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transcript of a sermon by Randy Alcorn Read Revelation 20:11-21:13; 22:1-7, 11-17.
Two and a half years ago, it was the eleventh anniversary of the day my
mother went home to be with Christ. I was headed to the airport, to go
to Philadelphia, and I dropped by to see Jerry, my best friend from childhood.
He was dying of cancer.
I came to Jerry's house, and while my wife sat with his wife upstairs,
I went downstairs to be alone with Jerry. I did what I had many times with
my mother in the final days of her life on earth. I read to him from these
last chapters of the Bible.
When I read to Jerry about God wiping away the tears from every eye, I
looked up at him lying there on that sick bed, and I saw tears flowing
from one eye. I had the privilege of wiping away those tears.
And when I got to the last verse I just read to you, verse 17, something
amazing happened. When I started the verse Jerry was there in the room
next to me. By the time I read the last words he had left. His spirit was
no longer in the temple of his body. Ichabod--the glory had departed.
As I sat and stared at his abandoned body, Jerry was experiencing the ultimate
adventure--stepping into a new world, the world for which he was made.
A world of light that once experienced will cause us to see this world
as having been the Shadowlands.
Some of you may recognize that story, because I incorporated it into my
novel Deadline,
related to the character I called Finney. I've had the privilege of reading
hundreds of letters from people who have written to say that after reading
Deadline they now anticipate heaven with a joy they have never before
known. It struck a chord. People are tired of this world, its dashed dreams
and broken promises, its suffering and injustices. And when you get tired
of this world, there's good reason--it's because you've been made for another
world.
Bertrand Russell has been called the greatest
mind of the twentieth century. Anticipating his death he said this: "There
is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There
is no splendor, no vastness anywhere; only triviality for a moment, and
then nothing."
Other than Jesus Christ himself, the greatest mind of the first century
was the apostle Paul. Anticipating his death this is what he
said, in Philippians 1: "I expect that now as always Christ will be
exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is
Christ and to die is gain . . . . I desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is better by far."
Two famous men. One did not know God. The other did. When it came to their
views of death--and therefore their views of life--that made all the difference.
In the New Testament, the Greek word for 'sleep' is used fourteen times
in reference to death. It speaks not of unconsciousness or soul sleep--in
fact we're told "to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord." Jesus said to the thief on the
cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." The story of
the rich man and Lazarus shows immediate consciousness at death, both in
heaven and hell.
When Scripture speaks of sleep it refers to relocation and when it speaks
of rest it refers to a renewal that leaves us
refreshed and ready for what lies ahead a new and greater world. Revelation
14:13 tells us, "Blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they shall
rest from their labor."
Now if you are weary the concept of rest may be very inviting to you. But
understand that rest is only one aspect of heaven. Another is work for
those longing for productivity. Did you see that in Revelation 22:3?
"No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in the city, and his servants will serve him."
Revelation tells us eight times that
in heaven, we will serve God. Service implies responsibilities, duties,
effort, and creativity to do work well. (Work with lasting accomplishment,
unhindered by decay and fatigue, enhanced by unlimited resources.)
Heaven's labor will be refreshing, productive and unthwarted, without futility
and frustration. Perhaps it will be like the work Adam and Eve did in the
Garden of Eden, before sin brought the curse on the ground, with its thorns.
Turn to 2 Timothy 4:68, the end of Paul's
last letter. (Read) 1. an ox being loosed from its yoke when it was finished pulling a cart.
On the one hand, the Bible calls Death the Last Enemy. On the other hand,
for the one whose faith and actions have prepared him for death, death
is a deliverer. What we call "death" is a transition from a dying
body in a dying world to a world of light and life. No wonder Paul says
"to die is gain."
You may have a hard time imagining the
reality of life after death. When you've only been here, here is all you
know. Imagine two twins in their mother's womb, having a discussion about
life after the womb. The one says "There's a whole world out there.
There's grassy meadows and mountains and streams and waterfalls, horses
and dogs and cats and whales and giraffes. There's skyscrapers and cities,
and people like us but much bigger playing games like football and baseball
and volleyball, and going on beach trips . . ."
