Weekend - Heaven ---God's House

God’s House

On this weekend blog I want to pause for a moment on the weekends to think about something that we maybe have forgotten about with Heaven so on the weekends for a while Im going to look at Heaven.

I was reading a quote today that says everything, A.W. Tozer said “There is little we need other than God Himself”

We Need God
Every person who lives on this planet now, lived on this planet in the past, or will live on this planet in the future has one common characteristic. The unanimous, universal denominator linking us all is a gaping, God-shaped void in our hearts. When He made us, He made us to have a holy hunger for Him.
This sacred space has been violated and twisted by the curse of sin. As a result, instead of seeking to fill our yawning empti¬ness with God, we easily settle for substitutes. Some of these surrogate gods are decidedly negative and dangerously addic¬tive. Everyone knows dependency on drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, or illicit sex can never satisfy. Other alternatives are neutral entities. Money, work, career, achievement, hobbies, food, and material things are only evil when we expect them to take the place of God. Then they fall pathetically short.
Most of us suffer from the continual temptation to put very good entities in our God void. We all attest to the intrinsic value of family, friends, church, and ministry. Yet when we try to place even these good entities into the God-shaped space in our hearts, inevitable emptiness comes. Why? Nothing or no one can replace God. Only God can fill the holy hole in our hearts. Everything else is, at best, a square peg in a round hole or, better yet, a tiny pebble in an infinite chasm.
We need God. One 100 percent pure God is our deepest need and greatest fulfillment. Clearly, nothing else can compare with infinite perfection. The very best of all things is God. With God you have all things. Without God you have nothing.
The great appeal of Heaven is more than the incredible beauty, astounding wealth, or fantastic fun we will experience there. It is the infinite God. The bottom line is that Heaven is about God. Maybe you want to go to Heaven because you were looking for something that seems to be missing. Let me tell you, that something is a Someone—God! What you really crave is found by experiencing more of Him—more often, more deeply, more intimately, and more powerfully—than you imagined possible. We experience tiny tastes of Him on Earth, but heap¬ing spoonfuls in Heaven. That is why it is Heaven.
In this book, we learn twenty-one of the best truths about Heaven. But absolutely, undeniably, and unquestionably the most significant truth anyone can grasp about Heaven is this: God will be there. Heaven is God's home, and we will see Him face to face.





Heaven is God's home.
Jesus encouraged His disciples by telling them about His Father's house.
"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."
JOHN 14:2
When the apostle John saw into Heaven, the central feature was not the tree of life or the crystal sea. It was God.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coin¬ing down out of heaven from God. . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."
REVELATION 21:2-3
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
REVELATION 21:22
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city.
REVELATION 22:3
Heaven Is God's Home
The beat drumming throughout the Bible is that Heaven is the dwelling place of God. Moses prayed, "Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel" (Deuteronomy 26:15). Jesus told us to pray to "Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). John saw the Father sitting on His throne (Revelation 4:2-9). Jesus claimed that as the Son of God, He "came down from heaven" (John 6:42). Forty days after His resurrection, He ascended visibly back to Heaven (Acts 1:9-11). He will one day return to Earth from Heaven (Revelation 19:11-16). Heaven is the dwelling place of God.
One of the very best aspects of having a home is being in a place where you can be yourself. You can relax. You do not have to hold back. You can fully express yourself.
Heaven will be astoundingly amazing because, as His home, it is the only place in the universe where God is free to fully express Himself. In Heaven God holds nothing in reserve. Nothing is limited by the presence of sin. God can be Himself. All of His goodness, all of His grandeur, all of His greatness, all of His generosity, and all of His magnificent glory can be let out. Everything His infinite heart has held in check since the creation of the universe can be conveyed.
In their own home, people reveal their true selves. Their hobbies, humor, personalities, passions, and pursuits are unveiled. At home, in Heaven, the Lord's personality, humor, dreams, and desires will be evident.
We Will See Him Face to Face
Moses begged God for a glimpse of His glory. Knowing that a direct look at His glory would be much more than Moses could safely comprehend, God suggested a plan.
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will pro¬claim my name, the LORD, in your presence. . . . But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back."
EXODUS 33:18-23
Moses was given a privilege no one else in his day could ever nope for. He received an unprecedented look at God's back. But every single person in Heaven will get to see God face to face Revelation 22:3-4).
For those of us who proudly line up in the company of God seekers, the mere whisper of seeing our God face to face sends shivers down our spines. For so many years, we have worshiped a God we have never seen. As His children, we have often heard the comfort of our Father's voice, but we have never been allowed to sit in His lap, look into His eyes, or touch His face. We have tried to be loyal servants, faithfully fulfilling the wishes of a Master we have yet to see. As dutiful soldiers, we have gladly laid down our lives for our King, yet our eyes have yet to see His throne. As His betrothed Bride we have received many gifts from His hands and letters of love from His pen, yet what we long for is our wedding day. Then we will dance in His arms, be consumed by His love, and gaze into His eyes.
It's the Person Who Makes the Place
What makes Heaven so amazing is not merely the stunning streets of gold, the gates of pearl, the radiant light, the crystal river of life, or the everyday association with angels. It is not merely receiving a great new body, enjoying the absence of sick¬ness and death, experiencing the reunion with loved ones, or basking in the majestic magnificence of the Master's throne— although each is amazingly impressive. What makes Heaven heavenly is not the place, it is the person. Heaven is heavenly because the Lord lives there.
Heaven is the only place where God's presence is revealed in an unlimited fashion. In Heaven God's presence is unhindered and unrestricted. Heaven is all God, all the time. That is what makes it so heavenly.
The Bible clearly tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16).
Since Heaven is the only place where God's presence is fully expressed, the very atmosphere of Heaven will be swimming in the pure, good, deep, rich, wonderful love of God. Just breath¬ing the oxygen of God's love in the air will heal our deepest hurts and soothe our greatest fears.
God is also light (1 John 1:5). Because Heaven is the place where God dwells unhindered and unrestricted, Heaven will radiate in the brilliant, perpetual light of His glory. Sun, moon, and stars will be unnecessary there.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
REVELATION 21:23-25
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.
REVELATION 22:5
As God is creative, excellent, loving, joyful, encouraging, faithful, true, good, and holy, so is Heaven a marvelously holy place, overflowing with all that is beautiful and truly excellent, running over with love, joy, encouragement, truth, and peace. Heaven is the sphere where the heavenly presence of God is unleashed.

So What?
The insightful twentieth-century prophet A.W. Tozer said, “The man who has God for his treasure has all through One.” Everyone in Heaven will be astoundingly rich because the Lord will be our treasure. Our capacity to enjoy and appreciate this privilege will be expanded and enhanced to the extent that we make God our primary passion now.