Heaven isn’t your ultimate destination. You read that right.
Yes, it’s true that when we die, we’re instantly transported to heaven, but we won’t remain there for eternity. And this is news to some.
You may point out that Paul stated, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8),” and I will agree with you, but Paul didn’t say we’d be present with the Lord in heaven.
Heaven is a temporary paradise for those who have died in the faith. It’s where God and all His saints (dead believers) currently reside, and the city of New Jerusalem is also there, waiting to descend to the earth one day. Yes, my friends, we will leave this earth upon our deaths, and then we will come back to this earth with Christ after the tribulation to reign with Him for one thousand years. Cool, huh?
But that won’t be our last change of address: after the millennial reign, our planet will be destroyed by fire and God will create a new heaven and new earth. This new earth will become our permanent, eternal home where we serve and worship the Lord forever.
Some of you might be thinking, Well Greg, if this is true, why did you bother writing The First Day in Heaven, a story about Henry going only to heaven? You barely mentioned the millennial reign or the new earth. Why?
I wrote the story that way because it was meant for two groups of people: saved and unsaved. If you're a believer, I wanted to excite you, to make you think about how amazing eternity will be. Forever in God’s presence, with no sadness or illness or death or drama? I'm getting excited just writing this!
And if you don't believe, my purpose was to make you think about eternity and see what you'll be missing—if, of course, God and heaven truly exist. I gave you some things to consider. If I had introduced concepts like the tribulation, millennial reign, the final judgment, destroying the earth with fire, and creating a new earth, it would have been way too much to dump on the uninformed. Even if I could have written it.
Okay, now it’s on to why I chose this title for my post. I’ve moved a lot in my lifetime; I consider myself a nomad of sorts. I’ve lived in at least twenty-six homes in thirteen cities in six states. For the past twenty-two years, I’ve had a travel job that’s taken me to forty-seven states as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. I move around.
So I’m totally okay with going to heaven for a bit, then coming back down to earth for a bit, then temporarily vacating while God destroys it, and then finally settling down on the new earth for eternity. Based on my history, what if I want to continue my nomadic ways? Will that be allowed? I hope so!
New Jerusalem will obviously be the ultimate destination, with God's throne, singing angels, a sea of glass, streets of gold, the River of Life, and a custom home for each of us—the city will have it all. But will it be large enough to hold all of the saints who ever lived? Yes, it's certainly big enough; it’s a cube-shaped metropolis so large that one side would stretch from present-day New York City to Dallas. I mean, it’s HUGE.
But if the new earth will be similar in size to our current earth, there will be a lot more real estate outside the city than in. Can you imagine the multitude of beautiful places to explore and live outside the city walls? Can you imagine the whole earth being like the Garden of Eden?
What if I can have my city flat and my country cottage, and travel between them as easy as thought?
My imagination is getting the best of me now; I'm just dreaming about what it might be like. But the Bible says it will be more wonderful than anything I can imagine, so why not?
On the other hand, maybe, after I experience God on His throne in New Jerusalem, I’ll never want to leave New Jerusalem, but I know this: in my present life, I prefer small towns, fields, and forests to big cities. Can I serve and worship the Lord from some remote home instead of living in New Jerusalem? Can I bow before His throne if I live 10,000 miles away?
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying New Jerusalem isn’t going to be fabulous, or that I wouldn’t be deliriously happy there. But the new earth is going to be an incredible, unbelievable place, and I want God to know, if a position becomes available outside city limits, I’m willing to relocate.
Kommentare