August 25: “When Earth Will Be Heaven”

4 Minute Read + Scripture readings

TODAY’S BIBLE READING:

Job 16:1-19:29
1 Corinthians 16:1-24
Psalm 40:1-10
Proverbs 22:1

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

Job 19:25–27 (CSB): “But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.”

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

As you read the Bible from front to back, you can’t help but notice that there is something called Progressive Revelation (even though you may not have known that term).

Progressive Revelation is simply the acknowledgement that many points of theology are introduced early in the Old Testament and are developed as the Bible writers added to the canon of Scripture. As more books were added, those theological principles were developed as God revealed Himself and His truth more clearly to His people. After Jesus’ time on earth and especially as the Apostle Paul wrote his letters, we come to an extremely clear understanding of things that were murky at best to the Old Testament saints.

One truth that is developed in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 15) is the eternal purpose for our bodies. God, through the Apostle Paul’s quill, made it clear that our earthly bodies will eventually die (be separated from our spirit). Our earthly bodies will then immediately begin to decay. But, there is coming a day when God will supernaturally raise our decayed bodies and turn them into eternal, immortal bodies to be reunited with our spirits.

We need our bodies, after all. Our bodies are a clear sign that we are not made for some spiritual, ‘unreal’ existence. We are made for planet earth. Our bodies, made of clay, remind us of our connection to the planet upon which we walk (Genesis 2:7). So, it is no surprise that God’s plan for our future home includes another earth (Revelation 21-22). On the new earth, we will have physical bodies with which to experience the sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings (touch) of that paradise.

In our Verses for Today, however, we realize that in the book of Job (probably the first biblical book to be written), even early in the Old Testament there was an understanding that Heaven would be a physical place where we will have physical bodies to experience it.

Job 19:25–27 (CSB): “But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.”

If you just let your mind wander and think about Heaven being a real, physical place (after all, Jesus took His earthly body to Heaven – Acts 1:6-11), Heaven becomes even more attractive to us.

If you want to investigate this topic even more, I would HIGHLY recommend Randy Alcorn’s book, “Heaven.”