Glimpses of HEAVEN
A Treasury of Heart-Warming Reflections, Personal Accounts, Anecdotes and Verse, Unveiling the Life Beyond!
Compiled and edited by Philip Sherwood
Family Care Foundation
Orange, California
Acknowledgments
Quotations credited to CLA are taken from The Good News About Heaven by Charles L. Allen, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Quotations credited to DBB are taken from the writings of David Brandt Berg. Reprinted by permission.
Quotations from Herbert Lockyer are from his book The Life Beyond, published by Fleming H. Revell.
Quotations that are not attributed are from unknown authors.
All Scripture is from the King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated.
ISBN 1-891186-00-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-61467
Copyright 1997 by Aurora Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher.
Publisher:
Family Care Foundation
P.O. Box 6070
Orange, California 92863-6070
U.S.A.
E-mail: fcf@familycare.org
Web site: www.familycare.org
Cover art by Hugo Westphal
Graphic design by Jim Healey
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Contents
Introduction
5
Homesick for Heaven
7
Life After Life!
17
Comfort and Refuge
27
No More Tears
31
Reunion with Loved Ones
37
Our Heavenly Bodies
43
Learning, Learning, Learning!
47
A Down-to-Earth Heaven
51
The Heavenly City
57
Conclusion
63
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Introduction
The subject of Heaven and the next life often raises mixed feelings. Many of us see it as a wonderful place where we will be happy for eternity. Despite this, when our mortality or that of a loved one is seriously threatened, we tend to view the possibility of passing on to the next life with great foreboding, as if Heaven were a terrible place to be avoided for as long as possible!
We hope that this collection of reflections, personal accounts, anecdotes and verse will encourage your faith that Heaven is a very real place, where each of us can find unconditional love and complete fulfillment. Being assured of a future eternal home is a great help in enduring the trials of life, and, as Shakespeare said, "makes one heavenly." Such assurance also enables us to embark on that final journey with, as one believer put it, "the gladness of a boy bounding away from school."
--The Editor
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Homesick for Heaven
It is very beautiful over there.
--Last words of Thomas Edison
* * *
Dr. Werner von Braun, well-known for his part in pioneering the U.S. space program, said that he had "essentially scientific" reasons for believing in life after death. He explained: "Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies the fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of the universe, doesn't it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation -- the human soul? I think it does."
* * *
If God has made this world so fair,
Where sin and death abound,
How beautiful beyond compare,
Will Paradise be found.
--James Montgomery
* * *
Heaven -- the treasury of everlasting life.
--William Shakespeare
* * *
Love rules the camp, the court, the grove -- for love is Heaven, and Heaven is love.
--Lord Byron
* * *
As he neared his end, John Newton exclaimed, "I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon."
* * *
The English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is considered to have been one of the greatest experimental physicists. When Faraday was questioned on his speculations of a life after death, he replied: "Speculations? I know nothing about speculations. I'm resting on certainties. I know that my Redeemer lives, and because He lives, I shall live also."
* * *
HEAVEN
In childhood's days our thoughts of Heaven
Are pearly gates and streets of gold,
And all so very far away;
A place whose portals may unfold
To us, some far-off distant day.
But in the gathering of the years,
When life is in the fading leaf,
With eyes perchance bedimmed by tears,
And hearts oft overwhelmed with grief,
We look beyond the pearly gate,
Beyond the clouds of grief's dark night,
And see a place where loved ones wait,
Where all is blessedness and light.
And over all we see the face
Of Him who'll bring us to our own --
Not to a far-off distant place,
For Heaven is, after all, just Home!
--Sue H. McLane
* * *
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
--Thomas Moore
* * *
Be assured that just as an hour is only part of a day, so life on Earth is only part of eternity.
--C.L. Allen [CLA]
* * *
Surely it is not wrong for us to think and talk about Heaven. I like to find out all I can about it. I expect to live there through all eternity. If I were going to dwell in any place in this country, if I were going to make it my home, I would inquire about its climate, about the neighbors I would have -- about everything, in fact, that I could learn concerning it. If soon you were going to emigrate, that is the way you would feel.
