Looking Forward!

Being With Jesus:
John 16:16,22-24

Jesus said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me. …Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

People who have followed Jesus throughout the ages did something that Christians don’t do as much in our day: They thought a lot about heaven.

They were right to do so. Perhaps they had a more balanced theology than we do, possibly their spiritual leaders taught more often on the future world than ours do, or it could be that since life for so hard and following Christ came at such a high price looking forward to eternity was simply the natural thing to do. Maybe it was all of the above.

Whatever the case, heaven was on their minds. Not so much for us. Earth has become so good to us that we almost see the approach of eternity as a rude interruption to our pursuit of the good life in this present world. Some believers almost think and act as if heaven is a cheap substitute for Planet Earth. It is not. It is our true home, our Divine destiny purchased by the blood of Jesus when he died on the cross, the place where our full potential will be perpetually, increasingly, uninterruptedly released as we rule and reign with Christ. As the old timers used to sing,

“This world is not my home I’m just a-passin’ through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

We would do well to practice dwelling on our eternal dwelling more. Doing so is not wishful thinking, or pain avoidance, or escapism. It is what Jesus instructed his disciples, and by extension, you and me, to do. The fact was, Jesus was going to leave—and at first, it would be a pretty painful leaving. He would die on the cross, according to God’s eternal plan. Then he would ascend back to his Father. In his absence, he would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would be with the disciples, and in them continually. The Spirit would constantly abide with them, empower them for Christian living and witness, would lead them into truth and reveal the deeper things of God to them. Even still, life would be tough for them because they followed Jesus—they would be persecuted, rejected and killed for their faith. But one of the things Jesus said they needed to do to endure the hardships of this life and thrive in the midst of pain was to dwell on the good things to come.

What are those good things to come? For starters, there will be fullness of joy. The grief of the present will turn to joy (John 16:22), and the joy will be so great in heaven that the grief of the past will pale by comparison until it fades into oblivion. Pain, disappointment and heartache will be forgotten and joy would be their new reality—for all eternity.  Furthermore, there will be fullness of life. (John 16:23a) Christ’s disciples will not even need to ask him for anything; they will already have everything. And finally, there will be fullness of relationship. (John 16:23b) The disciples will be able to go directly to God for anything they want because of what Jesus has accomplished. We will no longer wrestle with the image of God being a distant, immovable, uncaring deity in a galaxy far, far away; he will be up close and quite personal.

Imagine HeavenJesus seems to be saying that we should continually keep those future realities in our present thoughts as we face the harsh conditions of our current lives. And, by what he then says in verse 24, by practicing this type of “heaven-thinking” now, we will be so filled with confident assurance that asking for what we want and need right now in this present world will be our faith response to whatever comes our way:

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)

Looking forward to your eternal future on a regular basis is one of the best things you could do for your faith. In one of his letters, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Good and evil when they attain their full stature are retrospective. That is why, at the end of all things, the damned will say we were always in Hell, and the blessed we have never lived anywhere but in heaven.”

Why not go ahead and imagine your future home right now, because when you finally get there, you will realize that Jesus made sure it was always pretty close.

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“A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.” (C.S. Lewis)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Carve out some time and schedule a place where you can be alone with God this week—perhaps even today. Take your Bible and open it to the very last book and chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22. Slowly and gratefully read it and let that picture of your future reality invade your present world.