Heaven Series #9
Can we see Heaven before we get there?
The scriptures tell us in Hebrews 11, that the patriarchs and matriarchs of the faith had several things in common.
The one I want to focus on here… is that they were each able to see past whatever this world offered them, and SEE into the future… a world far richer and greater than this one. The scriptures show that they “saw… afar off”… the promises of a better country. One version says, “in the distance”. It is speaking in terms of time… possibly their own lifetime… before they would actually inherit the promised land.
But how could they see it, if it was in the future?. How were they able to SEE HEAVEN? They saw it with the eyes of faith… which is simply the “evidence of things” they “hoped for”. Their faith was all the evidence they needed. And it is the same us. We “walk by faith and not by sight”… and the day will surely come when we won’t need “faith” to see it anymore, because we will already be there!
Although they each one of these men and women lived in different geographical areas and in different generations of time, one thing that they all knew and confessed was that they were just passing through… They knew that they were just “pilgrims and strangers” in this life. They knew not to set their roots too deep here, because the day would soon come when they would be uprooted, and moving on to their real, true home in heaven… They realized that the future home that God had promised them, was far greater than anything this cursed earth could offer. As beautiful as it is… it is still under the original curse, only remotely resembling it’s original beauty and glory.
God has not abandoned his original plan for mankind to live in peace and joy in paradise. What God began, He will finish… and it will be just as the scripture tells us… beyond our imagination… and I can imagine a lot!
I’d also like to add another common thread of our forefathers… the PASSION they each possessed for heaven. The earlier passage goes on to say that “they were LONGING for a better country… a heavenly one”. They didn’t just see it afar off… but they LONGED for it… much like a lover longs for their sweetheart to return home after an extended journey.
There is even a special crown that God will give to those who “long for His appearing”. Let’s open our eyes to see the things which really matter… the eternal things… our future home in heaven… the mountains and streams and meadows of a perfect creation… the angels… our loved ones… and most of all, seeing and embracing the One who paid such a great price so we could have all these things… our loving Savior Himself.
Blessings, Mike
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