Devotion 5: A Person and a Place
Debbie Gabbara
“No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.” Isaiah 60:19-20 (NLT)
My granddaughter asked me the other day if it is correct to say that God’s plans are perfect. Her question made me think of the Children of Israel and God’s plan for them to become His chosen people as a direct line to the Messiah, Christ Jesus.
Giving us a way to redeem our sin and spend eternity in Heaven with Him was always God’s perfect plan. Jesus came to the Earth to fulfill that plan. He was God and He was also fully man. He lived His life to lead others to His Father. Jesus promised us in John 14:2 that He was going to prepare a place for us so that where He is we might be also. Revelation chapter 21 tells us it will be a place where God Himself will be with us. There will be no mourning, pain, crying, or death.
Heaven is mentioned over 500 times in the Bible. This world is just temporary, we are just passing through here. When our time is finished here on Earth, God wants us to live there forever with Him in the beautiful place that was created to share with us. However, God leaves the decision up to us. We have to choose to be with God by believing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross, and was resurrected. Through our faith, His blood covers our sins and that allows us to live forever in Heaven with the Lord. Philippians 3:20-21 says, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Revelation gives us such a beautiful description of the place God created to spend eternity with His people. There are streets made of gold, a crystal sea, gates made of pearls, and foundations made of beautiful jewels. When I think of Heaven, I think of the brilliance of God and beauty as we have never known. I pray your heart is longing to be in Heaven with God and in His presence forever.
“We were made for a person and a place.
Jesus is the person. Heaven it the place.”
Randy Alcorn