A Heavenly Party [Excerpt]

 

Joni Eareckson Tada's vision of heaven vibrates with joy, and C.S. Lewis asks what we really want, in this devotion from the NIV Voices of Faith Devotional Bible: Voices from the Past and Present.  

My favorite part about Joni's view is seeing the saints come together from across time: "There's Moses toasting Martin Luther." What Christians from history would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them?

-Adam Forrest, Zondervan

 

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada

Before we realize it ... we shall find ourselves in the embrace of our Savior at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. Heaven will have arrived. The Lord's overcoming of the world will be a lifting of the curtain of our five senses...

 

Now, enjoy an unseen divine reality. Rev up your heart and picture yourself taking a seat at the Wedding Supper. As you pull up a chair to the banquet table, take a look at what's on the menu from Isaiah 25:6: "On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines" ...

 

I get a charge just thinking about it! I wonder who will sit next to me, or across from me. I glance down the table and there’s my friend, Verna Estes, mother of seven, swapping baby stories with Susanna Wesley, mother of seventeen. There's Moses toasting Martin Luther. St. Augustine giving a bear hug to that jungle missionary ...

Then I'll look up, and walking toward me will be Dad. And Mother. Before you know it, we'll break up into uncontrollable laughter. We will laugh and cry with a kind of tears that never flowed on earth. We will wipe our eyes and try to stop, then break up again, crying and laughing and pointing at everybody. "We're here! They are here! I knew it was true, but not this true!"

Christ will open our eyes to the great fountain of love in His heart for us, beyond all that we ever saw before. It will hit us that we, the church, are His bride. Not just individually, but together. United. One with each other, and one with Him. Suddenly, our joy is multiplied a millionfold.

Most poignantly, when we're finally able to stop laughing and crying, the Lord Jesus will really wipe away all our tears. And then, we join hands around the banquet table, and "in that day [we] will say, 'Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation'" (Isaiah 25:9).

And the party is just beginning!

 

C. S. Lewis {AD 1898 – 1963}

There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else.

 

Learn More

Learn more about the NIV Voices of Faith Devotional Bible

Further Reading

2 Eyewitness To Heavenly Worship via Rory Noland
2 Views on Trust and Idolatry via the NIV Voices of Faith Devotional Bible

 

(Images & some styling above are web-exclusive features not included in the text of NIV Voices of Faith Devotional Bible. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

 

Comments

[Jake]

Other than Jesus and every good person from the Bible, I would definitely like to meet Martin Luther, who is a major role-model for me. I love how he stood up, knew what was right, and caused the world to literally revolutionise itself. If he didn't do what he did, I probably would still be taking part in confession, praying to the saints, et cetera. I'm glad he showed the world what the Bible truly said. :) I'd also like to meed Kirk Cameron, who is another great role-model to me. He's not the kind of guy who sits there and lets everyone make up lies about God's royal family - he stands up and shows the TRUTH, which not many people do, for fear of being ridiculed. :)

[Adam Forrest (Zondervan Blog)]

Jake, thank you for sharing. Those are both bold people. I imagine it would be pretty thrilling to sit through a sermon from Martin Luther!

I would like to speak with a load of the departed, but I'll limit myself to four who've fascinated me since college: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Soren Kierkegaard, Augustine, and Erasmus of Rotterdam.

-Adam