Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: heaven

what will we look like in heaven? — November 12, 2025

what will we look like in heaven?

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My 7-year old granddaughter looked at me and asked with concern, “Papaw – why do you have so many holes in your face?”   I didn’t want to scare her with tales of teenage acne so I may have told her I like Swiss cheese.

But, here’s the question – will my complexion be pockmarked for eternity?  How will we appear when we get to heaven?  Will my appearance be locked in at the time of death?  Will the elderly be eternally wrinkled?  Will the newborn be infants indefinitely?   

An understanding of God’s grand plan may give us some insight. In the beginning, God crafted 2 ideal human beings.  Adam and Eve were the pinnacle of perfection.  Aging, disease and death did not affect them.   

How old did they appear to be when God created them?  We assume they were of the age where they could obey the Lord who told them to, “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22).  

And they were strong enough to carry out His command to “cultivate” the garden (Genesis 2:15).  So, I would guess that the couple appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties when they were created.  

Had the couple obeyed the Lord, they would have forever existed in that idyllic state, but they rejected the Sovereign one to heed the serpent (Genesis 3:1-7) and all creation suffered the consequences. 

The self-perpetuating lush garden was turned into a foreboding untamed jungle (Genesis 3:18) and the guilty couple was introduced to aging, disease and death.  We, their children, have inherited the mess they created. 

But God promised them a Savior who would one day strike the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).  Jesus died, was buried, and on the third day He rose again to redeem fallen man and restore what had been lost in Eden. 

He promised to one day regenerate all creation (Matthew 19:28).  “A new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” – 2 Peter 3:13.

It will be a stunningly beautiful place, with precious stones and glittering gold.  The tree that brought death to Adam will be replaced by the tree of life and perpetual health. (Revelation 22:2).  There will be no mourning, crying or pain (21:4).  The curse placed on Adam’s race will be lifted (22:3)    Peace will prevail and strife will cease (Isaiah 11:6-9). 

It will be a wonderful new earth, but what about the people who inhabit it? 

The apostle John wrote this, “And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!”  Revelation 21:5. Jesus plans to make “all things new!”  Why wouldn’t people be included?  Why would He create a spectacular new earth and populate it with old geezers like me?   

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul wrote of the resurrection saying “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power” (42-43) There are clearly fantastic changes ahead for the believer.

So, my best guess is that we will be restored in heaven to appear as did Adam and Eve before the fall – in their late teens to early twenties.  We will look as if disease and the curse of the fall had never existed.  Goodbye pockmarks!

It is interesting that Mary didn’t immediately recognize the risen Savior.  Perhaps because He had a become the younger version of Himself (John 20:15).

What about those who die in the womb?  I would guess they too would appear as they would have been in their prime.  And because we will know all things fully (1 Corinthians 13:12) a momma should be able to recognize her grown-up child. 

What will we look like in heaven?  Who knows for sure?  The truth is I could appear as Frankenstein and yet I’ll be deliriously happy just to be in the presence of my Savior.

A PRAYER: Lord, it doesn’t matter what we will look like as long as we are with you.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

a note from a bass player — July 9, 2025

a note from a bass player

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Our band had just finished an evening of music ministry at a summer camp on the shores of Lake Erie.  It was a phenomenal time with several kids having given their lives to Jesus that night. 

We happily tore down our equipment and packed it into the trailer.  As we pulled away, there was a disturbing crunch that was heard.

Our bass player cried, “Oh no!”  He jumped out of the car and found his bass guitar beneath the wheel of the car.  He had leaned it against the car while we were loading and had forgotten about it.

We backed up the car and surveyed the damage.  The old wooden case was completely annihilated – nothing left but splinters.  No doubt, the guitar, within was wrecked as well. 

But our bassist picked at the splinters and found that the solid body Silvertone guitar was in excellent condition.  It was a miracle of sorts.  He even played a tune for us, but it wasn’t in one of the flat keys. 

The case was pulverized but the guitar was preserved.

That sorta sounds like my life these days.  My case is degrading.  Three years ago, I was on zero medications.  Two years ago, I started my first two.  Last year I added two more.  

At a rate of addition of two per year, I am going to be a mess if I make it to my 80‘s.  Plus, I’ll have to take out a loan to pay for it all. 

All this because my body is wasting away. 

In fact, here is my personal lament to aging – to the tune of These Are a Few of My Favorite Things. 

