From Former Things to Forever Things
By Dean Collins
I can name a lot of current things that I would like to be former things! Can’t you? If you have a mortgage on your home, you hope to one day have that house payment be a former thing instead of a monthly bill. Maybe it is a nickname you have been given that you would prefer to fade away and be a former thing. There are many memories we treasure and hope to never lose, but there are some parts of our lives and experiences we would rather just park in the “former” category.
As we read the last few verses of the book of Isaiah, the exiles discover that God’s long-range plan is even bigger than rebuilding Jerusalem. His plans include a total recreation of everything!
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.”
There are verses in the Bible that give us great comfort in times of grief. John 14 is one passage that is often used to comfort us when we experience the death of a loved one. Here is a portion of this familiar passage:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
The good news is that Jesus did go and make a place for us! Through his death on the cross and through his resurrection, we now have a place with God. Because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit now lives in us. And if you read both John’s gospel and John’s epistles, you know that we have already begun to experience eternity. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Our place is with God now and with God forever when the new heaven and earth are made complete at the return of Jesus.
Earlier in Isaiah 6, we read that “the whole earth is filled with his glory.” The glory of the Lord is with us now and will be fully realized, not in some mansion in the sky, but in ways that we cannot fully imagine.
Isaiah tells us:
1) We won’t remember the former things.
2) We will rejoice forever.
3) There will be no more weeping or sadness.
4) We will still work…not just singing praise songs either. “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.”
While we are here now, we will experience suffering and hardship because we occupy a broken space on earth that is waiting for her full redemption. Yet because Jesus made a place for us, we are never alone now. The Lord is with us and will be with us through every step of our days on earth. But one day. One fine day. One glorious day, Christ will return, and we will behold him in all his glory and dwell with him in a new heaven and earth that is united. Yes, it is mind boggling to consider but already real in God’s plan and in his perfect timing!
Father, we are amazed at your great love for us. Thank you for your death and resurrection that allows us to have a place with God both now and forever. Fill our hearts with holy imagination as we anticipate all that you have planned for us now and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Isaiah 6:3, 65:17-25; Habakkuk 2:14; Revelation 21:1-7, 9-10 ESV
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