The Longing for a Heavenly Homeland
Can you feel it? I hear many people talk about feeling like they don't belong in this world. They talk about life as though they know there is something missing, something they long for—but can't quite put a name to it. In Hebrews 11:13-16, the author lists those faith heroes of old and tells us something about them. These giants of faith all died "in faith" but they did not receive the promises made to them. As strangers and pilgrims in this world they could see those promises as if they were "from afar". They were assured of those promises and embraced them.
Each of them was seeking a homeland. Each of them felt within themselves a longing for a place they had never been, but by faith knew existed. They could have given up on it and gone back to their old land, but they did not. One thing they desired was a better country, a heavenly country. And God, who is not ashamed to be called their God, has prepared for them a heavenly city.
Longing for a Heavenly Country: A Divine Promise
And what about this heavenly country? How do we imagine it, if we even try? Our longing for a heavenly country isn’t just a hopeful thought—it’s a divine promise. In Romans 8:19, Paul says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” Paul is reminding us that, not only do we who belong to God long for the revealing of the sons of God, but all of creation—plants, trees, and animals—waits eagerly to know who truly belongs to Him.
When we long for something, we have a desire that is unfulfilled. This is what tugs at our hearts almost subconsciously and makes us know we have promises that will be fulfilled "from afar." As Romans 8 continues, Paul talks of all of creation groaning, waiting eagerly for what is to come; and for us, we await adoption and the redemption of our bodies. All of creation will eventually be delivered from the "bondage of corruption."
The Fulfillment of God’s Promise
God will redeem all of His creation. This world, so sickened by sin from the fall of Adam and Eve, will one day be restored to the glory that God intended it to have. You and I will have physically resurrected bodies one day, just as Jesus plainly showed the disciples. 2 Peter 3:13 says that we await the New Heaven and the New Earth where righteousness lives.
We will not be some ghostly presence in Heaven, but at the resurrection, we will have physical bodies renewed by the Holy Spirit of God and we will live in a perfected New Earth. Like Jesus, we will have a perfect resurrected body and we will live in a perfect Earth filled with God's righteousness.
Revelation 21:1-4 plainly says that God will dwell with us in the New Earth. When we die, we do indeed go to Heaven to live with Him, but ultimately He will create a New Heaven and a New Earth and there He says He will dwell with us forever (Revelation 21:3). This unfulfilled need we have, is to live with God. Indeed, when we become Christians we begin that life but "we see as through a mirror darkly" what ultimately awaits those who are called Children of God (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Philippians 3:20-21 explains this Resurrection, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” Our bodies will be like His—transformed into a new physical life. Will you be yourself in Heaven? Yes, of course, just as Jesus is Jesus. So will your loved ones that have gone before you.
Paradise Regained: The New Earth
To quote Randy Alcorn in his sermon, C.S. Lewis on Heaven and the New Earth: God’s Eternal Remedy to the Problem of Evil and Suffering:
"In Genesis, the Redeemer is promised; in Revelation, the Redeemer returns. Genesis tells the story of Paradise lost; Revelation tells the story of Paradise regained. In Genesis, man and woman fail as earth’s rulers; in Revelation righteous humanity rules the new earth, under King Jesus. Satan and sin will not thwart God’s plan!"
This New Earth will be one where there is no sin, suffering, death or sorrow. No wonder we long for a Heavenly country. What we have in this world when we know Christ is but a foretaste of glory divine. This longing for Paradise is expressed so well in a hymn written over a hundred years ago.
The Hymn: This World Is Not My Home
In 1919 an anonymous hymn was published for the first time entitled, "This World is Not My Home." The lyrics go like this:
This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Chorus:
O Lord, you know I have no friend like you,
If heaven's not my home, then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
2 They're all expecting me, and that's one thing I know,
My Savior pardoned me and now I onward go;
I know He'll take me thro' tho' I am weak and poor,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]
3 I have a loving Savior up in glory-land,
I don't expect to stop until I with Him stand,
He's waiting now for me in heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]
4 Just up in glory-land we'll live eternally,
The saints on every hand are shouting victory,
Their songs of sweetest praise drift back from heaven's shore,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]
The Eternal Longing and Our True Home
Don't be surprised if you can't feel at home in this world anymore. God has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We are a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22). There is an unfulfilled hunger for Heaven that God has literally placed there. Its purpose is a reminder that there is more, oh so much more, that He offers us than this world we live in now. Some of us will heed that call and become His. Why? So we can live with Him forever in that city that is built four square (Revelation 21:16).
A Vision of the Original Creation and Our Praise
It's as though we live in a dirty city full of ugly buildings and yet somehow we have a memory of this place before. Before when it was full of trees and flowers, with flowing streams and abundant wildlife. Before when it was a place that was good for our soul. This Heaven we long for is the world as it was meant to be—the world God originally made.
We praise God that we long to be at home with Him. We praise God for the place He has prepared for us. As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says: "But as it is written, 'I have told you what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined—what God has prepared for those who love Him.'"
Enjoy the great Jim Reeves singing "I Can't Feel at Home in this World Anymore"
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