Death

(Revelation 21:4) “…and death shall be no more…”

There is a day coming when we will no longer visit death, funerals will be a thing of the past. Eternity for every Christian will become their reality. A period of bliss, not bound by physics and the like, it will be a stretch where tears will be a historical moment in time. Pain will no longer be a measure to remind us that we are alive. All our former understanding on how we existed and all that correlated to those lives will be soon but a memory.

The joy we felt whilst alive will be a smidgen of the bliss that will be ours in heaven. As Paul Tripp explains bliss, he calls it AWE. Heaven will be AWE personified. I suppose it would be like trying to compare the sensation you get whilst swinging on a garden swing and the big dipper in an amusement park. Absolutely no disparity to speak of.

All things will be made a new, God has so ordained it. Why? Apart from the brilliance of God setting things in order as only He has the ability to do it. A fresh start for every believer will be our lot, an epoch of sheer genius will unfold and we will be part of it and on the dependable side of it all, praise God!

And all because of the finished work of the cross, all because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s achievement in a man’s body whilst on earth. The miracle that so many have missed as they loosely blasphemy the One who died to potentially save them. Absolute confirmation of the blind leading the blind and both falling into the ditch. All those who profess to be wise have become fools. And yet there is still hope, “whilst we have breath we have hope”. There is still a chance for the unbeliever to repent and call upon the name of Jesus. We have work to do, do not grow wearing, in due season the faithful shall reap their reward.

“The new heaven and the new earth will not be separate from each other; the earth of the saints, their glorified, bodies, will be heavenly. The old world, with all its troubles and tumults, will have passed away. There will be no sea; this aptly represents freedom from conflicting passions, temptations, troubles, changes, and alarms; from whatever can divide or interrupt the communion of saints. This New Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, the church triumphant. Its blessedness came wholly from God, and depends on him. The presence of God with his people in heaven, will not be interrupted as it is on earth, he will dwell with them continually. All effects of former trouble shall be done away. They have often been in tears, by reason of sin, of affliction, of the calamities of the church; but no signs, no remembrance of former sorrows shall remain. Christ makes all things new. If we are willing and desirous that the gracious Redeemer should make all things new in our hearts and nature, he will make all things new in respect of our situation, till he has brought us to enjoy complete happiness. See the certainty of the promise. God gives his titles, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, as a pledge for the full performance. Sensual and sinful pleasures are muddy and poisoned waters; and the best earthly comforts are like the scanty supplies of a cistern; when idolized, they become broken cisterns, and yield only vexation. But the joys which Christ imparts are like waters springing from a fountain, pure, refreshing, abundant, and eternal. The sanctifying consolations of the Holy Spirit prepare for heavenly happiness; they are streams which flow for us in the wilderness. The fearful durst not meet the difficulties of religion, their slavish fear came from their unbelief; but those who were so dastardly as not to dare to take up the cross of Christ, were yet so desperate as to run into abominable wickedness. The agonies and terrors of the first death will lead to the far greater terrors and agonies of eternal death." (Matthew Henry)

Signing off

Tyrone