1) WHO WE WILL BE: OUR RESURRECTED BODIES
Job 19:25-27: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my SKIN has been destroyed, yet in my FLESH I will see God; I MYSELF will see him with my own EYES – I , and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Job knew that in his own flesh, he would see God. Not his spirit, but his flesh. This is such hope to me, because as I told you yesterday, this idea of floating around in ghostly bodies for all of eternity didn't excite me. And no wonder it didn't! That's not the way we will be in Heaven!
Words for eating, drinking, meals and food appear more than 1000 times in scripture, and the word translated “feast” appears 187 times, and get this: The resurrected Jesus invited His disciples to “Come and have breakfast” with him (John 21). He could have abstained from eating with them at that moment, but He didn’t. Do you know what this means?! It means that our newly restored bodies will be able to EAT! Perhaps they won't even NEED to eat, since we wouldn't be able to die again, but we will GET to -- for the pure pleasure of it!
Take a look at these two scriptures:
Phil. 3:20-21 “The Lord Jesus Christ…will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Note the word “spirit” is not used, but “body.”
“Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding SUPPER of the Lamb!’ And he added, “These are the true words of God.” ” Rev. 19.
What do we do at a wedding supper? Eat, drink, tell stories, celebrate, laugh. Why use the word "supper" in the above verse if we weren’t going to be eating?
Now, I know what you're thinking: What about all the figurative language in the Bible? The word "supper" is probably just symbolic of something else. And I agree with you -- the Bible definitely contains many figures of speech. But just because the Bible uses some when describing Heaven, doesn’t mean that they ALL are! We shouldn’t assume that everything about Heaven is figurative when we don’t assume that everything in Matthew or Romans is figurative.
Oh, and look at this! When Jesus returned in His resurrected body, he proclaimed that he was NOT a ghost (Luke 24), yet countless Christians think they will be eternal ghosts or dis-embodied spirits in Heaven. Christ’s resurrected body was suited for life on Earth.
Then the risen Christ said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a GHOST does not have FLESH and BONES, as you see I have.’ When he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of the joy and amazement, he asked them ‘Do you have anything here to EAT?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ATE it in their presence.” (Luke 24:39). Oh my gosh -- there He is eating again in his resurrected body! In fact, He requested to have something to eat in order to prove to them that the food would not fall right through Him.
When Christ was with two disciples after His resurrection on the Emmaus road, he walked and talked with them, asked them questions, taught and guided them, and they didn’t know it was Christ until “their eyes were opened” (v.21). So, looking at Jesus, they thought he was a regular man – his feet didn’t hover about the ground, they WALKED on it.
And remember, too, His body could be touched by Thomas.
So, though He will give us new bodies, we will still be the same people – just as when we become Christians, we see changes in our attitudes and actions, but we are still the same people. In order for Christ to be who He says He is, He needed to resurrect as Himself, not as a new creation, but as Himself. The same is and will be true with us!
The restoration He does in us involves transforming the old, not eliminating it. God is not going to scrap His original creation and start over. Instead, he will take His fallen, corrupted children and restore, refresh, and renew us to our original design. To the way He created you perfectly to be -- body and all!
2) WHAT WE WILL DO: ENJOYING GOD IN SECONDARY PLEASURES
This is one of my absolute favorite things to talk about!
Before
I couldn’t get excited about singing forever in heaven, as I mentioned yesterday. I though that singing forever would also get boring after a while. But now I look forward to
worshipping God in Heaven because I know that worship is more than just
singing! Look at this quote from Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven:
“Most people
know that we’ll worship God in Heaven. But they don’t grasp how thrilling that
will be. Multitudes of God’s people—of every nation, tribe, people, and
language—will gather to sing praise to God for his greatness, wisdom, power,
grace, and mighty work of redemption (Revelation 5:13-14). Overwhelmed by his
magnificence, we will fall on our faces in unrestrained happiness and say,
“Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to
our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:9-12).
People of the
world are always striving to celebrate—they just lack ultimate reasons to celebrate (and therefore find lesser
reasons). As Christians, we have those reasons—our relationship with Jesus and
the promise of Heaven. “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” (Revelation 21:3). Does this excite you? If it
doesn’t, you’re not thinking correctly.
Will we always be on our faces at
Christ’s feet, worshiping him? No, because Scripture says we’ll be doing many
other things—living in dwelling places, eating and drinking, reigning with
Christ, and working for him. Scripture depicts people standing, walking,
traveling in and out of the city, and gathering at feasts. When doing these
things, we won’t be on our faces before Christ. Nevertheless, all that we do
will be an act of worship. We’ll enjoy full and unbroken fellowship with
Christ. At times this will crescendo into greater heights of praise as we
assemble with the multitudes who are also worshiping him.”
Can you even imagine?! Millions of people praising God in unrestrained happiness?! It is going to blow your mind! I can't wait!
What about the other things we will do?
A.W. Tozer says, "What comes into our minds when we think
about God is the most important thing about us!"
So, do you think God is pleased when we enjoy a good meal, a
football game, laughter with friends, a cozy fire, a good book, or even sex with your spouse? Your answer to that question not only
demonstrates your view of God but also indicates the degree to which you are
able to enjoy life – and it will determine how much you will look forward to
the resurrection and what the Bible calls the New Earth.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite verses: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be
arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put
their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our ENJOYMENT” (1 Tim. 6:17). Can you believe that?! God provides us with things purely for our enjoyment!
God should be the object of our Hope, but His is also the
one who gives us all the good things in life for our enjoyment! Failure to recognize this is the reason so many people are
blinded from seeing Heaven as a place of great pleasure and enjoyment! They think that if Heaven is “spiritual” it
will be drab and empty of the “earthly” things that they find enjoyable but
“unspiritual”. Not so at all!
We should not hold anything up higher than God, but that
does not mean that people, things, and pleasures are BAD – lest we forget it
was God who made them.
God is not in Heaven frowning at you saying, “Stop that. You should only enjoy me.” That would be foreign to His nature
just as when you give a child or friend a gift at Christmas you WANT to watch
them ENJOY it. I am delighted when they enjoy what I’ve given them!
Similarly, when we find joy in God’s gifts to us, we find joy in
Him! By ignoring this, we miss a
thousand daily opportunities to praise and thank Him...even for the little things!
He is a lavish giver!
Remember that God “did not spare His own SON,
but gave him up for us all – how will He not also, along with him, GRACIOUSLY give us ALL things” (Romans 8:32). He sacrificed His own SON! If He's willing to do this for us, can't you see how quickly He would be willing to give us good gifts just because He loves us?
Praise God for everything!
Give Him the glory that He deserves for all that He has done and will do! As we walk throughout our day today, we should see Him everywhere!
It is with this knowledge that I am excited about the pleasures, adventures, beauty, and enjoyment I will experience in Heaven some day!
Wow, I hope this stirs your soul the way it does mine. We are slowly shattering the lies and exposing the whispers of satan that this earth is as good as it gets, aren't we? I hope you are beginning to dream about Heaven yourself, and using your imagination (another great gift that God gave you) to dream about what Heaven will be like!
Join me tomorrow, as we talk about Where is Heaven exactly? and Can people in Heaven see me? I think you are really going to get your money's worth! For now, chew on this today, and dream about Heaven -- I think you'll find that it will be more LIKE this Earth than not, but even better! And see if you can begin to thank God for all of His good gifts to you, even today...even the little things.
I can't wait!!
No comments:
Post a Comment