When We All Get To Heaven
When We All Get To Heaven
Isaiah 65:17-25
There’s a favorite old gospel hymn called “When We All Get to Heaven.” Have you ever sung it? The chorus goes: “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.”
Easter Sunday is a day of victory, a day of overcoming and Resurrection power. Because of Easter, we can look with confidence to a future with God. Whatever heaven will be like—and we can only imagine its glories—it will be wonderful primarily because we will be in the presence of the God who loves us and the Savior who died for us.
The prophet Isaiah, in a beautiful poetic passage, shares what that future age will be like.
It Will Be Filled with Joy (vv. 17-19)
One reason the “new heavens and new earth” will be joyful is because “the former things will not be remembered.” How much pain we carry around with us, how many burdens we willingly endure, because we are unwilling to lay aside the past and move on into the future. Isaiah says that someday God will wipe every tear and take away every painful memory.
Another source of joy will be the presence of God, which prompt great gladness and rejoicing. What a wonderful day it be, when we can share the presence of God directly and fully.
It makes us wonder why we do so little to enter God’s presence in the present! Why do we willingly sacrifice the joy Hi comes from being with God in prayer and in the Word?
It Will Be Filled with Satisfaction (vv. 20-23)
The life of average men and women in Isaiah’s day was difficult. Hard labor and minimal medical care meant that life short and hard; indeed, many infants died during or shortly after birth. So the picture Isaiah paints here is of a different kind world—one in which life is not brief and hard but expansive filled with satisfaction.
Notice that it isn’t a world with no work! But it’s not a “take-job-and-shove-it” kind of vocation; instead, it is a time when satisfaction and pleasure come from receiving the fruits of one’s labors.
It Will Be Filled with Peace (vv. 24-25)
In a world filled with conflict and war, it is wonderful to know that a day is coming when relationships between people will be marked by peace and harmony. What will be the cause of such a new spirit? The pervasive presence of God will reshape hearts and minds, replacing conflict with cooperation. The joy and faction that fill that day will produce peace.
The irony of all this is that Isaiah is not simply talking about heaven, but about life within the Kingdom of God here and now. We can begin to experience a foretaste of the glories to come even now as we walk