The Joy of Heaven

It has been a long time since my last Bible Insight, four weeks in fact. For a month now, I have been out of pocket and unable to make any entries. I have spent this past month in two hospitals and one rehab center. This may sound crazy, but I believe I went three days and three nights with very little food or sleep. I was experiencing hallucinations everywhere I looked. I was seeing things that weren't there; things that didn't exist. Funny looking people who were all mute, were everywhere. They were all through my house, walking right through the walls. I would look out my living room window and they covered the yard. It seemed they wanted to harm me in some way. I knew they were not really there, they didn't exist, yet it seemed so real to me. It was a horrible experience. I can tell you this, I don't ever want to go through any such ordeal ever again.

Finally, I called the lead elder of my church and he tried to help me but I still saw them. I also grew so weak that I could no longer walk or even stand by myself. He took me to emergency at the local hospital, where I was admitted. I had a scrape on the back of my ankle. I had it treated, but it got an infection: cellulitis. The infection had worked its way to my brain causing the hallucinations. They began to give me antibiotics, but my heart started racing, beating at well over 100 beats per minute. So off I went to Mercy West Hospital in West Des Moines, where they were able to get my heart back to normal.

They then sent me back to Greenfield Rehab and Care Center. Finally, after about two weeks there, working with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, I am back home. And oh, how good it feels to be home again. If you listen to my podcast each week, where I upload my Sunday morning messages, you will see I haven't preached for five consecutive Sundays, but this coming Sunday, November 12, I will be back in the pulpit and my messages will again be available on my podcast (pastorlaott.buzzsprout.com). Now on to today's Bible Insight.

The saints that have gone before us, all believers who have already died on earth, will be in heaven awaiting the rest of us to join them. "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1). Jesus also assured His disciples that He was leaving for a purpose: "to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). And when He is ready He "will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (v. 3).

This is describing the present, original heaven, but change is coming. Peter reveals, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10). But God is all set to create a new heaven and a new earth, a new earth with "no more sea" (Rev. 21:1b).

There is "a new heaven and a new earth" (v. 1a). This heaven and this earth is destroyed and replaced! There is also a "New Jerusalem" (v. 2). The old imperfect is replaced with the new and perfect. So, heaven is indeed a new and beautiful place.

God is there to reside with us and to be with us, as He is our God (v. 3). All things good are in heaven. There will be no more tears because death and sorrow do not exist in heaven, so there will be no crying. Even pain is gone, never to be felt again. Those things will have all "passed away" (v. 4). The current heaven would also have no pain or sorrow. In that sense, it will be much the same.

This city that John saw coming down from heaven, "the holy city, New Jerusalem" (v. 2) is then described in detail; and oh, how beautiful it will truly be. Again, we see that heaven is absolutely beautiful, elegant, in fact. Not only is the "New Jerusalem" (v. 2) perfect in every way, but it is also elegantly constructed of fine, "pure gold, like clear glass" (v. 18b) or "transparent glass" (v. 21b), along with many other precious stones (vv.18-21).

How could anyone not long for such a home? Remember, Paul said, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). Heaven is ultimately our home; the home of every true believer. Amen.