September 6, 2006
“There’s Heaven”
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They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. —Revelation 22:5
When 3-year-old Bree’s grandpa suffered heart failure, he was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. A few weeks after the funeral when Bree and her family drove past the hospital, she pointed to it and remarked matter-of-factly, “There’s heaven.” She knew her grandpa was in heaven. Since he went to the hospital on the day he died, she thought it must be heaven.
Bree’s mother wrote, “We adults [have] abstract concepts of a paradise beyond even the invisible stars.” Bree’s childish view of heaven caused her mom to think of heaven as a real place—which helped to comfort her.
In Revelation, John gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like. After being caught up to heaven, he saw “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal” and “the tree of life” (22:1-2). And in that place there was no need for “lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light” (v.5).
Words are inadequate to describe heaven, but we know it’s a real place for those who have trusted Jesus as their Savior. Jesus assures us, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). One day we’ll be there and won’t need to imagine that place anymore.
From sin and sorrow free,
A mansion which eternal love
Designed and formed for me. —Bennett
Bible in One Year: Bible in One Year: Psalms 148-150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58