A couple of months ago I purchased Heaven: A History by Colleen McDannell. It traces human conceptions of the after life from the early Jewish views to that of the early Christians and then progresses through the years down to the modern era. I purchased it as a reference because I've been really interested in how the early (1st, 2nd century) Christians viewed the resurrection. Of particular note is the oral tradition of the apostles and those who walked with Christ that Papias references - that there are different abodes (mansions) for those resurrected to life, some to heaven, and some to earth.
If you ask someone their feelings about the resurrection you are quite likely to get multiple viewpoints. For members of Christendom that believe that all go to heaven you may get different ideas about what they will be doing there. Some envision themselves sitting on clouds, playing harps. Others picture themselves golfing or fishing - doing the things they love to do now on Earth.
For those who believe in a resurrection to life on Earth there also various ideas. Some may picture life as it existed in the 1800's - driving around in carriages and making your own butter. Some picture a world of high technology with individuals zipping around in non-polluting hover cars. And there are others numerous, varying ideas: clothed or naked? meat or veg? changing seasons or temperate?
I was reading this scripture the other day and the beauty of the thoughts struck me:
"But just as it is written: “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” - 1 Corinthians 2:9
Certainly we can imagine the splendors of heaven or envision the joys of the new Earth - however the actual beauty of such is incomprehensible to mankind. Take your best picture of the afterlife multiply it by a thousand and you are still nowhere close to the reality of it. It will be THAT good. What a loving Father we have!
Today, due to sin and imperfection of the world and ourselves we certainly go through a lot pain and suffering. Our Father recognizes this. He is ready to make recompense and he gives back like no one else give back. This is seen in the account of Job. Job, a faithful man, suffered to the extreme and lost everything because of circumstances beyond his control. His loss was his 7 sons and 3 daughters, along with 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 spans of cattle, and 500 she-asses.
After Job's trial was over Jehovah compensated Job double for what he lost. We read at Job 42:12 "As for Jehovah, he blessed the end of Job afterward more than his beginning, so that he came to have fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels and a thousand spans of cattle and a thousand she-asses."
We often state that Jehovah will give us back everything that our first parent Adam lost. I believe that. However as seen in the account of Job it would not be unreasonable to believe that God will give us back even more than what was enjoyed by Adam and Eve in that splendid Garden of Eden - all the joys of paradise and then some!
It is interesting that while Jehovah provided double the livestock He only gave back the original the original number of sons and daughters. Job 42:13 continues, "He also came to have seven sons and three daughters." We ask: Why only 10 more children instead of 20? Well this scripture implies that he would receive his other sons and daughters back in the resurrection. On the last day when he is resurrected he will be joined by all 20 of his children!
So through the scriptures we can be assured that even when death takes our family and loved ones that we have the hope of seeing them again.
Job was a righteous man and as such became a target from the Adversary and Slanderer. He did not deserve what befell him. However Jehovah's loving kindness is shown in how even when bad people are reaping what they sow that he is willing to compensate them if they turn around and repent of their sins. This is a common theme of the Hebrew prophets.
At Joel 1:4 a great famine is prophesied against God's wayward people, "What was left by the caterpillar, the locust has eaten; and what was left by the locust, the creeping, unwinged locust has eaten; and what the creeping, unwinged locust has left, the cockroach has eaten." In addition to the famine in Joel 2:1-11 a great, powerful military force is foretold to come up against his name people.
Jehovah implores the people, “come back to me with all YOUR hearts, and with fasting and with weeping and with wailing. And rip apart YOUR hearts, and not YOUR garments; and come back to Jehovah YOUR God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, and he will certainly feel regret on account of the calamity" - Joel 2:12,13
If the people do this what is the result? Jehovah says " And I will make compensation to YOU for the years that the locust, the creeping, unwinged locust, and the cockroach and the caterpillar have eaten, my great military force that I have sent among YOU. And YOU will certainly eat, eating and becoming satisfied, and YOU will be bound to praise the name of Jehovah YOUR God, who has done with YOU so wonderfully; and my people will not be ashamed to time indefinite." - Joel 2:25,26.
Our Heavenly Father is merciful! Even when we do not deserve it if we turn around and make an effort to make our way straight He will pour out his blessing upon us. Why? He does this because He is a loving Father and willing to give good gifts to His Children. He is that loving Father keeping watch for the return of his wayward son.
I love how Jesus expresses it:
“Keep on asking, and it will be given YOU; keep on seeking, and YOU will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to YOU. For everyone asking receives, and everyone seeking finds, and to everyone knocking it will be opened. Indeed, who is the man among YOU whom his son asks for bread—he will not hand him a stone, will he? Or, perhaps, he will ask for a fish—he will not hand him a serpent, will he? Therefore, if YOU, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to YOUR children, how much more so will YOUR Father who is in the heavens give good things to those asking him?" - Matthew 7:7-11
While we await future blessings we even get good things today. In particular how wonderful it is to have God's complete written Word available to us! We also have the Holy Spirit, the "helper" that Jesus promised to request that his Father send to his disciples. When we make use of these wonderful gifts we can draw close to our Father. The spirit is powerful and can open our hearts to the scriptures. In fact scriptures that we have read one hundred times or more suddenly pop off the page and illuminate our minds and make our hearts leap for joy!
We cannot comprehend the depths of our Father's love for us nor can we fully appreciate all the wonderful things he has in store for us nor can we completely recognize what good things he provides for us each and every day! But we need to keep seeking to get to know Him better to get an even better glimpse into Him.
And while there is a lot of misery that we have to go through we need to keep the future promises in our hearts. Speaking of the heavenly resurrection, Hebrews 6:19 expresses it nicely "This [hope] we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure and firm” We need to continue to hang onto Jehovah and our Lord Jesus because in due to time we will fully get to know all of what awaits us on heaven or earth - even being able to "reside" with God forever!
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:1-4
Praise Jah!
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Note: My blog has been down for awhile. I've been super busy with life and work. Then when I finally got time to post again I guess I forgot my password. But things are better now. So sorry for the absence.
-anthony
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