We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.1 corinthians 15:51-52 The transformation of the body you have now into the body you will have will be instantaneous. What do we know about this new resurrection body? There will be continuity, but also changes. Your body will be imperishable: “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. Wh...
Apr 28, 2024•3 min
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.Philippians 3:20-21 The human body is lowly. The human body, at its strongest, is still fragile. Even if you are really fit, and you get hit by a truck, you will be in trouble. C. S. Lewis said, “When you are learning to ride they give you unimpressive horses. Only when you are ready...
Apr 27, 2024•3 min
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the irstfruits of the Spirit. groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons. the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.Romans 8:22-24 All religions have some belief in life after death. But the resurrection of the body is unique to Christianity. Only Christians have a risen Saviour. At the heart of our faith is the grea...
Apr 26, 2024•3 min
The Word became lesh and dwelt among us.John 1:14 God became a man in Christ Jesus. The body of Jesus was like ours. He grew in strength—from a baby, to a child, to a man—and He knew what it was like to be hungry, thirsty, and weary. The first heresy, the first false teaching that the early church had to contend with, was not the denial that Jesus was God, but the denial that He was man. In that culture, people got to thinking, How could God, who is pure spirit, possibly get mixed up with someth...
Apr 25, 2024•3 min
The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. and the man became a living creature.Genesis 2:7 God made the body of Adam from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed the breath of life into this body. So, Adam was the union of a body and a soul. This is the reason that the Bible sometimes speaks about death as an “enemy,” because death is the undoing of our nature. It is the tearing apart of what God has joined together. If a mobile p...
Apr 24, 2024•3 min
"It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega. the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment."Revelation 21:6 Here are two things to reconsider in the light of heaven: First, if you are holding back from full commitment to Jesus: However hard it is for you to come to Christ in repentance, however hard it is for you to look to Him in faith, however costly it may be for you to confess Jesus as Lord of your life, you cannot ultimately lose. N...
Apr 23, 2024•3 min
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.Revelation 21:2 There will be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30), but we will still be male and female, because that is how God created us and it was good. The gift of marriage was given to point to something greater that God has in store for all who love Him. Marriage, at its best, is a pointer to the joy that we will find in Jesus Christ and that Christ will find in His people i...
Apr 22, 2024•3 min
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with ire and sulfur. which is the second death."Revelation 21:8 Precisely when God is telling us about the new heaven and new earth, He also tells us that He will separate all that is evil from His people and from His creation—the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idola...
Apr 21, 2024•3 min
"Neither shall there be mourning. nor crying. nor pain anymore. for the former things have passed away."Revelation 21:4 You will not spend eternity grieving over your past sins and missed opportunities. We will never forget that we were sinners because we will always be finding joy in the Lamb who was slain, the Son of God who redeemed us by the shedding of His blood. We will know ourselves to be redeemed sinners—not in a way that will bring pain or regret, but in a way that will cause us to mag...
Apr 20, 2024•3 min
“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 21:4 Notice what will be gone, subtracted, taken away in heaven. All these things—death, mourning, and pain—are passing away. You will not find or experience them in the new heaven and new earth. Let’s consider them one at a time. Death: Nobody in the new heaven and new earth will ever die. No one will grow ol...
Apr 19, 2024•3 min
"Behold, I am making all things new."Revelation 21:5 Life in the new heaven and new earth will not be less than the life you have now. It will be more! The word "new" can be used in two ways. The first is to say, “I’m moving to a new house.” You are in a different place, and there is no continuity between your old house and your new house. The second is to renovate your house. It is an old house and everything in it needs to be redone. So, you do a total rehab, and when you are done you say, “Ev...
Apr 18, 2024•3 min
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.Revelation 21:1 Satan’s master strategy is to have people think that what lies ahead will be far less than what we have now. He wants you to believe that your life would be less if it were in God’s hands. If you believe the life you have now is better than the future life you will have in the presence of God, you will be like a person who tries to hold onto sand as it slips through his fingers. People sometimes talk about “living your best life now.” But l...
Apr 17, 2024•2 min
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory."John 17:24 Will we see our believing loved ones in heaven? Yes. But here’s the bigger question: Will Jesus see His believing loved ones in heaven? Yes! When Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, He prayed this prayer: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (17:24). In other words, Jesus was saying, “I want them with me, and I want ...
Apr 16, 2024•2 min
Seven witnesses from the Bible point to our knowing one another in heaven, and here are our sixth and seventh witnesses. Witness #6—Paul and the Thessalonians: Paul says that believers whom he loved and served on earth will be his joy and crown in heaven. So, the special relationship forged between Paul and these believers on earth will continue in heaven. He is saying, “You have been my joy on earth, and you will be a joy to me in heaven.” Jonathan Edwards takes up this theme: “The special affe...
Apr 15, 2024•3 min
Seven witnesses from the Bible point to our knowing one another in heaven. and here are our fourth and fifth witnesses. Witness #4—Moses and Elijah: “Behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him [Jesus]” (Matt. 17:3). When Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, they did not have the resurrection body. Even now, Jesus Christ is the only One in the universe who has the resurrection body. Moses and Elijah are in heaven with the rest of the believers, eagerly...
