Heaven: The Greatest Home Makeover--Day 7

WINDOWS
“Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face.” –1 Corinthians 13:12
A friend was moving to town, so I was on the lookout for a home where her family could live. I was excited to find one with a “for sale” sign close to mine. But I could only report the real estate agent’s phone number and the yard’s condition. Because the curtains and blinds were shut, I couldn’t peek through the windows to see inside it.

Talking about Heaven presents a similar frustration. There’s a thick curtain between our “earthliness” and Heavenly realities. At best, this spiritual barrier is like the frosted glass that’s often installed for privacy in some windows of earthly homes. If there’s any light on the “other side,” we see only fuzzy shapes and muted colors.

The apostle Paul faced a similar problem in describing Heaven’s perfection. In what we often call the Bible’s “Love Chapter,” First Corinthians 13, he tried to express what Heaven-worthy love looks like. He told how this God-shaped love lives out the virtues of patience, kindness, caring for others and looking for good. It turns away from envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, self-seeking, anger, or grudge-bearing.

Yet our best efforts at living out this “love” can’t match Heaven’s pure love. Ours is just a “poor reflection,” like the crudely polished brass mirrors of Paul’s time. Paul said he looked forward to the day when he would see Christ face to face and “know fully, even as I am fully known”(1 Cor. 13:12). That window between Heaven and earth also frustrated the apostle John. When God gave John a vision of Heaven, which John recorded in the book of Revelation, he couldn’t find adequate words for the mind-boggling sights. He used earth’s shapes, measures, and precious stones as somewhat like what he saw in Heaven.

Even today, people who claim to have visited the edge of Heaven (during a short time they clinically died) say it was unlike anything on earth. Usually their reports include rapturous music, reunion with loved ones, warmth and love. (1) A Texas pastor, “dead” for ninety minutes after a horrific auto accident, survived to tell of a Heaven that included iridescent light, incredible music, and indescribable joy. (2)

Stephen, the first Christian martyr in about 34 A.D., reported seeing Heaven’s throne room as enemies stoned him to death. In his last moments, he cried out, “I see Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Bible teachers point out that Jesus stood for Stephen’s martyrdom, whereas elsewhere in the Bible Jesus is described as “seated” at the right hand of God the Father. The Lord honored Stephen.

The story continued with an angry Jewish leader in the mob, named Saul. He soon went on a rampage to arrest Christians. On Saul’s way to Damascus, some 200 miles north, Jesus appeared to Saul in a blinding light. The Christian-hater became a Christian, taking on the new name “Paul.” A few years later, Paul found himself in the same position as Stephen, being stoned for his faith while visiting in Lystra (in today’s Turkey). His enemies dragged him outside the city as if dead (Acts 14). It’s believed Paul then visited Heaven. But this experience was so precious that he dared not say it was his. Instead, he said it came to “a man in Christ.” Paul wrote: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell” (2 Cor. 12:2-5).

Paul honored the sacred “curtain” between earth and Heaven by referring to “inexpressible things that man is not permitted to tell.” What Paul heard and experienced in “the third heaven” (God’s dwelling place) was too sacred to re-tell on earth. In another church letter, Paul wrote that “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

For now, Heaven’s windows are covered. The eternal is unseen. But that won’t always be the case. Some day, God will take the covering off that window that obscures full understanding. We’ll see and experience Heaven in all its beauty and bliss. The light of His glory will make everything clear. What a day that will be!

Prayer: Lord, I trust Your wisdom in obscuring the details of Heaven for now, and for giving me the hope that someday I will see You face to face! Amen.

(1) Catherine Marshall, To Live Again (New York: McGraw Hill, 1957), p. 191.(2) Don Piper with Cecil Murphey, Ninety Minutes in Heaven (Grand Rapids, Mich: Revell, 2004), pp. 33, 194.

Do me a savor

The gift wafted my way the other morning as I painted the deck at my late mother-in-law’s home that we’re fixing up. As I crawled across the weathered wood, paint pad in hand, I paused and smiled as the scent from her lilac bush came my way. Talk about a fragrance factory! This year it’s probably ten feet tall and just as wide, and heavy with blooms.

I couldn’t help but think of how the Bible describes true followers of Christ as a “fragrance” (“savor” in KJV) –the scent of life among those who believe, the stink of death among those who don’t (2 Cor. 2:15-16).

Paul’s use of a powerful olfactory comparison is even more amazing considering how much attention his culture usually paid to “fragrance.” Though the wealthy had baths and some scents (like myrrh) were expensive enough to be part of a dowry, they didn’t have our culture’s obsession with “clean” and “smelling nice.” If you haven’t thought about it, just stroll down the aisles of cleaners, soaps, shampoos, air fresheners, and candles. Then go to the hardware store and check out the shower heads and bath fixtures. Finally, go to a makeup counter and start counting the perfume brands!

I admit to lighting a fragrant candle at dinner, especially when I’ve cooked fish and broccoli (and you know how those smells linger in a house). But I’ve cut back to almost no perfume use—first out of deference to those who attend my church who have profound chemical sensitivities, and second, realizing I’m bothered at times myself. I was reminded of that the other Sunday when someone squeezed in beside me in the pew and her strong perfume was almost more than I could handle.

As I stroked paint on the deck timber, I thought about the “scent” to which Paul referred—that intangible quality of living for Christ. Even among believers there’s a broad variety of “scents” that mingle when we get together. A quiet, peaceful essence emanates from an older, godly woman who’s passionate about prayer and encouragement. A sense of true caring surrounds another person who quietly goes about doing good. Someone who is humble yet wise spreads another Christ-fragrance—not overwhelming, but definitely there.

I thought of negative scents, too. Some are like the notorious Titan Arum, a huge, fast-growing plant native to Indonesia that blooms for about three days every six or seven years. It emits a stench reportedly like rotting meat or garbage. Its spiritual counterparts are described throughout the Bible, but 2 Timothy 3 has a significant list of spiritual stench that starts out: “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful….” Of such people, it’s easy to say, “Their attitude stinks.”

Instead, I’d rather focus on Jesus and His love, grace, truth, and hope. He is the lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon, the fragrance I want in my life.

What is your favorite floral fragrance? Some of the most scent-sational of the plant kingdom are roses, orchids, gardenias, night-blooming jasmine, and honeysuckle. Any more nominations?