My dear readers,

(Extracts from “HEAVEN – a place, a city, a home” by E M Bounds in RPG March 1992, Edited by Dr SH Tow)

1. LONGING FOR JESUS AND HEAVEN (John 14:1-6; 17:24-26)

In the believer's heart the blessed Holy Spirit has implanted the life of Jesus, and His wonderful love. This love surpasses all other loves, binding the believer to the Saviour with a bond which grows stronger everyday. And because the Saviour has said, "I go to prepare a place for you ... and I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also" (Jn 14:2,3), the expectation and longing for the Lord's return grows more urgent by the day.

While we yearn and long for our Lord from Heaven, we are not to remain idle or complacent. Far from it, every believer waiting for the Lord should be filled with deeds of service for God's Kingdom, and his days should be filled with song. Fanny J Crosby's hymn is one of the most uplifting and edifying:

Redeemed - how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy –
His child and for ever I am

I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long;
I sing, for I cannot be silent,
His love is the theme of my song.

Dear reader, do you think of your blessed Redeemer "all the day long"? Do you love His appearing? For over 70 years I have lived in the daily expectation of His return, of hearing His voice from Heaven, and the trumpet blast announcing the Event.

Oh how I long for Jesus My Lord and Heaven my Home!

PRAYER: Keep me burning, Lord, for Thee, till that glad Day!

2. A NEW RELATIONSHIP IN HEAVEN (Matthew 22;23-33; Revelation 22:1-7)

In Heaven we shall be admitted into a new relationship, in a totally new and "other worldly" environment. Now we see darkly as through a glass (1 Cor 13:12). When we arrive in Heaven, it will be clear, as it were "face to face". Amazing, unimaginable changes will take place at our Lord's Second Coming: "we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ..." (1 Jn 3:2), "we shall be changed" (1 Cor 15:51,52), by God's Spirit as in His resurrection, "in the twinkling of an eye".

In that transformed state, we shall have glorified bodies, freed from the bondage of corruption, of fatigue, of age, of hunger and thirst. We shall be for ever freed from the bondage of carnal desire. Our Lord Jesus explains: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matt 22:30).

Can we now picture the community of saints in Heaven, all of one "ageless body", everyone perfect and beautiful (like Him), never falling sick or growing old, never subject to fatigue and therefore not needing to rest and to "retire at night" (there being no night in Heaven)? The family structure of earth will be a thing of the past. We shall be one happy people of God, no more restricted by the fear of death and the limits of time.

Our one desire and unending passion is to dwell with the Lord, "to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple" (Ps 27:4). "Changed from glory into glory, Till in Heaven we taker our place; till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise" (Charles Wesley).

THOUGHT: "The former things are passed away."

3. READY FOR HEAVEN (Luke 12:16-40)

It is never too soon to be ready for Heaven. Say not, "I'm too young to think of Heaven. Let me have my share of the world and its enjoyments. Heaven can come later. "But the Lord of Heaven says, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14).

Be wise therefore! It is never too soon to be ready. The rich man teaches us a valuable lesson. Like most people, even professing Christians, he thought only of his material wealth and enjoyments. His ambition was to accumulate many things and live a life of ease and pleasure "for many years". He did not think beyond earth and what lay ahead. He did not think of God and death. That very night, even while he was enlarging his business, God took his life. Our Lord asks the question: "Whose shall those things be?"

Be wise therefore! It is never too soon to be ready for Heaven. Let not the necessities of life and the cares of this world crowd out the more vital and needful things of eternity from your thinking. Making a good living and living comfortably are illegitimate concerns that have robbed many their places in God's everlasting kingdom. It is our Heavenly Father's intention that we should always live by faith only and trust Him: a holy and godly life today and tomorrow a life eternal in His glorious everlasting kingdom to come.

Be wise therefore! Consider the common transient creatures of nature such as birds and flowers. They are not burdened with all sorts of "plans and projects", building, toiling, storing and worrying. All their needful provisions are adequately supplied by our Heavenly Father, who surely cares more for us, His children. But His chief concern is that we be ready to inherit His Kingdom in Heaven any time He calls for us. "But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things (for this life) shall be added unto you".

This is His promise. All truly born again believers must act on it!

QUESTION: Are you ready for Heaven?

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Founding Pastor