Insufficient Words

So I've been trying to crank out a post for awhile now, and I think I've just had too many deep yet incomplete thoughts in my head to produce a coherent post. However, I was looking through my old posts and drafts and realized that I started the post below literally a year ago and never finished. So here it is:

"Over the past couple of years, especially after my mission trips to Zambia and having read Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I have been fascinated by the thought of Heaven. I think Heaven is often either fantasized about to extreme levels or thought of as only the place of escape from hell. We get really excited about what we want Heaven to be like, or we just hope Jesus will let us in to avoid the fire. Heaven is so indescribably much more than a place with all of our favorite things and all of our favorite people. God is there. God--our Creator, our Savior, our Lord, the righteous judge who sacrificed His Son so that we could have a right relationship with Him, bringing Him glory with our lives--is there. We will meet Him. We will worship Him FOREVER. This thought and my own accompanying thoughts formerly scared me. Francis Chan brought up some challenging ideas in Crazy Love and so did John Piper in Don't Waste Your Life, as I have discussed on one of my other posts. Basically they challenge the reader's motivations. Does your salvation only matter because of your desire to go to Heaven rather than Hell? If you went to Heaven and God wasn't there, would you even notice? As I read these kinds of questions and thoughts awhile back, I realized that I put much more value in the fact that Heaven is a place where all my brothers and sisters in Christ will be and where there is no sin--which is definitely awesome--than in the fact that Heaven is a place where I will worship God, understanding fully who He is, with all of the people he has redeemed. I realized that, yes, I knew Jesus as my Savior and Lord, but I did not know Him in a way that I could imagine spending eternity worshipping Him; I didn't understand how truly amazing he is, how much he loves me, how worthy he is of eternal praise. When I came to this realization of the flaws in my perspective on Heaven, I decided to get more into the Word so that I could better understand why I worship God and so that I could have a closer relationship with Him. As I have studied His Word and prayed, He has shown me even more how truly great He is and how worthy He is of our eternal praise. I now think about the day when I will stand before Him in worship along with those he has purchased from every tribe and race, and I look forward to the day because He is so worthy of all nations' praise. It's hard for me to express how beautiful this picture is in my mind and in my heart."

I'll be honest and a little harsh. It makes me almost angry when people talk about seeing loved ones that have died or asking God questions about why he made mosquitos or ants when they get to heaven. I look in Scripture, and I don't see verses that tell me I will for sure see my loved ones when I get to heaven. That doesn't mean that I won't, but I just don't see it in Scripture. Maybe I'm just totally forgetting some verses or have never read them, but I don't think that's the case. Unfortunately, it seems that there is not much specific information about what life in heaven will be like for us. Nevertheless, the passages below say to me that what matters is that my God, my Savior, my Creator is there, and I will finally see him in all of his glory. The curse of sin will be eternally broken, and there will be no more suffering. I don't know about you, but I feel like at that moment the only thing that will matter to anyone who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ will be the glory of God.


John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Revelation 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.


P.S. For those who might be offended concerning my wariness about seeing loved ones in heaven, I don't think there's anything wrong with believing that, but when seeing loved ones becomes more important that seeing Jesus, I think that's the problem.


Eagerly awaiting the day when God's glory will be undeniably real to all people

Emily