The world’s leaders use throne rooms, executive offices and legislative halls to conduct state business. But they also use the more informal setting of a small meeting room for honest negotiations with other decision makers. In Heaven, we’ll expect our King of Kings and Lord of Lords to have a Throne Room. But could we also enjoy time with the One who called us “friends” (John 15:15) in a friendlier gathering room, like an old-fashioned parlor? I’d like to think so.
Even though Jesus sits in honor at the right hand of the Father in the Throne Room, He remembers earth’s humbler ways. He was born in the filth of a stable, wore simple, home-made sandals and clothes, and never had a home of His own. He wasn’t too important to kick back and relax with His followers. He will understand our comfort level for meeting together as “just friends.” In fact, we’re already having “parlor times” with Christ every time we read our Bibles and pray. He is there, though He cannot be seen.
Admittedly, “parlor” is an old-fashioned word. For me, it brings up memories of the 1950s and my Uncle Pete and Aunt Lauretta’s humble home on an isolated eastern Montana farm. The home had three bedrooms but no inside plumbing. They pumped their water from a well. There was a huge kitchen and a small “root cellar” with walls lined with home-canned food. Poor by many standards, Pete and Lauretta were rich toward God. That’s because of their daily visits with Jesus in the small “parlor” just off the kitchen. Pete kept his well-worn Bible next to his armchair with its sunken leather seat. Lauretta, her Bible also well-used, talked often of God’s promises and answers to prayer.
It’s not hard for me to transition from their earthly “parlor” visits with Jesus to imagining their first “just friends” meeting with the Savior. Was there a long, grateful hug? What did they talk about? Perhaps Pete told Jesus, “Remember that wheat field that I said was my tithe to You? I’ll never forget how You spared that field when hail destroyed crops all around. I still got enough from the rest of the harvest to live on. Thanks, Jesus. I knew it was You.”
How will we know it’s Jesus that we’re meeting in Heaven? Isaiah prophesied that Jesus’ human form wasn’t movie-star quality: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). Indeed, people found it hard to believe that the carpenter Joseph’s son could be the Messiah. Isaiah also predicted Christ’s flogging and crucifixion, hundreds of years before executioners nailed the condemned to crosses: “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness” (52:14). Yet I believe we’ll recognize Jesus, and see the scars remaining on His resurrection body. I’ll know Him by the face that says, “I love you. I gladly died for you.” I’ll realize it’s truly Him by the way He says, “Welcome to the home I prepared for you.”
Will we be frightened, feeling unworthy in His presence? No. His death for our sins means we’re presented “holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Col. 1:22). That was true of the moment on earth you accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, and remained true as you stayed “unmoved from the hope held out in the gospel” (Col. 1:23).
When He enters the parlor, He will remind you that you are friends. As a worship chorus says, we will glory in His embrace. Or as Charles Gabriel put it in his old hymn, “Yet, just a smile from my Savior, I know, will through the ages be glory for me.” Friends hug, talk, laugh, rejoice, and connect. He will tell you, “Come and share your master’s happiness” (Matt. 25:23).
What a joy to anticipate: being with Jesus again. Maybe it will be in the intimacy of Heaven’s version of a parlor, maybe in the midst of a Heavenly work assignment. No longer will we have to meet with Him without seeing Him, as we did on earth in that quiet seat in a parlor or some other spot with a Bible and a prayerful heart.
Throughout Heaven, genuine, heartfelt, and clear communication will take place. We’ll know the intimacy expressed in Isaiah 64:1: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” In His presence, as Psalm 16:11 says, we will be filled with joy!
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being both my Savior and my Friend. Amen.
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