Week 31
Jeremiah 31:12 “They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord…and their life will be like a watered garden, and they will never languish again.”
This passage recalls the coming days when the Lord will bring His people back from their exile to their homeland. Going home from their distant land of exile was the sweetest thought the Jewish exiles could contemplate. To them, going home was their life destiny and living hope.
There is a remarkable crossover application to heaven for the Christian. We read the biblical descriptions of God’s people joyfully enjoying their homeland again, and our thoughts go immediately to heaven and think of the wonderous and glorious joy of Christians now in the presence of God’s loving grace in heaven. “They are radiant over the bounty of the Lord…their life will be like a watered garden, and they will never languish again.” Heaven, that happy eternal place where the glory of the Lord abounds around and in all who live there, is the place of purity, joy, health, peace, and love. Those who live there are blessed beyond measure.
Many a Christian has a loved one who has gone on before to that “homeland” in heaven. Though we miss them and grieve their loss, still we cannot help but rejoice exceedingly in knowing that they are celebrating God’s saving work and merciful gifts in heaven at this very moment and forever. Their race is finished; their warfare is complete. They are those who have heard the Lord’s happy welcome, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Christians in heaven “shout for joy” for they are truly “on the height of Zion.” We sometimes sing:
“We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion
The beautiful city of God.” (Isaac Watts)
Those in heaven have eyes to fully and directly see the glory of God, and they do so with eternal soul-full delight and pleasure. Their hearts are never heavy with sorrow, burdens, and trouble. They rise every moment in the ecstatic joy and praise of the living God who saved them in Jesus Christ. Their tongues are instruments of praise, not gossip and slander. Their hearts are filled with love and purity, not hate and bitterness. They are the ones who know and experience the jubilant euphoria of God’s completed saving work through Christ and saving grace in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing left out – all is gratifyingly consummated and accomplished.
Every child of God saved by grace through the atoning work of Christ applied by the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit is on his way to heaven. Our heavenly home is just down the road a bit. Hang on! Don’t quit! Walk on in life’s storms and obstinate winds. Do what is honorable in God’s sight, and soon you will join this happy heavenly band.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the promise of heaven. Thank You for the gift of heaven to those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Thank You for those who are already in heaven and thank You for the guarantee that as a believer soon I will be in heaven also. Till then, please keep me faithful. Amen.
