The Goodness of Heaven (6)

Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
Because He is your Lord, worship Him. Psalm 45.10, 11

Creators all
If I had a bucket list, I know at least one thing that would be on it.

I’d like to participate in a “Sing-It-Yourself Messiah.” If you’re not familiar with these events, thousands of people gather in a great symphony hall to sing Messiah together. A full orchestra and chorus lead, but each member of the audience has his own score and, as is appropriate, sings his or her part.

Imagine the joy of participating in this! You have your eyes focused up front, where an expert choir and orchestra, under the direction of a seemingly omniscient conductor, are producing the most glorious words and sounds to the glory and majesty and exaltation of God and Christ. Meanwhile, as this glorious celebration is going on, you’re out in the audience with others, joining your skills and great aspirations with those of the experts on the stage.

The whole hall fills with glorious sounds as creators at every point on the spectrum of beauty and excellence chime in and join together to create an experience none will ever forget. Yeah, I’d like to do that.

Soon and very soon
And it won’t be long before I do. Only the music will far exceed anything Handel or any of the great composers in this life could create. And the sounds of joyful people, in an infinitely varied chorus of beautiful praise, will fill, not some symphony hall constructed by human hands, but the very courts of heaven, and all the vast spiritual realm, and ultimately, all the new heaven and new earth.

In heaven, all who achieve that exalted place realize the full beauty for which they have been created, redeemed, sanctified, and finally, glorified. God greatly desires the full beauty of His Church to be with Him and partake of Him, which is what heaven is really all about. There all who believe are like Jesus; but they are also the fullest, most complete, and most beautiful realization of themselves, each unique, each with differing interests and abilities, and each uniting with everyone else into one glorious daughter of our heavenly Father.

Partaking of this glorious sing-it-yourself will be the great joy and privilege of all who believe, at any moment, even the next. “Soon and very soon”, as the old spiritual reminds us, we could be instantly taken up in the heavenly realm, where creative good works of celebration pour forth continually; and there we will join our creativity with that vast, unnumbered host, in a sing-it-yourself that just won’t quit.

Ready?
Suppose I was invited today to join a “Sing-It-Yourself Messiah.” Well, that would be too bad, because I’m not ready. I don’t have a score of Messiah, and I can’t sing off my neighbor’s because that’s not the way it’s done. 

Moreover, I have practiced only a few of the many songs in Messiah. And I know my part in only one or two.

Clearly, I could be better prepared.

More importantly, are we ready to join the sing-it-yourself heavenly choir? Are we studying the Score – the Bible – to understand the whole composition, find our place within it, and cultivate your creativity? 

Do you practice daily your part in this composition – the Kingdom and covenant of God? When you show up in heaven, will it be clear to all that you have worked to prepare for the eternal beauty you have come to join?

We’ll only be ready if, as our psalmists advise, we “forget” the things of this life and worship our Lord and Savior daily, in all we do. We have been seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2.6). Heaven is our home, and not just then and there. We are citizens of a heavenly Kingdom from which the power of God flows to make all things new and beautiful in our lives, preparing us here and now for what there and then we will enjoy in full and brilliant, infinite creativity with all those whom Jesus has redeemed and saved.

We must hear His voice, speaking to us from His Word. We must look to the heavenly realm for those glimpses of true beauty that we aspire to realize in our daily lives. And we must work out our beautiful salvation daily, in fear and trembling, knowing that God Himself is at work within us, willing and doing according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2.12, 13).

And thus we may expect to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living – the Kingdom of God coming on earth as it is in heaven.

For reflection
1.  Do you agree that every person is a creator? That is, that all of us have creative potential for bringing forth goodness and beauty in unique ways? Explain.

2.  What hinders us from exercising more of our creative potential, and becoming more beautiful in the Lord?

3.  How can corporate worship prepare us for the infinite creativity of our eternal worship in heaven?

Next steps – Conversation: The psalmists insist that each of us has been endowed with a certain beauty from God. In how many different ways is the Lord’s beauty expressed in His people? Talk with some friends about this question.

T. M. Moore

The Spirit of God executes the will of King Jesus, as His Agent on earth, for the progress of His Kingdom. Learn more about the kingship of Jesus and our place in it by ordering a copy of the book, The Kingship of Jesus, from our online store (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.