Well, we are all going to emigrate in a very little while. We are going to spend eternity in another world. Is it not natural that we should look and listen and try to find out who is already there and what is the route to take?
--Dwight L. Moody
It certainly seems like a good idea to talk about Heaven, meditate about Heaven and read about Heaven, because, after all, that's where we're going to spend eternity. It's an important place -- our eternal home. So it's only natural to want to know what it's like and what we're going to be like when we get there.
--David Brandt Berg [DBB]
* * *
We can enjoy Heaven now. We can have half of the enjoyment ahead of time by looking forward to it, thinking about it, reading about it and anticipating it.
--DBB
* * *
Thinking about Heaven can inspire and encourage us to be more heavenly-minded and realize that Heaven is a real place where we're really going to live.
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is a city without a cemetery.
* * *
Think of it --
Stepping on shore,
and finding it Heaven!
Of taking hold of a hand,
and finding it God's hand.
Of breathing a new air,
and finding it celestial air.
Of feeling invigorated,
and finding it immortality.
Of passing from storm to tempest
to an unbroken calm.
Of waking up and finding it Home.
* * *
Heaven is something that we can easily get excited and thrilled about and look forward to. It will be like Christmas is for children, only it will be the greatest Christmas we've ever had!
--DBB
* * *
Heaven and the spirit world are much more real, beautiful and lasting than the world which you can see with your natural eyes at this very moment.
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is a beautiful place to be, full of beautiful people having a beautiful time!
--DBB
* * *
Where is there a country without sin, crime, lawlessness, bloodshed, disease, death, sorrow and heartache? Heaven is a country in which there is the absence of all that is common to any land, for in God's country there are no barriers, no walls or curtains to divide; no race barrier; no soldiers because there are no wars; no policemen because there is no crime or sin; no undertakers because there are no graves; no physicians because germs, fevers, pestilences, diseases are unknown; no thieves because there is no darkness. Who would not yearn for this better and more desirable country in which there are no separations, no broken homes, no drunkards, no prisons, no hospitals, no beggars, no persons who are blind, deaf, dumb or destitute? What a country! Are you not homesick for Heaven?
--H. Lockyer
* * *
Heaven is going to be like this life, only better. It will be like this life with all its joys and beauties and pleasures, but without the drawbacks -- with all the assets but none of the liabilities.
--DBB
* * *
In Heaven, you're going to get just about whatever you want. Heaven's the place where all your heart's desires will be fulfilled -- if they're good ones. Put in your order now!
--DBB
* * *
The more of Heaven we cherish, the less of Earth we covet.
--DBB
* * *
If we really understood Heaven, we would be most unhappy and unsatisfied with life on Earth. We would rebel against our earthly limitations. If we saw Heaven, we could not bear this earth. That's why Heaven is forever: we cannot bear to leave it after we get there.
--CLA
* * *
NO DISAPPOINTMENT IN HEAVEN
Oh, there's no disappointment in Heaven
No weariness, sorrow nor pain,
No hearts that are bleeding and broken,
No song with minor refrain.
The clouds of our earthly horizon
Will never appear in the sky,
For all will be sunshine and gladness,
With never a sob nor a sigh.
We'll never pay rent for our mansions;
The taxes will never come due.
Our garments will never grow threadbare,
But always be fadeless and new.
We'll never be hungry or thirsty,
Nor languish in poverty there;
For all the rich bounties of Heaven,
His Heaven-bound children will share.
--F.M. Lehman
* * *
Heaven is a permanent residence a place where we unpack our bags and stay forever. What a glorious thought to wake up in Heaven and realize it is home!
--CLA
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Life After Life!
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
--Rabindranath Tagore
* * *
Leaving this life is just like going from one room to another and closing the door.
--DBB
* * *
Let us believe that when death comes, and it will come sooner or later to every human being, we can be assured it will come as a friend who lovingly leads us to our eternal home, Heaven.
