Heaven and Gary Plueger

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Yesterday, a dear friend and brother in the Lord, Gary Plueger, went to his eternal reward in heaven. As I spoke about it to one of our townsfolk, they asked me if I really believed in heaven. I’ve talked about heaven before, and I’ve preached about it as well, but the person’s question did cause me to pause in the quietness of last evening and ponder the thought of heaven.

I believe heaven is a real place! Some people see it as an ethereal, translucent, spiritual jam session where angels sit on clouds and play harps all day. That’s not the heaven I think about. In many ways I think of heaven in earthly terms. I love the beauty of the earth, the love of family and friends, the adventure of life, and so many other things. These things are a mere image of the divine end. In my mind, heaven is not a copycat of life on earth, heaven is the original and earth is the copy.

When the grand Temple was built in Jerusalem, all eyes were fixed on the earthly; the building, the rituals, the priests, the grandeur. But the author of Hebrews said they were a mere “copy and shadow” of the eternal [Hebrews 8:5].

C. S. Lewis wrote, "All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of [heaven]—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. . . ." The real thing is heaven.

Heaven is the real place for real peace. So, Rest in Peace, dear Gary. And one day, I’ll see with you again in a real heaven!

Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There He ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. Hebrews 8:1-2