Words from the Rock
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
John 17:4–5 NASB
It’s hard to envision someplace you’ve never been before. Especially if you don’t have photos or videos or some other kind of description. Even if someone tells you about this distant place, unless you have an astonishing imagination, you probably won’t get it right.
When it comes to imagining how fantastic heaven is, no one on earth can possibly get it right. You could take all the very best things on earth (gorgeous mountains, white sandy beaches, majestic rain forests, stunning canyons, rolling fields of wildflowers, sapphire blue lakes—anything you think is beautiful), and even if you multiplied those wonders a thousand times, you’d still probably miss how incredible heaven really is. It’s incomprehensible.
Even more incomprehensible is Jesus’s willingness to leave heaven—and to leave his Father behind—in order to come to earth and complete the work God had set before him. Yet he did it—cheerfully, wholeheartedly, and selflessly. He threw everything he had into getting out the good news that God loved everyone and that he wanted a relationship with them. When Jesus’s work was done, he took it a step further and gave up his own life in a brutal and humiliating death. What more could he do?
He did all this because of his love for his Father . . . and because of his love for you. With his mission complete, Jesus returned to heaven and was reunited with his Father. His reward for a job well done is to celebrate with everyone who’s now welcome in heaven—including you! And if heaven was totally awesome before Jesus left, how much better it will be now!
My Prayer
Dear God,
Heaven really is incomprehensible, but I know it will be the best experience imaginable. I’m so thankful I’ll get to participate in it.
Amen.
Final Word
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.
Revelation 21:1 NIV
Stone for the Journey
I cannot begin to imagine how fantastic heaven is.