How many variations on this statement have you heard: “Poor John (or Nancy or Dad or Grandma, etc.). Their life was cut short. They died too soon. But, of course, they’ve gone to a better place ” Is that what heaven is–a consolation prize? Is heaven simply a place to retire to, after we’ve sucked all the good out of this life? Or, is it something so wonderful that it’s beyond description?
Paul, who was so full of the Holy Spirit that God used him to pen most of the New Testament, knew something of heaven. After his experience he said, “whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows.” (2 Cor. 12:2). He reported later that human words could never describe it. And what was his reaction? He was torn between his desire to go and his desire to stay. But his desire to stay wasn’t because life was so great and offered so much here on earth. For himself, he yearned for paradise; but for the sake of those who needed his spiritual influence he felt he should linger on earth.
There is an inborn fear of death in us. But we need to recognize and acknowledge that it arises from our old natures, not our new natures. Because it is an old-nature impulse, it is to be resisted and defeated by faith. For the Christian, death lost its “sting,” Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 15, for “the sting of death is sin.” If we are right with God, then our sins are covered and the “stinger” has been removed.
If our heavenly Father is truly the sovereign God we claim, then we must understand whether we linger for a century, or pass on in the prime of life, God knew all about us long, long ago, and planned our lives to suit His will. We can trust Him completely. The issue is whether we are willing to cast ourselves truly to our Father’s hands: ready to go or ready to stay, moment by moment, according as He wills.
Heaven a consolation prize? NOT! There are a great many things I don’t know about heaven; but the one thing I do know is all I really need to know. Jesus is there, and, “Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face, there to sing forever of His saving grace.”
Now, that’s heaven!
That’s my view of things.