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"The Hope of Glory"
(Continued)

6.     WE WILL RECEIVE REWARDS IN HEAVEN

Just as there are degrees of punishment in Hell, so there are degrees of rewards in Heaven. Christ will give rewards to all of us according to how we obeyed on Earth. They will be gauged by factors such as how much we sacrificed, how much we suffered, how we followed the will of the Lord as we knew it, etc. Some will have more than others. Some will have few because they lived only a short time after their conversions, like the dying thief. Others will receive large rewards because they were converted young and lived a long life of faithful service. But those with fewest will not envy those with more, for all are perfectly content in Christ and have need of nothing. There are five crowns mentioned in Scripture which are promised to God's children upon certain conditions.

1.     THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN     (I Corinthians 9:25).
This crown is given to those who are temperate in all things and who are not indulging the appetites of the body, in order that they may faithfully preach the gospel to all men, whether Jew or Gentile, whereby at least some shall be saved (vv. 16-27).

2.     THE CROWN OF REJOICING     (I Thessalonians 2:19).
This crown is given to those who win souls for Christ, whether by personal work, by prayer, by preaching the gospel, or by distributing the gospel by other means.

Solomon declared, "He that winneth souls is wise" (Proverbs 11:30), and Daniel said that "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). Every soul saved through the prayers and efforts of the servant of Christ will be a part of his crown of rejoicing when he stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ and is rewarded according to his labors.

3.     THE CROWN OF GLORY     (I Peter 5:4).
This is the crown which is given to faithful pastors who have willingly cared for the flock of God as overseers, not as lords and not for the sake of financial gain, but as a shepherd who cares for his sheep.

Such pastors practice what they preach and are examples to others. They feed the flock with the Word of God, "rightly dividing the word of truth," so that they will grow in grace and become fruitful in their lives and labors. They warn the flock against false teachers and the prevalent errors of the day, encouraging them to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3,4). All such pastors and teachers will receive a crown of glory which will not tarnish or fade away.

4.     THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS     (II Timothy 4:8).
This crown is given to all those who love the appearing of Christ. They not only are trusting Christ for salvation and loving Him because He loved them, but they are also looking forward to the personal coming of Christ in glory and power, when they will be caught up with other Christians in the clouds to meet Him in the air (I Thessalonians 4:14-17).

Because of this blessed hope, they endure afflictions, fight the good fight of faith, and speak the truth in love. They are loyal and faithful to Christ at all times, for they know not when He may appear for His own. All such are to receive a special crown.

5.     THE CROWN OF LIFE     (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).
This crown is given to all who endure trials and temptations even unto death for Jesus' sake. "They loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11). Many of those who receive this crown, such as Stephen, James, John, Peter, Paul, Tyndale, and many others, are martyrs for the sake of Christ. (Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs.)

We will reap the treasures of what we have sown on earth. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." (Matthew 6:19-20). One day we will cash in this great treasure store up in the First Bank of Heaven.

7.     WE WILL MEET OTHER CHRISTIANS

We will meet the rest of the family, from Adam onwards. We will meet Old Testament believers, New Testament saints, great Christians from church history. We will be reunited with loved ones and friends. We will meet those who witnessed to us briefly and never saw us again, and those who we have ministered to. And though we will not be married in heaven, I believe we will at least know how we were related to one another on earth.

We will be best friends with everyone in Heaven. We will never want for fellowship, we will never be lonely. Heaven will be a great time of friendship at great gatherings where envy and strife will never enter in. Even if it's been a billion years since we last talked, it will be like yesterday and as sweet as it ever was. I don't believe Heaven we be just one big party, but I do believe our fellowship will be a million times better than the best on earth.

8.     THERE WILL BE A NEW MEANING OF BREATH-TAKING BEAUTY

The splendor and awe of heaven will be so breath-taking that our mortal bodies could not contain the sight for even an instant. The stories of people going to heaven and returning to tell others what they saw, seems somewhat unbelievable. Heaven is God's home and can never be trivialize. Paul captured the idea best, "what I saw and heard is not lawful to repeat." (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

Paul wrote, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…" (1 Corinthians 13:12) Our eyes could not contain the colors, our ears could not contain the sounds. Our touch, smell, sight, hearing and tasting will all be so extremely amplified in our new bodies that we will enjoy all that God has for us. It is also quite possible that there will be more than just our five senses in heaven, surely there must be.

