March 30, 2021 – Click here to listen
I was reading a letter written by famed intellect and former atheist C.S. Lewis this morning. It detailed his musings concerning a conception of heaven. He wrote, “The symbols under which Heaven is presented to us are (a) a dinner party, (b) a wedding, (c) a city, and (d) a concert. It would be grotesque to suppose that the guests or citizens or members of the choir didn’t know one another. And how can love of one another be commanded in this life if it is to be cut short at death?
Think of yourself just as a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half- waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.”
It was weird for me to read this because as a young person, (probably on an LSD trip), I often wondered if life as we know it was real or merely occurring in God’s mind as He was thinking. I didn’t consider that maybe we might be lying dormant dreaming and awaiting an opportunity to burst forth.
So are we dreaming and one day when we hear a rooster crow we’ll wake up? Or maybe we are like a seed in the ground lying dormant awaiting the warm soil to allow us to burst into life and rise from the ground as a glorious flower?
I discarded the dream idea years ago. I believe the Bible when it describes the creation of man and woman. We were born with a soul and a free will. Choices are what determine if we will see heaven or hell. Not choices about being good or bad, but choices about Jesus Christ. Choices are defined and celebrated during this Holy week when over 2000 years ago Christ willingly took the punishment for our sins and three days later rose to heaven to yet again sit upon His throne.
It is a nice metaphor to think of a seed in the ground awaiting our turn to ascend into heaven bursting from the darkness into the glorious light as a beautiful, redeemed creature. I prefer to think of shedding our imperfect shells to a beautiful butterfly leaving its cocoon and effortlessly soar though the tropical blue sky to the delight of our Savior.
Lewis asked, “And how can love of one another be commanded in this life if it is to be cut short at death?”
It isn’t cut short at death; it’s just beginning! What better time of year than Easter to think of heaven and the resurrection. Holy and glorious is His name!
2 Cor. 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!