Your First Day In Heaven

It’s midnight!  Your first day in heaven has just begun.  Midnight, but the sky is as blue as two-o’clock on a July Nebraska day.  No sun is visible, and yet everything is bright about you.  It’s midnight, but there’s no night there, for the Lamb is the light thereof.

            It’s midnight, your first day in heaven.  You haven’t slept a wink since leaving earth but there’s no jet lag, not even a latent yawn.  Of course there are many sights and sounds to capture your attention, but it’s more than that.  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, you have become like Christ for you have seen Him as He is.  And part of being like Christ means you will never again be tired, never again grow weary for lack of sleep because He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

            It’s midnight, your first day in heaven and you are smack-dab in the middle of the largest procession you have ever seen.  All the nations of those who are saved are walking in the light. Streets of gold, as wide as a four-lane highway are crowded with revelers, all dressed in white.  Like all the rest of them you hold a palm branch in your hand and wave it exuberantly, shouting “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

            At one end of this promenade of gold the crowd spills out onto a sea of glass, like a huge mirror, but transformed into a multitude of colors by what appear to be flames or fireworks continually exploding under its surface.  Rising up from the glass sea are row upon row of bleachers packed with the members of a magnificent choir.  An orchestra of a thousand harps accompanies them as they sing an oratorio greater than anything ever written by Mozart or Handel.  “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”  Their voices cascade through the air and echo off the golden gates which surround the city.

            At the other end of the street of gold the crowd divides and flows into many entrances of a vast circular amphitheatre, larger than any sports arena ever built.  You are still such a great distance from the stadium that you can see from one side to the other.  Immediately your gaze is focused on the highest reaches of the venue because there stands a phalanx of angelic creatures, shoulder to shoulder, at least 10,000 strong, circling the entire structure.   Each one carries a flaming sword held aloft by a powerful arm in salute to the One whose throne occupies the center of the arena.  You cannot see Him yet, but you recognize the angels as part of His royal train which one day filled the temple and now engulfs all of heaven, His eternal dwelling place.  Your heart skips a beat and a lump grows in your throat the size of a golf ball as you realize you are about to catch your first glimpse of the Lamb of God, the Bright and Morning Star, your Savior.

             Even though the procession through the streets of gold involves thousands upon thousands of people from every nation, kindred, people and tribe you discover to your amazement that you have no problem understanding any of them.  Swahili, Bantu, Swedish and Farzi are just as familiar to you as English and Spanish.  Not only can you understand people, you begin to recognize faces in the crowd and other people seem to know you as well. 

            “Aren’t you from that church in Maxwell, Nebraska that sent those ladies to the Ukraine to hold purity camps with Holly Friesen?” says a young girl standing nearby.  “My mother was saved that week and I accepted the Lord a few years later.  You had a part in my salvation.  Thank you so much for allowing them to come.”

            “How do you know me,” you ask, but she just smiles and says “Then shall I know even as also I am known.”  As soon as she says it, you realize that it is true.  Not only can you understand everyone around you, you recognize them.  They are brothers and sisters in Christ and since He knows each one of them by name He has granted to each of his children to know one another as well.  No wonder the saints are always smiling saying, “How do you do.”

            Suddenly you realize that the lady standing right beside you with the big smile on her face is the great-grandmother who passed away before you were born.  Before you can say anything she surrounds you in a loving embrace as only a grandmother can do and welcomes you to glory.  “My husband and I prayed for you and all your siblings even before your grandparents ever met and started a family,” she says.  “We have no greater joy than to hear that our children are walking in the truth.”  Next to her stands your great-grandfather whose face you have only seen in pictures, but he looks just like your Dad.  Joining them are other family members many of whom you have never before met who came to Christ through the prayers and testimony of godly heritage begun by those same great-grandparents many years before.

            Several of the smaller children are eating strange fruits of a variety you have never seen before.  More curious than hungry you make your way to the edge of the golden avenue which is lined with an orchard of trees.  To your amazement every branch of the tree is bearing a different kind of fruit.  All are ripe and each looks increasingly delicious so you simply start with the nearest one.  Just one bite satisfies your appetite, and yet at the same the juice is so delicious that you know you will be returning to sample all of the varieties of fruit in the days to come.

            The days to come.  Eternal days.  It’s your first day in heaven, but there will never be a last day in heaven.  You wonder if it’s possible for every day with Jesus to be sweeter than the day before and even before the thought is fully formed in your mind you know that it is true.  No sorrow, no crying, no pain.  No death.  You look again at your great-grandmother and realize she is the very one your mother talked about who spent the last twenty years of her life crippled with arthritis.  But now she’s walking, hugging everyone, and raising her arms far above her head to wave that palm branch that everyone seems to be carrying.

            Just then the crowd divides into orderly columns as if in obedience to some inner voice and you find yourself entering through one of the ornate golden doors into the vast amphitheatre you had seen only from the distance.  Over the door of the entrance you see the words “Whosoever will may come.”  And on a large placard beside the door you read, “Entrance fee: Paid by the blood.”  You are there because you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  You have by faith accepted His offer to become your substitute.  Your sins have been laid on Jesus, the spotless Son of God.

            The inner voice directs you to a seat which you realize must be one of at least 100 million in the vast arena and yet every place in the entire stadium seems like a front row seat.  The same inner voice seems to whisper in your ear, “It’s the blood.  If you had been the only person on earth I still would have died for you.  You have been chosen, a special person.  Enter into the joy of the Lord.”

            And then you see Him.  Seated on a throne.  High and lifted up above the very center of the stadium.  And you understand why every seat feels like a front seat. It feels as if the two of you are alone even though surrounded by thousands upon thousands of men and angels.  You have his undivided attention and with an overwhelming sense of awe you give Him yours as well.

            The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

            The King of kings and Lord of lords.

            The Great I Am. 

Creator of the Universe.

The Son of God.

Jesus, name above all names!

Awestruck.  Speechless.  Humbled.  Amazed.  You stand to your feet only to drop to your knees.  You open your mouth to give thanks, only to close it again when no adequate words can be found.  You bow your head, only to find that you cannot resist looking deep into those eyes of love.  You worship—not with your hands or knees or tongue.  Those ritual forms which were so familiar on earth seem totally inadequate here in heaven.  You worship with your heart. You understand for the first time what it means to love the Lord with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength.

It’s your first day in heaven and without ever exploring its outer reaches.  Without ever seeing the mansion He’s been preparing.  Without ever riding on a cloud or talking to saints like Abraham and David and Esther.  Without yet partaking in any of the marvelous heavenly adventures that await you as the ages roll on—you are satisfied.  It’s your first day in heaven and you have already discovered what heaven is all about.

“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.”

“What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. 

When I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace.

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me to the Promised Land.

What a day, glorious day, that will be.”

Your first day in heaven will be made perfect when you see Jesus.  And it all depends on what you do with Him right now.  “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Confess your sin.  Believe that the Son of God died in your place.  Accept Him as your Lord and Savior.  Then you too can anticipate your first day in heaven.