--CLA
* * *
Death is but a passage out of a prison into a palace.
* * *
Living is death; dying is life. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that, citizens; on this side, orphans, on that, children; on this side, captives; on that, freemen; on this side, disguised, unknown; on that, disclosed and proclaimed as the sons of God.
--Henry Ward Beecher
* * *
What we call life is a journey to death. What we call death is the gateway to life.
* * *
I think of death as a glad awakening from this troubled sleep which we call life; as an emancipation from a world, which, beautiful though it may be, is still a land of captivity.
--Lyman Abbott
* * *
To die is to go and live in another home.
--CLA
* * *
I am standing on the seashore. A ship spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, "She is gone." Gone where? The loss of sight is in me, not in her. Just at the moment when someone says, "She is gone," there are others who are watching her coming. Other voices take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!" That is dying.
--Henry Scott Holland
* * *
This world is to be likened to the porch; the world to come unto the palace.
--The Talmud
* * *
When Robert Browning's father lay dying -- he was past eighty at the time -- his cheerfulness alarmed the attending physician. "Does the old gentleman know he is dying?" the doctor inquired of his daughter in a low voice.
The father overheard him and smiled, "Death is no enemy in my eyes."
* * *
Peace, peace! He is not dead,
he does not sleep --
He hath wakened
from the dream of life.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley, writing about the death of his friend John Keats
* * *
The Apostle Paul wrote, "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). The physical dies away, but the spiritual is forever.
--DBB
* * *
Life! We have been long together,
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather,
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear,
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear;
Then steal away; give little warning;
Choose thine own time.
Say not, 'Good-night!' but in some brighter clime,
Bid me, 'Good-Morning!'
--Anna L. Barbauld
* * *
Your body is not the real you. It's just the physical house you live in. The real you is your spirit, which will live on forever.
--DBB
* * *
[In the day of death:] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
--Ecclesiastes 12:7
* * *
From dust thou art to dust returneth, was not spoken of the soul.
--H.W. Longfellow
* * *
Cartoonist Arthur Brisbane once pictured a crowd of grieving caterpillars carrying the corpse of a cocoon to its final resting place. The poor, distressed caterpillars, clad in black raiment, were weeping, and all the while the beautiful butterfly fluttered happily above the muck and the mire of Earth, forever freed from its earthly shell.
Needless to say, Brisbane had the average funeral in mind and sought to convey the idea that when our loved ones pass, it is foolish to remember only the cocoon and concentrate our attention on the remains, while forgetting the bright butterfly.
* * *
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive me.
--Psalm 49:15
* * *
A soldier said, "When I die, do not sound taps over my grave, but reveille -- the morning call, the summons to rise."
* * *
Epitaph of Benjamin Franklin: The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here. ... Yet the Work itself shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by the Author.
* * *
Death is not something to be feared, but rather anticipated. Of course, we are not to precipitate it ourselves, as suicide is surrender and defeat of the worst kind. But if each of us can have the patience to wait and die in God's time, when His time has come for us, that's the day we're going to be the most thankful. We're going to arrive in our heavenly home and see that it was really worth it all!
--DBB
* * *
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
--1 Corinthians 15:26
* * *
Death from this life is just graduation from this grade. It's our release, our graduation, our promotion. School is out! We've finished our schooling in this grade and we pass on to the next grade.
--DBB
* * *
Even though we have so much to live for on this earth, there is even more to live for in the next life. Death does not cheat a person out of life; death enriches life.
--CLA
* * *
When Christ calls me Home I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school.
--Adoniram Judson, first Christian missionary to Burma
* * *
I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.
--Jesus, John 11:25,26
* * *
Once the great evangelist, Moody, said in his buoyant way: "Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch."
* * *
Because I live, ye shall live also.
--Jesus, John 14:19
* * *
Lord, when Thou seest that my work is done
Let me not linger on,
With failing powers,
Adown the weary hours,
A workless worker in a world of work.
