What’s the Fuss?

“Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others – the armies of heaven – praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.’” (Luke 2:13-14 NLT)

As my health deteriorates and the day of my departure from earth comes closer, my heart rejoices in my Savior for His willingness to bring heaven to earth. My spirit rejoices in the hope I have that I’m going to spend eternity with the Lord and with others who have loved Him in their lifetimes, but the celebration of my heart today is the fact that Jesus brought heaven to earth to give us a taste of what’s coming.

Have you ever taken time to ponder just how wonderful heaven will be? Think of all the things you fear, perhaps dread, as you think of your life on earth. Gratefully, none of those things will be an issue in heaven.

Additionally, for many of us, the Lord has given us opportunities to visit state and national parks, ponder the vastness of the oceans, marvel at the stars on a dark night, and in other ways experience the grandeur and majesty of all the Lord has created for our pleasure.

It causes me to seek to stretch my mind to catch a glimpse of just how wonderful life in heaven will be, but the thought today that arrests my spirit is the realization that none of that would even be on our radar had the Lord Jesus not come to earth. On many levels He is heaven to me – to know Him makes heaven appealing.

Jesus is the Treasure, the draw for me to want to go to heaven. My desperate desire to go to heaven is to continue my walk with Jesus. If heaven had no Jesus it wouldn’t be heaven; it wouldn’t be worth the trip, but because He came to earth and ignited our heart and mind with thoughts of Him and what life could be because of who He is and what He did – as the Gaither’s wrote: “Life is worth the living, just because He lives!”

When Jesus came, the angels weren’t celebrating the earth, the shepherds, or any of the other things the Lord had created – they were ecstatic about the beauty, majesty, glory, and honor God was bestowing upon the earth in allowing His only Son to be born in order that He might take away the sin of those who would recognize Him and give their lives to Him.

N.T. Wright wrote: “Our culture is so fixated on dying and going to heaven when the whole Scripture is about heaven coming to earth.” We make a big fuss over our going to heaven, which well we should, but the real celebration should center on heaven coming to earth in the Person of God’s Son. My sense is that once we’re able to see our Savior, thoughts of earth will be rare if indeed they will exist at all.

The beautiful house we worked endless hours to afford won’t be on our mind, nor will any other material possession. I’ve often wondered how we could enjoy heaven if we have awareness of our loved ones who didn’t make it, but there’s a part of me that believes we’ll not even give consideration to those who didn’t make it, they’ll be erased from our memories. That’s conjecture and I can’t show you a verse to support that, I’m just musing.

Having read about and viewed pictures and videos regarding the Grand Canyon, it caught me by surprise when my eyes finally viewed the hugeness of what my mind was struggling to comprehend. It was like the things I’d read or seen were wiped from my mind as it filled with the reality of what I had been unable to imagine before being there and seeing it for myself. Heaven will be like that – on steroids!

When we get to heaven the fuss won’t be what has been, it will be what IS – in all His majesty and glory!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