Anticipation of Heaven: More Than Eschatology

By A. W. Tozer

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
for he hath prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:16

    We  have  come  to  a  wretched  emphasis  in  the
Christian church, so that when we talk about the future
we talk about "eschatology" instead of heaven!

    We must confess that Christians are living too much
In  the  "present now" and  the  anticipation  of  better
things to come has almost died out of the church of
Christ.

    We find ourselves so well-situated now, --- that we
don't really  need  any  tomorrow's  heaven.  We don't
need to hope---we have everything well enough now!

    In this kind of emphasis, the fact remains that the true
Christian is one who is kind of sick of this world. When
God  works a miracle  within  the human breast, heaven
becomes  the  Christian's  home  immediately, and he is
drawn  to it as the  bird is drawn in the springtime to fly
north.

    The Christian does have a homeland, and the fact that
we are not anticipating it and looking forward to it with
any pleasure is a serious mark of something that is
wrong with us.

    When I find someone who is settled down too snugly
into this world and its system, I am forced to doubt
whether he has ever truly been born again.

    Actually, it is true that all of the Christians I meet who
really amount to something for God are those very much
out of key with their age---very, very much out of tune
with their generation!  Remember, you are on earth and
God is in heaven---so  don't  be  afraid  to  dream  high
spiritual dreams, believing what your Bible says.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.