But with a word,
Just bid me home,
And I will come
Right gladly,
Yea, right gladly
Will I come.
--John Oxenham
* * *
I shall not live 'till I see God; and when I have seen Him, I shall never die.
--John Donne
* * *
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
--2 Corinthians 5:1
* * *
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
--Jesus, Matthew 22:32
* * *
Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed" (Matthew 13:31). Just as the seed is the beginning of growth, so this life is the beginning but not the end. We continue living the moment our spirits are released from our bodies.
--CLA
* * *
Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John14:2). We do not enter the next life as strangers. We are expected and prepared for. We are eagerly desired.
--CLA
==========#==========#==========#==========
Comfort and Refuge
At death the soul, freed from the pains, weariness, ills and limitations of the body, begins its highest life. Death is the beginning of the higher life.
--CLA
* * *
Death is the funeral of all our sorrows.
--DBB
* * *
Death is the best healing of all, so try not to worry about it. When we die, that's the final, permanent healing. Our old body finally dies and we are rid of it and free. Then we don't have any more diseases or troubles. We won't hurt anymore because we will be in our spiritual body, our new model!
--DBB
* * *
The twenty-third Psalm is always a great comfort in time of need. It reassures us that the Lord will never depart from us nor leave us comfortless. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord says that He will be with us. He'll be with us then to comfort and lead us into a new life forever.
--DBB
* * *
PSALM 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want [lack].
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
For Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
* * *
O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?
--1 Corinthians 15:55
* * *
God conceals from men the happiness of death that they may endure life.
==========#==========#==========#==========
No More Tears
Can you visualize a world with no more death, no more pain, no more hunger, no more fear, no more sorrow, no more crying nor sickness, a world where everything is a joy and a pleasure? -- A society where everybody works together in harmony, cooperation and love? That's Heaven!
--DBB
* * *
Thank God for Heaven! -- That's where everything will get straightened out and made right!
--DBB
* * *
In Heaven we'll understand why we've suffered on Earth. The Apostle Paul explained, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known [of God]" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
--DBB
* * *
One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible about Heaven is in the 21st chapter of Revelation, the fourth verse. John says, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
--DBB
* * *
The whole point of Heaven is to relieve us of the suffering, pain, death and tears brought into the world by the evil of humanity. That is why God says that in Heaven there will be no more sorrow, pain, death or crying.
--DBB
* * *
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.
--Isaiah 25:8
* * *
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
--Revelation 7:16,17
* * *
There are going to be tears in Heaven, because God is going to have to wipe them away. No doubt many of us will cry when we first arrive there and realize just how much our many mistakes have cost and lost. But God will wipe away all these tears, and comfort and encourage us and inspire us for the future, so we can forget the past. There will be tears, but thank God He will wipe them away with His joy. Then there will be no more tears and no more years, only a happy eternity!
--DBB
* * *
All the disappointments, broken dreams and deep dark experiences will soon be forgotten and blotted out like a bad dream, when that glorious dawn of Heaven arrives!
--DBB
* * *
There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
--Job 3:17
* * *
The only place where we're going to be completely relieved of pain is in Heaven.
--DBB
* * *
There will be no more danger, pollution or destruction, none of these things that we suffer from so much today. Everything will be heavenly, beautiful and natural, the way it was when God first created the earth.
--DBB
* * *
The heavenly society will be ruled fairly and well with true freedom, peace, plenty and happiness for all. Isaiah prophesied that in that day, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).
--DBB
* * *
There will be no more weapons or horrible fighting and killing as there are in the world today. We are going to see a righteous ruler at last, with a righteous government. There will be no more corruption, vice, crime, bribery or crooked politicians, but a righteous government and true justice for all!
--DBB
* * *
[God] shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
--Psalm 72:4,12
* * *
There'll be no more big powers and oppressed poor -- only fairness and justice for all, and eternal happiness. So if you're looking for the perfect city and the perfect government in the perfect country with perfect people, just wait a little while longer -- it's coming!
