But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.
I’ll be honest with you all who are reading this; my age is starting to tell on me. Not just physically which it most certainly is revealing, but also in my thoughts at times. This last week as I was praying and meditating on some of the things of the Lord, is a case in point. Now, I have always been a person who questions just about everything. You might get the image of that small child tugging on their parents clothing and asking “why?” all the time. Well, I don’t think I have ever outgrown that! I still do that to our Heavenly Father and believe me, I am so very thankful for His longsuffering nature and His patience!
What I was contemplating and thinking about was Heaven and our eternal state and just what it might be like. I know that to a great degree it is just speculation, but I also believe that the Holy Spirit within us gives us hints now and then; little bits that our finite minds can at least start to grasp.
The thing I was questioning the Lord about was related to our memories and such and especially in relation to Him “wiping away every tear.” Revelation 21:4 states it this way, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (NKJV).
My questions to the Lord amounted to wondering how there could be no sorrow if our memories were intact, especially in the area of remorse and even those things that caused pain. After all, aren’t those things part of what makes us who we are, even IN the Lord?
Of course then something dawned on me concerning eternity; there is NO time. In that regard we will be more and more in the likeness of our God in which He created us. Yes, we have a beginning (though in God’s mind, He has known us always!) but we will be eternal, without end, just as He created us to be. That’s where some of the questions for me were answered.
Think about it. In the natural we have a saying that “time heals all wounds.” Now in actuality, it doesn’t heal the wounds, but it lessens the pain of those wounds by placing them further and further into our memories. Over time, especially a great deal of time, the memories don’t remain as sharp or as painful in relation to those hurts and pain.
It’s very possible that God WILL take our sorrows and pains away immediately, after all, He created us and He will always remain sovereign AND He is going to give us a glorified body like Christ Jesus has once He calls us Home. But even if it is not instantaneous, the stigma of that remorse and those sorrows will probably be overshadowed with the perfect joy we will be able to bask in.
The other thing is this; the average lifespan today is about 80 years. That’s eight decades and I am already starting my eight decade and there are certainly things in my past that though I regret extremely and am sorrowful for, the pain of that has diminished. Now understand that the lessons I have learned from them have caused me to be the person I am today, but those early pains and sorrows don’t hinder me from moving forward in the Lord.
Here’s my point; in 1000 years of living in the presence of our Heavenly Father and working with our Lord and Savior in total and absolute joy, how is a memory like that going to even matter. By that time, we will already be who we are in Christ. We will be ever moving forward in the work the Lord has prepared for us. This past life will in most likelihood appear to be but an infinitesimal dream; and it will be all because that is how God, as our Father, created us!
When I thought of that, I couldn’t help but praise and glorify the Lord and give Him thanks for choosing someone like me. The fact is, this is His desire for ALL His creation, but all of His creation does not give it even the slightest thought and without that effort, they will most certainly, sadly, miss out on the greatest gift in anyone’s life!
You can understand how Paul must have felt when encouraging the church of Corinth in that portion of his letter to them. However God chooses to accomplish what He has promised, it will be with perfection and we will be the beneficiaries of that eternal gift! I for once look forward to that time and it causes me to continue to press on, even more so today, in spite of the circumstances surrounding us.
My prayer and my hope, is that all of you reading this can also see that glimmer of hope and joy, and though we can’t totally imagine or comprehend the fulness of it, we DO have the Spirit’s promise and guarantee that it is waiting for each and everyone of us who is abiding in the Lord!
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
John Linton (1888 – 1965) John Linton is not normally listed among the elite of the evangelists in this century: Moody, Sunday, Bob Jones, Sr., Appelman, John Rice. But he was not some lesser light—God mightily moved through his ministry. He left a trail of converts to Christ as well as revived, restored, rejoicing churches.
