I saw this picture the other day on social media and when I came across it and the description I gasped a little. It hit me at just the right moment and I stared in amazement. I knew it wasn’t really Heaven’s gates (even before Snopes told me it was a digitally altered photograph), but there was something about it that still stirred my soul. What truly set my spirit to soaring was this thought – “Heaven is so much better than this.”
First Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written: What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind— God prepared this for those who love Him.”
Even with the mind boggling descriptions given to us in Revelation, we still have not even thought, much less seen or heard, what God has in store for those who are His (if you are unsure that you are His, please click on the link at the bottom of the page called My Story).
Not only does God give us peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), grace beyond measure (Romans 5:20) and mercies that are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-26) on this planet, but He has plans for us when we transfer to heaven that is beyond the scope of our imagination. Think BIG and His thoughts are bigger still! Our King is worth anything He is asking us to give up. Our Lord is worth any task He has laid out before us to achieve. Our God is worth everything we have. He. Is. Worth. It. And, when we get to Glory I am sure we will say, “O Lord, I wish I had given you more.”
Read this beautiful description of heaven:
Revelation 21- 22:5 – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life. The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a very precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal. ⌊The city⌋ had a massive high wall, with 12 gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the 12 tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed ⌊on the gates⌋.
There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had 12 foundations, and the 12 names of the Lamb’s 12 apostles were on the foundations. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used. The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I did not see a sanctuary in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Each day its gates will never close because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Nothing profane will ever enter it: no one who does what is vile or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the broad street ⌊of the city⌋. The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His slaves will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.”
Even with all this beauty and all this indescribable magnificence, the most precious thing will not be where we are, but Who we are with. Praise Him today!
My Story Seeking Hearts Ministries
** Original Photo by The Hubble telescope
*image by odysseyonline.com
