Eternal Joy!

“Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” (Isa 51:11 AV)

When I read verses like this, it brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart.  The Spirit enables the mind to imagine what that will be like.  There will be not threat of evil.  Not from man nor from spirit.  No crime.  No discomfort.  No trouble.  The Messiah reigns in new Jerusalem.  The devil is defeated.  Only those who have or are professing the LORD Jesus Christ as Savior are in company.  Every battle is over with no more in the future.  The perfect rest promised to the people of God has begun.  Perfect contentment unites the heart.  No need is unmet.  No sorrow ever realized.  Perfection!  Into Zion we come with the songs of the redeemed upon our lips.  The story of Calvary told again and again.  The wonderful grace of God and His Son is readily upon our lips.  To strife in the body of Christ.  All disputes are settled in the presence of the Savior who bought us.  The trumpets sound, the voices raised; to the praise and honor of our wonderful and loving Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ.

Usually, this is the paragraph where I find some similar correlation to which we can relate this truth.  But alas, there is none.  The closest I can come to is the birth of my first child.  When the other two came around, it was old hat.  But that first was different altogether.  Long and difficult labor with life threatening conditions on the baby made the experience one for the ages.  We arrived at the hospital in the morning.  My wife had gone through labor for quite some time.  Finally, the doctor decided an emergency C-section was called for.  To make a long story short, I hadn’t slept for about 24 hours.  When all had settled down and everyone was safe, I told my wife I was going to go home, grab a shower and some sleep, and then return.  Not so much!  The shower was no problem.  Sleeping?  Yeah, right!  Not with my first son lying in a crib.  I didn’t sleep again until that night; thirty-six hours later.  But the joy more than made up for the lack of sleep.  ‘Tired’ was not even in my vocabulary.  I cannot explain it, but a peace and contentment rushed into my heart.  It wouldn’t matter if WWIII had started.  I was at perfect peace and joy.

As wonderful as that was, it will pale in comparison to eternity!  As tremendous as it was to be a father of three terrific men who today, serve the LORD faithfully, when we spend eternity with the LORD it will seem but a common thing.  There are no words that can adequately describe what it will be like when we spend eternity with our loving Savior.   Paul said it best when, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Ro 8:18 AV)