11 May Heaven Ain’t Lonely: You Will Be With God in Heaven
If you could meet with one person alive on the earth today who would that be? Family, or friend. Or, maybe a famous person?
How about God? What do you think it would be like to literally hang out with God? Not just now and then, but anytime?
This is precisely what the promise of Heaven is. One of my favorite things to do with my wife Grace is go for walks enjoying one another’s company and discussing whatever is on our minds to build the friendship. Just like God came to go for walks with our first parents in the garden of Eden, when Eden returns to earth, in Leviticus 26:11-12 (NLT) God says, “I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
As the world is in a highly strange season of quarantine at home, honestly, it’s been a good season for me. As a father, I love having Grace and our kids at home so that we can get more time together. Heaven won’t be a quarantine, but it will have our Father home enjoying those of us who are His kids. God says in Ezekiel 37:27 (NLT) “I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people”.
This is quite a staggering statement to the original hearers. In the Old Testament, the High Priest was the only person allowed to enter into God’s presence. He would spend the entire year preparing for that day and was only allowed to enter one time a year. In case he was sinful or did something wrong and God killed him, they would tie a rope to his leg to pull him out because if anyone went in to retrieve the body they too would die.
Compare that with what awaits you when Heaven comes to Earth and all of creation is the Holy of Holies flooded by God’s presence allowing you to go meet with God anytime you like forever. The sad, stale, false picture of Heaven with us sitting on clouds wearing diapers all alone could not be further from the truth. Hell is a lonely place where everyone is in their own dungeon. Heaven is a relational place where people do life together in love and get to hang out with God like a child does a loving Father.
When are the times in your life when you have most strongly sensed God’s presence?
