Does the thought of heaven make you smile?

2 Timothy 4:18

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Enrolled in Heaven

Did you know that if you’re born again your name is recorded or enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:23)? The false idea that we’re no earthly good if we’re too heavenly minded couldn’t be further from the truth because we look at life on earth in comparison to the coming glory that we’ll see someday, and there is no comparison at all (Romans 8:18), allowing us to go through anything at all knowing that it all works out for our best (Romans 8:28). It changes our perspective knowing where our real home is, which is not here on earth but in the coming kingdom, the New Jerusalem that descends down from heaven down to the earth (Revelation 21:2). That makes me want to smile. What about you?

Leaping for Joy

Imagine leaping for joy when we see Christ and receive our rewards from Him (Luke 6:23). I know of a few people who cannot even walk today and several others who have to use walkers, but someday they’ll be able to leap for joy. Some in Jesus’ day had a taste of the coming kingdom when He made the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear (Matthew 11:5). In that great day of Jesus’ return, there’ll finally be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying; in fact, it’ll even be the death of death (Revelation 21:4). Picture that in your mind’s eye, which should make you break out in a huge smile, or at least it should.

A New Earth

When God comes back and brings His kingdom with Him, the joy that will be present on the earth will be inexpressible. Joy will overtake us, and all the sorrow and sighing will be long gone (Isaiah 35:10). All sorrow will be permanently vanquished (Isaiah 60:20), and many will enter Zion or the New Jerusalem singing with crowns on their heads (Isaiah 51:11). The prophet Isaiah wrote more about the coming kingdom than any other writer in the Bible, and he describes such joy that can hardly be expressed with mere words. Death is swallowed up (Isaiah 25:8), made possible by Christ’s victory at Calvary. We also get new bodies and shed these old, decaying mortal bodies for ones that reflect the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49). It’s not yet apparent what we will be like, but the fact is that we’ll see Him as He is (Jesus, that is), and we shall be like Him (but not of the same glory, of course), which was what the Apostle John was trying to describe (1 John 3:2). Does the thought of heaven make you smile now? It surely does me.

A Closing Prayer

Father God, You have called me to such a glorious future that I can’t even write how wonderful it will be. I pray that I keep a heavenly perspective on earth and that I look forward to it in eager expectation of the glory that’s coming, and to You I give thanks through the precious name of the King of that coming kingdom, Jesus Christ.

Amen