Monday Morning Music Ministry

3-17-25

I have observed a strange thing about Heaven through the years. Rather, a strange thing about how people think about Heaven; even how Christians regard Heaven.

This world is not our home, we’re just passing through. Salvation – being accepted as a child of God – should be the object of our faith; trusting Jesus, His sacrificial gift and His resurrection from the dead. He died and rose so that we might, indeed, spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

And yet many believers think of Heaven first as a place where we might have reunions with friends and family, even pets. Catholics prepare to be welcomed by various saints. Generations have depicted Heaven as a place with all sorts of props and costumes.

The Bible, on the other hand – being a Book that ought to have some authority on the subject – never mentions pets or family reunions. No offense to Spot or Aunt Mabel. Rather, it is a place of “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” It seems ironic that with the promise of spending eternity in paradise, we nevertheless think in limited, everyday human contexts. Partly because the Bible tells me so, I await a Heaven where all we will want to do is praise the Lord God around the Throne forever.

If indeed we will recognize people in Heaven (and you might have guessed by now that my bigger concern is that Jesus recognizes me), of course I wonder. Martyrs, “heroes of faith,” the Apostles… I will want to see – as my earthly curiosity prompts my imagination now. “Loved ones,” sure. We love them! Will we be aware of those we prayed for… those who yearned for salvation here on earth; who fought the appeals of the Gospel; who sincerely wrestled with their faith. We can hope so.

We surely do not know these things now. In fact we cannot know now: we can be assured of our own salvation – if we believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God; that he died for our sins; and that the Lord raised Him from the dead; Scripture says that’s all! – but we can not be sure of anyone else’s position regarding Heaven.

I have been reading lately about Oscar Wilde, the Irish playwright, author, and aphorist. He has come down to us in history as a brilliant wit and clever parodist, notable for works like The Portrait of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. He famously also is known as an outrageous iconoclast who flaunted his homosexuality in the midst of Victorian London; who was a pedophile; and who was sentenced to two years at hard labor for his morals offenses.

What is rather less known or discussed in these secular days of ours is that Wilde accepted his guilt and sought not to excuse it, but grew to understand Christ as Someone who likewise shared suffering. Jesus became real to Wilde as a Savior whose endurance of persecution and rejection enabled himself to deal with his sins and yet find hope. He never railed against his treatment – beyond bad food in jail and ugly wallpaper in his last flat – and realized that worldly punishment was his lot.

Wilde’s last two books, The Ballad of Reading Gaol and de Profundis, are deeply spiritual books of introspection and discussions of faith. Remarkable, provocative books with no trademark sarcasms or epigrams. Before he died Wilde requested and received Baptism in his lonely hotel room in Paris. (The one with the ugly wallpaper.)

This man, who for a while was so reviled that, reportedly, no male child was born in England for decades who was given the name “Oscar,” so gross were his sins and moral offenses… could he have “gained” Heaven? Would we see him, if seeing our Heavenly brethren will be possible, among the throng around the Throne? Well, we have the “travel guide” and roadmaps, so to speak, in the Bible; the assurances of Jesus Himself and testimonies in Scripture – yes. Yes.

Call them “deathbed confessions,” or “battlefield conversions,” but… Yes. Think of the worst person who comes to mind. Hitler, you say? If he had given his heart to Christ in his last days – he did marry in his last hours; he had tithed to the church until his last month – yes, he would be accepted, even welcomed, into Heaven. Think of the “best” person who comes to mind. Mother Teresa, you say? If she had done all the thousands of charitable acts for which she was celebrated all her life, yet if even in her last moments she rejected Christ as her Savior – no, she would not be welcomed into Heaven.

Are such things fair? Again… our human values eclipse the Godly truths, the lessons of the Gospel, the priorities of Christianity. Rather than argue against what we might consider “unfairness” – “I have spent my whole life believing Christ, and a dirty sinner can sweep into heaven just like I can?” – we should rejoice that a soul has come to Christ. That is the real priority: our hands might not be as bloody, nor our robes quite as unclean, as the next guy, but we all need the Grace of God. And – if we think good deeds, whether a handful or thousands, will punch our tickets to Heaven… we are sadly deceived.

“All of Heaven [yes, there is the Heavenly host] rejoices when one sinner is saved.” We are being watched; we are encouraged by the Holy Spirit; and one day in the mysterious way God operates Heaven, we too will rejoice and welcome sinners as they join the happy throng praising Christ forever. This is what Heaven means to me.

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Click: This Is Just What Heaven Means to Me