Randy Alcorn - 50 Days of Heaven. Reflections That Bring Eternity to Light

50 DAYS OF
HEAVEN

Reflections That Bring Eternity to Light

RANDY
ALCORN

Visit Tyndales exciting Web site at www.tyndale.com

TYNDALE and Tyndales quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

50 Days of Heaven: Reflections That Bring Eternity to Light

Copyright 2006 by Eternal Perspective Ministries. All rights reserved.

Cover photo copyright by Gunter Marx Photography/Corbis. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jessie McGrath

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alcorn, Randy C.

50 days of heaven : reflections that bring eternity to light / Randy Alcorn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eBook ISBN 978-1-4143-2714-3
1. HeavenChristianityMeditations. I. Title.
BT846.3.A432 2006
236'.24dc22 2006009496

Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06
7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Shirley Embanks,
who loves Jesus and
faithfully prays for us and many others;
your reward will be great.

Contents

PREFACE
About This Book

INTRODUCTION
Learning to See in the Country of the Blind

AFTERWORD
Living Now in Light of the World That Awaits Us

Special thanks to our friend Doreen Button, who
went through every page and suggested revisions at
three stages in this project. Doreen, youre a gem.

Bonnie Hiestand typed in my handwritten corrections from
hard copy. Kathy Norquist, Linda Jeffries, Janet Albers, Sharon
Misenhimer, and Sarah Ballenger all assisted in various ways.
Im so grateful for these sisters and all who serve
so faithfully in our office at EPM.

At Tyndale House, Im indebted to my friend and editor Dave
Lindstedt and to Carol Traver, Maria Eriksen, and Ron Beers.
Travis Thrasher probably did something helpful, too, though Im not
sure what. Thanks to Lynn Vanderzalm for her editorial work on
earlier versions of some of the material. Thanks also to the Tyndale
sales team, to Paul Mathews for his attention to the details when
it comes to stewarding my books, and to all the rest at Tyndale.

Thanks to Ruthanna Metzgar for sharing her story and to my
friends Steve Keels and Stu Weber for their weekly encouragement.

Thanks always and in all things to my family: Nanci,
my awesome wife; our terrific sons and daughters, Dan
and Angela Stump, and Dan and Karina Franklin; and
our precious grandsons, Jake, Matthew, and Ty.

PREFACE
About This Book

Fifty Days of Heaven is drawn from selected portions of my larger book called Heaven. Ive revised and refashioned segments of that book into fifty short, self-contained meditations suitable for fifty consecutive days of reflection or for reading at any pace or in any order you might choose.

Ive received many encouraging responses to Heaven, indicating a tremendous interest in this subject matter and a desire to see it addressed in other formats. I hope this devotional will prove useful and enlightening.

This book is intended for two kinds of readers: those who havent read Heaven and are drawn to something shorter than the full-length treatment and in a more devotional format; and those who have read Heaven but would like to come back to the subject and reflect on brief segments that are easier to absorb. I think readers of Heaven will agree that these shorter pieces have a very different feel and effect.

In developing these meditations, Ive integrated some new material. Each days reading includes its own introduction and conclusion, a selected passage of Scripture, and a great quote about Heaven that corresponds to the subject of the day. Ive completed each meditation with a final question to ponder often something that asks for a responseand a personal prayer that flows from the reflection.

I have chosen to capitalize the words Heaven and Hell to underscore the fact that these are real places. In other words, I am treating the names of these eternal destinations as we do any other place, such as Chicago, Nigeria, Europe, or Saturn. I also capitalize New Earth, for the same reason we capitalize New England. The only exceptions are when I am quoting writers who dont capitalize these words or when I am quoting Scripture, because none of the modern Bible translations capitalize heaven or hell.

It wasnt easy to select only fifty snapshots of Heaven for these meditations. Theres so much more to be said! Nevertheless, I trust that these daily readings will help ignite your passion for Heaven, inspire you to draw closer to God, and whet your appetite to learn more about Gods plan for the New Earth. If, when youre done, you want a more detailed exploration of this fascinating subject and the many Bible passages that speak of Gods eternal plan, you may wish to consult the larger book, Heaven.

INTRODUCTION
Learning to See in the Country of the Blind

[Anna] gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem.

LUKE 2:38

The kingdom of God... does not mean merely the salvation
of certain individuals nor even the salvation of a chosen group
of people. It means nothing less than the complete renewal of
the entire cosmos, culminating in the new heaven and the new
earth.

ANTHONY HOEKEMA

M ost cultures believe in an afterlife. At question is not whether people will live forever, but where they will live and in what condition. Most cultures also have a concept of Heaven and Hell. They see some people as having a quality of eternal life that is far more than mere existence and others as existing forever in a state of eternal death rather than life. This view is certainly consistent with what Jesus taught: Then they [the unrighteous] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Matthew 25:46).

Sadly, many who believe in Heaven think of it as a dull and undesirable place. This perspective might best be summarized by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who observed, Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seashore. Shaws view, however, is in stark contrast to the mind-set of the early Christians, whose anticipation of Heaven we find preserved in the Roman catacombs, where the bodies of many martyred Christians of the first century were buried. These underground caverns are filled with inscriptions such as the following, found on three separate tombs: