In His Presence

Here in this messy world we’re so very accustomed to seeing life as limited, life within the parameters of growth and aging and the end of our days.  Sickness and injury and violence and decline threaten, and we get used to viewing our existence as fleeting and fragile.  Ever since our first parents plunged humanity into sin and death (Genesis 3), we’ve been scrambling to cope with and fend off all the threats that come against our earthly lives.

But Easter Sunday is heaven’s announcement that life constrained by limits is itself limited:  it’s coming to an end.  And a new life will dawn in which the boundaries, the dangers, the nagging signals of illness and weakness and failing strength … all of this will be no more.  And we’ll enter into the fullness of joy in Christ.

On the other side of death, in the new heaven and new earth, all who trust in Jesus will embark on a glorious life.  And we’ll hear “a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any­more, for the former things have passed away’” (Revelation 21:3-4).

In the age to come, beyond all the constraints that plague these frail bodies here and now, on the far side of the grave, all who love Jesus will experience joy and fulfillment in every way—and the centerpiece of our endless bliss in the age to come will be this:  “and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

On the authority of Scripture, then, I encourage you to look up from today’s ailments and hazards and chronic pains, give thanks for the resurrection victory of Jesus, and set your hope on his sure promise—the he’ll never leave us, even now (Hebrews 13:5), and that our eternal dwelling place is in his very presence!