Kinsella ~ What's So Great About Heaven?
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Kinsella ~ What's So Great About Heaven?
The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest Vol: 168 Issue: 19 - Saturday, September 19, 2015 | |
What's So Great About Heaven? It think it fair to say that most unbelievers are motivated to come to Christ more by the fear of going to hell than they are by the promise of heaven. It was certainly true in my case. I'd heard about heaven all my life. An eternity of praise and worship and singing . . . ummm, an eternity? (My enthusiasm starts to wane a bit.) But given the alternative. . . heaven sounds just great! It is that comparison that motivated me to seek salvation. By itself, Heaven sounded a lot like an eternal church service. But truth to tell, I'm good for about an hour in church before I start squirming in my seat. It was fear of the alternative that drove me to my knees. Perhaps that might be why the Bible has more to say about hell than it does about heaven. Here's what we know about hell, and the Lake of Fire to come after that. Luke 16:19-31 reveals that in hell, one has no name. Abraham is mentioned by name. So is Lazarus. But the rich man is not named. What good is a name when nobody will ever call it again? In hell, while you have no identity, you know who you were. The rich man remembered his father and five brothers. His memories are intact. In hell, one is tormented by flame. The rich man begged for a drop of water to cool his burning tongue. We addressed the three-fold nature of man in detail in Volume 123, Issue: 20 during our discussion of the death of Kim Jong il. In life, the body is the sensory input station for the soul. The soul also receives input from the spirit, after it has been regenerated at salvation, but the soul's primary source of input is still physical; sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. Absent the body, the spirit becomes the eyes and ears, so to speak of the soul. The body's sensory gates close, but the spirit's sensory gates swing wide-open. We (that is, the soul, the part that makes you 'you') remains aware of what is going on. So when you die, the spirit functions much as the body did, as the primary sensory gateway into the soul. The soul of a person that dies unregenerate, like the rich man of Luke 16, has lost its physical sensory input. His spirit is dark, dead, and incapable of getting any spiritual input. He is conscious and aware, like the rich man, but he is buried in hell where the only input he gets is burning pain. That lost soul will have his physical sensory input restored to him just before being cast alive into the Lake of Fire. There, he will be deprived of spiritual comfort, since his spirit is dead, but his resurrection body will be eternally alive. Brrrr! Considering the alternative, suddenly the idea of eternal church sounds, well, heavenly. Isn't it interesting that heaven is practically impossible to imagine, while the image of hell is not only easy to grasp, it is almost impossible to erase from one's mind? Assessment:
Heaven sounds boring because we can only imagine it through our own eyes and from our own, earthly perspective. What can we learn about heaven that we can sink our teeth into, the way that the concept of hell tends to seek its teeth into us? First, the Bible tells us that heaven is the spiritual realm in which God's Presence is manifest. It is the dwelling place of the angels of God and of all believers that have gone on before. (Hebrews 10:22-24) Because it is the place where God dwells, heaven must consist of many more dimensions than just the three we can comprehend. The Apostle Paul reports an out-of-body experience in which he describes heaven.
Since Paul said it occurred "fourteen years ago" he is referring to his own conversion experience on the road to Damascus, (as he admits in v. 7). Whatever Paul saw, it made him long for more. Here and elsewhere, the Bible confirms the truth that there is no cessation of consciousness at death, no "soul sleep." We have the testimony of the Lord Himself, when He said to the thief on the Cross, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) When our physical inputs shut down and our souls leave our bodies, they are immediately present with the Lord:
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul re-confirms, from his own experience, that when we depart, we go to be with the Lord.
The Bible reveals that when we get to heaven, our spiritual nature changes. The dual nature of man exists only until the carnal part dies. What we have now is 'imputed' righteousness, whereas in heaven our hope of righteousness is realized. The Apostle John says that when we see Jesus, we shall be like Him as we are transformed. When we do, we will be purified from sin and eternally bonded to Him. We cannot imagine heaven, we can only compare it to earth and all its beauty and wonderment, remembering that the earth is the universe's garbage dump. It is the only place where sin can exist without throwing the entire universe out of balance, thanks to the fact it has an environment that contains it.
Think of our beautiful planet. Try to imagine what it must have been like when it was still pristine and pure, back when Adam walked with God in the Garden in the cool of the evening. When Satan and his crew were cast from heaven, they were cast to the earth, what the theologians call the ‘cosmos diabolicus’ or literally, a world of evil. To Satan and the rebellious angels that actually have seen heaven, it was the worst place they could imagine -- a place of involuntary and horrific exile. The elect angels share that opinion:
The angels know what that sinner has just escaped from. Jesus also describes what we become in eternity in Luke 20:36,
Paul tells us that we will receive new, immortal bodies at the Rapture:
But first, our loved ones who have gone on before get theirs. Then we who are alive and remain get ours.
Despite being changed, we will recognize one another. (1 Corinthians 15:49) Together with those we love, we will meet with the Lord in the air, and "so shall we ever be with the Lord."
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Re: Kinsella ~ What's So Great About Heaven?
I am currently reading a biographical novel on Michelangelo (The Agony & the Ecstasy by Irving Stone). In secret, as Michelangelo dissects a human body, he finds & recognizes the heart but wonders why there isn't an organ for the soul. The book is fiction, but I found the comment interesting.
Thanks for posting. An excellent commentary for sharing.
Thanks for posting. An excellent commentary for sharing.
Tryphena- Posts : 3319
Join date : 2013-04-15
Re: Kinsella ~ What's So Great About Heaven?
Looking forward to that day, thanks JH!
Tryphosa- Posts : 4592
Join date : 2013-06-18
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