--DBB
==========#==========#==========#==========
Reunion with Loved Ones
One of the best things about Heaven is that we will be able to reunite with loved ones who have already passed on. It will be the greatest family reunion we've ever known, with our loved ones, relatives and ancestors all together in one place at the same time, rejoicing. All together at last!
--DBB
* * *
Very often people come to me and say: "Mr. Moody, do you think we shall know each other in Heaven?" Very often it is a mother who has lost a dear child, and who wishes to see it again. Sometimes it is a child who has lost a mother, a father; and who wants to recognize them in Heaven. There is a verse in Scripture in answer to this, and that is: "We shall be satisfied" (Psalm 17:15). It is all I want to know. My brother who went up there the other day I shall see, because I shall be satisfied. We will see all those we loved on Earth up there, and if we loved them here, we will love them ten thousand times more when we meet them there.
--Dwight L. Moody
* * *
After death we are not disembodied spirits. Somewhere in God's wonderful creation there is a place where we can again be with those we have loved and lost for a while.
--CLA
* * *
"All love is of God," the Apostle John reminds us, and because love cannot be buried in a coffin, the beautiful but broken relationships of Earth are resumed in the Father's home above where, as members of the same family, we dwell together in perfect harmony.
--H. Lockyer
* * *
Excerpt of a letter from Ben Franklin to the widow of his brother John, Feb. 22, 1756:
Dear Child,
I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable relation, but it is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life: 'tis rather an embryo state, a preparation for living.
A man is not completely born until he is dead. Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals? A new member added to their happy society?
That bodies should be lent to us is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure -- instead of an aid, become an encumbrance and answer none of the intentions for which they were given -- it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them.
Death is that way. Why should you and I be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow, and know where to find him.
* * *
THE BEYOND
It seemeth such a little way to me,
Across to that strange country, the Beyond;
And yet, not strange, for it has grown to be
The home of those of whom I am so fond;
They make it seem familiar and most dear,
As journeying friends bring distant countries near.
And so for me there is no sting to death,
And so the grave has lost its victory;
It is but crossing with abated breath
And white, set face, a little strip of sea,
To find the loved ones waiting on the shore,
More beautiful, more precious than before.
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
* * *
If you have a dear one in Heaven your heart yearns to see, do not despair, for you will meet again. The voice you loved to hear, you will hear again. The identity of the one you were near to on Earth remains the same, and instant recognition will be yours as you meet, never to part again. Your beloved one is only "lost awhile."
--H. Lockyer
* * *
There are no "good-byes" in Heaven.
* * *
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
--Edna St. Vincent Millay
* * *
MY DREAM OF HEAVEN
What Heaven is, I know not; but I long have dreamed of its purple hills and its fields of light, blossoming with immortal beauty; of its brooks of laughter and its rivers of song and its palace of eternal love. I long have dreamed of opal towers and burnished domes; but what care I for gate of pearl or street of gold, if I can meet the loved ones who have blessed me here, and see the glorified faces of father and mother and the boy brother who died. What care I for crown of stars and harp of gold if I can love and laugh and sing with them forever in the smile of my Savior and my God.
--Bob Taylor
==========#==========#==========#==========
Our Heavenly Bodies
We can't really understand just how wonderful Heaven will be unless we first know how wonderful each of us will be when we get there.
--DBB
* * *
This earthly body is slow and heavy in all its motions, listless and soon tired with action. But our heavenly bodies shall be as fire; as active and as nimble as our thoughts are.
--John Wesley
* * *
You are still going to be you. You'll look a lot the same, only better -- much better!
--DBB
* * *
Our heavenly bodies are going to be similar to our present ones, only better. We'll look enough like we do now to recognize and identify each other. We're going to have a lot of the same characteristics that we have now.
--DBB
* * *
In Heaven, our bodies are going to be the same make, but a new model. Our old, decaying, worn-out natural, physical body will go back to the dust. We will trade it in for an entirely new heavenly model!
