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Out there beyond the stars is a place called heaven. It is as real and tangible as if I said out there near the Atlantic Ocean is a place called North Carolina. There is a city whose builder and maker is God. There are real people living there. It is the most unusual place in all of God’s creation.  Twice Jesus calls heaven a (topos) meaning a place.

In John gospel chapter fourteen and verses 2 and 3 he writes; “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.”

Never question the fact of the place, but realize, please, that which makes heaven so special is the presences of our Lord Jesus. I know that many of you, like I, have family and friends in heaven that you miss very much, and long to see them again. If we should arrive in heaven today, our first objective would not be to see our family or friends, but to first of all meet face to face with Jesus. He knowing our hearts for so long, will know the need to direct us to our family, after we have enjoyed being with Him. No need to worry about time, for time is no more. In eternity we are no longer in the dimension of time, and never a need to hurry.

I have a friend who had lost his father, and he was so worried about his father missing him. I explained that missing is absence, times, time, and since there is no time in heaven, those there cannot miss us here on earth. Also in John chapter fourteen is the word “oikos” which means a house or a dwelling place. There is for every believer a prepared place, a custom built, especially designed place, ordered by the Master, just for you.

Taking this thought a little further: In Acts 1:11 Two Angles spoke to the Lord’s disciples while Jesus was ascending into heaven, and said: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.” Please note: Jesus did not go into a state of mind. He was not dreaming. He was not experiencing an abstraction, or an idea, or a figure of speech. Nor did He teach us to pray, “Our Father which art in a state of mind.” Jesus went to a place, a real place, and will come back in the clouds of glory to call us who have committed our life to Him, to come and be with Him in heaven for ever. Our names are written in heaven; Luke 10:20 “Not withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”  What a joy to know our names are recorded there with the redeemed.

Our treasures are there; Matthew 6:20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” It isn’t what we have in the bank that matters most; it is what we have on deposit in heaven. In heaven we will have a new name; Revelation 2:17, we will sing a new song; Revelation 5:9, we will live in a New Jerusalem; Revelation 3:12, we posses and enjoy new things; Revelations 21:5 and we will dwell in a new earth with a new heaven; Revelations 21:1. You can see Paris in the spring, Paris is France. You can feel the breeze of Rome, Rome is Italy, London is England, and Jerusalem (a favorite) is Israel, but the New Jerusalem is heaven, and there is no place to compare.

One thing more I must add; heaven will not be the same for me, if you are not there my friend. Heaven was meant to include you.

Yearning is the most important thing a person can do, because a person who does not yearn for anything will never achieve anything. Yearning is not, however, simply hoping for something with an attitude of despair. It is a burning desire that motivates one to action. According to Jewish tradition, one of the first questions a person is asked when arriving in heaven after their worldly sojourn is through is, "Did you yearn for the redemption?" The word for "yearn" is "tsipita," which also could be translated as, "Did you attempt to see." So yearning that is correct involves seeing the outcome in as real a way as you can. Thus, you will believ that it can become reality. From there, it must follow that you will strive to fulfill that yearning. Thus, when we are to be asked, "Did you yearn for the redemption," we are in effect being asked, "Did you strive to bring your corner of the world, however large or small that may be, closer to redemption by making it a better, more redeemed, place."

"Esa einai el heharim, me’ayin yavo ezri = I lift my eyes to the mountains, from whence comes my help."

Man has an insatiable thirst for spirituality. Sometimes he gets  confused, and thinks he can quench that thirst with material things. This insatiable thirst shows us that man is capable of unlimited achievement in spiritual matters. Do we believe in ourselves enough to try?

Lamentations 3:21 Memory is frequently the slave of despondency. Despairing minds remember every dark prediction in the past and expand upon every gloomy feature in the present; in this way memory, clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of bitter-tasting herbs. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same recollection that on the one hand brings so many gloomy omens may be trained instead to provide a wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron; she may encircle her brow with a tiara of gold, all spangled with stars.

Such was Jeremiah’s experience: in the previous verse memory had brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me"; but now this same memory restored him to life and comfort. "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with one edge and then slew his despair with the other.

As a general principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress, strike a match that would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the earth in order to restore believers’ joy; if they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as before.

Let us then remember the loving-kindness of the Lord and rehearse His deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of recollection, which is so richly illuminated with memories of His mercy, and we will soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and when the Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it is then the greatest earthly comfort we can know.