Scripture
And the city had no need of sun or moon to shine upon it; for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.
~Revelation 21:23, NEB
Quote
No need of the sunlight in Heaven we’re told; The Lamb is the Light in the city of gold.
~Phillip Bliss
In my younger days I had little interest in reading books about heaven. Ray, my landlord and friend was always reading books about heaven. He gave me Anne Graham’s Lotz’s book, HEAVEN– MY FATHERS HOUSE, several years ago, it could have been 15 years or more and as is my habit, I put it on the shelf. I don’t know what got into me, perhaps it was due to the covid, but I took it down from the shelf and read it. The blogs on heaven were inspired by this book. It was a huge blessing to me and I hope to you.
The April blackout of 2011 taught me a valuable lesson: I need and love light. I am not a city person but the lights of a city are attractive to me; especially from an airplane. Actually I had two experiences within a decade that gave me a heightened appreciation for light. I carried Seth to Yellowstone about 15 years ago and on the way back, I decided to leave the interstate and drive a country road for about 75 miles South to get on another interstate. It was a short cut: Bailey’s are famous for finding short cuts that sometimes turn in to bad cuts. We turned on to this road about 30 minutes before dark and the road lead through a huge forest, no houses and no lights. Seth dozed off and I was thankful. I had no cell phone and I’m sure, a cell phone would not have worked in this wilderness area. I drove for more than an hour without seeing a single car, let alone a street light or a house. I was elated when I saw the lights of Craig, Colorado.
Light is a symbol of wisdom, warmth and welcome. When you are excited about welcoming a guess, you leave the porch light on. Light says, “Come in your are welcome,” total darkness means “we are in bed and do not want to be bothered.” Anne testifies that on many of her trips home {to her father’s house}, she arrived after dark. She dreaded the four miles of winding mountain road that lead from the main highway the the Graham log cabin but was always thrilled when she entered the gate and could see the lantern that her father had burning as he awaited her arrival. In our FATHER’S HOUSE ABOVE, the light is always on and Jesus is the light. Jesus is infinitely greater than a lantern. John says the walls of heaven are made of jasper, the gates are huge pearls and Jesus is the light. Jasper is a unique gem, it can be most any color; red, yellow, black, green, blue, etc. but the unique thing about jasper is that other colors appear in it. It would be like a piece of quartz with diamonds inside that sparkled when exposed to light. What John is saying is that HEAVEN IS A GLORIOUS PLACE and it is the presence of Jesus makes it so.
The point is: the LIGHT means hospitality and hope and the light of the world Jesus is. He is waiting to welcome us home. Wow! It is enough to put goose bumps on your goose bumps.
I have probably told the story before but maybe not: June and I attended the George W. Bush inauguration and one of the last events in held in the Washington Cathedral. We were not allowed to enter of course and so we waited outside. When they opened the doors and people began leaving we started inside just to see the Cathedral itself. Suddenly I heard June scream, she literally run into Billy Graham. Her scream got my attention and it also got his security teams attention: within seconds, they had him in a limo and he was off in a flash. The thing I remember most: he was a tall man; six five or six. He stood out in a crowd. I pray for the Graham family every day. One of the impressive things about Billy Graham was that he lived in a humble log cabin, not a mansion.
I’m afraid to give covid updates. My updates have been out of date by the time you get them. My sister at Madison Hospital is better I think. Patty, the wife of my friend in Cleveland has the virus now. Bill and Carol Southern both have the virus. Jean Smith is improving. Covid can be a beast and the recovery time is different for different people. Don’t expect to overcome it in less than 15 days. You will have feel good days but it will come back. It’s like a roller coaster.