When we All Get to Heaven
(NRSV) Rev 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. Do you ever think of which biblical people you want to meet in Heaven? Not just meet, but sit down with them and really listen to their stories.
My go-to answer has always been Isaiah. I’ve heard some scholars say the book of Isaiah was undoubtedly written by more than one man because of the timespan covered, but I’ve always said I want to meet whomever wrote Isaiah 40, my favorite chapter in the entire Bible.
But beyond Isaiah, I long to sit down with Ruth to discover the source of her abiding love and loyalty for her mother-in-law, Naomi. I want to speak with Rahab and explore the depth of her fears as she hid the Hebrew spies, and I want to ask Esther if she understood the importance of being chosen for “such a time as this.”
I will ask Nehemiah, the master builder, of his doubts and fears as he determined to rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem. And I will shed tears with Jeremiah as he recounts the heartbreak of speaking doom to his people, knowing that many would never heed his words.
I will spend time with Habakkuk, the questioning prophet, to determine just what brought him to the point where he stopped questioning God and began giving Him thanks —in everything. And I long to sit down with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, to find out just what she learned at the feet of Jesus, and how that knowledge permeated her heart.
Of course, all of these conversations will have to wait until I have praised my Creator and my Savior for at least ten thousand years, and until I have reconnected with family from whom I have been separated for so many years.
I wonder, who do you look forward to meeting in Heaven? I would love to know.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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