Heaven Home

   Starting in 2004, my grandma was in a nursing home for one year and ten months after a serious fall.  I spent much time with her at the nursing home during her time there.  Before leaving, I often would sing Grandma a song and other residents in the hall would often stop what they were doing and listen.  Spending so much time there I got to know some other residents.  There was a woman who was 103 years of age who was frequently in the hall.  Though 103, she was quite mobile in her sitdown walker, and she would often talk to whoever was in the hall, but she rarely spoke to me.  I did sometimes say “hi” as I passed her.
   About a week before Christmas as I walked down the hall one evening, that woman approached me.  Looking into my face she said, “I have to go home.”  In a friendly manner I said something like, “You are home.”  She said, “No, you do not understand.  It is Christmas time.  I have to be home for Christmas.”  Just the way she said it brought sadness to my heart.  I did tell her with assurance how many people at that nursing home cared for her and liked her, and that they felt like she was at home there.  It was not the first time a resident had told me he or she needed to go home, including my grandma.  Yet her sincerity made me sad, and I prayed for her.
   Growing up in a city which changed much throughout my youth as it went through astronomical growth, I often felt like I missed out having a genuine “hometown.”  And then when I was in college, my parents separated after twenty-one years of marriage, and then divorced about six years later.  Though an adult, the “home” of my youth was gone, replaced with family problems galore, and this contributed to me giving more consideration of the topic of “home.”  It was a subject I became concerned with.  I am grateful to God that He led me to realize that He offers an eternal home.  And I received.
   Scripture reveals heaven.  Jesus taught much about heaven.  Numerous parables of Jesus start out with, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  Heaven is a key theme of what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer,” which was given by Jesus when He was teaching about prayer:
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name

Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven

   Heaven is such a key theme in Scripture, I give points regarding the relationship of Jesus and heaven.
   First, heaven is where Jesus came from: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 NIV).
   Second, heaven is the root of the ministry of Jesus: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.  And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-23 NIV).
   Third, heaven is where Jesus returned to: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:9-11 NIV).
   Fourth, heaven is where Jesus reigns now: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.  After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).
   Also, Jesus is with people on earth who believe in Him through the Holy Spirit.  Scripture teaches that believers in Jesus are indwelled with the Holy Spirit.  “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”(I Corinthians 3:16 NIV).  Being indwelled by the Holy Spirit is to be in a relationship with the Spirit of Christ.  “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV).  I think this is why Jesus could promise He would be with His disciples “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV) even though He knew He would soon be ascending into heaven.  So we are not with Jesus in full since He is in heaven in full, yet there is a bond to Jesus being united with the Holy Spirit, the One who is working to sanctify His children.
   The Scriptures above teach that believers in Jesus can be comforted wherever we happen to be on this planet, since the Holy Spirit is with us everywhere.  And believers in Jesus have an eternal home awaiting us in heaven.  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2 NIV).
   I stated above about my concern with the issue of “home” in the wake of my parent’s separation and divorce.  Jesus promises an eternal home to all who give their heart to Him.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3 NIV).
   People who believe in Jesus have an eternal home thanks to the atoning sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.  Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of sins which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life in heaven.
Hunter