The writers of Scripture use many descriptive titles for the place where the redeemed will be forever. Heaven is the one most commonly used by God’s people to name their eternal Home. We are told that “the Lord was received up into heaven” (Mk. 16:19), and Stephen “looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Paul, who had consented to Stephen’s death, was soon after blinded by “a light from heaven.” He calls it “the third heaven” and equates it with paradise (2 Cor. 12:2, 4).
The New Jerusalem is, strictly speaking, in heaven–the capital city, perhaps. Writing to the Galatians, Paul tells them, The “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26). Our mother is the source of our life, the object of our love, the seat of our loyalty.
But of all the names and descriptions used, nothing can rival “the Father’s House.” And how encouraging to hear the resurrected Saviour say to Mary, “Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father…” (Jn. 20:17). Bishop Hall (quoted by David Brown) comments: “O mercy without measure! How wilt Thou, how canst Thou, call them brethren whom, in Thy last parting, Thou foundest fugitives? Did they not run from Thee?…It is not found in the power of the sins of our infirmity to unbrother us.” His Father is our Father. Nothing can ever change that.
Dr. Harry Rimmer, a Christian scientist and archeologist, was a well-loved servant of the Lord. His talks on science and the Bible were a great help to many Christian students. He spent his last years in California after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rimmer often listened to Charles Fuller on his well-known radio broadcast, “The Old Fashioned Revival Hour.” On one program, Fuller announced his upcoming subject: Heaven. Dr. Rimmer sent Dr. Fuller a letter, including the following:
My dear Charlie:
Next Sunday you are to talk about Heaven. I am interested in that land, because I have had a clear title to a bit of property there for over 50 years. I did not buy it, for it was given to me without money or without price. But the donor purchased it for me at tremendous cost. I am not holding it for speculation, because the deed is not transferable….Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no devious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, almost completed. It is ready for me to enter in and rest in peace eternally, without fear of being evicted.
There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a short time…but I am not afraid, because the best Friend I ever had went through the same valley long ago, and drove away its gloom. He has stuck with me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted, and I hold His promise in printed form never to forsake me nor to leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of the shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me.
I hope to hear your sermon on Sunday next from my home here, but I have no assurance that I shall. My ticket to heaven has no date stamped upon it, no return coupon, and no permit for baggage. I am all ready to go, and I may not be here when you are talking next Sunday, but if not, I shall meet you there some day. Harry Rimmer, Sc. D.
Harry Rimmer was already in the Father’s House when his letter was placed on Charles Fuller’s desk the following Wednesday.