Can you imagine the look his twin brother gives him? He says, "Are
you crazy? That's just wishful thinking. Everybody knows there's no life
beyond the womb."
I've been with missionaries on the Yukon river up in Alaska. Suppose we
traveled even further north, to the Eskimos who live in ice and snow, where
the most vegetation is some stunted shrubs. Now, imagine telling these
people about the tropicsmiles of warm ocean and sand, palm trees,
coconuts, bananas, oranges. Would they follow you? Of course not. They
couldn't understand, because they lack the necessary reference points.
Reality is not determined by the limits of anyone's ability to understand.
Life outside the womb, life after birth is real even if the child cannot
imagine it. The tropics are real, even though the Eskimo cannot imagine
them. Heaven is real even if we cannot imagine it.
Thirteen and a half years ago in the middle
of the night I received a phone call telling me my mother had died. I returned
home about 3:00 in the morning, and decided I should wake up Karina, who
was two and a half. Karina and her grandmother were extremely close, and
there was a link between their souls that was amazingly deep. I knew it
couldn't wait till the morning.
I will never forget the smile on Karina's face as she woke up. I looked
at her and said, "Karina, do you know where grandma is?" And
before I finished she smiled and said "Yes, Daddy, she's in heaven."
I was shocked. And I realized two things. First, that in her sleep God
had communicated to Karina what had happened. Without a doubt, she woke
up knowing, not guessing, but knowing that her grandmother had died.
This was amazing enough, but the second thing that struck me was that Karina
accurately understood something that few people do--that she had every
reason to be happy for her grandmother. She was not smiling because she
didn't understand. She was smiling precisely because she did understand.
Because she literally and actually believed everything we had taught her
about heaven from the Bible. Not just in her head but in her heart.
And though she would miss her grandmother greatly, she understood that
this was not the end of their relationship, but only an interruption. She
knew that her grandmother was in heaven, she knew that one day she would
be in heaven, and she knew that God would make all things right. In fact
that night she said to us, "Grandma isn't lying in the hospital bed
anymore. Jesus is carrying her in his lap."
One of the most conspicuous shortfalls of the evangelical church in America
today is our loss of a sense of the eternal. Our view of life and death
has become skewed. But it is not a new problem. Writing in 1649 Pastor
Richard Baxter said this about heaven:
If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there
no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but
once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he
heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire
after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for
nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get
this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe
it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labour
for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe
one word they hear.
The Christian should bring God's perspective to death and to life. We realize
that this brief life on earth is the preface, not the book, the preliminaries,
not the main event, the tune-up, not the concert.
For Christians, heaven is our home. Paul said, "As long as we are
at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We would prefer to be away
from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
In John 14 Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where
I am you may be also." Do you realize what a great compliment he pays
us?! He wants to be with us!
Think about it. The Carpenter from Nazareth has gone to prepare a place
for us! When Nanci was carrying our first child, we prepared a place for
her before she arrived, fussing over wall paper and crib. The quality of
the place limited only by the skills and resourcefulness of the parent.
What kind of place will He have prepared for us?!
We do what can be reasonably done medically, we never withhold essential
care, we certainly never assist in suicide, but neither do we desperately
cling to this life as if it were all there is. Imagine a homeless street
dweller offered ownership of a huge estate might cling to his boxes and
garbage cans in a back alley--he just doesn't know better. (C. S. Lewis--a
child offered a holiday at the sea content to make mud pies in a slum--"we
are far too easily pleased.")
Jesus says, "Come blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you." Tailor made for us, to fulfill our God-given dreams and
desires, to be our eternal home.
Home is acceptance, security, rest, refuge, deep personal relationships,
great memories. Home is where your treasure is. If heaven is your home,
then your mind and heart and treasure will be there.
And I think that answers the question of why heaven means much less to
us than the saints of God throughout the ages. We have tried to build our
ultimate home on earth. We have become citizens of this world. Our hopes
rise and fall with this world, rather than being centered on the next.
The question is, do you think and live as if this world, or the next world,
was your home? Is your mind on earth or on heaven?
There's an old saying, "those who are heavenly minded are of no earthly
good." Yet in Colossians 3:1 Scripture commands us to set our minds
on heaven, where Christ is.
