Heaven’s Floor Boards
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God – Revelation 21:2-3.
What will Heaven be like? John attempts to describe his great vision of Heaven in Revelation 21. But human words are insufficient to truly describe the wonder of a place where God Himself is the light of the place. A place with golden streets, a crystal sea, and the tree of life. Early Christians were encouraged by John’s vision of Heaven. We should be encouraged as well knowing that some bright shining day we too who know the Lord as our Savior will be living in the Celestial City of God.
At an evangelism conference (About 23 years ago.) I was blessed to hear Rick Ousley speak. At that time, he was a pastor of a large and growing church in the south. He said when he was about eight years old, he once asked his Daddy what Heaven would be like. At the time they were on their way to visit Rick’s grandmother. His Dad told him he would tell him later. Rick said his grandmother’s house was built on a hill with the porch extending out over the hill with supports. Rick would climb underneath of the porch to play.
Later that night Rick asked his Dad again what Heaven would be like. His Dad took him outside and asked Rick what it was like underneath the porch where he liked to play. He also asked him what the floorboards of the porch looked like from underneath. Rick said he described how the floorboards were all dirty with nails sticking through. There were dead bugs, spider webs, and it really looked bad. It was a beautiful night with sky filled with stars. Rick said his dad pointed up to all the sky and said, “Son, I really don’t know what Heaven will be like but up there are the bottom of Heaven’s floorboards, and it just gets better from there.”
(This devotional has been updated and was originally written and sent 23 years ago on 01.27.1999.)