HEAVEN OUR JOY AND GLORY! I m sure you have heard unsaved people speak about the subject of Heaven, and what they reckon it is like. They have all kinds of notions, - the majority of them fanciful, and maybe even some quite extreme It is what happens when people are left to their own natural instincts and inclinations, and they inevitably distort the Biblical and spiritual truth. If the thoughts are not guarded and guided by the Word of God the imaginations direct their response. To further confuse the issue, when you go into the bookshops and libraries you discover a plethora of publications purporting to explain to you what and where Heaven is. As I am making my way through the Book of Revelation, in my own personal study, I am appreciating more and more how precious a book it really is. It is the wonderful revelation that from His operations room in Heaven our God is in control of every aspect of life, and that He has a plan for this world that will bring about the return of His Son for the Church, and ultimately He will bring her home to Glory. We are heading to Heaven! Yes, there are many twists and turns along the road but we are heading to Heaven! Western pastors and preachers who visit churches in persecuted regions relate that the message their hearers want most to hear is the subject of their future in Heaven. When our Chinese brothers and sisters are living in fear of their lives the reports are that they love to learn more about Heaven. Our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries, they accept their persecution with a thrilling excitement that it precedes the day when they shall enter Glory to be with the Saviour. They don t even question why they are suffering! Heaven is worth it! This has always been the longing of God s people throughout every century, in almost every land. Sadly, though, how things have taken a turn in our comfortable church zones today! In many Christian circles, there has been a lapse in considering this subject of Heaven, and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, - all many professing believers do is think about how they can better their circumstances here a better home, a better car, a better job, and better prospects. All their planning is within the context of time, and very little thought, - if any, - given to eternal issues. It almost seems as if many Christians are loath to leave the comforts of earth for the Glory of Heaven. We indeed have exciting times ahead times that will give way to eternity, and so shall we ever be with the Lord (I Thess. 4:17) the day is surely coming closer! It is not immediate, but it is imminent we are waiting for it as it fast approaches!
2 But, many believers, - in the will and plan of God, - do not have to wait until that day arrives, because the Lord calls them home through the valley of sadness, parting and death. Death is the dark road through which each of us will travel, if the Lord tarries. Every day there are more and more being lifted and carried along safe in the arms of Jesus out of this world and into the presence of the Father for all eternity. Heaven is the journey s end for every truly born-again believer, Matthew Henry has written, He whose head is in Heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave. This is why we are looking forward to Heaven? We are looking forward to Heaven because the Father is there, Our Father which art in heaven (Mt. 6:9) Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me (Jn. 7:33) because I go unto my Father (Jn. 14:12) Four times in Jn. 16 Jesus told His disciples He was returning to His Father, e.g. now I go my way to him that sent me (Jn. 16:5). What a great comfort it was for His disciples to be assured of this glorious truth! Jesus, Himself, is at the Father s right hand, Col. 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Heb. 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high 8:1 We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. We shall recognise Him the very moment we enter Heaven for we shall see Him face-to-face. We are looking forward to Heaven because we have many loved ones there, - some from out of our family circle, and some from our fellowship, Heb. 12:22 ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Someone has said, Those who live in the Lord never see each other for the last time. This will be our company throughout the everlastingness of eternity. Every Old and New Testament believer will be there. Every saint of every age from every land will be there. Will Heaven not be crowded? Absolutely not! There is more than enough for every blood-washed subject of the King. God has created Heaven with His Redeemed in mind!