– Dropping my phone but I can’t bend to get it; Needing to buy my prescriptions on credit; Searching the house, cause I misplaced my teeth; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Sweeping the floor and pulling a muscle; Missing one piece from the whole jigsaw puzzle; Growing a gut while my hairline recedes; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Making a list of all my prescriptions; Finding a spot that defies a description;  Getting my news from the AARP magazine; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Gigantic toenails, I can’t reach to trim them; Trying to dance but losing the rhythm; Sneezing and finding that I sprung a leak; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Trying to say diverticulu-titus; 3 crooked fingers from raging arthritis; Learning to walk on my transplanted knee; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Finding a town where there’s no Cracker Barrel; Shopping and finding no modest apparel; A grandkid who tells me my car’s an antique; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Calling and talking to another computer; Sharing a bed with a spouse who’s a tooter; Getting new glasses but still I can’t see; These are a few of my least favorite things.

– Wrinkles that rival my beloved Shar Pei; Using a map app, to help find my way; Trying to learn how to work my TV; These are a few of my least favorite things.

Yes, aging can be agonizing.  The case in which we are enclosed is falling apart at an alarming rate.  BUT the essence of who we, like that bass guitar, is still in perfect shape. 

The apostle Paul said, “For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens” – 2 Corinthians 5:1. NETBible ®

Our temporal earthly house is crumbling but we are not – and one day we will be housed in a body fit for eternity. 

Hey, I left out the chorus to my song parody.  It goes like this: 

No sense raging, that I’m aging, cause it’s not the end; Cause Jesus awaits me, in heaven up there, and things will be better then

A PRAYER: Lord, help me hang on, as my case falls apart.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

how do we know there is a heaven? — January 15, 2025

how do we know there is a heaven?

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I am sometimes asked about the crazy name of my blog, pickleheavenpress!   So what is pickle heaven!  

It is a figment of my imagination!  I was once a poor college student with a lovely wife and 2 darling preschoolers.  Money was tight, but we made it a once-a-week treat to go for some fast food.

The kids would ask, “Daddy, can we go to McDonald’s?”  I would tease them and say, “Well I was thinking I might like to go to that new place called Pickle Heaven.”  Of course it didn’t exist, but they didn’t know that. 

They whined.  They didn’t want a pickle!  “OK McDonald’s it is then.”  Each week for nearly a year, I would suggest Pickle Heaven, but I was always out voted. Then one day I asked, “Where do you all want to eat tonight?”  My 4-year replied, “Daddy, maybe we should try Pickle Heaven.”  Oops. 

My sweet, naïve, children trusted me and assumed that a restaurant called Pickle Heaven actually existed. But what about the heaven we cherish? 

Could it also be a figment of our collective imagination? 

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in outer space in 1961.  When he arrived, he looked around the heavens for God.  He didn’t see Him, so he declared, ‘Boga Nyet!’, which translates, ‘There is no God!’

And yet, I certainly believe heaven exists and here’s why. 

The Scripture speaks of it

Scripture is our primary and utterly reliable source of truthful information.  It clearly affirms the existence of heaven.  There is the OT assertion in Psalm 23

 “And I will dwell I the house of the Lord forever.”  And there is the NT corroboration where heaven in mentioned 228 times.  Jesus promised the thief on the cross that the two of them would be together in Paradise that very day they died (Luke 23:43).  If heaven is a piece of fiction, then Jesus misled us.

Belief in heaven is a universal phenomenon

The university of Oxford sanctioned a study involving 57 researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries that represented a diverse range of cultures. Their goal was to find if concepts such as God and an afterlife are taught generation to generation or are they imprinted at birth.  The studies found that belief in an afterlife is a universal and innate part of being a human being.  Throughout time, in every culture and place, people have possessed a belief in the afterlife.   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110714103828.htm

This is no surprise!  Solomon described this phenomenon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 saying, “He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men.”

There have been eyewitnesses to heaven

As a hospice chaplain I have been privileged to hear stories and sometimes even witness the transition of people into the afterlife.  Just recently one of my patients, an elderly Christian woman, was unconscious for a couple of days.  Then she unexpectedly sat up and fixed her gaze on something beyond the walls.  She reached out her hand and said, “Jesus” and then soon passed.  

Just recently my friend lost his daughter to a terminal disease.   According to him, her very last thrill-filled words were, Wow! Wow! Wow! 

Most hospice workers have witnessed similar stories.  

But where is heaven?  We don’t know.  Author Randy Alcorn says, “It’s referred to as “up” in location in the Bible (Luke 9:51) It could be a place in the universe beyond the earth or it may exist entirely outside of our space-time continuum.  (In Light of Eternity, pg. 28)

God hasn’t revealed the exact address of heaven, maybe to avoid the scads of folks who would try to locate it and barge their way in.  Yet, we have proof that there is a heaven, and that Jesus is the way to get there. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.

I sure hope to see you there!

A PRAYER: Lord, thank You for making room for me and all those I love.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NIV

food for the ages — February 15, 2023

food for the ages

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What joy does every earthling share that we will continue to enjoy in heaven?  Eating! 

I did a study on heaven and was shocked to find that food will be a major part of our heavenly experience.  Seriously!

