It sure beats here now.. even on your best day here. I want to see His wonderful face. Christ's!
You and I will be given new bodies, believer. It'll still be you for sure, all you and people will recognize you there.. just a wonderfully upgraded version of you if ya will. New and improved.. YOU! We’ll be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (some say that's 1/6th of a nano second). We’ll go up into the third heaven to be with our loving Father (Sure, you know clouds are in the first, and stars are up in the second heaven, but there's a better one).
Let’s talk about this cool destination. Wanna think on Heaven and how to go there.
Did ya know that 76% of people believe in Heaven, and 71% of them believe there is an actual place called Heaven (from Newsweek “Visions of Heaven”). And 19% of people believe heaven looks like a garden, 13% believe heaven is a city, and 17% simply said that they simply do not know.
But Heaven is indeed a city, it’s a country, it is paradice! Hell was made for fallen angels, I’ve never understood why anybody insists upon going there. It ain’t a party and there is no love in Hell.
Big understatement for ya here...
Heaven > Hell
The best of earth here falls short -- it’s a pale version of heaven in a way. One day heaven and earth will merge into one -- yep, during the millenium. I wanna be there and see it happen!
One study showed that most Americans actually do believe in a place called “Heaven,” 81 percent. The stats were a bit lower for that real place called “Hell,” And what were those stats? Well, 69 percent of the people said they believe in a place called hell.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also." John 14:3 amp
Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, and where I go, you know, and the way you know," and good old Thomas then responded with something like, Excuse me Sir, we don't know where you're headed, and we don't know the way. I'm so glad he asked that question, 'cause I think a lot of times, Jesus would say something, and all the other disciples would then nod in unison. That is so good. I like how honest Thomas was. So candid. Like, I have no idea what you're even talking about, Lord. What do you even mean by all that.. when you say, where you go, we know the way, we know..really? We don't know where you're going, and we don't want you going.. and You say we know the way. And what did Jesus say to Tom? "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes of the Father but by me."
Now we all know.. Jesus is the way to where we want to go.
Me thinks that most people long for that place Heaven..that we've never been to before. Have you ever traveled for a while especially in the mountains or overseas.. and found yourself feeling homesick? Wanting to go home again? It happens, especially for those who serve far away in the Armed Forces (I have a couple sons and a brother that did as a Marine). Me thinks that many people who do business in other Lands like overseas get feeling homesick too. They just can't wait to get back home to their families again.
Me thinks that deep down inside God has pre wired us all to be homesick for a real place that we've never been to before called Heaven. We get longing for Heaven.
The Bible teaches us in Ecclesiastes 3:11, that God has said eternity in our hearts.
"He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end." Ecclesiastes 3:11 amp
“He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.“ asv
“He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” nlt
God does abandon some people to their sins. If they really insist, He let’s them have what they demand to have. It’s a judgement of God that he gives them up to what they choose and crave. Hey Sport, choose not to be stubborn, and obey the Lord instead.
It was Augustine who said “You formed us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”
It was CS Lewis who said “eternity in our hearts” is the “secret signature of each soul.”
Lewis went on to explain, There have been times when I think we don’t desire Heaven, but more often than that, “I find myself wondering whether in our heart of hearts if we have ever desired anything else.”
This is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable, unseen by most.. an unappeasable inner want and longing.
What’s this longing like in our terms? It's kind of like that old story of the little boy who was flying this kite way up high. It went up and up, higher and higher and soon people couldn't even see it anymore. It was obscured by all the cloud on that day. Then a passerby asked the boy “How do you know that kite's still up there? The little boy responded saying I can still feel its tug.
And I too think that deep down inside, you too feel the tug of Heaven. Listen, each one of us need to pause, turn, trust (the Jesus of the Bible), and get ready in advance. Yep, it’s sort of like our preparation to go visit a wonderful, awesome, really popular hotel. We each must make our reservations in advance.
May I ask.. What would prevent you from coming to God through His Son, Jesus, I mean to get right with God the Father right now? Anything? Would you bow your heart and head and pray something like I did.. like this...
Lord Jesus, I know we’ve all blown it with sin which can be fun for a season. I too am a sinner and admit it to you, but I know you're the Savior who died on the cross at Calvary in my place.. for my sin.. and then rose again from the dead on the third day. Please change me. Right now in the best way I know how, I repent. I turn from my sin to You, Jesus. Yes, I choose to know, to obey, to follow you from here on out. You can impower me to live the life, cuz I can’t alone. Yes, from this moment forward I choose to love You. Please forgive me, be my Savior, my Lord, my God, and my closest Friend. Write my name down in the Lamb’s book of Life. I want it logged in there indelibly. Thank you for calling me and washing me, Jesus. I am so grateful for You forgiving me. Please use, provide for, and keep me.. in Your name I pray, amen.
