Pastor David May
Someone asked me once, "What's Heaven All About?" I replied; "Imagine a place designed for you by someone who loved you so much He gave His Son to die for you?" The truth is, we are limited in our knowledge of the details about Heaven. God has purposely withheld some things from us. But He gives us all we need to know in scripture.
Every believer in Christ goes immediately to Heaven at death. Some people think the soul sleeps in the grave, awaiting the resurrection. No. The body awaits the resurrection; your spirit goes immediately to be with Jesus. How we derive at this comes directly from Jesus Himself. Jesus told the dying thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). He went on to say; “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:46). There comes a time when we move out of this body and into a position with our Lord in Heaven. The Apostle Paul said he desired, “To depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (Philippians 1:23) The soul goes directly into the presence of God.
What does the Bible tell us about heaven itself? People ask whether we will know one another in heaven. In Bible times, you couldn’t see a reflection as clearly as we can today with a modern mirror, so Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” Of course, we will know one another in Heaven. When King David’s newborn son died, David wrote, “He shall not return to me. I will go to him” (2 Samuel 12:23). We go to our loved ones in Heaven.
The Bible tells us more about what will not be there than what will. God’s Word says there will be no more sin, sorrow, suffering, no more doubts, tears, pain, disease, or death, “for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Heaven is the presence of all that’s good and the absence of all that’s bad. Heaven is all the loving heart of God desires, the incredible mind of God can conceive, and the almighty hand of God can create. God’s love, His mind, and His power are on display in Heaven. No wonder Paul said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
To me, Heaven is being in the presence of Jesus our Lord and savior. As He said to his disciples; “I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). Heaven is where we get to be with Jesus and for those who are saved and accept Christ as their personal savior, we may rejoice in His glory forever more.
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