I
asked the Lord to tell me what He wanted me to tell you about heaven.
Here is what He said. “I
can’t wait until you see it. I
can’t wait until you get here to see me and all that I am.
You have believed in me without seeing me, but one day you will, and
you won’t be disappointed. The
time you lived there on Earth will seem like just a fraction of
time compared to eternity with me here in this your new dwelling
throughout the ages of eternity. There are children playing in the streets.
There is a river that I call the river of life.
Everyone here has a wonderful house that I designed just for him or
her. This city is not of Earth and is nothing like anything you have ever
seen. There is nothing on earth
that can compare. I have
prepared this place so that no one will ever want or need anything.
I have taken all of the best of everything and placed it here for you.
I have taken away all the hurt, pain, and despair of the former life,
so now you will never cry ever again. You
won’t have to worry about a thing. I
am going to give it to because I love you.
I am your heavenly Father and I have the power to do these things for
you, so I am. I want you all to
come here with me. I am ready and
waiting for you. Are you?
Scripture Text:
Rev. 21:1 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.
2 I saw the
Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as
a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 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.
4 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."
5 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."
6 He said to
me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the
water of life.
7 He who
overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
8 But the
cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will
be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
What
is God doing for you?
A New Heaven.
Heaven is a prepared place for a
prepared people.
A New Earth.
Heaven is a place where sin has
no dwelling. Heaven is a place
where death, disaster, and disease are ancient history.
A New City:
The New Jerusalem is a city that looks like a bride dressed for her
husband. A place where Jesus is
preparing his peoples a house.
A New Dwelling for God: it is with us. He
is with us here in the Earth.
A New Joy:
No more tears shampoo. He
will take away all the pain of life.
A New Life:
No death, no mourning, no crying, or pain.
A New Drink:
Drink from the spring of the
water of life. Cost:
free.
A New Inheritance:
We will receive what the Father
has saved up for us.
A New Father:
Our heavenly Father becomes our
Earthly Father.
I am told that an Indiana cemetery has a tombstone (more than a hundred
years old) which bears the following epitaph:
Pause
Stranger, when you pass me by,
As
you are now, so once was I
As
I am now, so you will be,
So
prepare for death and follow me.
An unknown passerby read
those words and underneath scratched this reply:
To
follow you I'm not content,
Until
I know which way you went.
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 145.
Only One Sigh Away
We measure distance by time.
We are apt to say that a certain place is so many hours from us. If it is a
hundred miles off, and there is no railroad, we think it a long way; if there
is a railway, we think we can be there in no time. But how near must we say
heaven is?—for it is just one sigh, and we get there. —Spurgeon[1]
An Advertisement Of Heaven Here is an ad from the
Bible:
FREE,
BEAUTIFUL HOMES to be GIVEN AWAY in a PERFECT CITY!
With: 100% Pure Water Free,
No Light Bills, Perpetual Lighting, Permanent Pavement, Nothing Undesirable,
Everything New, Perfect Health, Immunity from Accidents,
The Best of Society,
Beautiful Music, and Free Transportation.
SECURE A CONTRACT TODAY FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM.
—The Bible Friend[2]
In recent years there have been a number of stories in the "Life
After Life" vein. One of the most moving that I have read is the story
that is told by singer Johnny Cash about the death of his brother, Jack, in
1944. Jack was two years older than Johnny and had always been his hero and
model. On Saturday, May 12, 1944, Jack went to work at a workshop, cutting
fence posts. Johnny had tried to talk Jack into going to a movie with him that
day but funds were low and the family needed the money.
While at the workshop Jack fell
across the table saw and was badly injured. He was rushed to the hospital, but
they didn't expect him to live through the day. He lingered for a week, in and
out of consciousness, sometimes hallucinating, then back into a coma. After a
week of his condition worsening, it was obvious that he was going to die. The
family gathered in the hospital room. Jack was swollen from the ravages of the
traumatic injury. Johnny Cash tells the story:
"I remember standing in line to
tell him good-bye. He was still unconscious. I bent over his bed and put my
cheek against his and said, 'Good-bye, Jack.' That's all I could get out.
"My mother and daddy were on
their knees. At 6:30 A.M. he woke up. He opened his eyes and looked around and
said, 'Why is everybody crying over me? Mama, don't cry over me. Did you see
the river?'
"And she said, 'No, I didn't,
Son.'
"'Well, I thought I was going
toward the fire, but I'm headed in the other direction now, Mama. I was going
down a river, and there was fire on one side and heaven on the other. I was
crying, 'God, I'm supposed to go to heaven. Don't You remember? Don't take me
to the fire.' All of a sudden I turned, and now, Mama, can you hear the angels
singing?'
"She said, 'No, Son, I can't
hear it.'
"And he squeezed her hand and
shook her arm, saying, 'But Mama, you've got to hear it.' Tears started
rolling off his cheeks and he said, 'Mama, listen to the angels. I'm going
there, Mama.'
"We listened with astonishment.
"'What a beautiful city,' he
said. 'And the angels singing. Oh Mama, I wish you could hear the angels
singing.' Those were his last words. And he died.
"The memory of Jack's death,
his vision of heaven, the effect his life had on the lives of others, and the
image of Christ he projected have been more of an inspiration to me, I
suppose, than anything else that has ever come to me through any man."
Johnny Cash, Man in Black --James S.
Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988)
pp. 176-177.
[1]Tan,
P. L. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : [A Treasury of
Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and
Christian Workers]. Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979.
[2]Tan,
P. L. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : [A Treasury of
Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and
Christian Workers]. Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979.