Apr 14, 2024•3 min
Seven witnesses from the Bible point to our knowing one another in heaven, and here are our second and third witnesses. Witness #2—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11). Notice the clear identity of these men—Abraham is Abraham in heaven, Isaac is Isaac, and Jacob is Jacob. They retain their distinct identities. We do not become nameless, anonymous spirits in the presence of Jesus. ...
Apr 13, 2024•3 min
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.Revelation 7:9 The distinct identity of every person in this vast crowd is maintained. They are from every tribe, nation, and language. The distinct individuality of every one of God’s people is preserved. What makes us different no longer divides. This speaks directly to the question: Will we know one another in...
Apr 12, 2024•3 min
"They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence."Revelation 7:15 God will shelter—literally, spread His tent—over His people. Imagine a massive piece of canvas that will be shaped into a tent. He shakes it out so that it falls over all His people, in a way that none of them are outside. It is the most beautiful picture of inclusion. Where do you feel completely at home? Where is the place you can say...
Apr 11, 2024•3 min
Behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"Revelation 7:9-10 John sees a vast crowd—in the immediate presence of Jesus Christ—standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They are dressed in white robes that speak ...
Apr 10, 2024•3 min
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord. Holy and true. How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"Revelation 6:9-10 There is a good-better-best pattern to the Christian life. To be in Christ is good. No matter how bad things get in this world, if you are in Christ, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). But t...
Apr 09, 2024•3 min
"They. are like angels in heaven."Mark 12:25 In what way will we be like the angels in heaven? Angels are spirits without bodies, though they occasionally appeared to people in the Bible with a temporary body. God has given us life in this world through the union of a body and a soul. Death is the separating of the soul from the body. So, the activity of angels gives us a model for thinking about the kinds of things that believers can do in the presence of Jesus while they are waiting for the re...
Apr 08, 2024•3 min
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.Philippians 1:23 Now, some have seized on the fact that the Bible sometimes describes death as sleep (1 Cor. 15:51) and have suggested that the souls of believers go to sleep when they die. Please remember that what sleeps is not the soul, but the body. The body is laid to rest until the resurrection. But the soul is very much alive in the presence of Jesus. Some people latch onto the idea of soul sleep because it is easier to ima...
Apr 07, 2024•3 min
Today you will be with me in paradise."Luke 23:43 What was death like for the thief? And what does the experience of a Christian believer look like immediately after death? Jesus promised that the thief would be with Him, and He said that it would be today. In other words, Jesus was Jesus died before the thief, and He committed His spirit into the hands of the Father. So, when the thief died, he went immediately into the presence of Jesus. After all that he’d been through, there was no post-trau...
Apr 06, 2024•2 min
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."Luke 23:34 Today the thief is in heaven and the reason is not that he was without sin or that he lived a good enough life. The thief is in heaven because Jesus paid the price for his sin and gave him eternal life. What Jesus did for the thief, He is able to do for you. But remember, there were two thieves, and while one was saved, the other was lost. Both of them had the same need and the same opportunity. Both of them were next to Jesus. Bo...
Apr 05, 2024•3 min
"You will be with me in paradise."Luke 23:43 This is the promise of the Saviour to every person who places their trust in Him. So turn to Him, ask of Him, and take Him at His word. Trusting Jesus will involve trusting Him in three very challenging circumstances: Trusting Jesus in the darkness Immediate after the thief trusted Jesus, “there was darkness over the whole land” (23:44). This darkness came in the middle of the day and it lasted for three hours. Put yourself in the shoes of the thief. ...
Apr 04, 2024•3 min
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom."Luke 23:42 This was an audacious request. The thief did not say, “I know I’ve made some mistakes, but nobody’s perfect, and I’ve done a lot of good things in my life.” He said, “We are receiving the due reward of our deeds” (23:41). This man asked Jesus with honesty and humility. He faced the fact that he was a sinner. He had sinned against God and against his fellow man. And we are like him. We have failed to do what God has called us to do, and we ...
Apr 03, 2024•3 min
The robbers who were cruciied with him also reviled him in the same way.Matthew 27:44 One thief continued to hurl insults at Jesus, but a change came over the other. The Bible calls this change repentance. Every change has a beginning, and the story of the thief shows us where repentance begins. The thief had been hurling abuse at Jesus, but then a stillness came over his soul as he thought about what lay ahead: Why am I fighting against God? What sense does this make when soon I will stand befo...
Apr 02, 2024•3 min
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.Luke 23:32 The day you die may be a long way off, but nothing is more certain… it will come. One day you will wake up and it will be your last day on earth. What will happen to you then? The story of the thief on the cross tells us how we can be sure about heaven. We are not told much about this man, except that while he was hanging on the cross next to Jesus, he said to Him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ...
Apr 01, 2024•3 min
He was... a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. ISAIAH 53:3 John Stott comments so helpfully on the sufferings of Jesus in a moving passage from his book called The Cross of Christ: I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross... In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples... and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playi...
Mar 30, 2024•3 min
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? PSALM 13:1-2 The mind of Christ was saturated with these psalms. He would have recited them in the synagogue. He used them. He experienced them. And He is with us when we pray them. So, what does Jesus know about this psalm? How does it relate to Him? Did Jesus ever know what it is to b...
Mar 29, 2024•3 min
