When We All Get to Heaven: A Future and a Hope

(Photo: Unsplash)

When I began writing this article, I sat at my desk and stared out the window for a solid ten minutes. Simply crafting the title brought joy and sadness to my heart as a dear friend (who I consider to be family) mourns and processes the death of her mother, who battled cancerous brain tumors for two years. This article is a tribute to her mother’s life, legacy, and the hope of heaven she carried to death’s door, only to pass through and see the face of her Savior.

The words on my friend’s mom’s lips when I last talked with her were, “I just want to be with Jesus and be in His presence.”

She carried this hope in her heart and routinely voiced this to her family even when her brain stopped processing information. Her hope in Christ was the core of who she was. It is now who she is in full as she stands before Christ robed in His righteousness. Her pain is gone. She is perfectly whole. She is rejoicing now with inexpressible joy.

What makes heaven so appealing for believers like my friend’s mom that they approach death with joy?

A love and desire for Christ.

Christ the Center

This is the hope of the end of Revelation:

“There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).

The Lamb is the center of heaven’s worship. Earlier in Revelation, John describes the Lamb looking as if it had been slain (Revelation 5:6) in the middle of the four living creatures. Those who love Him, who have been redeemed by His blood, will desire the Christ-centered worship of heaven to give honor and glory to the Lamb. Just as the angels cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12).

This will be the cry of the saints of God forever and ever.

No More Curse

Heaven takes us to a better Garden. What Adam failed to do in the first garden, the Second Adam has achieved. He now holds dominion over the Garden of God in the heavenly realms. Revelation carries this garden theme back to the language of the Garden of Eden.

“On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

In the New Heaven and New Earth, God completely reverses and destroys the curse invoked on humanity in Genesis 3.

This is the future hope of believers. No more curses. All things made right. Dwelling with God in the Garden of Heaven forever.

For the Christian, like my friend’s mom, heaven was a future hope and is now a present reality. There is no need to walk by faith. She does not need her Bible anymore because she now gets to gaze on the Word of Life forever and ever. Now and into all of eternity. This is our future hope as well. We await the coming of our Lord and our future with Him.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.

Brittany Proffitt lives in Dallas, TX, holds a BA in Religion, and is a student at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is passionate about Scripture and how God’s Word impacts individuals’ hearts and lives.

Give

Subscribe to the Daybreak Devotions for Women

Be inspired by God's Word every day! Delivered to your inbox.


More from Cole Feix

  • featureImage

    Good, Evil, and Grace

    If you’ve been to the movie theatre recently, you’ve probably seen a lot of promotion for the new Lilo & Stitch movie. Despite how you feel about what the internet has dubbed a controversial ending, I want to take a moment to analyze one of the themes in the film. Throughout the movie, Nani, Lilo’s older sister, is trying to make Lilo and Stitch behave so she can maintain a job and keep legal guardianship of her little sister. However, Stitch seems to mess up Nani’s chances of either of these th

    3 min read
  • featureImage

    Podcast Recap: Why Religion Went Obsolete

    Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Christian Smith’s book, Why Religion Went Obsolete, explores why religion, especially in modern Western societies, is seen as less necessary or even irrelevant. The argument is that with the rise of science, secularism, and modern culture, many people have moved away from traditional religious beliefs. Religion is often viewed as outdated or unable to answer today’s questions about life and meaning. This has led to fewer people pr

    1 min read
  • featureImage

    The Hesed of God, Part 2: The Grace of Forgiveness

    In the first article in this series, we explored God’s hesed toward us in the context of grief and despair. Though life is hard and marked by suffering, believers can rejoice because of God's hesed—His loyal, covenant-keeping love. He not only sees our pain but has entered our trials and suffering through Christ. Through Jesus’ suffering and death, we are brought into God’s faithful love and are never alone in our trials.This flows beautifully into exploring the grace of forgiveness we have rece

    3 min read
  • featureImage

    Podcast -  Villains of the Bible: Nebuchadnezzar

    Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.The worst event in Israel’s history was the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The general in charge of that destruction was Nebuchadnezzar, a king who became an emblem of all those who would elevate themselves against God. Unlike other rulers, we get an up-close look at Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel. There, we see God humbling and chastening him for his pride and brutality.The Babylonian Empire was short-

    2 min read
  • featureImage

    What does it mean to have childlike faith?

    What do you think of when you hear the word “childlike?”For many of us, “childlike” might bring to mind something immature, foolish, or naive. Yet when Jesus talked about childlike faith, he wasn’t asking us to be any of these things. He was inviting us into something pure, trusting, and real. This week, I got to help lead worship at a kids' camp. Watching the kids worship was such a beautiful reminder of what childlike faith truly looks like. These kids worshiped, prayed, and talked about God.

    4 min read

Editor's Picks

More from Cole Feix

  • featureImage

    Good, Evil, and Grace

    If you’ve been to the movie theatre recently, you’ve probably seen a lot of promotion for the new Lilo & Stitch movie. Despite how you feel about what the internet has dubbed a controversial ending, I want to take a moment to analyze one of the themes in the film. Throughout the movie, Nani, Lilo’s older sister, is trying to make Lilo and Stitch behave so she can maintain a job and keep legal guardianship of her little sister. However, Stitch seems to mess up Nani’s chances of either of these th

    3 min read
  • featureImage

    Podcast Recap: Why Religion Went Obsolete

    Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Christian Smith’s book, Why Religion Went Obsolete, explores why religion, especially in modern Western societies, is seen as less necessary or even irrelevant. The argument is that with the rise of science, secularism, and modern culture, many people have moved away from traditional religious beliefs. Religion is often viewed as outdated or unable to answer today’s questions about life and meaning. This has led to fewer people pr

    1 min read
  • featureImage

    The Hesed of God, Part 2: The Grace of Forgiveness

    In the first article in this series, we explored God’s hesed toward us in the context of grief and despair. Though life is hard and marked by suffering, believers can rejoice because of God's hesed—His loyal, covenant-keeping love. He not only sees our pain but has entered our trials and suffering through Christ. Through Jesus’ suffering and death, we are brought into God’s faithful love and are never alone in our trials.This flows beautifully into exploring the grace of forgiveness we have rece

    3 min read
  • featureImage

    Podcast -  Villains of the Bible: Nebuchadnezzar

    Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.The worst event in Israel’s history was the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The general in charge of that destruction was Nebuchadnezzar, a king who became an emblem of all those who would elevate themselves against God. Unlike other rulers, we get an up-close look at Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel. There, we see God humbling and chastening him for his pride and brutality.The Babylonian Empire was short-

    2 min read
  • featureImage

    What does it mean to have childlike faith?

    What do you think of when you hear the word “childlike?”For many of us, “childlike” might bring to mind something immature, foolish, or naive. Yet when Jesus talked about childlike faith, he wasn’t asking us to be any of these things. He was inviting us into something pure, trusting, and real. This week, I got to help lead worship at a kids' camp. Watching the kids worship was such a beautiful reminder of what childlike faith truly looks like. These kids worshiped, prayed, and talked about God.

    4 min read