9.     HEAVEN IS A PLACE OF MUSIC

God has a high affection for music, as much is written about it in scripture. Celestial music with its choirs of angels will be magnificent to say the least. We are bound by notes and cords, highs and lows, sound and hearing, but in heaven there are no boundaries for sound and music. Singing and making melody with be a chief occupation for all saints. There will be great choirs singing unto the Lord. Heavenly music will fill the air and be great joy to the heart.

10.     WE WILL WORSHIP GOD FOREVER

"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." (Revelation 21:22) God will be no less God in Heaven as He is on earth. He is God and we will worship and adore Him for ever and ever. It will be our great privilege to fall down before Him in worship and praise because He has loved us and saved us and now gives us all things. We will never loose our sense of awe and reverence for God, rather it will increase the more we know of Him. Worship will be as natural as breathing because He will always be worthy of our adoration.

11.     TIME SHALL BE NO MORE

Related to the problem of space in heaven is the problem of time. Space is too vast to explore due to the time it takes to travel such distances. The vastness of Heaven is too astronomical for the mind to comprehend, yet it is merely a room God enters into, "…behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee…" (1 Kings 8:27)

We often hear of heaven being described as "eternal" or "timeless." God himself, in his divine essence, is completely outside of time. For him, all of history exists in an "eternal now" without past or future. Once we have passed on from this life, we enter into eternity, the end of time.

In Revelation chapter 10, when things started wrapping up, the Angel proclaimed "that there should be time no longer." In heaven there will be no time. That is not to say that the plans of God will not continue to be executed in an orderly fashion, rather that time will no longer be an object to carrying them out. We will no longer be hindered by time, we will no longer be prevented by time, we will no longer be pressured by time.

Many stories have been told in an attempt to measure eternity, like the bird who flews from the earth to the moon every million years with a grain of sand until it emptied the entire earth of sand, but eternity cannot be measured because it will never end. Traveling through out God's vast Kingdom will never be a problem because we will have plenty of time to get there.

12.     THE HOLY CITY ITSELF

It is a city with beautiful walls and gates; a city that has no temple, for it is all a temple; a city that needs no light, for God is its light; a city into which nothing impure ever enters; a city filled with trees, and streams, and fountains, and fruit.

Revelation 21:11-19
"…her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
…And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones."

Consider the size of our heavenly home, 1500 miles square. This city would consume a good portion of the United States! A mathematician put his pencil to these dimensions and wrote, "The thickness of the wall is about 216 feet thick. It is approximately 1500 miles in each direction. If the city were divided into rooms, one mile in length, one mile wide and one mile high, it would contain 3 billion, 375 million rooms, each one cubit mile. If we began at the time of Adam and spent one hour in each room, at the end of 6,000 years we would have visited only about 52,600,000 rooms, this would leave about 3,400,000,000 rooms left to visit."

*     It has no need of the sun, or of the moon, or of a lamp to lighten it; and yet there is no night there, for the glory of God gives light to it.
*     It is a city without a temple. There is no one place in it that is especially sacred, or where the worship of God will be exclusively celebrated. It will be all a temple, and the worship of God will be celebrated in all parts of it.
*     It is always open. There will be no need of closing it as walled cities on earth are closed to keep enemies out, and it will not be shut to prevent those who dwell there from going out and coming in when they please.
*     A stream of water, pure as crystal, proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb. That stream flows through the city, and on its banks is the tree of life constantly bearing fruit - fruit to be partaken of freely. It is Paradise regained - a holy and beautiful abode, of which the garden of Eden was only an imperfect emblem.

The city is described by the matter of which it was built; the wall of jasper the city of pure gold, like to clear glass; the foundations of precious stone, each foundation being of one stone; the gates of pearls, each gate being of one pearl; the street of the city of pure gold, like transparent glass.

From a distance, the glory of the city sparkles like a precious gem.
"…her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal…" (Revelation 21:11)

There are many things about heaven we do not really know like will there be animals in heaven? Personally, I believe there will be lots of animals as God seems to be rather fond of them.

There are unseen realities of the spirit world that we know nothing of, these are reserved for those who have the right to enter that city.

13.     WE ARE JOINT-HEIRS AND SHALL REIGN WITH CHRIST FOREVER

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ..." (Romans 8:17) We shall inherit all things with Christ the King. Whatever riches, joys and pleasures that belong to Christ will be ours as well, He will gladly share with us because He is so in love with us. He will hold nothing back that our hearts will have great joy and peace throughout eternity.

