One of the first things that John did was describe what would happen in Heaven. This devotional reading looks at how God dwells with mankind and what that means for us.
Nuggets
- One of the biggest things to change in Heaven will be the visible workings of God in our lives.
- A benefit of eternity is that we will be dwelling with God.
- God wants us to live with Him forever.
- All results of sin will be eliminated.
- Eternity is going to be – well – for eternity.
New heaven, earth, and Jerusalem entered the picture in the last devotion. But we have to figure out the occupants and the differences from the current world.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Eternity Begins series
What the Loud Voice Said
“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’” (Rev. 21: 3 ESV)
A Loud Voice from the Throne
One of the biggest things to change in Heaven will be the visible workings of God in our lives.
It is easy to assume that the voice from the throne is God. It seems like every time in the past when we’ve heard a voice from there, we’ve assumed it is God’s.
I, personally, think this time that it is Jesus’ voice. He has been the One judging and sentencing mankind. All that is left is those who have asked Him to be their Savior.
To me — while Jesus is stating how things are going to be — He is presenting us to God. Just as we present Him with our crowns for His glory. He is presenting us to God for God’s glory.
That was Jesus’ objective throughout His mission — give glory to God. He did that by recruiting us for salvation.
To me, this does show Jesus’ authority and supremacy. I think Bunting was on the right track. He wrote, “It is His to assign to each saint his proper place and occupation in heaven.”
Resource
Jesus is running the show. He is on the throne and the object of our worship.
But it is to glorify His Father. Everything Jesus always did was to follow God’s Will in order to glorify Him.
- “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 6: 38 ESV).
- “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 5: 30 ESV).
Let’s take a second and talk about the throne. If it is Jesus sitting on it, it is still the great white throne. This is the Judgment seat.
We’ve talked before that some have trouble seeing the God of Love as the God of wrath. Watkinson said something that resonated with me. He wrote,
“Our first text reminds us that God sometimes executes what must be described as ‘strange work’; that is, work which seems altogether at variance with His glorious character, and with the acknowledged principles of His government. Now we affirm that the whole present government of this world partakes largely of this character; it is a ‘strange work’ to meet an extraordinary crisis. The sweating, the groaning, the bleeding, the dying, all the tragic aspects of life, do not belong to the Divine eternal order; they are the consequences, not of the laws of God, but of the violation of those laws, and they exist only locally and temporally for ends of discipline, lesser evils permitted and overruled for the prevention of greater.”
Resource
I know. That is packed. So, let’s unpack it.
- When we see work as coming from conflicting attributes, it does seem strange.
- But it is only in this world that the conflict is seen.
- The extraordinary crisis is our sin.
- What seems contradictory to God’s character is things that have entered the world because of the results of our sins, not something that was present from creation.
- We should not think it goes against God’s character to correct us.
God’s Word backs up that last point.
- “for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (a Prov. 3: 12 ESV).
- “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12: 6 ESV).
Once we get to this point and sin is vanquished, we won’t have to worry about God’s correction anymore. We can begin living the life others think we should have here.
The Dwelling Place of God
A benefit of eternity is that we will be dwelling with God.
Is our concern over God’s seemingly differing actions based on the law a moot point? Will the law be abolished once we get to the dwelling place of God.
Watkinson thought so. But what did Jesus say?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Mt. 5: 17-18 ESV emphasis added).
Heaven and earth as we know it have already passed away at this point. Does that mean the law will be abolished?
Well, yes and no. It will no longer be the guidepost for right and wrong.
However, the laws reflect and show us God’s character. His character isn’t going to change, so there will never be an end to it.
I worry sometimes that we won’t be able too not break the law once we get to God’s dwelling place. We’re not doing a good job of keeping it here, even after conversion.
But then I remind myself of a couple of things.
- We will have a new body.
- Sin will be abolished.
- Jesus will be right there with us.
- Our knowledge will increase.
For sure, we know that God’s dwelling place will be with us. More correctly stated – our dwelling place will be with God.
Some translate it as home. Others translate it as tabernacle.
Holland told us a bit about the reference to the tabernacle. He wrote,
“The tabernacle it is, not the temple, we remember. The old word carries us back far beyond the Temple of Zion and the rock. It bids us think of the days of the pilgrimage, of the longtrailing masses moving across the desert sands, always moving, ever onward, drawn forward. In the morning the tent is struck: then there is the long, weary march, and, at the fall of night, the camp again. The changing scene, the unchanging home, that is the stamp and the brand that should be on the Church.”
Resource
We look at it as the tabernacle went, and the temple stayed put. That is backwards thinking. The people went wherever the tabernacle went.
But we also see the tabernacle as rooms. That isn’t right because God would fill all, even the entire earth.
Liddon questioned if the tabernacle of God was just an expression. God has many purposes and goes many directions as each of us have many purposes for Him and go all over the world to accomplish those purposes.
Resource
Tabernacle – temple – I think they will be one and the same thing. It is where we will live and worship.
