What’s the greatest hope of heaven?

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

1 Thessalonians 4:17

New Testament scholar A.M. Hunter relates a story in one of his books about a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him about the place he was heading. His doctor fumbled a moment for the right words, and then heard a scratching at the door.

“You hear that?” he asked his patient. “That’s my dog. I left him downstairs and he’s come up because he heard my voice. He has no idea what’s inside this door, but he knows that I am here. Isn’t it the same with you? You don’t know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there.”

When it comes to what heaven will be like, there’s much more we don’t know than we do. But one thing is for sure: our Master is there. And because of that, everything else is incidental. What makes heaven heaven is the fact that we’ll be with God forever!

That is our greatest hope of heaven. Yes, it will be great when there’s no more pain, no more tears, and no more sorrow. But the greatest thing about heaven is that we’ll exist forever in the very presence of our Heavenly Master!

Prayer Challenge

Pray that God would renew your hope in the life to come because you’ll be with Him forever!

Questions for Thought

Imagine your life with no pain and no sorrow. How does the thought make you feel?

Now, how does it make you feel that an eternity in God’s presence will be even greater than having no pain or sorrow?