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne." (Revelation 3:21) We shall also rule and reign with Him in His great government. Each will have a job and a purpose in God's Kingdom. The Heaven of Heavens of God is vast and may contain many worlds which He will place in our charge.

As an example; on a clear, moonless night about 3,000 stars are visible with the unaided eye. A small telescope will increase the number to around 100,000 stars. The stars we can easily see are all in our corner of the Milky Way Galaxy. The entire galaxy numbers about 100 billion stars. And beyond the Milky Way are other galaxies with many shapes and sizes. Around 100 billion such galaxies are thought to exist, though very likely is far more that man cannot see, than what He can see.

Taking the Milky Way as an average galaxy, the total number of stars is estimated at a staggering ten billion trillion stars. Suppose these stars were divided up among the world's total population of 6 1/2 billion people. Each person on Earth would receive more than 1½ trillion stars!

I believe there is a limit to what God will allow man to see, what man cannot see, and what is beyond is reserved for those to whom God will reveal it. Safe to say, we will have as much to see as we will time to see it. Whatever the job, it will be a great honor to serve Christ in that capacity, we will never tire of serving Him as we reign with Him.

14.     WE WILL SEE GOD IN ALL HIS GLORY

The greatest reward in Heaven will be to look upon God unhindered. God is presently invisible and hidden. In Heaven, He will reveal Himself visibly to us. We will see Him with our very eyes. "And they shall see His face" (Revelation 22:4). Presently, we could not physically contain the sight of God, as we would die instantly from such a glorious sight. In heaven, we will have bodies fitted to behold God's holiness, glory and profound beauty. We will also see God spiritually and mentally. We will understand more of what He had not revealed, and will understand more and more into all eternity, (but will never understand everything about God.)

We will gaze upon our precious Savior in all His beauty and grace and glory. We will look at God looking at us, eye to eye, heart to heart, with nothing to block the vision. Even one glimpse of that glory would be worth it all. We will have fellowship with the Almighty for ever and ever.

The ultimate purpose for which God created all things is to display His glory. He does this at last in Heaven. He will reveal the beauty of His glory in all it's splendor and radiance, transforming everything and everyone there into living mirrors that reflect glory to everyone else and back to God. He will reveal the glory of all He is, in His many attributes, like bright light in all its wondrous colors. We will be overwhelmed in awe for all of eternity, God will never become common to us. We will respond in love, humility, and worship. We will adore God forever.

15.     CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE WILL BE UNITED IN HEAVENLY MARRIAGE

We were betrothed in election and engaged to Him at conversion. One day the greatest of all marriages will happen. What a day that will be! The greatest and grandest ceremony of all eternity will be the marriage of Christ to the Bride. All the very best will be set out for this celestial event. The excitement will be a joy this world could never comprehend. It will produce a glory and bliss and eternal love. We will know Christ deeper and deeper into all eternity. There will be no jealousy or strife among the bride, rather perfect union and love towards Christ the King. No one will be more excited than Jesus Himself!

16.     CHRIST WILL BE THE CENTER OF ATTRACTION

It's all about Christ for us here on earth, it will be all about Christ in heaven. When revealing Heaven to John, the Lord showed him three types of Christ in the midst of the city. This tells us that Christ will always be the central theme and main attraction in Heaven.

Jesus is the Water of Life
"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

Jesus is the Tree of Life
"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Jesus is the Light of Men
"And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev 22:1, 2, 5)

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…" (1 Corinthians 13:12)

A girl was born blind. As she grew up, the only beauty she knew of this world came from her mother's lips. Then one day a famous surgeon performed a series of operations on her eyes, with excellent results. Finally the day came when the last bandages were removed.

The little girl ran to her mother's arms, then moved carefully to the open window. As the beauty of that soft summer day broke in upon her for the first time, she ran back to her mother and with eyes shining with excitement and wonder said, "Oh, Mother, why didn't you tell me it was so beautiful?" Wiping away her tears of joy, the mother said, "My precious child, I tried to tell you, but I just couldn't describe it with mere words."

Jesus has tried to tell us what heaven will be like, but when we see it for ourselves, we will be much like this little girl. Whatever we consider to be a joy here on earth will be heightened millions of times beyond anything we can conceive when we get to heaven. The apostle Paul put it this way: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Corinthians 2:9).

—  Randy Munter

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