I had a conversation with a couple of brothers in Christ the other day about heaven. I am convinced that any believer who understands the simplest truth about heaven is happy to go. It's been said, "Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die." Seems really odd to me, but even among Bible-believing, sincere Christians, "going home" is something they'd prefer to put off for a while.
I recently heard a song about how we'll get to heaven where all pain is gone, and I wondered, "Is that what we're going for?" Do we see heaven as "the Great Escape," a place to be free from pain. Or just happy? Seems odd, since Scripture plainly teaches that we can rejoice in tribulation (e.g., Rom 5:3-5; James 1:2-4) and be "content in whatever circumstances (Php 4:11). Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full" (John 15:11). If our joy can be made full in Him, what are we waiting for? If we can rejoice in tribulation ... be more than conquerors in the worst of circumstances (Rom 8:35-37) ... what are we waiting for? One popular song assures us there will be no scars in heaven. Really? Is that what we're hoping for?
It seems to me that lots of us want to go to heaven for reasons equivalent to those who think Jesus came to help poor people. We just want to feel better. I think we're missing the point. Hell is described as the absence of God. Not literally, of course, because, logically, an omnipresent being would need to be ... omnipresent. Besides, David wrote, "If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there" (Psa 139:8). Nonetheless, Jesus tells of His declaration, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt 7:23), so there is a sense of separation from God. Thus, heaven will be living in His eternal presence forever, in His glory unabated. We can't picture hell, and we really can't picture heaven, but "feeling good now" is not it. Completion, perfection, in His arms ... these are all part of it. Yes, we'll feel better, but that's not the aim. It's much, much better than that. Or are we too rooted in this world to want His complete presence?
2 comments:
I think too many of us start at being saved through fear of hell, and never progress beyond that. I can't imagine anyone saying, "I chose Christ because I wanted to love and enjoy Him forever" when they first come to salvation. But part of sanctification is moving passed that fear of punishment into a love of God.
David makes a good point. Many will view the Gospel primarily as a type of “fire insurance,” i.e. an easy, surefire way to avoid the surefire of an eternity in hell. Indeed, it seems that altar calls (“pray this prayer and you’re safe”) might encourage the superficial response leading to “easy believism.” However, when sinners receive the Gospel through the call of the Holy Spirit, they are hopefully responding out of a fuller knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, leading to more than a desire for relief from life’s hardships and unhappiness. Each passing year on earth, we should be moving from “what’s in it for me?” to envisioning that “heaven will be living in His eternal presence forever, in His glory unabated,” as you say; then we will truly yearn to be “going home.”
Post a Comment