C.S. Lewis said "It is since Christians have largely ceased to think
of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one."
When we are properly heavenly minded we will be of maximum heavenly and
earthly good. But when we are earthly minded we will ultimately bring no
good to heaven or earth. A.W. Tozer used to say, "We do well to think
of the long tomorrow."
How do we know what heaven is like? Well, in the last number of years there
have been lots of testimonies about personal OBEs, "out of body experiences."
Some of these are probably accurate and true, but many are definitely not.
For in some cases a non-christian is met by a being of light who gives
him reassurance and welcomes him to paradise. This is directly contrary
to Word of God. Especially significant since Scripture specifically says
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (The writer of bestseller
Embraced by the Light is a Mormon with some very unbiblical theology.)
Ultimately our only totally dependable authority is Word of God. In writing
my novel Deadline I studied out everything Scripture says about
heaven, and used that as a fence, inside which I tried to use a sanctified
imagination.
We know heaven will be indescribably beautiful and wonderful. When I think
of the first glimpse of heaven I think of the first time I went snorkeling.
It was absolutely breathtaking. The thousands of fish of every shape and
size and color, and just when you think you've seen the most beautiful
creation here comes another one. It's endless.
I remember after days of snorkeling walking way out and jumping off the
rocks into water that was sixty feet deep. The water was so clear I had
the sensation of falling. Could see fish and shells on the bottom as if
just a few inches away. For most of my life I had seldom thought about
that other world under the water. But I fell in love with that other world,
and often find myself thinking about it even now.
I have etched in my memory a certain sound. It's the sound of a gasp going
through a rubber snorkel, heard from under the water. A world so beautiful,
so endlessly wonderful, that cannot be exhausted, and which yields new
treasures that will spontaneously cause us to gasp in amazement and delight.
What is heaven? Heaven is the place where God is. Home of Christ,
angels, and redeemed. Only those who know Christ, whose names written in
Lamb's book of life.
Heaven is located up and out there, outside our own universe. It is solid.
Real. Not airy. Not ethereal. Tangible. Like our resurrection bodies--real
bodies that can be touched.
Heaven is a city whose builder and maker is God. A city by definition consists
of residences. People live together. No isolation.
Large city--show OH # (US map)
Base is 2 1/4 million square miles. A city 1500 miles high--780,000 stories!
(If not literal, why exact measurement?!)
City will have walls, gates, streets. Three gates on each side, 12 gates
total. Access from all over new earth.
No down payment, closing costs, mortgage payments, property tax, utility
bills.
And if you think you'd never like the city, it's because you're thinking
of earthly cities, with litter and dirt and crime. The heavenly city will
have all the freshness and vitality and openness of the country with all
the vibrancy and interdependence and relationships of a city. And there
will be no racial divisions between people.
Water. No seas to separate people of earth but fresh water--a great river,
flowing not stagnant.
Trees. Tree of life, bears twelve fruits, leaves for healing, palm trees
(palm branches). Vegetation--garden. Why not? Eden was garden.
Thrones. Clothes. Precious stones and materials. Streets of gold--most
costly materials of earth are common in heaven.
Animals--certainly not incompatible with Paradise. Eden was full of them!
Revelation talks of several angels riding out on horses. Elijah--chariots
and horses of fire come to and from heaven. Elisha--God sent horses and
chariots and warriors from heaven.
In the millennial kingdom, which is heaven brought to earth, there are
animals, lions and lambs and oxen and others. No doubt birds and fish and
all kinds of other animals.
Light. No secondary sources. No generators and power lines, not even the
sun. Illumination right from God himself--the lamb is the lamp. There will
be no night--could be a variation in brightness; maybe a gentle suffused
light.
But what will we do in heaven? Won't float around and play harps and fold
our wings. In fact, we won't have wings--not even all the angels are said
to have wings, and people are never said to. And Saint Peter isn't manning
the gate either.
We will eat food, have banquets. Christ promised we would eat and drink
at table with him; plus come from all over to sit at table with Abraham
and patriarchs. We will feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Christ's
resurrection body--he ate fish; no need but pleasure?)
There will be an endless supply of water and food. No famine or drought.
