-The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.-
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“And so we will always be with the Lord.” That is Heaven. Not to spend eternity reunited with your family and friends, not to be done with your labors here below, not the mansions and the streets of gold, not even the new body, but that we will be always with the Lord and He will be forever ours!
Does that sound like Heaven to you? To spend eternity glorifying God and enjoying Him forever? The very idea should be bliss, for this is the very purpose of our creation. To glorify God, “Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” Psalm 29:1-2 And to enjoy Him forever, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8
God is the supreme good! In Him (Jesus) all fulness dwells. (Colossians 1:19) How can we help but enjoy Him? Everything that is good is in Him. He is the ultimate prize! Anything in this life, good or bad, can only satisfy for a season, but in Him is eternal satisfaction. Imagine endless days with such a God! This is the ultimate reward!
If such a future doesn't appeal to our souls, then we must examine our hearts and find the cause. Possibly sin has crept in and captured our hearts. We must reject anything that takes the place of God in our hearts as our supreme treasure and prostrate ourselves before Him and plead for Him to show us His beauty and holiness.
If we cannot see His worthiness to be glorified, and He is not valuable to us above all earthly treasures; then we will never, in this life, live out our divinely appointed purpose and we will never aspire to spend eternity with Him. For such a one to die would not be gain (Philippians 1:21) because they would not see more of Jesus as gain. Admittedly, we are all subject to being dazzled by the things of this world and losing focus, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. If in any area of our life, Jesus is not supreme and precious (1 Peter 2:6) above all then we must fling those things away from us and run to the one who has loved us and saved us by His own blood.
“If there be so much delight in God, when we see him only by faith, 1 Pet. 1:8, what will the joy of vision be, when we shall see him face to face! If the saints have found so much delight in God while they were suffering, oh what joy and delight will they have when they are being crowned! If flames are beds of roses, what will it be to lean on the bosom of Jesus! What a bed of roses that will be!”
Thomas Watson
No comments:
Post a Comment