Paradise restored is a hard concept to imagine when there is so much heart ache and struggle in the world. Did you notice super typhoon Hagibis a month ago? Japan suffered more than $9 billion worth of damage. What makes that situation a little odd was the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck Japan just 90 minutes before Hagibis made land fall. Our God tells us that creation groans under the curse of sin. On this Saints Triumphant Sunday we long for the pearly gates of heaven. We know all about paradise lost – it’s the world we live in. We long for the vision that the Apostle John offers us in Revelation 22.
Paradise lost goes beyond the outward struggles. All of us will go into heaven limping spiritually. There are scars that we acquire when we hurt ourselves or when others hurt us. Those can’t be undone. Not on this side of the grave. Those scars aren’t all bad. In this paradise lost we need to survive. Those wounds help us to remember the danger of sin.
How exactly is paradise restored? Jesus took the curse upon himself when he was hung on a tree. There he suffered and died – taking the punishment for our sin. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t sinners. It just means that we are forgiven. All that’s let for us is to be righteous and holy – saints.
We aren’t living in heaven just yet. Saints triumphant Sunday is a time to remember those believers who have gone before us into heaven. We who believe in Jesus are holy, but we’re not in heaven. So we are part of the saints militant. We struggle as we wait to reach our home in heaven.
Want to hear more? Watch this Sunday’s message taken from Revelation 22.
Book(s): Revelation
Tag(s): Heaven
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg