This world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come (Hebrews 13:14). Heaven is a home, not a church, temple, or tabernacle. It is the Father’s house, my heavenly Father’s.

Jesus came from heaven to tell us about heaven, and returned to prepare a place for those of us who have repented of our sins and trusted Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus’ life was not a hopeless end but in fact our endless hope of heaven as our eternal home. As Jesus ascended as a man to the glory, so shall we in a coming day.

All believers will be at home in heaven. But you can’t have Jesus’ heaven without Him! We read in Psalm 23:6, “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” We were all made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, heaven is the place. To make a mark on earth, set your mind on heaven, “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).

Jesus ascended alone, but He is coming back after He has prepared a place for us. Luke 22:30 says, “You may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” Not only do we have a home prepared for us in heaven, Jesus will be our host!

Heaven is a place prepared for those who are prepared.

When I was thirteen years old, Adrian, my older brother by two years, led me to the Lord at about three o’clock in the morning. As I prayed with him and cried, I had an immediate understanding that now I would go to heaven.

Only a few years later, at the age of twenty-three, Adrian went to be with his Lord. Before he died, I had taken him to my “secret place” to study and prepare to preach. Adrian retrieved from inside his jacket a brown envelope and asked me to promise not to open it or tell anyone about it until after he was buried.

Three weeks later he was in heaven. When the family returned from the grave, I opened the envelope, which contained a tape. As we gathered, nervously I said, “I have a message fromAdrian.” I told them what he had asked me to do. The tape started and startled all of us.

“As you listen to this message, I am with the Lord, which is so very much better.” Adrian proceeded to thank my parents for raising him in a Christian home where the Bible was regularly read and church attendance was non-negotiable. He then addressed my siblings andI, giving a challenge to each of us to live for the Lord. Finally, displaying his considerable gift asa pianist, he prayed and sang his favourite hymn, “Face to Face with Christ, My Savior”:

Face to face with Christ my Savior
Face to face what will it be? 

When in heaven I behold Him
Jesus Christ who died for me.

Face to face I shall behold Him

Far above the stormy skies
Face to face in all His glory

I shall see Him, by-and-by.

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