A Quarantine Emotion Check

A state-mandated stay-at-home order has afforded us an opportunity we never would have had otherwise.  What is that?  It is the opportunity to feel what our longing for heaven should be more like.  Emotions are tricky things, but they are real and important.  You are an emotional being, and emotions reveal the true you.  You might be able to hide emotions, but you can’t not emote.  And when you do emote, even if just internally, you discover what you love.  Does this quarantine which has prohibited from seeing each other in worship, have your emotions keyed up for the saints that you never have had in a similar way for the fellowship to be shared in heaven? 

Heaven is not about gold streets, pearly gates and angelic beings.  Heaven rings with the praises of Jesus where the triune God is known and enjoyed in fullness; this is what makes heaven truly heaven.  What’s more, there will be a fellowship with the saints that we have hardly experienced before. This is not something that I typically emphasize because I normally think it is over emphasized. People are always talking about seeing friends and family again.  While this is true, even this fellowship will be new and radically centered upon Christ.  Jesus is too easily forgotten among all his gifts in heaven.  This is a particularly heinous error and we should take it down with a swift leg-sweep.  People should be shaken out of their worldly stupor by the reminder that heaven is not mainly about pleasures you are only half-enjoying here.  Heaven is about Christ, and having him in undiminished, unveiled glory.  We will finally have what Moses asked for but was denied when he requested, “Show me your glory.” But in this unique moment of quarantine and its phase out, let’s consider this heavenly fellowship we will share with the saints.  

If you have been missing the face-to-face fellowship of the saints, you need to remember that what we will have in heaven will make us think that the most intimate moments of fellowship on earth were like a quarantine compared to what we will be sharing in heaven.  In heaven we will have a total unveiling of self that will surpass the closest relationships we have here, in orders of magnitude!  We will truly know and be known.  There will be no fear, no envy, no hiding and no pride.  There will be joy upon joy as we delight in each other, and glory as each person helps the other move toward Jesus more and more.  

Some have wondered how heaven can be heavenly when they will no longer be married to their beloved spouse.  Marriage is a good thing, but it is also a temporary thing, serving a purpose that does not carry over into the eternal state (Matt. 22:30).  Losing the bonds marriage seems bad, but the answer to the perceived problem of loss is this: you will love your spouse more in heaven then you ever dreamed possible on earth.  Your intimacy in heaven will supersede anything you thought you knew on earth.  Not even the private moments between husband and wife will compare to what you will experience in the joy of the saints together, including your spouse.  Surely there will be features in heaven that we can’t know and understand now.  No doubt there will be experiences and ways of relating that will be beyond any description we could attempt.  But this is sure: there is nothing experienced now that will be missed in heaven.  Everything will be expanded or replaced with something so far superior that there are simply no words that are adequate. 

So reflect on what this quarantine time has revealed.  Ask yourself if the longings you feel for a good old handshake and hug-filled church service are small compared to what you should long for in the heavenly state.  Are you just fine with how things can be here on earth, however actually limited they are, or do you long for the final unhindered fellowship? Are you a foreigner longing for your true home or are you comfortable with this sin-cursed world?  When the saints gather in church it should be one of the closest experiences we have of heaven, but even those pale in comparison to the ultimate in-gathering.  Let this quarantine remind you of what you should feel regularly as you think about the ultimate church service, where the fellowship is sweetest and there is no closing prayer or benediction.