“Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.”

Amazing Grace by John Newton, Verse 5

         John Newton is sharing with us his confidence that when he dies and passes through the “veil” of death that prevents us from seeing eternity, he will find on the other side joy and peace.  As I walk with my husband in what seems like nearing the end of his journey, I have thought a lot about his death.  The Bible does not say much about what heaven will be like.  Our limited humanity cannot comprehend eternal reality.  Words can only convey so much.

         King David says in Psalm 23,

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;

for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”

         Jesus tells the parable of an owner going away on a trip and entrusting his servants with different amounts of responsibility.  When he returns he tells the faithful servants, who have handled his trust well,

 

^‘21 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21)”

 

The point that stands out to me is not that we are so rejoicing to be in heaven and getting our rewards for our life but that as we walk through the veil, we are welcomed, we enter into God’s joy.  He walks with us through death and protects us with his rod and staff, has a meal prepared, and the God of the universe is delighted, overflowing with joy, to welcome us.  We enter the “joy of your master.”  We cannot imagine what that will be like. But perhaps we can relate to the followers of Jesus meeting the risen Christ or us meeting a person who is so delighted to see us again.  Those happy moments are but a glimmer.  Who would you love to be joyfully met by today.   Let’s bow our heads in prayers of thanksgiving for those people.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2023 at 7:03 am and is filed under Spiritual Vitamins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.