All we hoped and worked for

I wonder how will Abraham feel when he sees the city for the first time? About four thousand years ago, Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, looking for “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Can you imagine Abraham bursting through the gates, running into the heavenly city, shouting, “I’ve found it! I’ve finally found it! I’ve found what I was looking for! I’ve found what I have been hoping for! All the days and nights of wandering and living in tents were worth it! All of God’s promises are true!”

All of Abraham’s goals and hopes and dreams–those things that were the driving forces in his life–had been focused on his eternal home, and he will not be disappointed! Like Abraham, will we shout, “I found it! I finally

found it! Everything I dreamed of and worked for is here! All of the sacrifice I made on earth has been compensated a hundred times over in heaven! It was all worth it! I found all I hoped for–and more!”

–Anne Graham Lotz

No darkness ever

In heaven there will be perfect health and harmony and unity and unbroken times together! There will not even be the natural separation between night and day, because, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23). Our heavenly home glows and radiates with light from within. I have been in   some of the great cities of the world at night. I have looked out from Victoria Peak at Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year after sunset, and I have seen the lights transform the hills surrounding the harbor into a virtual fairyland. I have seen Capetown, South Africa, wrapped around Table Mountain at night with the lights looking like a jewel-studded skirt! I have seen Paris from Montmartre after dinner, stretched out for miles in an endless sea of light, with the lighted outline of the Eiffel Tower beckoning like a finger to those who love beauty! But even in those great cities with their millions of lights, there are still pockets of darkness. In our heavenly home, there will be no darkness at all! No one will ever stumble or be lost or unable to find his or her way.

 –Anne Graham Lotz

Praise for His great mercy

Surely our joy will permeate heaven with our words of praise as we tell others what our great God has done for us. I would like to hear the testimony of missionaries seeking to spread the gospel in the jungles of South America whose lives were threatened–and even taken–by drug lords. I would like to hear the testimony of pastors in Africa who encouraged their starving congregations, and testimony of Christians in Eastern Europe who chose to love their neighbors as themselves, and testimony of those living under atheistic regimes who chose to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength regardless of the earthly consequences. And I would like to hear the testimony of ordinary believers, I would like to hear your

testimony! It will take an eternity for us to hear all the testimonies we want to hear! And every single testimony will be a story of God’s mercy and great faithfulness that are new every morning and fresh every evening! The entire universe will resound with our praise to His glory! But make no mistake about it! Our priority will not just be singing His praise or sharing His goodness as blessed as that will all be–and it will be blessed! Instead, our priority will be to worship the Lamb and serve the King forever and ever and ever!

–Ann Graham Lotz

 

Thanks to Bob Lyon for providing this.