The Glory That Awaits All True Christians
We’re coming home; our dwelling places are ready, having been lovingly designed by the Master Architect and Celestial Designer, our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The banquet tables are almost in place, seating arrangements made, angelic orchestras wait in the wings amidst joyful heavenly chatter about our soon arrival.
Oh, but the limitations of our finite minds. If only we had spiritual eyes, even for a brief second, to pierce the veil of our spirits; to gaze upon our eternal home in heavenly New Jerusalem. Oh, precious saint, dare we imagine to look upon God our Father on His throne of glory? Were we able in great boldness to approach Jesus, would we faint at His purity and holy brilliance? Definitely, I earnestly believe.
The majesty that awaits us! The glory that will surround and embrace us! The perfection, the unfathomable joy, the eternal, transcendent current of God’s peace upon our brow and heart!
How perfect is our Lord! Sense His love as you read His word in 1 Corinthians 2:10:
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
God is love. We are His children. We are joint heirs with Christ in all that God owns.
God wanted us to know this incredible fact far enough in advance to help us prepare, as best we can, for the unspoken joys that are just ahead. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us, through the sanctified hands of the Apostle Paul, the following precious words from Romans 8:16-17:
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that 210
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Oh, what awaits us! Can we grasp the wind? Can we extinguish the stars of the night?
Are we able to sculpt the mountains of the world? Nothing. Absolutely nothing can prepare us for the love He will forever shower upon us.
The Incredible Mercies of God
In His immeasurable wisdom, God has shut our minds to what awaits us in our eternal, heavenly home. If we knew even a thimble-full of our future in heaven, would we be any earthly good? Nevertheless, let our imaginations soar for just a moment.
We are overcomers. We are God’s champions - His trophies. How are champions rewarded? If we stay the course God has laid out before us, if we press on regardless of the challenge, we will someday receive our rewards. Moreover, that special day could be tonight, tomorrow, next week. It is the day of the Rapture - our Father’s gift for His children.
Jesus has crowns and multitudinous heavenly rewards prepared for those who truly love Him and serve him. Crowns for our service, our obedience, and our love. Our glistening victors crowns await us - we have run our race well. The memories of our earthly sweat and toil will be squeezed out by endless waves of God’s pure love and peace.
We will be eternally bathed in God’s presence, deliriously delighting in the eternal prospect of being with our Creator, our Savior, even one hundred billion years from now! Since we will exist in a timeless eternity, billions of years won’t even register on the universe’s timepiece.
New Jerusalem - Our Eternal Home
When we arrive in our heavenly home in New Jerusalem, can we expect to see row upon row of heavenly robes of righteousness awaiting Christians? Your robe is awaiting you! Imagine a 211
scene of an endless sea of brilliant white clean, pure garments, poised on golden heavenly hangars; pure raiment that we will wear for all eternity. These are our robes of righteousness which will be personally given us by Jesus Himself.
They wait to rest upon the holy shoulders of the children of God, shoulders that once bore the ponderous weight of earthly trials. However, before we receive our raiment, we must first stand before our Lord Jesus in The Judgment Seat of Christ. He will review our service to Him from the moment we received salvation.
The book of Revelation, Chapter 9:8 describes our new apparel:
“And to her (the Bride of Christ) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”
Our pure, white, raiment we will forever wear. It is an eternal declaration of Jesus’
faithfulness to us; the very raiment that will drape our shoulders will be an everlasting testimony of our love and service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Earthly Christian Service Woven Within Our Heavenly Robes
Our glorious robes are entirely of our own making. The above scriptures call it “the fine linen (which is) the righteousness of the saints.” We are the weavers of our own white garment. Each loving earthly act of service to the Lord is an individual thread which, in its totality, is woven to fashion the raiment.
We will wear our history! What a profound realization! Each robe is a reflection of how we served God; how we responded to His plan for our life; how we loved. I pray, dear saint, that you have a warehouse full of good works for which you will be greatly rewarded.
If you admittedly have not accomplished much for the Lord, for whatever reason, perhaps the 212
following scripture will shock you from your lethargy. Study 1 John 2:28:
“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
Ashamed? Yes. Although this verse was written to converted Jews waiting for Jesus’
second coming, it is, nevertheless, meaningful to us. If you and I have done little or nothing in service to the Lord since we received salvation, we will indeed feel shame. If we have nothing to offer our Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will feel great remorse.
Some Christians Will Experience Shame in Heaven
Perhaps you are saying to yourself, “shame in heaven? If heaven is perfect, how will there be shame?” Well, brothers and sisters, there will be shame - and tears; yes, in heaven:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
(Revelation 21: 4) There are 22 chapters in the book of Revelation. Notice that this scripture is found in Chapter 21. The context of this verse is that we Christians are residing in God’s holy city -
New Jerusalem. God waits until the end of Revelation to wipe away all tears and crying.
It has been made known that the Judgment Seat of Christ occurs shortly after we are Raptured in Revelation 4: 1. I believe (you can form your own opinion) this is the time when some will experience shame and tears. It is not until the tribulation ends and the millennium begins that God wipes away our tears. So, the tears will flow in heaven for seven years until the tribulation concludes. This is when God will wipe away tears and crying.
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Therefore, now is the time to start putting your works of Gold and Silver and Precious stones into your heavenly bank. You have it in your hands now to begin your good works.
Pray about where God wants you to serve. Ask Him to open the doors He wants to open. Wait upon Him. Here is the secret to your search:
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
(Proverbs 3: 6) Why will we have tears? My best guess is that at the Judgment Seat of Christ we will learn of all missed opportunities to speak with people about salvation. Perhaps we will learn that the works we thought we were doing for Jesus were perhaps based upon our own need to “look good” and win the admiration of others.
Most certainly, our motives for our works will be investigated and analyzed. If our motives were pure and righteous, we will be rewarded. If our motives were of a selfish nature, we will lose rewards. I believe the tears and crying will result from Jesus’ final evaluation of our works.
Know this, dear friend. Yes, Jesus is our judge. However, He will not chastise us and beat us down for not bringing many goods works to Him at the Judgment seat. Our rewards, or lack of same, will judge us. Jesus simply allows us to use our level of rewards as a mirror - to reflect the degree by which we served Him during our earthly lives.
However, for those Christians who have been busy serving the Lord, you can expect a glorious entrance into our heavenly home. Yet the praise is not for us. Oh yes, our bodies and minds enabled us to enter into, and complete, whatever opportunities of service God provided us through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the praise and glory are for the Lord.
All we did was allow Jesus to use our earthen vessels through which Jesus could reach out 214
and touch every life that we allowed Him to reach through our willingness to forget self and embrace the holy tasks before us. Truly, the victory is the Lord’s. Glory to God, it is not our deeds that will be eternally celebrated, but His.