Heaven, Our Home
What comes to mind when you hear “Heaven”? Maybe you see the pearly gates, the shimmer of streets paved with gold, the beauty of the heavenly city — or maybe your grandpa and grandma, like I do, as you run to their embrace. Maybe you hear the rustle of the wind in the tree of life, the songs of angels floating through the air, the shouts of saints, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” — or maybe your friends and family around the banquet table of God, laughing together once again.
These are good and beautiful things of Heaven, and we rightly to look forward to them. But, I think the tendency for us, as creatures of Earth, is to think of Heaven primarily through the lens of our experience rather than through Scripture. In one sense, it makes sense: we’ve never been to Heaven, and so we just conjure up some of the best things we can imagine from Earth, bump it up a few notches and then bam! Heaven.
But Scripture says more. Heaven is more than just a souped-up, extra-fancy version of our Earth with sprinkles on top. Heaven is the kingdom of God come down.
All Things New
When Heaven comes, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as water covers the sea” (Hbk 2:14).
When Heaven comes, God will make all things new (Rev 21:5). There will be no more sorrow, no more death, no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain (Rev 21:4), nor disease. There will be no more curse (Rev 22:3); there will be no more sin.
We will no longer be poor in spirit or suffer want (Ps 23:1), for the LORD, our Shepherd, has gladly given us the kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5:3).
We will no longer mourn (Mt 5:4), for the God of all comfort (2 Cor 1:3) will Himself wipe every tear from our eyes and the memory of every sorrow from our hearts (Is 65:17).
We will no longer hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mt 5:6), for we shall live where righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:13) and be satisfied with God Himself.
We shall no longer be persecuted, afflicted, struck down, discouraged, distressed (2 Cor 4:8–9), for we will rest, safe in the arms of our Shepherd.
Home
Heaven is our “better country,” a city prepared for us by God Himself (Heb 11:16).
It is a kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb 12:28–29), purified, holy, ever-lasting.
It is our true place of citizenship (Php 3:20), our eternal house, our forever, final, home (2 Cor 5:1–4). The kingdom of God is where we truly belong.
Inheritance
In Heaven, God will clothe us with the white robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Rev 7:9).
God will give us an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance (1 Pet 1:4).
We will receive our true treasure, where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal (Mt 6:20).
There, God will gives us a crown of glory (1 Pet 5:4), of life (Rev 2:10), of righteousness (2 Tim 4:8).
God
When we enter Heaven, our Father will speak those glorious words, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21).
Our faith will turn to sight. Our hope will turn to reality. Our love for God will burst anew, every moment higher, every taste richer (1 Cor 13:13).
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then we will know fully just as we also have been fully known (1 Cor. 13:12).
In Heaven, we will see the pure, thrice Holy God on His glorious throne. Unmediated, untainted, unveiled, we will see the God who is Light, Love, Life.
In Heaven, God Himself will dwell among us, unmitigated, unhindered, unendingly. And we shall be His people, and He shall be our God, and He will be among us forever. (Rev 21:3)
Suffering
Heaven is the place where God’s glory dwells. As health casts out sickness, as resurrection swallows up death, as the sun of the morning engulfs the night, so does the glory of Heaven swallow up suffering.
In Heaven, God will surely and finally overwhelm our heartbreaks. God will knit closed the wounds of war, schism, disease, and brokenness. God will erase the scars of sin; sorrow will reign no more.
The apostle Paul had such a view of heaven that he could write, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).
Heaven, a World of Love
This is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God! (1 Jn 3:1). In light of the Heaven to come, Jonathan Edwards, American pastor and theologian of the 18th century, wrote this:
But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love; …where the saints shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so be perfectly satisfied; …where there is perfect harmony…everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other; …where the beauty of the beloved objects shall never fade, and love shall never grow weary nor decay, but the soul shall more and more rejoice in love forever!
…And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory — joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its perfection!
…Every saint in heaven …in that garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, …And thus they will love, and reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is its blessed fruit, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the heart of man in this world to conceive; and thus in the full sunlight of the throne, enraptured with joys that are forever increasing, and yet forever full, they shall live and reign with God and Christ forever and ever!(Jonathan Edwards, https://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/charity16.htm)
Persevere
I want that Heaven, the Heaven of Scripture, the Heaven that exceeds anything I could ever conceive.
What shall we say to all this? I have only one application: persevere all the way Home.
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Col. 3:2–4).
This article was original written for Lighthouse Community Church in Torrance, CA, as part of the Truth for Troubled Times series, published 2020.08.26.
Photo by Kaushik Panchal on Unsplash