It is the day after. While we lived in the days of then, the days of the times before, we saw everything in the light of what we knew then. It is difficult to imagine that we thought we could see then. Being blind is not so hard when you can’t see what you are missing. Your focus is on the limited worldview you know of. All the amazing sights and colors and motions which are not a part of your experience are still there, happening around you. Their rich rewards are still available, if you could only see them. That was what was then. Having now is so much more complete.
Yet when I give it any real thought, I can understand how every event was leading up to this. Being in before meant enjoying what was and having a grasp on a limited existence. It is like before you were born. Although you have so little memory of then, you still know you were. In the womb must have been a marvelous joy. You were growing and sensing all that was around you. You were usually quite comfortable in your narrow confines. Life was good. You were well fed, warm, feeling loved, spoken to, sung to and pampered beyond belief. Things just couldn’t get much better.
Then you were traumatized by contractions and strange chemical changes. Where you were wasn’t working anymore and you had no other choice. You were birthed into a new place. It was not the same safe place you always knew. And yet it was a new exciting world filled with sensations you never knew could exist. Although you remembered before, it wasn’t now.
As time passed those memories became distant. They were still pleasant. The overwhelming flood of an unknown newness brought joys beyond belief. Imagine, since you probably can’t recall, discovering this newness having never seen more than dim light, having never heard more than muffled sounds. Joy becomes enhanced beyond what you had ever considered possible. All of that comparison to say, so much more above that transition is the one we have now gone through to become the “we” of now.
You begin this life as a transition from what was in the womb. You grow, learn, experience, believe in truth and even fall for a few lies. All to move you from born to grown, from unbelief to believer. Then one day in the not so distant future all of this will pass and the next transition will approach. Although you have read accounts, understood Bible promises and dreamed about what it will be like, it is difficult to imagine you can really see it.
In the womb there was no knowing the transition into your future. In childhood you had little understanding of marriage, lifelong commitment and even experiencing the grace of the Almighty God of the universe working in your life. Likewise there is little that prepares you for the next transition other than the unfathomable assurance of the indwelling Holy Spirit of the living Lord of glory.
Still, is it possible that we have even the slightest inkling of the full and complete impact of becoming free from sin? Where in our wildest imaginings do we conceive the joy of that first moment before His throne? How is any thought or dream we have ever had deemed sufficient to know the feeling of a transformed spiritual body purged from sin? I am often asked if we will recall our earthly memories.
I confess that I hope we do not. Why would you want to? When you taste the stimulating sensations of your favorite food, you are enthralled beyond belief and remember it. When the acid re-flux turns joy to horror because you’ve overeaten, you remember that as well. Even so either of those memories, pleasant or unpleasant are the ones you are asking if they will be remembered. Compared to the indescribable joy of knowing how each molecule enriches your being and fulfills its purpose in your body, why would they matter?
The song says “Heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace, I want to see my Savior’s face because Heaven is a wonderful place”. It is not about us other than how our transition fulfills His plan and our purpose for His glory. Ultimately it is our becoming His joy which fulfills our joy. When John the Baptist asked folks to understand his joy, he used the marriage transition. No one is happier for the bridegroom than the one who is his closest friend. Yet he also declared that no one can receive anything that is not given to him from Heaven. Your joy, your understanding, your peace comes only by your surrender to the inevitable joy of His purpose. John knew this even though he didn’t see his transition coming. Ever wonder how prison and beheading become greater joy?
I see palatial shimmering mansions. I hear voices of sweeter and more massive numbers than I ever knew on earth. I sense no disappointment, no sorrow, no limitation of the power and presence as l do down here in this short life. I know the throne, the overwhelming spiritual expanse, the angels, and the light without darkness.
I see no shadows, no sin, and no evil. I am wondrously unable to use spoken words to convey such joy. Yet I know and believe with all that is in me, that I am woefully short of doing justice to what will be then. I am thinking of what will be the day after now.
Judgement will be done, condemnation will be a foreign concept. Perhaps hate will be unknown. Light will be without shadow or darkness. Grace will exist with unlimited measure. Fear will no longer be an emotion or a word. Love will mean the same without reservation.
Seeing then the accumulating mountains of goodness and fulfillment should come as no surprise to those longing for their final home. Still we wonder. We thought the womb was our enduring forever place until it wasn’t. Then physical life with all of its promises and expectations. Which gave way to the knowledge of the greater future. Wherein we stand with expectant joy beyond comprehension.
It is the day after. And if it is not yet that glorious day for you, then it can be your certain hope. Hope is that proof that will be once we can see what we now hope for.