HIS PLACE

The story’s told that during the days of that great English preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, Londoners who wanted to hear this orator would say, “Let’s go over to Charlie’s place.” Of course they were not referring so much to the Metropolitan Tabernacle where he ministered, but rather to the fact that is where they’d find him.

Just before our Lord went away, twice He mentioned “a place” He was going to prepare, and that He would be in that place, and that His people would be with Him in that place. There is much talk and speculation about what Heaven is like, almost to the extent that Jesus becomes a non-entity. It’s not the place, it’s the Person!

We hear talk of soul-sleep for a Christian, that is, the intermediate state between death and resurrection. But Paul tells us our soul can only be in one of two places: in the body or with the Lord. And the second necessitates a consciousness as much as the first. When Jesus told the thief that he would be with Him that very day in Paradise, he had to be conscious to realize the fact.

If all of this were not so, our Lord declares, “I would have told you so,” Someday, possibly in the near future, I’ll be going to “His Place.” And I can guarantee you, I for one will not be “looking the place over.” It is not the gates of pearl, the streets of gold, the river of life, or even the face of my blessed mother that I’ll be looking for, but the Altogether Lovely One, the Lover of my Soul, the “One” who gave His all for me!

In closing, I’d remind those who are prone to spiritualize such truths that the reality is always greater than the picture. So, whatever way you slice it, it’s going to be wonderful!