Heavenly Observances
It is Easter! He is risen! The tomb was empty! Let me share some meaningful observations and experiences for you to consider along with me.
Bill Peay was a widowed deacon in our church. Following the death of his wife, he entered a nursing home. He had been there several years when I became his pastor. When I would visit him, he would always speak lovingly of his late wife. He was in a hurry to die to be with her again. Once when I saw him, he told me he thought God was going to take him “to heaven” the previous night. But God said, “No, Bill, not tonight.” Then, Mr. Peay broke down sobbing.
Similar stories can be told of many Christians nearing death. Another deacon was beside the bed of his mother-law when she passed. “She kept saying, ”It’s so beautiful! So beautiful!” Obviously, she had seen a glimpse of heaven.
Billy Graham related the following: His grandmother sat up in her death bed, smiled and said, “I see Jesus, His hand is stretched out to me. And there is Ben, and he has both of his eyes and both of his legs.” (Ben, Graham’s grandfather lost a leg and an eye at Gettysburg.)
We get a glimpse of heaven when we read about Jesus’ time on earth following His Resurrection. He now had a resurrected body. He was recognizable but not at first. Mary did not know him at first. It took a prayer of thanks for the two on the road to Emmaus to realize who Jesus was. Even the disciples in their fishing boat did not perceive Jesus’ identity on the banks of Galilee at first.
Obviously, Jesus resurrected body was different, he passed through locked doors, He was present then suddenly He was gone, yet He was able to have meals with those He loved.
Astrophysicists today agree the universe began billions of years ago. It began with an explosion of a particle of energy too small to measure and too rapid to register. Scientists call it the big bang. We Christians call it Creation. That is when God said, “Let there be . . .” Perhaps this is what the apostle Paul is unknowingly referencing when he said, “We shall all be changed in a moment---in the twinkling of an eye.”
