It isn’t my intent for this column to be exclusively about Christian matters. Lately, however, with all that has been going on with the Coronavirus pandemic and so many thousands of people dying, my thoughts do seem to have centered on God. Understandable, I suppose, all things considered. So it is that once again, my thoughts here in the desert return to the consideration of heaven.
If you also name the Name of Jesus Christ, and believe that He came to Earth, preached a gospel of love, obedience to and relationship with the Father, was crucified unto death for it, and was raised again to life on the third day, then here are a few things to think about. Hopefully, one or more might bring you closer to God.
The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, every moment of every day. He is our Guarantor of the salvation we have been promised, as sons and daughters of the Most High God. He is always available to us whenever we chose to pray. Wouldn’t it then be interesting if, when we arrive in heaven, we have that same kind of constant access to Jesus, for the rest of timeless eternity? Imagine, asking Him all of the questions you’re curious about….forever? Never having to wait for access to Him, never having to share time with Him with someone else, always having access to all the wisdom of the universe? What a mind-bending gift, all by itself, to have an unending private time with God.
In the seventh chapter of the book of Judges, God tells Gideon that his 32,000-man army is too big, and He eventually reduces it all the way down to 300 men. The 31,700 people that God, through Gideon, sent home did the will of God – by going home, and doing nothing! I can’t imagine this would have broad application in our day-to-day life, but it certainly is worth considering. Might there come a time in your life, when the best way you can serve God is by not doing anything? Perhaps a time when you have the opportunity to revenge yourself, or to take up verbal arms against someone who opposes you?
According to Revelation 21:23, “The city {of heaven} does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (NIV) But many people believe the sky is at it’s most beautiful at sunrise, or sunset. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God placed an eternal, ever-changing sunrise or sunset in His heaven, just for the enjoyment of His children?
The Bible has many stories of God exerting power over His children’s perceptions; one example is in Luke chapter 24, when Cleopas and another walked along the road to Emmaus with Jesus for most of a day, then sat down together for the evening meal with Him, without recognizing Him until He chose to reveal Himself to them – and then disappearing from their sight. Likewise, Jesus used many different methods to perform His miracles. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the city of heaven, the New Jerusalem, likewise was perceived by each person in a different way, perhaps even changing it’s appearance, simply because God can do such things if He chooses?
Readers of this column might know that I enjoy playing video games, and often in such entertainment, water in strange realms different from our own is portrayed as being a glowing sky-blue color. Wouldn’t it be delightful if in heaven the rivers of the waters of life looked like that? A beautiful, translucent blue, which glows with the love and the power and the life of God? Imagine drinking such a fluid, feeling it revitalize you, or bathing in it, feeling the life flowing into you, washing over you, refreshing you, any time you desired it?
Finally, there is a passage early in the seventh chapter of Matthew, which is often taken out of context, sometimes by those who want to bend the Bible to their own desires, who seek to see God as a magic genie subject to their prayers, rather than to use God’s Word as an instruction manual explaining how we should live, how we can grow closer to God, how to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Romans 12:2A (ESV) I must confess that I have fallen prey to that mindset myself, upon occasion. The passage is “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV) But there are two keys to understanding the real meaning of this passage. The first lies in recalling that when the words which eventually became the Bible were originally written down, there were no books, no chapters, no verses. It was all just written down, on scrolls, with no real organization beyond simply putting the sentences in the right order, one after another, in this case the order that Jesus spoke them. With that guidance in mind, the second key is to look to the context of this verse; specifically, look a few sentences earlier, which is now considered part of a different chapter of the Bible, but was only a few seconds earlier when Jesus originally spoke these words on the hillside. Look near the end of chapter 6, at what we now call verse 33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (NIV) This is what we are to ask for, to seek, to knock upon the door to gain access to. Not possessions, not wealth, not ease. This: God’s way, God’s will, God’s righteousness. Don’t be fooled by earthly desires, as I all too often have been.
Lastly, and of least importance, honesty compels me to confess that none of this came from me. Even the speculation comes from my imagination, which itself is a gift from God. Wisdom comes by way of the Holy Spirit, and the teaching on the verses in Matthew from my pastor. If I am useful at all, it is merely as a vessel for the Spirit, or as a re-transmitter of the wisdom of others. Glory belongs to God; I’m merely here to be used by Him.
The Cool of the Evening 