In a couple of devotions, we’ll talk about what the tabernacle will look like in Heaven. So we’ll pick this discussion up then.
They Will be His People
God wants us to live with Him forever.
The tabernacle that was carried around by the Wilderness Wanderers was called the Tabernacle of Meeting. It was where God came to meet with His people.
The Wilderness Wanderers always knew when God was in residence. His presence was signified by either the pillar of fire or the cloud.
Liddon reminded us that the Urim and Thummim was used for divine communication. The ark of the covenant also had the mercy seat incorporated into it.
Bonar had an interesting take. Remember, we’ve been talking about how Paradise was different than or similar from or the same as Heaven? He said that Paradise described God’s dwelling with mankind, such as He did in the Garden of Eden.
Resource
Yeah, we no longer live in the Garden of Eden. We were cut off from it when Adam and Eve committed the original sin.
However, God’s plans for dwelling with us were just postponed.
God got His plan back on track when He sent Jesus to be incarnated as a 100% Man and 100% God. Jesus’ non-sinful life carried God’s plan forward. It was really put in place by His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
We’ve been on hold since then.
On hold, moving steadily toward the Day of the Lord – it matters not. Jesus said that He would be with us always. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28; 19-20 ESV).
What There Won’t Be
“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 ...” (Rev. 21: 4 ESV)
All results of sin will be eliminated.
We’ve talked about this verse before.
- Disciples will have freedom from evil that affects the quality of our lives.
- God wants us to be content in whatever feeling we have.
- Every source of sorrow will be eliminated.
- God will clean out all the sin so that we will be allowed to worship. Peace and joy will remain.
- Death brings much sorrow and many tears and only entered the world when mankind rebelled against God.
- Judgment is worse than death if we have not put our faith or trust in Jesus.
- We no longer have to fear sin and death for Christ has conquered it.
- We aren’t going to continue to die — hence, no more mourning.
- When we sin, we should mourn that we have broken God’s laws and commandments. We should be sad that we were not obedient as God expects — that we keep sinning.
- The things of this life that hurt us now won’t be present then.
All this tells us that there won’t be any anxiety in Heaven.
There will be no tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain because of forgiveness. We are required to “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Ac. 13: 19 ESV).
- “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11: 36 ESV).
- “The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him” (Eph. 1: 14 ESV).
It is logical that death will be eliminated. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23 ESV). If death has been eliminated, the wages of sin will also be gone.
All outward anxiety will be gone because the results of sin will be gone. All inward anxiety will be gone because sin will be no more.
It is also logical that pain will be eliminated. Pain, which it was a good teacher when we needed it, steals the joy which the Father gives.
But all the lessons that pain would teach are no longer needed. They have served their purpose to show us sin in our lives and in the world.
Instead, all the reasons for pain have been eliminated in eternal life.
Why There Won’t Be
“... for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21: 4 ESV)
Eternity is going to be – well – for eternity.
Yes, earthly, sinful things will pass away. What will remain is God’ new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem.
Our current bodies won’t survive because they are filled with sin. I like what Bonar had to say. He wrote,
“The sin, and the darkness, and the misery, and the unbelief, and the distance from God — all these shall come to a perpetual end. In their place shall come holiness, and love, and light, and joy, and everlasting nearness — unchanging and unending fellowship with that Jehovah in whom is life eternal.”
Resource
Won’t that be a wonderful world!
Making the Connections #1
Withington said that, while we will be pilgrams at rest, we will also be doing a variety of work.
Resource
No, Withington didn’t think we would be in a continual worship service. We would have other duties to do.
Making the Connections #2
We shouldn’t get a wrong idea. We aren’t going to be glorified. “he Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8: 16-17 ESV).
Jesus’ glory is revealed when we share in His suffering. “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (I Pet. 4: 13 ESV).
Making the Connections #3
Look what Jeffrey said. He wrote, “This removal of tears is directly traceable to God. It is enjoyed through grace in virtue of the [Savior’s] blood, and God bestows it through the pardon of the believer’s sins, and by giving him a right and title to eternal life.”
Resource
Tears are gone because of grace. Yeah, it is all tied to spiritual things. There is nothing physical about it.
Worldview theories and beliefs will have nothing to do with the Day of the Lord and life in eternity.
It has to do with salvation in Christ and our perfection in following Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Live a close, intimate life with Jesus to increase our faith in Him as this determines the degrees of heavenly glory we will be rewarded.
- Believe God’s promises will come to pass.
- Believe God is on His throne with Jesus interceding for us.
- Cooperate with and obey God.
- Desire to be united with and purified by God.
- Meditate on Christ’s return with gratitude and wonder.
- Watch diligently, never losing our trust in what God has prophesied will happen.
- We navigate the Sanctification Road to mature in our faith.
- Understand that tears won’t be wiped away here.
- Cherish the gospel, which gives us hope that our tears will be eliminated.
- Live a virtuous life.
Resource
Father God. We can’t wait to see You at the beginning of eternity. We look forward to a time when there is no sin and none of its results. Lord, give us strength to follow You now so that we can grow closer to You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.