Yesterday my husband and I listened to a sermon about heaven. During the sermon, the pastor used a quote from Jonathan Edwards, the old puritan writer.
No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those they love or that their love is not fully and finally returned. There shall be no such thing as flattery or in sincerity in heaven, but their perfect sincerity will rain throughout. All in all, everyone will be just what he seems to be and will really have all the love that he seems to have. Love will not be as it is in this earth, where comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning…but in heaven, every expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart and all that is professed shall be really and truly felt.
Can you imagine living in an environment like heaven? Down here, we might be having a conversation with our best friend… we love him, but we find ourselves wondering what our friend meant by what he said or wondering what is behind that expression on his face. Our thoughts make us wonder if our friend really cares about us. In heaven, there will be none of that…there will be just total openness and vulnerability to one another with no fear of any kind of reprisal because we will be God’s people. We will have a perfect compatibility with one another, and we will be able, for the first time ever, to enjoy that kind of intimate fellowship with others that we desire down here.
In heaven, we will be able to fellowship with people of the various ages of history…just think about it…there have been many great Christians who have lived at different times.
As I listened to this sermon, I became excited to think that I will be able to sit down and visit with Bible women…Ruth, Esther, Lydia…great missionary women…Ann Judson, Susanna Wesley, Betty Stam. What a great thought! If I had lived at the same time as these women, I might have been great friends with them. In heaven, it will not make any difference of the time period I lived on earth…in heaven we will all be living together…I will be able to fellowship with departed family members, special friends, and great Christians I have only read about in the Bible and in books.
Whatever we consider to be a joy here on earth will be heightened a million times over anything we can conceive in heaven. The apostle Paul put it this way: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
The greatest aspect of heaven will be God’s presence. Although we cannot fully comprehend this, being in God’s presence will bring us more joy than we could possibly know here on earth. In heaven, there will be no shootings, no deaths, no heartaches, no misunderstandings, no viruses, no riots, no poverty, no expectations of others…no battling against Satan’s deceptions and tactics.
Revelation 21:3-4 …He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.