I was asked to speak at a funeral the other day, using a reading from The Revelation of St John as my text.
I chose to read from Revelation 21 and was struck by the intimacy that I saw when reading about what eternity would be like.
We are of course going to spend eternity with God, however the closeness and intimacy described in this passage is wonderful.
In Revelation 21 v 3 God tells us that He will be with us in the new heaven.
In the next verse He tells us that He will wipe away all tears from our eyes.
A distant and impersonal God cannot do this wiping away.
This implies our God will be close to us, involved with us in such a way that He will stroke our cheeks to remove tears.
That is a picture of intimacy that is likely to bring tears if I think any longer on it!
Further on in verse 7 we see that once in heaven we will be treating like sons.
This is just a wonderful picture of what eternity will be like with the Lord.
And the good news is that God excludes no one from this, all are invited and He wants all to come.
We choose how we spend our eternity; we have free will.
God wants all men to come to repentance and therefore salvation (2 Peter 3 v 9).
He wants all men with him in heaven, but we have to make that choice.
Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I have decided to follow Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, and thank you that my eternity is safe with You”.
Revelation 21 v 4…..And God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away
Heilan Word Ministries 