in the creation are clear indicators of God. Have you ever noticed, for example, how many people like to claim that being out in nature is their “church”?

Inside of us are further hints that God is real. The constant nudge from within is that there must be something more than this life.

God created us to be eternal beings. We will never be truly satisfied in our inner being with earthly things. We sense that our value is eternal. And the things that our heart is most drawn to — whether we like to admit it or not — are eternal things.

In the end, only the love of the eternal God can truly satisfy us.

“I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, NIV).

Our Bible reading for Tuesday, August 11, is Ecclesiastes 1:1 – 3:22, 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 and Psalm 94:12-23.

Lord, I feel eternity in my heart. Thank you for sending me a Savior named Jesus to make sure that I will one day enter eternity and spend it with you. Send me your Holy Spirit so that I may always trust in Jesus as my Savior from sin, and my Lord who even now sits at your right hand in heaven.

Header image based on "Dawn of Eternity 2" by Waiting for the Word, CC By 2.0

Reliable Directions

Do you want reliable information about where you’re headed? Most of us do.

I remember when Julie and I were getting ready to move to Africa. We loved visiting with people who had been there, and most of all, with people who had lived there. We hung on every word, because we knew that one day soon, we would be needing the very information they were giving us.

What if you wanted to go somewhere where you would remain forever? What if we could reliably say only one person has been there before and come back to tell us about it? What if the alternative to going to this place was a horrible — almost unthinkable — alternative?

Would you want to hear what that one person had to say about…

  • How to get there?
  • How to avoid obstacles that will prevent you from getting there?
  • How to help others get there with you?
  • What it will be like once you arrive?

I’m talking about heaven, of course. And I’m talking about Jesus. He’s the one person we can reliably say has been there and come here to tell us about it. He wants us to know what he knows about it. Most of all, he wants us to have the answers to all four questions above.

Some people struggle with listening to Jesus on this point. But from experience I can tell you, it’s good to listen to the people who’ve gone there before you have. That’s what Jesus was telling Nicodemus. And that’s what Jesus is saying to you, too.

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man” (John 3:13, NIV).

Our Bible reading for Saturday, May 2, is Joshua 21:20 – 22:34, John 3:1-21 and Psalm 55:1-11.

Lord, help me to listen to your voice. You have the words of eternal life.

Header image based on "The Milky Way panorama" by European Southern Observatory, CC By 2.0

All In

Jesus makes it clear that eternity is on the line. And when the stakes are high, most of us realize that it’s time to be “all in.”

We do it all the time. When deciding on our educational path. When meeting our future spouse. When selecting our career. When opening our business.

In areas of life like this, we know that whatever we decide upon, we need to put our back into it and go for it.

Wholeheartedly.

Well, Jesus says that there will come a day when all mankind will be judged. And following that, heaven will be the eternal home of those who have been declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. Sadly–no, devastatingly!–for those who do not believe in Jesus there is only hell.

The stakes are most definitely high. Whatever it takes, Jesus tells us, obtain the kingdom of heaven. It’s worth everything you’ve got!

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46, NIV).

Lord, help me never to take you, or your kingdom, lightly. You want to give me eternal life. And you have already won heaven for me. By your grace, you want to give a “pearl of great price” to me as a gift. Amazing. Send me your Spirit so that I can be all in!

Our Bible reading for Monday, January 19, is Genesis 38:1 – 39:23, Matthew 13:36-58 and Psalm 11:1-7.

Header image based on "Mabe Pearl Ring" by Rutz, CC by 2.0