My friend, Dr. W . L . Pettingill, dis cussed in the Church of the Open Door some time ago this subject of the locality of Heaven. His conviction is that the eternal abiding place of the redeemed, the New Jerusalem, is in the north; and to bear out this view he called attention to Isaiah 14:12-15, where the fall of Lucifer is described. Lucifer was the name for Satan before his fall, and the event of his being cast out of Heaven is graphically pictured: “How are thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Notice: 1. It is “ above the stars of God.” 2. It is “above . . . the clouds.” 3. It is “ in the sides of the. north.” That Heaven is above the stars of God and above the heights of the clouds we have learned from the above pas sages, but here we have the additional information that it is “ in the sides of the north,” or, as the Revised Version puts it, “ in the uttermost parts of the north.” Dr. Pettingill called attention to an other significant passage, Psalm 75. In the first verse, God is addressed as fol lows: “ Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy won drous works declare.” Beginning at verse 2, God Himself speaks: “ When I shall receive the congre gation I will judge uprightly. The earth and all the inhabitants there of are dissolved: I bear up the pil lars of it. I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: . . . For pro motion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge” (Psa. 75:2-7). Here it is implied that the throne of God where He judges uprightly is in the north. Since it is not in the east, nor in the west, nor in the south, it must be in the north. North is the same direc tion from every point on our earth, and north is “ up” from everywhere. Perhaps the eternal city is the North Star; it is not a known fact, of course, but it is a possible conjecture. The magnetic needle in the compass points unerringly in that direction. Astronomers tell us that our solar system is speeding straight north at a terrific rate. Toward what are we going? Though finite minds cannot give a complete answer to this question now, we shall know ere long; for when we are “with Christ, which is far better,” we shall no longer “ see through a glass darkly,” but we shall know all that di vine grace has planned. A U G U S T , 1 9 4 9
Cloudscape as seen from the cabin of a United Air Lines’ Mainliner flying over the New York-Chicago-Califomia airway.
of the original glory. But the New Jeru salem never will know sin and its fruits. It will be perfect in form and splendor. John was granted a glimpse of it one day from his lonely island of Patmos, and he tried to' describe what he saw. But no human words could por tray the magnificence that he beheld. The late Dr. W. E. Biederwolf has related the story of a little girl, blind from birth, on whose eyes a noted sur geon worked a successful operation. As the scenes of earth came into her line of vision for the first time, she ran into her mother’s arms and cried, “ Oh, Mother, why didn’t you tell me the world was so beautiful?” The mother, wiping away her own tears, replied, “ My child, I tried to tell you, but I could not do it. You had to see it for yourself.” One day you and I shall stand in the glory, and when we catch a vision of the splendor of that city, perhaps we shall say to the beloved disciple, “John, why didn’t you tell us it was so beautiful?” And I think John will reply something like this: “ I did my best to describe its glory, in the last chapter of Revelation. It was the best I could do. But to really know, you had to see it for yourself.” And, oh, my friends, we shall see it. This is the glad experience that awaits even the weakest of the children of God. Praise His name! Heaven is a place of companionship of all the redeemed of all ages. God no doubt has infinite surprises in store for us. Paul says, “ Eye hath not seen, nor Page Nine
What Is Heaven? The Bible never discusses Heaven theoretically, but from a practical point of view. Reflections upon Heaven are never a waste of time. Rather do they provide a moral force for our practical life upon this earth. A true believer, longing for Heaven, is never too heav enly-minded to be of no earthly use! The Biblical description of Heaven is made up of an array of positives and negatives. More is said of what is not in Heaven, than of what is to be there. For example, John gives us a list of “ no mores.” Heaven is made up of the ab sence of many elements that character ize our life on earth. There will be no more pain, no more night, no more sor row, no more crying, no'more curse, no more tears, and no more death. Seeing that all the former adversities cannot enter that holy place to mar the bliss of the redeemed, every true Christian longs to be there. Summarizing the teaching of Scrip ture regarding the exact nature of Heaven, the following aspects may prove to be helpful. Heaven is a place of inexpressible beauty. It is called a place of “many mansions,” “ a building of God, an house not made with hands,” “ a city,” “ a better country,” “ an inheritance,” “ glory.” Our God is a God of beauty. This world must have been very beautiful when it first came from the hand of God. Al though sin has come in and brought chaos and the blight of death to every thing, still there remains some evidence
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