How often are we trapped by the temporal things of this life? I cannot say in full. I do know, however, that we are not living this life without reason. There is a Heaven where the Lamb is the Light. There is a life after this one. Heaven will reveal the splendor of the Almighty God. It will host eternal joy; everlasting peace; and a myriad of wonders unseen by the mortal eye, but there will also be an absence of things too. In fact, some of the greatest things about Heaven will be what is not there.
Consider the Apostle John who is banished to an island prison called Patmos. He is trapped by the crashing waves which speak of the relentless judgement against him. We know that of the twelve disciples that began with Jesus so many years prior, he is the only one left. At the time he wrote the book of Revelation, John is about 90 years old. He has outlived, and in some cases, outlasted his beloved brethren and family, but loneliness has taken a secondary role to his inability to preach the Gospel. It’s no wonder why he was so willing to write and be used of God.
John is moved by the Spirit to relay the great message of Heaven’s wonder. He sees a new heaven and a new earth. The world is made new: A new Jerusalem, which he describes as “the holy city.” Yet of all the things that will exist, there’s one thing in his own life that will not be there. John wrote, “and there was no more sea.” No more imprisonment: no more isolation. There will be no more relentless days of judgement. Because Heaven is not just a place where Joy exists; it’s also a place of the absence of sorrow, shame, pain, and death. Heaven is not just a place of Light, but it’s also a place void of darkness, evil, and sin. I keep dreaming of a place called Glory, so bright and so fair…
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole