What does my heaven look like?

"The Jews looked up on Jerusalem as their heaven, and they were actually jealous lest the Lord should show mercy to the Gentiles" (White, Ellen G. The Desire of Ages, page 29).

This is pretty amazing to me. It seems like all that people had to do was compare Jerusalem in Jesus' day to the Jerusalem of Solomon's time. There's no way, from what I can gather, that the newer Jerusalem compared in terms of architecture, standard-of-living, or even the political power that so many Israelites wanted. So why would they look at Jerusalem as "their heaven"?

If I'm reading things correctly, and if my history's in some semblance of order, Hebrews returned from exile with the expectations that things would return to normal for them. They would again be the prosperous nation that they had been in centuries past. Isaiah seems to foretell that God's people would prosper upon their return from the exile. While in exile, the Holy of Israel would woo His people back to Him, much as He did in the desert of Sinai. They would return as a people worshiping God and leading the nations to acknowledge God as creator and worthy of worship.

But they were jealous lest the Lord should show mercy to the Gentiles. They tried so hard to "get it right," it seems, to foolproof themselves from returning to exile ever again, that they forgot to worship! "With all their minute and burdensome injunctions, it was an impossibility to keep the law... They could find no rest from the accusings of a troubled conscience. Thus Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their conception of the character of God, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt" (ibid, 29).

I wonder what I might do in my life that makes it impossible for me to love God? What might I do that makes it hard for others to do likewise?

Lord, forbid that I should bring Your Name into contempt! Please, make me to rejoice with passion when You show Your love, mercy, and prosperity to others, especially when a lost child comes into Your family! Rearrange my priorities so that, even though the Kingdom of God is near, nothing of this world will ever be heaven.

How close can I get to God?

"It was Satan's purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen... In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother" (White, Ellen G. The Desire of Ages, page 26).

I can hardly stand it--that we, in Christ, are closer to God than if we had never sinned at all. This blew me away the first time I read it. It blows me away just as much today, some 20 years after I read it the first time.

I have to admit, I would probably go a couple of rounds on this one with Mrs. White if we were to sit across the potluck table after church on Sabbath. If Adam had never sinned, we wouldn't have the potential to be as linked to the Creator as we now have? I understand that Jesus was human. I understand that He's still in human nature today. But weren't we created in the image of God? Wasn't Adam a lot closer to that image at Creation than we are today? Did he not have the capacity for growth and learning and relationship before the fall, perhaps even moreso than we now have?

Wasn't Adam the son of God, too?

Don't get me wrong... this is totally inspiring and huge, and it in now way diminishes the writing to me. Ellen White wrote based on her understandings, and her culture and time and circumstance influenced her writings as much as any biblical character's did for him. I just struggle with the possible implication that pre-sin Adam (and his sinless descendants, had history turned out better) couldn't have been as closely united with God as post-sin humanity can be. Seems to me that Jesus, God the Son, would have been just as much pre-sin Adam's brother as He is mine.

No fall--no one experiences death, including Jesus.

With the fall--everyone experiences death, including Jesus.

Wouldn't we be linked either way?

OK... too much time on this thought. The thought that I could be even as close to God as pre-sin Adam is pretty mind-boggling and gives me an incredible picture of the love and grace of God.

DA - God With Us - Angels

"The angels of glory find their joy in giving--giving love and tireless watchcare to souls that are fallen and unholy... to bring the lost into a fellowship with Christ which is even closer than they themselves can know."

This stuff blows my mind--that angels who are in God's presence every day, take joy in watching over me, and seek to bring me into a closer relationship with Jesus than they themselves will ever have. I never have considered the question, "What kind of personality must an angel have?" This says a lot! If this is true, there are heavenly beings that are so unselfish as to be happy and fulfilled if my relationship, my walk with Jesus is even closer than what they will ever experience. Their joy is completed, in part anyway, when I walk closely with Jesus!

It makes me wonder (and this is pure conjecture on my part)... did God create these beings with this end in mind? Are there angels created for the purpose of watching over me and my walk with Jesus? Is it possible that the heavenly beings were created with human beings in mind? Am I just extrapolating this, or is there something to it?

Part of me finds it unfathomable that the Creator of the Universe and everything in it, as magnanimous as it is, would have actually gone this far... for me! Obviously, much of this posting is the musings of a flawed brain, at best. But it's an unbelievable thought nonetheless, and another angle on the incredible love of God for me!