“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4

 Heaven is coming one day!

There is a day coming that, in the end, will be simply indescribable, but God’s word does begin to describe it. God himself will be with us! An earlier verse calls this “a new heaven and a new earth.” What a day! On that day, there will be no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain! What a day! And on that day, God will crush all suffering and sorrow and death! I recently lamented, “I do not want us to see one more gravesite!” Well, there is a day coming that we will not have to! On that day God’s new heaven and earth will be brought in on the wave of his glorious and permanent presence. Heaven will be brought to us by Him. Imagine what that day will be like when all sin and sorrow are truly removed and we are finally in the promised presence of God – in the twinkling of an eye!

 In our grief, hope remains!

We learned a few weeks ago that a dear brother in Christ and a member of our church, Marc Leap, had passed away in his home. Grief and sorrow once again are suddenly on the scene. We are reminded that we are not yet in the new heaven that is to come. Death still plagues us. Mourning, crying and pain remain but they are not all that remains. Hope remains! “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”(1 Thessalonians 4:13-14) Jesus’ resurrection and His promise of our resurrection is the foundation of all of our hope in the face of our present sorrow. The Gospel transforms how we grieve. The Gospel infuses our grief with hope. The Gospel promise of the certain heaven to come bursts in on the darkness of sorrow with the blinding light of this hope – Jesus died and rose again! (Vs. 16)

It's still true, I do not want to visit another graveside but, when my soul remembers that God will be faithful to end all grief and usher in the new heaven where I finally will see the risen Jesus, I will know that hope be waiting for me at every single one.

 -Study the Resurrection and find Heaven’s Hope, Jesus-