"But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. . . . the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." (NKJV)I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. I think as Christians we often think about heaven. Even non-believers talk about what life is after death. And there are so many misconceptions, so many wrong ideas about what actually happens!
First, we don’t become angels. When someone dies, there isn’t "another angel in heaven." Angels are a totally different and separate species. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be an angel. Angels can’t be redeemed. Those angels who rebelled against God are destined for the eternal Lake of Fire. They cannot avail themselves of the Lord Jesus’ precious blood of salvation. No, it’s so much better to be a human being. We are the ones for whom the Lord died. And those of us who are saved are destined to become the Lamb’s bride forever!
Second, we seem to think that we will need "stuff" in heaven . . . that we will need the relationships we have here or the pets we have or the activities we have. As if just having Jesus won’t be enough! There seems to be some kind of idea that heaven might be boring or that we will need to have other things with us to somehow fulfill us. We are so wrong in that. Jesus will be enough!
Third, we talk about those who’ve gone before as watching over us, protecting us, or somehow even being aware of what we’re doing. Don’t we realize that when we get to heaven, just seeing the face of Jesus will consume us forever? That every hope, every dream, every longing, every desire will be swallowed up by His very presence? Those who have gone on aren’t thinking about us at all. They don’t need for us to prove we love them nor are they concerned about what we’re going through except as it brings glory to God. In heaven, they are consumed with being in God’s presence.
In heaven, we will live with a one-on-one, personal relationship with the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Savior of our soul. I don’t know how God will accomplish that, but we won’t have to "share" our time with Him with anyone else. We will have His full, undivided attention forever! Yes, there will be others there and we will be aware of them, but how much everything else will fade because He will be there. Jesus. Father God. Holy Spirit. The Trinity that we cannot comprehend (and may not even there fully understand). Nothing. Else. Will. Matter. We could be the only one in heaven and as long as Jesus is there, it will be enough!
Yes, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4), but it won’t be like when we were children here on earth. It won’t be going to our mom to get our hurts bandaged and kissed and then we’re off again to find another adventure, another way to satisfy ourselves. No! In heaven, when we step into the presence of our Abba Father, we will never leave His presence and every longing will be fulfilled simply by His presence. We won’t want to leave . . . ever! He will be enough!
© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
