Finally, Home!

Thursday morning, September 4, 2008 [sunny, beautiful, and 75 degrees],
Although none of us can do much more than imagine what it will be like, I do have an imagination that runs wild when I consider our first day in Heaven. The Bride of Christ will finally be gathered together in perfect unity! All our differences will be settled and we will be in one accord. Only one thing will matter—that Jesus is glorified. There will be people there from all walks of life and from every tribe and nation. It will have finally dawned on us that none of us deserve to be there! What was seen through a glass darkly will be seen through the perfect lens of the eyes of Jesus. What we had not been able to understand will finally make perfect sense. What we once feared, we will then embrace. The One we had all longed to see will reveal Himself to us in such a way that we will all become exactly like Him! There will be no more sorrow, no more tears of remorse, NO PAIN, and no more death. There will be no need for the sun or the moon because the glory of God will illumine the whole city. There will be no darkness there because the Light of the Lamb will always shine. We won’t have to carry keys because the gates to the City will never be closed. There will be no foreigners there, only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of life—the Family of God! It will be home and we will be—home!
If you stop to listen, I really do believe you can hear the instruments beginning to play a new song, a song that the angels cannot sing—Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim it! There will be cymbals, loud-sounding cymbals, even resounding cymbals! There will be harps and trumpets and guitars and clarinets and saxophones and timbrels and lyres. There will be dancing and dancing and dancing! We will be dancing all over Heaven! The fetters of shame and guilt and poor self-image will all be broken. We will be laughing and singing and dancing and clapping and drinking the strong drink of the Spirit of the Living God! All the stuff that used to control us will no longer be in control! All the baggage that used to inhibit us will no longer do so! We will be free—absolutely FREE! The Lord will take great pleasure in His people and His people will honor Him. We will be rejoicing and praising God. We will be living in wild and total abandon to Jesus!
To tell you the truth, I think it will be a lot like it was supposed to have been before Adam sinned, except better. It will be a love feast to beat all love feasts! We will finally realize what Jesus meant when He said, “Unless you become like little children . . .” Talk about wild abandon! I am sorry that Adam messed things up for himself and for us, but I am certainly thankful that Jesus fixed whatever Adam messed up! The Tree of Life will be along both sides of the River of Life and the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will not even be there! No temptation! No having to listen to the serpent trying to beguile us. Such joy! Such unspeakable joy! Such peace! An everlasting peace!
LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD! LET THE TREES OF THE FIELDS CLAP THEIR HANDS! LET THE CHOSEN FROZEN THAW! LET THE WAVES ROAR AND THE MOUNTAINS BOW DOWN! LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD—SAY SO! LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH (AND EVERYTHING ELSE, FOR THAT MATTER) PRASE THE LORD!