Bill Gaither - Heaven

Heaven is the finish line,
the ultimate prize.
The God of all the ages
will be there, and I want to go.

JANET PASCHAL

A GIFT FOR :

FROM :

If I can find in myself a desire

which no experience in the world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is

that I was made for another world.

C. S. LEWIS

Heaven, My Father's House by Anne Graham Lotz 2001 Anne Graham Lotz and Billy Graham. Published by W Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder. 1938 Thornton Wilder. NY: Coward McCann & Heoghegan.

The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis. 1956 C. S. Lewis (Pte) Ltd.
All rights reserved. For information address HarperCollins Children's Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. 10 East 53rd Street, NY, NY 10022.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. 1952 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd., renewed 1980.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Copyright 2003 by Spring House Productions, Inc.

Published by J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson. Inc., Nashville. Tennessee 37214

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations used in this book are from the New King James Version of the Bible 1979, 1980. 1982, 1992. Thomas Nelson. Inc.. Publisher.

The New International Version of the Bible (niv ) 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT) 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL. All rights reserved.

J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (PHILLIPS).
J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

The Message (MSG) 1993. Used by permission of Nav Press Publishing Group.

Project Editor: Kathy Baker

Design: Kirk DouPonce, UDG | Design Works, Sisters, Oregon

ISBN 0-8499-9592-2

Printed and bound in Belgium

www.thomasnelson.com
www.jcountryman.com

And this is the promise

that He has promised us

Eternal life

1 JOHN 2: 25

And I heard a loud voice from
Heaven saying, "Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and He
will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.
God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the
former things have passed away."

REVELATION 21:3 4

Contents

INTRODUCTION
God's Precious Promise

Heaven. Home. That destination beyond what our eyes can see. It's been on the minds of poets, philosophers, and preachers for millenia.

In his play Our Town, Thornton Wilder approaches the subject this way: "We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses and it ain't names, and it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars... everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal."

No matter how tragic or triumphant your life may be, you somehow can hear the inner whisper that tells you there must be something more, something better than anything you've ever known. It's a longing for Heaven, a quiet ache that feels a little like being homesick, like being caught between the now and the notyet.

In 2002, many of our Homecoming Friends gathered to consider what "going home" means, to share the writings of our most cherished thinkers, and to sing songs that invite glimpses of Heaven. This book is an outpouring of that intense, worshipful experience.

Heaven is the ultimate reality we all must face. This world is not our home. We are just passing through. So come with us as we explore Heaven. It's where we belong. Forever!

This world is not conclusion,

A sequel stands beyond,

Invisible as music, But positive as sound.

EMILY DICKINSON

Dear God,
May Your love and understanding fill the hearts of
everyone who reads this book. May each page
guide them deeper into Your hope.
May the grieving or fearful receive Your comfort,
may the seekers find Your answer,
and may the confident celebrate anew the joy of
Your promised Heaven. In Jesus' Name,

Amen

HEAVEN
Home of Our
Hopes

In talking about Heaven,
Peter Marshall said,
"Those we love are
with the Lord, and the Lord
has promised to be with us.
If they are with Him,
and He is with us,
they can't be far away."

Have you ever sipped fresh, cool lemonade underneath a tree on a sweltering afternoon? Or savored the first unhindered stretch when you got your cast off? Those are tastes of Heaven.

Have you ever embraced your best friend after a long time apart? Do you remember swinging in your daddy's arms or reading books on the floor with Mom? You've experienced bits of Heaven's joy.

What about those rare, perfect days when you had so much fun, when you felt great and full of energy, and when everything went just exactly right? Every day in Heaven will be far better.

Heaven is the home of our hopes, and on the following pages are some of what we're looking forward to the most.

HOPE

GLORIA GAITHER, 2002

The hope that is within us,
Erupting from the sand,
Is clear and pure refreshment
In dry and barren land;
No scorching circumstances
Can stop the eager flow
Of Hope that springs eternal
This Joy that floods my soul.

You cannot make it happen
Like faith, it is a gift
The currents of depression
The power of Hope will lift.
Just when you least expect it
A rescue raft comes by
And ties your weary spirit
To wings so you can fly!

Hope that sometimes whispers
A Hope that sometimes shouts
Sometimes Hope's mighty gale
Will part the sea of doubts.
Hope calms the raging fevers,
Commands the storms of pain;
Hope turns life's threatening tempest
To gentle, soothing rain.

Oh Jesus, blessed Jesus,
My wellspring in the sand
Oh Jesus, blessed Jesus,
My strong and saving hand
Oh Jesus, blessed Jesus,
My anchored tetherrope
The voice that stills all rages,
My shouting, whispering Hope!

When All of God's Singers Get Home

GLORIA GAITHER

I like to think that before time began, before the world was created or galaxies flung into space, there was Godand He was singing a song. The music was so beautiful that it had to be heard. So God created... and down through the ages He's always had His singers who picked up the fragments of the melody, hummed bits of harmony, wrote phrases of poetry, or danced short movements. No one has ever heard the whole song since that day God sang it alone. But one of these days He will gather all His children home, and one by one the singers of all the ages will lift their voices and fill in the parts life taught to them. At last we'll hear love's sweetest song as it was first conceived in the heart of the great song writer Himself. It will be perfect. What music there will be when the song of the ages is sung around the Father's throne when all of God's singers get home!