Do you think about heaven very often? Do you believe it is a real place? What do you imagine when you construct your image? How do you respond to the idea of living forever?
King David had a unique clarity concerning forever. He believed he was going to experience forever life after this life. He understood his earthly life in conjunction with his heavenly life. They were connected. One followed the other. Here is one of the many realizations/declarations of the “sweet psalmist of Israel.”
Psalm 16:5-11
First, David connects the dots of his life:
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
David is then grateful for his connectivity with his God:
I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
I have set the Lord continually before my face;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
He then sets his future view on life beyond this life:
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
Forever here means never-ending. Pleasures gives the word pictures of overlapping delight. Our pleasures mesh completely with the pleasure of God. Wow.
We have just enough information about heaven for us to use in our calculus about where we are going. We love this from Revelation 22:
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street 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. 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 illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”
This is the context of the forever pleasures offered through Jesus. Selah.
Heaven will revolve around the One who is, and was, and will be forever!
“…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father — to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – from Revelation 1
Peace upon your heart!
Dave and Burnadette