3 We are looking forward to Heaven because we shall see our Father there, and we shall also see our friends and loved ones, and the saints from every age for our names are already recorded there. The way the world works it out is that they hope, - they intend, if they have done enough to deserve it, - to be there; but such is not the confident blessed hope of the believer, for our hope is as sure as it has already been completed, Jesus said, Lk. 10:20 rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. We have a title deed for property, - mansions, - there in Glory to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you (I Pet. 1:4). We also need to make it clear that it is a nonsense borne out of ignorance for any to say that our names are only added to the Lamb s Book of Life the moment we believe it is not true! Our names were written in the Book long before earth s foundations were even set in their place and the Lord Jesus returned to Heaven to start work on the dwelling-places that are reserved for us, I go to prepare a place for you. Imagine, since He wonderfully made all the heavens and the earth in six days how glorious our inheritance will be since He has been preparing for us over these past two thousand years! We are looking forward to Heaven, also, because that is where our citizenship is, Phil. 3:20 our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. In other words, Heaven is where we truly belong. We shall not feel at home anywhere else until we arrive there. We shall not be complete, - and we shall not feel complete, - until we are in Glory. You know what it is like when you are on holiday. Even though you are having a great time and enjoying yourself you know it is not to last, because you are going home. As a Christian, all that is around us, - whether we are enjoying it, or whether we are struggling, - there is coming a day when we shall leave it behind. Yes, we want to make it as comfortable and enjoyable as we can but we do not invest all our hope in this world when it is not our eternal home, we are simply passing through! It is not an empty sentimentalism, but it is true, in Glory we ll live eternally. The saints on every hand are shouting victory. Their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven s shore, And I can t feel at home in this world anymore. Yes, that is where our citizenship is and we shall live there eternally, and we shall love being there forever. We shall never grow tired of Heaven.
4 There will never be a single moment when we shall yearn for five minutes to be back on earth. Not even the warmest, greatest, most satisfying time on earth will match a single moment in Heaven. There will be no hankering after what you used to have, for you will possess more than you ever imagined courtesy of our Heavenly Father. The vast expanse of Heaven belongs to Him, and you belong to Him too for you are in His family. You will never have to worry about any provisions, or about trespassing on anyone else s land for it is all the Promised Land God has been preparing for His family. It is our inheritance! We are still introducing this subject of Heaven. It is a concept to which our eyes and our thoughts are somewhat dulled for, - even when we try our hardest, - there is still a pulling at us that hinders our desire to leave this earth just now, at this very moment. Paul explains what I mean, Phil. 1:23 I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. I know that at this very moment I am ready to meet God, and I know He will take me home, - I have no fears on that score! But, I shall miss my loved ones that is the strait betwixt two that applies to me. It would be great if Christ would come and we would not have to go through the pain of parting and yet, such is God s grace in those circumstances that it has been my experience, - and perhaps yours also, - that as you have sat with a loved one in their last few hours and moments, they are longing to go home, and to be with Christ. They are longing to see again their loved ones who have died in Him, and it is as if the Lord has given them an incomprehensible peace to leave this earthly scene of time, to close their eyes and awaken with their gaze upon Jesus. Yes, the Lord is good, - He prepares us and at the appropriate time He places within us the eagerness for His glorious company in Heaven. Haven t you heard the believer sing their way into Glory? With their last words and their final breath they have been charged with Heavenly emotion, even though the pains were afflicting their physical bodies! Many of the martyrs sang their way to Glory, as they burned in the fires of persecution. They praised God for His goodness! II Cor. 5:1 we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Yes, in Heaven we shall have real bodies, - changed and glorified like Christ s resurrection body (Phil. 3:21). The moment we step on Heaven s shore we shall be completely and forever conformed to the image of God s Son (Rom. 8:29), - called in eternity, justified at Calvary, and glorified in Heaven! Indeed, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Rom. 8:37).
Paul wrote, II Cor. 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. When Paul used this word ἐνδημῆσαι, it literally means to be at home willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be [at home] with the Lord. It was the knowledge that he belonged to Heaven, for Heaven was his home and he was prepared to endure every struggle and uncertainty of life to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). I wonder, as the Lord examines each of us, is that how He sees us looking forward to being with Him? He does not see us wanting to hold on to the things of this world that fade and disappear? I trust He does not see us as captives to this world so that we would prefer its company to His, and ultimately we do not want to leave it just yet! I wonder also, as we consider these things, do you find yourself longing to be there with your loved ones enjoying the company of Christ? Yes, I m sure you do. Sadly though, many of our loved ones are not saved yet, - we need to pray for them, and we need to get others to pray for them too. They will not be there if they do not know Christ, - pray for them to be saved! Heaven is a wonderful place where the Bible promises we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). Matthew Henry explained, Those who have the new Jerusalem in their eye must have the ways that lead to it in their heart Those that are acquainted with God and Christ are already in the suburbs of life eternal. Heaven is the prepared place for God s prepared people, - we are on our way home! Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, When I stand before the throne, Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart, Then Lord, shall I fully know, - Not till then, - how much I owe. May the Lord keep us watching and trusting for the crowning day is coming by and by! 5