"A Better Country" (Part 2)

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV).

We have begun to look at our Better Country. As I wrote yesterday in Morning Devotionals (www.gracerestoration.org) the key in understanding our promise of heaven is in looking BACK toward Jesus who is the fulfillment of God’s promise. That’s the basis for our hope today. And, that’s what allows us to walk through this life as a journey, knowing that it ends in victory! Today, however, I want to look at the first of three important questions. The first is “Where is heaven?”

There have been some who have asserted that it is really just a place in another dimension that coexists with earth. That is to say that everything that is material has more porous space within the molecule than that which we call substance. For example, they would say that the desk your computer may be sitting on now as you read this devotional is not wood so much as it is the atoms that make up the wood. The molecules as they are blended and bonded together form a dynamic relationship as matter becoming substance. Then, within the space of that bonding there is “air.” Thus there is as much air in the desk as substance. Well, maybe so. That is certainly a possibility well beyond my understanding. Perhaps heaven does coexist with what we experience as physical matter.

I do know this from Scripture: there are two basic concepts. First, heaven is a place “beyond” earth; it is beyond this existence that we know as earth. That’s clear from our reading. They weren’t thinking of a place they could return to; they were thinking of a place yet to arrive at! The writer says they didn’t get there in their lifetime. It does not exist on what we know as “earth.” I was born in Galveston, Texas. I know where it is; I know how to get there. I’ve even been back a time or two and seen the places where I have lived. But that’s not my home. That’s not my country. My home and country is heaven. That’s where I’m bound! I can’t tell you exactly where it is except to that it is where Jesus has already gone and is coming to take me there!

Second, the Scripture says it is the dwelling place of God. There are many metaphors for heaven in the Scripture. The writers used many symbols to describe what heaven is like. Rather than speculate as to the meaning of all these, let me synthesize them into a short description. It is where God resides, rules, and oversees perfectly. It is a place of family, protection, safety, joy, rest, and fellowship with all those I have loved and will come to love. You know, I don’t know if heaven is out there, over there, up there, or around here; I do know if you are a Christian this is NOT our country! Our country is where He is! And, we are making our way to Him! Be encouraged with these words! We are on our way home!