The Book Of Love

#10. The Wonder of Heaven Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1 The first heavens, and the first earth is gone; melted, dissolved, and has passed away. (2Pe 3:10, Mi 1:4) And “new” in this verse is translated from the Greek, kainos, meaning: a brand new, never before existed, superior creation replacing an inferior old one. But why doesn’t God just fix what was already there? Could God transform the existing, time-space format of the material universe into an eternal format? Absolutely! But it must be that the material universe is destined to somehow become the hellfire, home of the damned—the ultimate, cumulative, lake of fire (Mi 1:3-4; Re 20:10-15)—even an endless, everlasting, universal black hole. Horror of horrors! The essence of this present world is a time-space format, which includes all the restrictions and limitations of time-space physics, but after our resurrection we are in glorified bodies—formatted for the eternal order—suited for a life without limits or limitations of any form. How wonderful will that be? to live on a new earth, and have a new, eternal universe for our playground? to have bodies that are not subject to the laws and limits of physics? to finally be out-of-the-box that has held us captive all our lifetime? This is going to be wonderful! And there will be no more sea because a sea necessarily involves limits; it must be contained, and that demands boundaries and separation which is not consistent with an eternal order. And at last, life’s voyage o’er, Take us to the Heavenly shore, Safe in port, to dwell with Thee Where there shall be “no more sea. Henry Coppee, 1887 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 2 When John saw the New Jerusalem he knew, and understood that this was his eternal home. He was totally astonished and wrote about its beauty through no less than seventeen verses of Revelation 20; telling of its size, its shape, its lights, its foundations; its crystal, and gold, and jasper and on, and on, and on. It’s as though he just couldn’t stop talking about it; we can almost feel his exuberant joy and wonder. I think it was like that when I first met my wife; she was (and still is) a lovely, beautiful woman, and I knew she was going to be my wife; it was an awesome feeling to be in love. But adorned in her wedding gown with all the frills, smiling as she came down the aisle to meet me at the altar, I must say, she was simply, totally wonderful; I could hardly believe my eyes; I could not stop gazing at her with admiration and desire to be with her forever. So it will be when we see our new home, the New Jerusalem, coming “down the aisle”—out of Heaven, from God to us…adorned with Love. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Verse 3 One thing is clear from this wonderful verse: God’s desire is—and always has been—to dwell with His people. If you’re born-again of the Spirit of God, you are a living Tabernacle, and God is ever present in you. “He inhabits the praises of His people” (Ps 22:3) literally means that God inhabits everything we do to His glory. Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, and the presence of God was there, walking with them in the cool of the day. (Ge 3:8) The Israelites lived in a tent, so God said, “Put me in a tent that I may dwell among them!” (Ex 40:32) When His people built the Temple to replace the Tabernacle, God said, “Put me in the Temple now!” (Ps 11:4) Finally, God said, “Put me in my people so I can be with them all the time! Make them my Tabernacle!” (1Co 16:9) We have heard it said, “You never really know a person until you live in the same house with them.” Experience has taught us that there is a measure of wisdom in those words, but to dwell with Him in His eternal Tabernacle will be an experience wonderful beyond human imagination. We understand what it means to be “His people” but as we dwell with Him in person, in His eternal Tabernacle in Heaven, we will get to know Him within the perspective of in an entirely new dimension: I am my Beloved’s; now my Beloved is mine. (Song 2:16, 6:3) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Verse 4 One of the most wonderful of promises in the entire Bible is this: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” But what does this mean? He will clear our memory of every single remembrance that does not glorify Him. Because of the blood of the Cross, He has already forgiven and forgotten my sins, buried them in the deepest part of the sea, and remembers them no more; it is as though I had never sinned, as though my sins do not now exist—and really never did. Presently I know they do in my own mind; and if I forget, I’m sure someone could remind me. But when God wipes away every tear, it will be a done deal! Now, even we will not remember any of our sins—not one; or anyone else’s for that matter. Hallelujah! We might say it this way: Not one single thing that does not glorify God will enter into Heaven; not a memory, not a thought, not any action or inaction—nothing, no remembrance that can ever in any possible way bring a tear to my eye—will be excluded from this wonderful, precious, promise. I won’t even know what happened; but suddenly, instantly my eyes will be opened to the reality of…Love! Ooooh! Praise Jesus forever, and ever, and ever, wonderful world without end. Amen! Hallelujah! As I never before have known it, I will know the truth of this awesome scripture: 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 The greatest wonders of our Heavenly home have never occurred to the human mind; they are so wonderful as to defy description; no words can truly express their beauty, their grandeur, their design and construct, their meaning or the impact they will have upon our person. But is it not wonderful just to use our imagination on this most amazing topic of the wonders of Love? No more sin nature, no more bad memories, no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more hospitals, no more cemeteries, no more goodbyes, —AND, WONDER OF WONDERS— when we see his glory!