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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Rest of God, #24
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7:9-12)
Nothing of what we have stated in the preceding pages is meant to imply there is no Heaven, no Paradise, no "third heaven." There indeed is an area of the spirit realm to which the righteous, upon their physical death, are carried by the holy angels.
The Scriptures are remarkably silent concerning what happens to the saints after they die and before they are raised from the dead. The Scriptures in many passages, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, describe some of the events of the Day of the Lord, but there are few passages concerning our state from death to the Day of Resurrection.
However, there are several descriptions of life after death, and before the resurrection, which have been given by godly people. Perhaps the reader is acquainted with some of them. The most outstanding of these may be the account of the visions that were given to some Chinese orphan children (Visions Beyond the Veil, H. A. Baker, Springdale, Pa.: Whitaker House, 1973).
The visions of life after death set forth by different people have many points in common, although the descriptions given by Sundar Singh (Visions of Sadhu Sundar Singh of India, Sundar Singh, Minneapolis, Minn.: Osterhus Publishing House), and Dr. Ritchie (Return from Tomorrow, George G. Ritchie, M.D., Waco, Texas: Chosen Books, 1978) add dimensions not found in some of the other accounts. Also, the visions of Annie (I Looked . . . , edited by R. Edward Miller, Argentina, South America: Argentine Prayer Fellowship, Inc., 1971) provide insight into the spiritual environment of Christ and God.
Perhaps it is a fact that these visions of Heaven are illustrations of spiritual truth rather than actual scenes. It is not impossible that God has restricted Himself to terms we can understand at this time. We shall not thoroughly understand the new Jerusalem, or Heaven either, until we behold them. In the present hour God speaks to our minds and hearts that which we can receive and interpret to our own edification.
The Jewish mothers, during the thirty-eight years of wilderness wandering, taught their children concerning the wonderful land of milk and honey to which the Lord would bring them some day. After the memory of the report of the ten spies had dimmed, Canaan must have seemed like Heaven on earth to them.
But when they were standing on the east bank of the Jordan River they were contemplating all-out war rather than a wonderful dream of milk and honey. The milk and honey, the green pastures and quiet waters, were there but had to be taken by bloody warfare. The Lord did all the fighting when they came out of Egypt, but the Israelites had to fight, under the Lord's direction, for their land of promise.
To be continued.