No food poisoning, no indigestion, no high or low blood sugars, which is
good news to an insulin dependent diabetic like me. No insulin injections
and blood tests four times a day.
Eating is not just to eat--the table is the center of conversation and
fellowship. We will meet and converse with other inhabitants of heaven.
God tells us we'll fellowship with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. We'll meet
David and Ruth and Esther and John the Baptist and Mary and Peter. I look
forward to meeting and feasting with Martin Luther and Hudson Taylor and
Amy Carmichael and Charles Spurgeon and A. W. Tozer and C. S. Lewis (and
Dave Harvey).
The angels are rational communicative beings--we will no doubt converse
with them. The guardian angel concept is biblical. Because they are "ministering
spirits" who serve us, we will no doubt get to know those that ministered
to us and protected us during our years on earth. The Bible says some we've
extended hospitality to are angels. Luke 16 speaks of being welcomed into
eternal dwelling places by those we've ministered to on earth.
We will serve Christ in the kingdom. We are called joint heirs with Christ.
We will own property, residences in heaven. We will enjoy those treasures
that we have laid up for ourselves in heaven while on earth.
Revelation 22:5 says we will reign with Christ over the earth. Luke 19
tells us those who have been faithful in this live will be placed in authority,
some over one city, some five, some ten. 1 Corinthians 6 tells us we will
judge or rule over angels.
How else will we serve Christ besides ruling? Well, we will be creative
and exercise abilities--all will sing and some will play instruments. (Harp
and trumpet mentioned, but no doubt many other instruments too.)
We will no doubt compose, write, paint, carve, build. We will exercise
our God-given gifts, and continue to develop and perfect our talents.
We will worship in heaven. See Revelation 5 and 15 and 19. We will join
with those of every tribe and nation and tongue in singing praise to the
Lamb. We will become lost in our worship, even more than I become lost
in snorkeling. Twice in Rev. 5 it says the living creatures and "the
elders fell down in worship." Overcome with emotion.
Revelation 4 tells us of four living creatures, covered with eyes, one
that looks like a lion, one an ox, one a man and one an eagle. They each
have six wings, and "day and night they never stop saying: "Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
I love the ocean--the constant reassuring comforting sound of the tide,
the waves, forms a backdrop. Always there. In heaven, wherever we travel
in the holy city or beyond, perhaps to the far corner of the universe,
the backdrop sound will be this--day and night the chant of the four living
creatures who never, even for a moment stop speaking the praise of God.
There will be no temple, no church buildings. We will need no props to
worship him. Christ will be the focus of all. Worship will be unaffected,
without pretense, and without distraction. When I'm in that undersea world
I get so absorbed in it I can never believe how long I've been out there--it
seems like it's been 30 minutes but it was four hours. I lose myself in
the wonder. We will lose ourselves in worship of Christ, and before we
turn to the duties at hand we may suddenly realize that we were so caught
up in worship that we have spent the last hundred years gazing upon the
Lamb.
We will worship Christ in singing. In Revelation 5 we are told of a choir
of angels of ten thousand times ten thousand--that's a hundred million.
And then we are told that the whole rest of creation joins these 100 million.
The 100 million are merely a little ensemble up front. Can you imagine
the power of the song? If hearing the Hallelujah chorus or All Hail the
Power of Jesus name moves us on earth, what will this be like?
Heaven will be dynamic, not static. We will learn, progress in knowledge.
When 1 Corinthians 13 says we will know in full, it's in contrast to seeing
through a dark glass. We will know accurately. But we will not be all-knowing.
Only God is that, and we will never be God. Ephesians 2:6-7: " . .
. in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches
of his grace . . ." A continual learning more about God, who can never
exhausted.
And while theology will be our main subject, I imagine we will learn of
other things as well, perhaps in studying the wonders of a new universe
that will declare his glory even better than this one. As a boy, one of
my dreams, long before Star Trek, was to explore the universe, to discover
and learn about the new and different. Why not? Who has placed in us the
thirst for knowledge and understanding and beauty? Our Creator. And because
he is a Creator he will go right on creating.
There will be travel, people will go from one place to another (21:24).
Gates never shut. Our means of travel may be interesting--we are told we
will be like Jesus and that his resurrection body is the prototype of ours.
He walked through walls with his resurrection body. Perhaps we will have
the option of walking, or traveling at the speed of light, or even the
speed of thought.
Will we remember the past, what happened on earth? Well, we know that in
the heavenly city there will be memorials to the twelve tribes and to the
apostles. Remembrance is something very important to God. We will sing
of Christ's redemption, his space and time history death on our behalf.
Christ's resurrection body bore the nail scars--this itself reminds us
of redemption.
Some people take a verse in Isaiah out of context and conclude we won't
remember our earthly lives. Of course, the pain of the past will be gone.
But memories of the walk with Christ and the most intimate times with family
and friends will surely not be. For what is worth remembering, our memories
will be sharper, not duller.
Will we know our loved ones in heaven? Of course. We'll know even those
we didn't know on earth. Peter James and John recognized Moses and
Elijah in the transfiguration. They had died 900 years earlier and nobody
had a picture. Christ's resurrection body resembled him--the disciples
had a hard time recognizing him at first, but they thought he was still
dead!
While Christ's kingdom plan is being worked out, the focus of heaven is
earth. A great cloud of witnesses, a heavenly audience watches with keen
interest our lives. We are in the arena. We are God's team supposedly carrying
out his kingdom purposes on earth. This is like center court at Wimbledon.
This is the Olympics, and a universe is watching us.
Scripture tells us the angels rejoice when someone comes to Christ. Isn't
it reasonable to suppose that the saints who have departed this world,
including our loved ones, do too? Personally, I think my mother is probably
listening to this message right now. I think my mother watched my daughters
be baptized.
I don't tell my daughters "Grandma would be proud of you," I
tell them "Grandma is proud of you." How condescendingly
we speak of those who have died as if they are now in the dark about what's
happening in the universe. On the contrary, they are in the know, it is
we who are in the dark. You don't become ignorant when you
go home with Christ, you become enlightened. Heaven's joy is not based
on being uniformed but in having an accurate perspective.
Those of us who long for justice, justice for the racially oppressed, for
the politically persecuted, for the unborn children need to remind ourselves
not to give up hope, not to become embittered. Heaven will bring great
relief to the suffering, the hungry, the hurting. No crying, no pain, no
sorrow, no more death. No hospitals, cemeteries. No sin.
There is a fascinating study of the first three and the last three chapters
of the Bible. In both we see the tree of life, a river, a bride and a bridegroom.
In Genesis paradise is lost, in Revelation paradise regained. In Genesis
Satan wins his first victory, in Revelation his final defeat. In Genesis
God hides his face from sinful man, in Revelation "we shall see his
face."
In Genesis the curse is pronounced in Revelation it is removed. In Genesis
the gates are shut, in Revelation the gates are open. In Genesis death
first comes, in Revelation death is finally destroyed. And it is the Lamb
of God, Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, who is given full credit for all
this.
"God himself (personal) will wipe away every tear." No evil.
No fear. No abuse, rape, murder, drugs, drunkenness, no bombs or guns.
Walk streets at night. No miscommunication or fear of misunderstanding.
And total intimacy with Christ. We are told that he will give each of us
a new name. A personal name that will mean much to us and to him.
Heaven will be deeply appreciated by the handicapped who will not be handicapped
any longer. Think of those who can walk and run and hear. Think of those
blind from birth who will see for the first time. The hymn writer Fanny
Crosby said, "Do not pity me for my blindness, for the first face
I ever see will be the face of my Lord Jesus."
And think what heaven will mean to the mentally handicapped, who will wake
up in heaven to great powers of understanding and learning. Who will be
as free in their minds as those who were crippled on earth will be free
in their bodies.
There will be marvelous diversity. Our God is a God of diversity and differentness.
Look around you. Look at your family. Look at the world. Look through a
microscope or telescope. In Revelation 5 & 7 we see people of every
tribe and nation and tongue worshipping the Lamb. This is true diversity.
Some of what is called diversity today is perversity. But diversity under
Lordship is a beautiful thing.
