Today's Blog is written by Pastor Roy Summers
What is heaven really like?
What is your vision of heaven, I wonder, before you read this blog?
Some people imagine a heavenly version of the new city of Abu Dhabi. Blue skies, warm weather, beautiful beaches, amazing buildings - and from what I can gather almost no taxes.
For others, heaven is like the very best of nature ever shown on a David Attenborough program.
For others still, it is the prospect of meeting a loved one, gone on before.
So what is heaven really like?
Heaven is like The Garden of Eden
The book of Revelation, seeking to encourage persecuted Christians by reminding them what lies beyond the grave, calls that world a new heaven and a new earth.
"Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away." (Revelation 21:1)
By using the familiar words 'heaven' and 'earth,' John is saying, "not everything is different about that new world from this present one."
So we should think of that new world as being similar to this present world - which after all was perfectly suited for we humans, and very good when God first made it.
What could be more fitting for new bodies than this world restored to its former Edenly glory, with plants, animals, rivers, forests, blue skies, stars, moon and sun.
We shouldn't speculate much further, but there will be continuity. Heaven won't be a complete and utter shock to the system, if I may put it that way. We won't inhabit a world in which there are no points of contact with this here world.
Heaven is Different from This World
But at the same time, by calling that world 'new' John is teaching us that it will be different.
It will be more beautiful for there will be no more curse. This world in spite of all its apparent beauty is under a curse because of Adam's sin. It's hard to imagine, sometimes, how earth could be more beautiful than it is, but it will be.
That world will contain none of the things that have caused us sorrow here below.
No pain, no tears, no Satan, no temptation, no broken friendships, no sin, no war, no strife, no death, no hunger, no need, no illness, no poverty, no searching, no unanswered questions, no worry or anxiety, no emptiness, no struggle, no depression, no dementia, no masks, no cancer, no fear......
In that world all our deepest needs will be satisfied. This is partly what is meant when heaven is described as a wedding banquet. What is a banquet apart from a place where every hunger-desire and need is met and met with super-abundance?
The Lamb is All the Glory
Heaven is where we will enjoy the deepest and richest relationships. With one another, with all the saints who have gone before, and with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who sits on the throne.
It is because of Him and his sacrificial love for us that we will be there at all. We deserve the other place, but because of God's love, and the loving sacrifice of his Son, we will enjoy the gift of eternal life. Amazing Grace!
So we shall have eternal and everlasting opportunity to worship, praise and thank the Lamb who was slain for us.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
I love this new song about heaven by Matt Redman.
One day You'll make everything new, Jesus
One day You will bind every wound
The former things shall all pass away
No more tears
One day You'll make sense of it all, Jesus
One day every question resolved
Every anxious thought left behind
No more fear
When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout the victory
One day we will see face to face, Jesus
Is there a greater vision of grace
And in a moment, we shall be changed
On that day
And one day we'll be free, free indeed, Jesus
One day all this struggle will cease
And we will see Your glory revealed
On that day
And when we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout the victory
Yes, when we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
And when we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout the victory
Oh one day, one day
Yes, one day we will see face to face, Jesus
Is there a greater vision of grace?
And in a moment, we shall be changed
Yes, in a moment, we shall be changed
In a moment, we shall be changed
On that day
When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout the victory
We'll sing and shout the victory
We will weep no more
No more tears, no more shame
No more struggle, no more
Walking through the valley of the shadow
No cancer, no depression
Just the brightness of Your glory
Just the wonder of Your grace
Everything as it was meant to be
All of this will change
When we see You face to face
Jesus, face to face
Matt Redman, Beth Redman, Leonard Jarman
How about THIS roof top rendition?
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving Father in heaven,
We thank you for every good gift that has come from your merciful hand today. And there are so many of them.
We know that we deserve nothing but judgement, wrath and hell. So we thank you for your mercy, which has come through the Lord Jesus Christ, and which has given to us the free gift of eternal life.
We could never earn heaven, for everything about it is priceless.
So we thank you for the gift of life beyond the grave.
Teach us to look forward to heaven, and not to fix our eyes nor hearts on anything here below, for it is all passing away.
We ask these things in Jesus' Name
Amen
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