I Know There Is A Heaven! # 2

I Know There Is A Heaven! # 2

It is a prepared place. It is not an accidental, fortuitous conglomeration of something. It is a prepared place. God is its architect. Christ is its superintendent. The Holy Spirit is it's builder. It is a work of art, a labor of love. It is in every detail a thing of beauty, a joy forever. Its grasses, trees, flowers, are of breath-taking beauty. Its streets are paved with gold. Its buildings are of the costliest, everlasting marble. Its government is in the hands of the Prince of Peace. The Holy Spirit is its superintendent of education. The angels make up its teaching staffs. There are no jailhouses, no prisons, no reformatories, no hospitals, no orphanages, no old folks homes, no drugstores, no doctors, no dentists, no lawyers, no courts, no blind, no deaf, no dumb, no cripples, no weak, no aged, no feeble. Sin and satan are banished forever. Nothing that is unclean or defileth in any way will be permitted to enter through its wide gates. There is nothing on earth to which we can compare it. The human mind cannot comprehend nor can the human tongue describe the glories of that eternal, prepared place.

It is a populated place. John says he saw a great multitude which no man could number of every nation, kindred, and tribe, out of all the earth. Thank God for that. From every continent, clime, country, color, creed, over all the earth, Jew and Gentile, black and white, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, young and old, rich and poor, strong, educated, ignorant, they have all been bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and myriads have accepted the invitation. What a crowd that will be! What a place of meeting, or greeting, of rejoicing that will be. Many of you have fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters that have crossed Jordan waters before you. Thanks be unto God, you will all clasp hands and rejoice in the presence of God nevermore to endure the pangs of parting. All of us have friends that were as dear to us as our own flesh and blood whom God has called up higher. They, too, are waiting for us, waiting to welcome us into that fellowship of eternal bliss. Yes, heaven is a peopled place, filled with those who have washed their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It is a perfect place. The wisdom, the grace, the power of God assure and insure its perfections. There can be no flaws there, no mistakes, no something to have been left out or something to have been put in. There are no disappointments in heaven, no discouragements, no disheartenings. There is no sorrow, no suffering, no pain. There are no tears in the presence of God, and the angel of death walks not its golden streets. None of the toil, none of the trial, none of the tribulations of earth find a resting place there. The waters of the river flow abundantly to be freely quaffed by all unto the renewal of youth, vigor, vitality. We never grow old up there.

III. I Know I Am Going There

I have the assurance of that fact. It shouts in my heart, sings in my soul, sounds in my mind. I know beyond peradventure, beyond question, beyond doubt, beyond any sort of uncertainty that I am bound for the Promised Land, that one day I shall tread its golden streets, that one day I shall hear the angels sing, that one day I shall meet all of my precious friends who have gone on before me, that one day I shall see my blessed Saviour face to face.

I know I am going there because I am saved. My entrance into glory land is not postulated upon the facts that I am who I am, a regenerated Christian. I am going there because I am saved, because I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, because I have confessed Him before men, because my sins are forgiven, because my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Paul said, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I have done all that. I have put my utter faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have believed on Him. I have confessed Him before men. By His own unalterable, Holy Word, I know I am saved. I am going to heaven, for I have received Jesus.

I know I am going there because I am sealed, sealed in the eternal purpose, in the eternal power, by the eternal Spirit of God.

I know I am going to heaven because I am sustained. All along the journey from earth to heaven, since the day I first accepted Christ as my Redeemer, God has made ample, abundant provision for my welfare. I have the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage me and empower me. I have proved again and again that Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

~Hyman Appleman~

(continued with # 3)