2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
I am always awestruck when I come across any description of heaven in the Scriptures. This is especially true, because I am convinced that what we are told is a “sneak preview” that is very incomplete. As my husband puts it, “We’re only given the tip of the iceberg, and there’s so much more. We can’t even imagine how wonderful it will be.” The layout of heaven is suggested in several places in the book of Revelation, but I’ll leave that for another time. Today, I am led to focus on some verses that discuss heaven in HE 9 and 10, before going on to other topics. God is our Covenant Partner, and He wanted us to know some of the ways He is keeping His covenant promises.
We learn in HE 9: 11 that the heavenly Holy of Holies is not man-made. Elsewhere, we had learned that the earthly Holy of Holies is nothing more than a shadow of the real one in heaven. I am reminded of the prophecy of the establishment of God’s permanent Kingdom which will replace all others of the man-made, temporary kind found in Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. DN 2: 34-35, “While you were looking at it, a great stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shatter them. At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth.” Later, Daniel asserts in DN 2: 45, “You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling Your Majesty that will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamed, and have given you its true meaning.”
HE 9: 23, tells us that the heavenly Holy of Holies requires better sacrifices. Surely Christ’s blood shed on the cross for us, that blood which opened the heavenly Holy of Holies, was far a far superior sacrifice than the blood of any animal would have been. It alone opened the way for eternal forgiveness and salvation for all those who repent and believe in the Son. You all know that I have written repeatedly about the number of times the message from God: He wants us to be His children and that He should be our one and only God, that His laws should be written on our hearts. HE 10: 15-18, expresses it in the context of our eventual permanent residence in heaven. “And the Holy Spirit also gives us His witness. First He says, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put My laws in their hearts and write them on their minds.’ And then He says, ‘I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer.’ So when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed.” Christ made that once-for-all, sufficient offering on the cross. It is because of Him that a way to permanent residence with the Father in heaven has been made open to us. JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”
We all know that heaven is a place where “tears will be wiped away, and there will be no more death, grief, crying, or pain. The old things will have disappeared” [REV 21: 3]. I would be derelict in my duty as a writing believer in God’s graciousness who serves on a huge prayer chain for my congregation, if I didn’t mention what our faith teaches me about the physical death of fellow believers. Many prayer requests come to my desk for the attention of the 87 members of our prayer chain. I am brought face to face with the grief they feel at the loss of their loved ones, some of whom are friends of mine. Without what the Scriptures reveal to us, I would surely be at a loss for what to say to these grieving people. No one likes to think about a permanent separation from a loved one who meant so much to his life. Our faith reminds us that we have a loving Abba Who exercises His sovereign right to call some of His children home. There is never a convenient time for that to happen from the point of view of the family of this person called home. The comfort we can rightfully take in knowing that our departed loved ones who died in faithfulness is that they will be without pain, sorrow, crying, or grief with the Father. If we endure in our faith no matter what challenges to it come our way, we can also take comfort in knowing that our separation from these loved ones is only temporary. I like to think that is the case for me and my father, a physician who died almost 35 years ago at the age of 59 without knowing Christ but with having tried to be a faithful healer all his adult life. I am aware that many people, like the prophets of old, died without ever knowing Christ but in faithful obedience to God. I truly believe that the appearance of Moses and Elijah at the time of the transfiguration in MT 17: 3 is proof that God will give these people a chance to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.
I attended a concert with our congregation’s Soaring Eagles group (over 50’s) which impacted me tremendously. A Hungarian pediatrician, Dr. Robert Fisch, a Holocaust survivor, narrated during this concert. His paintings depicting his experience in a concentration camp, his release tied with the struggle for freedom, and his appreciation of the freedom he now has were projected on a screen behind the musicians. I lost part of my family in the Holocaust, and pray every day that my separation from them is temporary, as is Dr. Fisch’s separation from his father killed by the Nazis. The descriptions of heaven in the Scriptures leave us all with blessed hope.
PRAYER: O Lord, You comfort those who mourn and give us all hope that our earthly suffering in faith will find its reward in heaven. What great comfort that is when we try to put our grieving and our loss in perspective. You are sovereign and just. Dr. Fisch’s father passed away because he gave his meager provisions to save the lives of fellow prisoners. Many people have died while being faithful too, some ordinary and some as famous as Your Son’s disciples. You have told all those who were martyred or who will be in the future in REV 6: 9-11 that their deaths will not have been in vain and that they too shall receive their reward. Sometimes the waiting can be difficult for those left behind when You call one of Your children home. But, we must take You at Your word that the waiting will not be in vain. Dearest Lord, I especially ask You today to direct us to Your way to bring more people to faith including traditional Jews who have been so stubborn in their refusal to listen. Help them to deal with the loss of their families in the Holocaust, as You have me. Teach us to listen to You in finding ways to set the stage for the Holy Spirit to bring those who are now lost to the warmth of Your love and the freedom that come from obeying Your commands. Without You, we are useless in this endeavor. With You, Your will can be done. We have not forgotten Your oft-repeated plea that You should be our one and only God, and we should be Your people. We remember that Your laws should be written on our hearts, and a day should come when it is no longer necessary for us to teach our fellow countrymen Your word, because they shall already know it [JER 31: 33-34]. To You, Dearest Abba, belongs the glory. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin a new section in “Consistent Covenants” in this series of messages. We will begin by carefully examining God’s messages in 2 COR 3: 1-8. These messages are precious reminders of God’s deep and abiding love for each of us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn