Day 2

“He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” — 1 THESSALONIANS 5:10

The book of Romans presents to us the most systematic exposition of the gospel, but it never mentions heaven other than saying, ‘the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven’. For many people, this is something of a surprise, for a popular understanding of the gospel is that it is primarily a rescue mission to get people to heaven when they die.

Heaven is a wonderful prospect, and we will be eternally grateful for that, but Paul explains the gospel not in terms of the place to which we will go, but in terms of reconciliation to God. We are by nature separated from God, spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. The solution is reconciliation to God by the reception of spiritual life, which is the life of God. When heaven is understood to be the goal of the gospel, Christ is relegated to being only the means rather than the end! The goal is that we are reconciled to God by being placed ‘in Christ’. When we are ‘in Christ’ we enter into His history – we are reckoned to be crucified with Him, buried with Him and risen with Him, and we enter into His status before the Father – we are declared sons of God with the rights, privileges and eternal nature of that sonship. Heaven is one of the privileges of that, but it is not, in itself, the object.

Paul explained the purpose of Christ’s death: ‘He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up’ (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11). He died for us, not so that when we are asleep (dead) we might go to live with Him, but whether we are awake (alive) or asleep (dead), we might live together with Him – in a continuous ongoing relationship! Then he says ‘therefore encourage one another’. This is the grounds of our encouragement, hope and confidence, that we are already living in union with Christ, and this union is both ‘now’ and ‘then’.

Heaven is a piece of cosmic geography. It is a place. When we arrive, our union with Christ will be already intact. On earth, we are already living in fellowship with Him, but in heaven we will simply look around and realize we haven’t been there before – it will be a new place! We will love Him more deeply, reflect Him more accurately and be free of the fallen nature that we struggle with on earth, so it is a wonderful prospect to look forward to! But the substance of the Christian life is our knowledge of, love for, and fellowship with Christ here and now, the down payment of eternity.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for the indwelling life of Jesus with whom I am able to live in relationship with here and now and that will carry on throughout eternity.

TO REFLECT UPON: Am I aware that being “in Christ” means that I share in His death, burial and resurrection, and that heaven is not the objective, but a privilege that comes from my union with Christ?