The people we’ll accompany include:
To answer the first, this illustration. Two American paratroopers had such a brawl in training that one vowed to kill the other if he ever had the chance. They both jumped into Normandy first thing 6 June, 1944. The one who feared being shot by the other got lost in the drop. What he didn’t know was the other guy also got lost in the drop. And who did the first guy see across a small meadow in France? Yes, the very man who threatened to shoot him on sight. And what did both men do? As fast as their overburdened legs could carry them they struggled toward each other, fell in each other’s open arms, pounding each other on the back, then going off together to fight Germans. In a crises greater than their differences they found a common cause—and lost themselves in it. In a joy greater than all our differences all in Heaven will forget everything but how glad we are to be together in Christ’s presence. To answer the second, a two-fold response, the first prophetic. The book of Revelation leaves no doubt: there is only agreement in Heaven among angels, elders and the saved that God’s judgments against unsaved sinners are always true, just and deserved. Therefore, if we can’t be happy in Heaven if someone we want there isn’t there, why think we belong there? Only those in absolute, perfect trust in God will be welcome there. The second response is pastoral. As Revelation 21:4 graciously promises, God will eliminate all sources of discomfort, loss, disappointment or pain from our new body and mind. In other words, all memory of what would otherwise surface questions, doubts, reservations, etc., will be erased from our minds. Therefore, we will enjoy permanent amnesia of people we have loved here but aren’t there. End Part V
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