FACE TO FACE WITH GOD (13 OF 15)
by Stan Coffey
Scripture: REVELATION 22:3-4
This content is part of a series.
Face To Face With God (13 of 15)
Series: HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ABOUT HEAVEN?
Stan Coffey
Revelation 22:3-4
If I were dealing with aspects of Heaven in their order of importance, I would have begun today's lesson on what it will mean for us to be at last face to face with God. However, without the foundation laid in earlier lessons, the idea of seeing god would inevitably colored by Christoplatonisms.
If we don't base our perspective of Heaven on a clear understanding of the bodily resurrection and the truth about the physical nature of the New Earth, then our concept of being with God will be more like that of Eastern mysticism than of biblical Christianity. The magnificent theme of beholding God's face shouldn't be clouded by dull stereotypes and vague lifeless caricatures.
In Psalm 63:1, the writer says, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
We may think we long for many things but God is the one thing that we really long for – that we must have. His presence alone brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing.
Our longing for Heaven is actually a longing for God – a longing that involves not only our inner beings, but our bodies as well. Being with God is the heart and soul of Heaven. Every other heavenly pleasure will derive from and be secondary to His presence. God's greatest gift to us is, and always will be, Himself.
I. THE FACT OF SEEING GOD FACE TO FACE
A. To see God's face is the loftiest of aspirations.
To be told we'll see God's face is shocking to anyone who understands God's transcendence and inapproachability.
In ancient Israel only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies and that but once a year. Even then, according to tradition, a rope was tied around the high priest's ankle in case he died while ministering inside the Holy of Holies.
Why? God struck down Uzzah for touching the ...
Series: HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ABOUT HEAVEN?
Stan Coffey
Revelation 22:3-4
If I were dealing with aspects of Heaven in their order of importance, I would have begun today's lesson on what it will mean for us to be at last face to face with God. However, without the foundation laid in earlier lessons, the idea of seeing god would inevitably colored by Christoplatonisms.
If we don't base our perspective of Heaven on a clear understanding of the bodily resurrection and the truth about the physical nature of the New Earth, then our concept of being with God will be more like that of Eastern mysticism than of biblical Christianity. The magnificent theme of beholding God's face shouldn't be clouded by dull stereotypes and vague lifeless caricatures.
In Psalm 63:1, the writer says, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
We may think we long for many things but God is the one thing that we really long for – that we must have. His presence alone brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing.
Our longing for Heaven is actually a longing for God – a longing that involves not only our inner beings, but our bodies as well. Being with God is the heart and soul of Heaven. Every other heavenly pleasure will derive from and be secondary to His presence. God's greatest gift to us is, and always will be, Himself.
I. THE FACT OF SEEING GOD FACE TO FACE
A. To see God's face is the loftiest of aspirations.
To be told we'll see God's face is shocking to anyone who understands God's transcendence and inapproachability.
In ancient Israel only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies and that but once a year. Even then, according to tradition, a rope was tied around the high priest's ankle in case he died while ministering inside the Holy of Holies.
Why? God struck down Uzzah for touching the ...
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