There will be great joy in heaven. "In thy presence is fullness of
joy, at thy right hand are pleasures forever more." Of course, the
greatest joy of heaven will be being joined to Christ. If we truly love
Christ we long to be with him. As a bride is incomplete without her bridegroom,
so are we without him. We long for the wedding, we long to consummate the
relationship. Every other concern in life is secondary.
The next greatest joy will be being joined to our departed loved ones.
The great reunion. That's what 1 Thessalonians 4 is saying--we will be
together again. The certainty of ultimate Reunion is so sweet that it makes
the parting bearable and almost exciting. I don't like to be away from
my family, but the one redeeming feature is the anticipation of reunion.
And the longer the separation the more glorious the reunion. Some of you
will meet parents you've not seen for fifty years, some will meet for the
first time your child who died before birth.
No relationships between two believers ever end. They can only be interrupted,
but never terminated. My relationship with my mother has not ended. Has
your believing husband, your Father, your sister, your child gone before
you? You will see them face to face, and worship with them side by side.
This is the believer's certain hope--a hope that can sustain us through
life's darkest hours.
I'm standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails
to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She's an object of
beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs
like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to
mingle with each other. And then I hear someone at my side saying, "There,
she's gone."
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast
and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And just as able to
bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished
size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at
my side says, "There, she is gone" there are other eyes watching
her coming and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout,
"Here she comes!" And that, for the Christian, is dying.
This is not a fairy tale. It is real. It is true.
Scripture says our citizenship is in heaven, not earth. We are ambassadors
representing Christ on this earth. We are called aliens, strangers, and
pilgrims on earth. We are told this world is not our home, but heaven is
our home. We must live on earth in light of heaven. We must learn to live
our short todays in light of the long tomorrow.
Imagine an ambassador from the United States who goes to work in another
country that is generally hostile to his own. Naturally, he will want to
learn about this new place, see the sights, become familiar with the people
and culture. But suppose eventually he becomes so assimilated into this
foreign country that he begins to regard it as his true home.
His allegiance wavers, and he gradually compromises his position as an
American ambassador, becoming increasingly ineffective in representing
the best interests of his mother country. His loyalties are transferred,
and eventually he defects. In doing so he not only becomes useless to,
but actually betrays the cause of his own country.
Hebrews 11 (v. 13-16) describes the great people of faith this way:
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not
receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from
a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of
their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they
would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a
better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
The black slaves in early America understood the pilgrim mentality. Without
possessions, without rights, they lived for another world, a better one.
This central theme permeated their spirituals. They sang "I am a poor
wayfarin' stranger, a travelin' far away from home," and "Soon
I will be done with the troubles of the world."
May God give us the grace to live now with the perspective that will be
ours one moment after we die.
In Lewis' book The Last Battle, in a section called "Farewell
to theshadow lands," the book begins with a near collision of a railroad
train,where the children are thrust into Narnia. But when their adventure
is overthe children are afraid they will be sent back to earth again. And
havingexperienced the joys and wonders of Narnia, and the presence of Aslan,
theLion who is Christ, the thought of returning to earth was unbearable.
AndAslan, the great Lion, the Christ, reassures them:
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your
father and mother and all of you are as you used to call it in the Shadowlands
dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this
is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things
that began to happen after that were so great and beautifulthat I cannot
write them. And for us this is the end of all thestories, and we can most
truly say that they all lived happily everafter. But for them it was only
the beginning of the real story. Alltheir life in this world and all their
adventures in Narnia have onlybeen the cover and the title page. Now at
last they were beginning Chapter One of the great Story which no one on
earth has read; whichgoes on for ever; in which every chapter is better
than the one before."
Related Resources: Eternal
Rewards (Chart and overhead transparency reproductions) What does the Bible say about Heaven? Rethinking our Beliefs about Heaven
In 2 Peter, the word "exodus" is used for death. Paul refers
to his death with the Greek word analousis, which means to loosen.
You can gain understanding of a word by finding out how that word was commonly
used in that culture. Here are five of the most common usages--think of
in relationship to death:
2. pulling up tent stakes, to prepare for a journey.
3. untying a ship from dock, to let it sail away.
4. unchaining a prisoner, freeing him from confinement and suffering.
5. solving a problem--when a difficult problem was finally resolved it
was referred to as having been "loosened."
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