The King In His Heavenly Kingdom

The King In His Heavenly Kingdom

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 21:3

As we continue our meditation on eternal things, we come to consider the eternal state. What is heaven like? What are the characteristics which make ‘heaven,’ heaven? As John, the human author of Revelation begins his description of the eternal state, He arrives very early at the most important aspect of the eternal state: The Presence of Christ. Our text for today speaks simply and eloquently of the union and communion of Christ with His people in the eternal state. Before we take up a discussion of anything else which characterizes the eternal state, for those who are Christ’s, we must set down categorically that what makes ‘heaven,’ heaven, is the Presence of Christ. All our lives we have sought Christ. We have sought Him in the Scriptures. We have sought Him in the place of prayer. We have sought Him in the preaching of the Word of God, in the sacraments, and in His movements of Providence. None of these can compare with the experience of the actual Presence of Christ. Without Christ, ‘heaven’ would be no heaven at all. With Christ, heaven need be nothing more. At communion, it was the spiritual, real Presence of Christ that made the feast. In the eternal state, above all else, it will be the Presence of Christ that makes it Heaven. Here is the King, surrounded by His loving subjects in the midst of His Heavenly Kingdom.

High King of Heaven,
we rejoice, that You will draw all Your people into Your Holy Presence,
for an unending eternity.
It will be our great privilege,
to behold You, face to face.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning