When We All Get to Heaven by Beckie Hudson
A few months ago, I mailed four sympathy cards. FOUR. ey ranged from saintly pastors to saints struggling with alcoholism. ere’s been a lot of death surrounding a lot of people lately and not just because we’re adrift in a pandemic. Life and death are ongoing. It just feels like the world as a whole is overshadowed by this reality in a different way for the past eighteen months. e shock, the overwhelming grief of loss can rock your very foundation—no matter where your feet are planted. After pondering all the ways grief and mourning have impacted my life personally, I see two main ways that people can view a person’s passing. Keeping in mind that each person’s journey through grief is very unique to that individual, these views can help us recognize the emotions along that path. Hebrews 9:27 & 28 tells us “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacri ced once to take away the sins of many;
and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” It’s a bad news/good news kind of verse. Everyone will face death, but because of the sacri cial death of Christ we have hope! One of the sympathy cards I sent was to a sweet friend who had lost her 100-year-old grandmother, a true saint. It was a little easier to mail that envelope; I had walked through the same season 12 years ago when my own precious 100-year-old grandmother got promoted to glory. e tears coursed down my cheeks as I kissed her good-bye and told her it was okay to go to Jesus. My heart was broken, but healing of that hurt began immediately as I imagined her stepping strongly into the Father’s presence to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” and the certainty that I will see her again one day. Some are immediately comforted by this hope and the knowledge that their loved one has entered eternity with the Sav-
ior. While maybe not going so far as to say they rejoice, they can nd true peace in this knowledge. First essalonians 4:13, 14 & 16 remind us that it is possible to grieve with hope. “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him….For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise rst.” It’s an interesting detail, don’t you think? When the trumpet of God sounds the alarm, the dead in Christ will rise rst. What a wake-up call! e theme of grief and mourning is woven throughout scripture. e most godly and devoted biblical characters have stories that are book ended with life and death. e wisest man of all time, King Solomon, who not only had wisdom but the wealth that many may think would solve all their problems… gured it out centuries ago. “ere is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4). ese are the rhythms of life, they ebb and ow and when we have hope, the time to mourn evolves into a time of remembering and celebrating a loved one and holding their memory close. Dear saints, we desperately need, in these times, something to cling to and this is it. It would be easy to let the enemy have his way and let our loss overwhelm us to the point where we can’t even function. Discouragement is one of his favorite tools to use. is leads me to the second category into which those walking through a season of grief may fall. Another of those four sympathy cards I sent was to a dear friend, the wife of a strug-
gling alcoholic who was probably hit the hardest because he was young, not yet 50. ey staged an intervention, begged him to get help because his doctors at out told him he was dying. His loss has tossed her into a whirlwind of decision making that she never imagined she’d be confronted with at this time in life. ey had just nished construction on their dream home and her thoughts were thrown from designing cabinetry and countertops to selecting a coffin and burial plot. She is nding her way for a new rhythm that ts her life without her husband in it. One of the other challenges she faces is the uncertainty that accompanies his loss. ey attended church together; she even witnessed spiritual experiences with him. But she does not have a certainty that would bring her peace. ere are a host of emotions swirling around her right now, but that not knowing, that has rent her heart in two, keeps her awake at night, and nags at her own soul. I’ve thought so often since that funeral service about ways to comfort my friend. e best condolence I can offer is that God is loving and merciful, right to the very end. We do not know what happens in those nal moments—how quickly someone can go from atheism or religious performance to true faith in the Saving One. Could a loving God reveal Himself in the nal moments to someone who doubts, is undecided, or at out doesn’t believe, in such a way that their last breath becomes a prayer for salvation? I would have to say with deepest conviction, YES. Where is my proof for that? 2 Peter 3:9b “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” He is not just a God of second chances, but the God of many chances, especially last chances. ough we may not witness that salvation decision, we can still hope. I don’t remember a day of my life where I was not part of a church family. Due to the fact that my mother was the
organist, we attended more than your average number of funerals in my growing up years. I was reminded of some of the hymns we would routinely sing at the church funerals: When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, In the Sweet By and By, I’ll Fly Away and the ever-present Amazing Grace. Once in a while, though, you would hear hymns with promise like this one: "When We All Get to Heaven" Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace; In the mansions bright and blessed He’ll prepare for us a place. While we walk the pilgrim pathway, Clouds will overspread the sky; But when trav’ling days are over, Not a shadow, not a sigh.
Whenever I read this passage of scripture, I feel a sense of hope. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise rst. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (vv. 16-17). If you can’t nd hope in that, I ask you one sincere question: Do you know my Jesus? Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior from sin to secure your place in eternity with Him? Beloved, this is our hope. Verse 18 of this passage veri es to, “therefore encourage each other with these words.” We do not weep with despair; we weep, knowing joy can come in the morning and will come on that day when we all get to heaven.
Let us then be true and faithful, Trusting, serving every day; Just one glimpse of Him in glory Will the toils of life repay. Onward to the prize before us! Soon His beauty we’ll behold; Soon the pearly gates will open; We shall tread the streets of gold. Chorus: When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory! Hope is unique to the Christian faith – this idea that death brings hope and can be cause for celebration even in the face of great loss. Have you noticed that funerals have become “celebration of life” services? ere’s a reason for that. It’s catching on— that life is to be celebrated even as eternal life is embraced because of Jesus. Look back on those verses in I essalonians.
Beckie Hudson is a northern transplant living in Concord, NC where she and her husband and daughter attend Multiply Church. She holds a B.A. from Moody Bible Institute and an M.Ed. in Counseling from the University of Houston-Victoria. After 17 years in education and counseling in Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Germany and England, she has been a stay at home wife and mother for the last nine, living her dream job! She can be contacted at redeemed.restored@yahoo.com