--DBB
* * *
When Jesus came back from the dead, He still looked like Himself, still felt like Himself, and could still eat, drink, and even cook, just like when He was on Earth. He said to His disciples, "Behold My [nail-pierced] hands and My feet, that it is Myself. Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39). His followers could actually touch and feel Him, as well as see Him, and yet He was in a miraculous supernatural resurrected body!
His new body could also materialize or dematerialize, appear or disappear. It could pass from one dimension to the other, and through locked doors and solid walls. (See John 20:19, 26.)
--DBB
* * *
We are going to have bodies like Jesus did after He was resurrected. Each of us is going to have a new eternal, glorified body. It will actually be constructed as we are now, of flesh and bones -- but eternal flesh and bones, incorruptible, immortal flesh and bones. It's going to be material, natural, recognizable, seeable and feelable. (See 1 John 3:2.)
--DBB
* * *
All of the pleasures of this present physical life can be continued into the next life as well, since we will have a body which is similar to our present physical body, but so much more glorious and wonderful and supernatural. We will be able to eat, drink, be merry and have fun without ever suffering pain or sickness or weariness or death.
--DBB
* * *
From the accounts of those who have had glimpses of Heaven in visions and revelations, it seems that we do mature somewhat in Heaven. Those who arrive in their youth grow to maturity, while older people appear more middle-aged, in the prime of life.
--DBB
==========#==========#==========#==========
Learning, Learning, Learning!
We're still going to be learning in Heaven. We will still be developing and are not yet absolutely perfect. That's what the future is all about -- to continue the learning process that we have begun here. We've all still got a lot to learn!
--DBB
* * *
God has a lot of things to teach us in Heaven, things we didn't learn in this life.
--DBB
* * *
Contrary to popular belief, the moment we land in Heaven we don't immediately know everything! If we did, we'd be God Himself -- all-knowing.
God has left that for the rest of time and eternity in order to give us something to do in the hereafter. We'll be able to learn more about the past and why things happened, as well as God's logic and purposes and the meaning of it all.
--DBB
* * *
Eternity is a constant learning process. It will be another grade, another step, a chance to do what we failed to do before and to learn what we failed to learn before. Thank God for eternity! We've all probably got a lot of bad habits to change and failures to make up for. Maybe God will give each of us a chance to meet people who we've wronged and straighten things out and tell them we're sorry.
--DBB
* * *
Paul observed, "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Timothy 6:7). He was referring to material things, wealth. However, we will take our knowledge and experience and training from this life with us into the next life.
--DBB
* * *
In Heaven, God will reveal what on Earth He chose to conceal.
* * *
In Heaven, a lot of things will be different, but many things are going to be the same, enough so that we'll still be able to use much of the knowledge, skills, talents and experience that we have gained in this life. God will not allow all the training we have received to be wasted.
--DBB
* * *
This life is just your schooling for what you have to do when you graduate.
--DBB
* * *
We will be able to travel backward or forward in time and see what has been and what is going to be, as well as experience the glorious wonderful present! We will see, hear, feel and experience the very events of the past, just as they happened.
--DBB
* * *
God will probably allow us to ask questions about and discover some of the things we've always been curious about. Isn't it marvelous to think about how we will be able to actually meet and talk to people who lived throughout history?
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is not the end: It's only the beginning!
--DBB
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A Down-to-Earth Heaven
A lot of people think Heaven is sitting around on a cloud playing a harp all day, doing nothing except being "holy" -- and they don't find it very appealing! Thank God that is not what Heaven is like!
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is not a state or condition. Heaven is a place. "I go to prepare a place for you," promised Jesus. "In My Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2).
--CLA
* * *
Heaven is a pretty practical, common sense, down-to-earth place!
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is not so terribly different from this present existence to where we can't even comprehend or understand it. Otherwise, when we arrived there, we would be completely lost and we wouldn't be able to relate to it.
--DBB
* * *
We're going to be surprised when we discover that things in Heaven are normal and natural, much like this life. Of course, it will be better, much more beautiful and supernatural, without all the troubles, trials, tribulations, suffering, tears and pain we have here. However, it will still be enough like this life that we will survive the change and not suffer some sort of traumatic "culture shock." It'll be life very much like we're living now, only without the bad and evil.
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is not a place of eternal rest, but a place of eternal life.
--CLA
* * *
Concerning the loved ones who have passed on do not try to make me believe that they are doing nothing, merely resting, careless ever. That would imply the condition of Hell, not of Heaven.
--Campbell Morgan
* * *
We must get away from the traditional idea that the saints in Heaven have one eternal holiday; that they have nothing to occupy them save playing a harp and incessantly singing.
--H. Lockyer
* * *
The material universe even down to the smallest electron, is in motion. Heaven undoubtedly is a very active place. Suns and planets are speeding through the universe at terrific speeds. Nothing could be further from the truth than the old idea that in Heaven the people are just sitting around, or lolling about, with nothing to do -- an idle, stagnant life. It is inconsistent to imagine a Heaven in which people would sit under the shade of the trees, or on the bank of the River of Life, twanging a harp -- "perhaps a thousand strings" -- and spend an eternity in a do-nothing world! We cannot conceive that God would put us in another world with renewed and enlarged powers of body and mind, and leave us with nothing to do.
--Leewin B. Williams
* * *
In Heaven we shall not rest from our work, but from our labors. There will be no toil, no pain in the work.
--DBB
* * *
We're going to have plenty of work to do, but it's going to be a lot easier than here. There'll be no sorrow, no sickness, no pain, no weariness, no death, no more tears, no more crying. That's certainly going to make things easier. We're going to have rest in Heaven compared to what we've had in this life, but we're also going to have something to do. We'd eventually be unhappy if we didn't!
--DBB
* * *
The thought of eternal rest is boring. If we had nothing to do and no responsibilities, living would become a bore and a burden. Paradise is a place of beauty because it is a place of growth.
--CLA
* * *
After death we are given another chance for the fulfillment of the best in the individual life. Eternal life overcomes all human limitations.
--CLA
* * *
I feel within me that future life. I am like a forest that has been razed; the new shoots are stronger and brighter. I shall most certainly rise toward the heavens. The nearer my approach to the end, the plainer is the sound of immortal symphonies of worlds which invite me. For half a century I have been translating my thoughts into prose and verse: history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these I have tried. But I feel I haven't given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies within me. When I go to the grave I can say, as others have said, "My day's work is done." But I cannot say, "My life is done." My work will recommence the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes upon the twilight, but opens upon the dawn.
--Victor Hugo
* * *
Death is the opposite of retiring. Jesus made a promise to those who are faithful in this life: "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:23). Death is the emancipation of the soul into greater activity.
--CLA
* * *
The future life is where we will go on helping to bring the universe to perfection, which is God's grand ultimate aim. [The purpose of life] is to help God run the universe. Everyone in that better land will be busy all the time, and the environment will be perfect all the time for doing the work which God assigns to all.
--Edwin Markham
==========#==========#==========#==========
The Heavenly City -- Mansions, Children, Music, and Pets!
The paradise that God has prepared for us, the marvelous Heavenly City, is clearly and explicitly described in His Holy Book, the Bible, in the last two chapters of Revelation, the prophecies of Saint John. It is so amazing, so breathtakingly beautiful, that it is almost beyond description!
It is the largest City ever built, built by God Himself! It is 1,500 miles wide and 1,500 miles high. It glows with golden light from its crystal golden beauty and is full of golden mansions for you and me!
The streets are made of scintillating crystal-clear gold. It is surrounded by a very high wall with twelve pearly gates. This is to prevent the entry of any who are not yet ready to enter therein.
Within its shimmering gates is the Paradise of God, where the River of Life winds gracefully through lush parks where laughing children and gentle animals play -- and where departed loved ones await our coming!
--DBB
* * *
In Heaven, each of us will have a special place to live. Before Jesus left this earth, He told His followers that He would prepare a place for them and all believers in the hereafter. "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,3). One of these days, we're going to own a mansion that isn't going to cost us anything -- no upkeep, no expenses!
--DBB
* * *
It would be hard to imagine Heaven without children. It wouldn't be Heaven!
--DBB
* * *
Heaven would be a pretty boring place without children. What are we going to do, all get to be old people and then stagnate and that's the end of it? Once all those that are already born grow up, the place would really lack life without new generations of children! If there were no children, it would be a dead society.
--DBB
* * *
Heaven is the perfect place to raise children. Everything will be just the way it was intended to be in the beginning, a perfect environment without pain and danger, accidents and death and the horrors of this world. Babies won't have to cry. -- They'll have everything they need. We'll be able to read their little minds, and we won't have to wonder what they're needing. Just think of all the advantages of rearing children in Heaven. It will be pure pleasure!
--DBB
* * *
Having children and raising them will bring new purpose and new life to Heaven. It will not be the end of everything, but the beginning!
--DBB
* * *
[Heaven is] a land where children shall walk on cool springy turf, and among myrtle trees, and eat fruits that shall heal while they delight them, and drink the coolest of water, fresh from the River of Life, and have space to stretch themselves, and bathe, and leap, and run, and whichsoever way they look meet Christ's eyes smiling on them.
--Thomas Moore
* * *
Music will still be a big part of our environment. The Bible talks about choirs of angels and how there is singing in Heaven. We're going to have the greatest choirs, the greatest bands and symphony orchestras, the greatest music that the world has ever known. The world has never even heard music yet compared to what we're going to have there! If humans can make the beautiful music they have learned to make with these hand-made instruments, think what God can do supernaturally!
--DBB
* * *
Musicians can look forward to playing with the best musicians that ever played. They can even have their own band!
--DBB
* * *
There are going to be animals in Heaven. The prophet Isaiah said that "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, ... and the lion shall eat straw like the ox" (Isaiah 11:6-9).
--DBB
* * *
God put many animals here [on Earth] for pets, playthings and companions for us and our children, and we're still going to enjoy them [in Heaven].
--DBB
* * *
When we see what He has for us there, we'll agree with Paul, when he wrote about Heaven, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). -- Things we didn't even imagine could be so beautiful and wonderful.
--DBB
==========#==========#==========#==========
Conclusion
Many aspects of Heaven have been presented in these pages. However, some questions remain unanswered. Perhaps the most important is, "How can I know for certain that I am going to Heaven?" Most of us want to go, but when pressed, aren't really sure if we qualify.
The same God who loves us enough to create us, this life, the universe and the Heaven we have just read about has made it very easy for each of us to be assured of a place there. It is best summed up in a very simple, but very important verse from the Bible.
For God so loved the world [each of us], that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
--Jesus, John 3:16, NKJ
God loves each of us in a very special way. He knows that the only way we're going to be truly happy and personally fulfilled is to live with Him forever. To make this possible, He sent His Son, Jesus, to show us how to live and love, and to die for us. Jesus is the bridge between this life and Heaven.
And don't ever think that you are too "bad" to go to Heaven. God knows everything you have ever done or said or even thought, and He still loves you unconditionally. Heaven is full of sinners -- that is, people who have done bad things, but asked God for His forgiveness. All He wants you to do is to tell Him you're sorry and invite Him into your life.
Would you like to know for sure that you're going to Heaven? If you wish, you can sincerely pray this simple prayer:
"Jesus, I want to know You and to live forever in Heaven. I know I've made mistakes and done bad things -- and I'm sorry. I know I don't deserve it, but I accept Your love and ask that I can be with You in Heaven. Please come into my life and help me, and give me peace."
God has promised to answer your prayer, so you now have a home in Heaven! God bless you with a wonderful, fulfilling eternity! See you there!
For more information or other publications, please write:
Family Care Foundation
P.O. Box 6070
Orange, California 92863-6070
E-mail: fcf@familycare.org
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family