Jesus was astounded by a gentile centurion’s faith which prompted Him to say, “I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”  – Matthew 8:11. The faithful will dine with the patriarchs of Israel in the Kingdom of Heaven.  

It was at the last Supper that Jesus, “…took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”  – Luke 22:17-18.  Jesus made it clear that He would enjoy wine again in His resurrected glorified body.   

But dining is not a one-time deal.  Jesus also said to His disciples, “I grant to you a kingdom, just as my Father granted to me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”  Luke 22:29-30.  Jesus promised to reward their faithfulness by including them at His heavenly dining table.

Of course, there is also the marriage feast of the Lamb.  Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!”   

So what will we eat?

We probably should cross off devil’s food cake.   Actually, Isaiah tells us that the food will be amazing.  He wrote, “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.   At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine – tender meat and choicest wine.” – Isaiah 25:6   He looks to the onset of eternity in the Millennial Kingdom.  At that time God will make sure that His people have plenty of choice, tender meat and aged wine on which to sup.   

Where will it come from?

Jesus transformed water into wine at Cana, so it won’t be a problem for Him to cater a heavenly banquet.

Who will prepare this food?

Jesus is familiar with cooking. After His resurrection, He met with the disciples at the Sea of Galilee and prepared a breakfast of fish for them.  He said, “Come, have breakfast” – John 21:12.  I assume that He ate with them as well.  (I may pass on the fish for breakfast and put in an order of bacon and eggs.) 

My wife thoroughly enjoys cooking.  This is good because I thoroughly enjoy eating.  I am pretty sure she would be delighted to help prepare meals for the Lord and His people.  I am certain that meaningful work will be a part of our heavenly experience – and that would be hers.  

I know it’s hard to comprehend, isn’t it?  In heaven we will have glorified bodies.  Like the resurrected Jesus, we will be able to pass through walls.  (John 20:26)  This creates a few hard to answer questions like; How does a glorified body eat and drink?   

And how does a glorified body process what we eat?  Will the roast ever be burned?  Are there calories in heavenly food?   Will we like everything on the menu?  Don’t know? 

Will they do Chinese and Greek foods?  I assume that the Chinese and Greek believers would appreciate that.  Will we need Weight Watchers in heaven?  I’m pretty sure that’s a no. 

But listen – what is of ultimate importance here is to understand that Jesus so loves us that He prepared a place for us – with a kitchen – so that the joys of earth become the amplified joys of heaven.   He makes it possible for us to eat and drink and fellowship with Him and one another at His table forever.

A PRAYER: God I am excited to see what’s on the menu.  Thank you for your kindness.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavepress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NETBible.com

I just knowd it! — February 8, 2023

I just knowd it!

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I recently had a guy ask me a perplexing question: “Hey are you from Louisiana?”  “What!”  I asked, “Why you say dat?”

I concede that my accent is hard to figure.  I am an Ohioan who has lived in Texas for 40 years.  When I return to Ohio, and they get all rankled when I refer to them as, “ya’ll” and they wag their heads when I say “I knowd he et my “chicken fried steak.”   And they are relieved when I get in the car and say, “I’m fixin’ to go to the house.”

But when a Texan hears me speak, he says, “Where you from boy?”   When I ask for a bottle of pop – he wants to pop me. 

My accent may defy description – but Louisiana?  Makes me madder than a crawfish without a bayou!

Oh well, ultimately, it’s not where you are from that matters, but where you are going!

Where are we going?   Time moves forward whether we like it or not, and it sweeps us along with it.  So, what is our destination?  

Do we ever get in the car and say, “I don’t know where I’m going!”  OK sometimes I say that but that’s because I am old.  But, generally speaking, we don’t turn the key without having a destination in mind. 

The apostle John provided a helpful map for one particular spot.

He was writing to his spiritual “children” – those people that he had mentored and loved. In his letter, he taught them about Jesus and the faith, and how to love one another, and other themes that help a Christian understand how to live.

As he wound down his letter, he added this amazing gem of truth.  He wrote, “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  – 1 John 5:13

Now let’s make sure we get this.  He started with “I have written these things….”  What things?  All the spiritually affirming truths in chapters 1 through 5.

It was directed to “…you who believe in the name of the Son of God….”  He was addressing those who had placed their faith in Jesus as their Savior.   They were not relying on their own efforts or merit.  Their confidence wasn’t based on their church membership or attendance.  They relied solely on what Jesus had accomplished for them at the cross. 

His purpose was revealed in the last phrase, “…that you may know that you have eternal life.”  It isn’t always that you find the words “know” and “eternal life” in the same sentence.  And yet John says that the one who had put their hope in Christ has eternal life, and they can know and be assured of it in this life. 

Some might say, “Well, No one knows what know means.”

I get you.  Someone may say, “I know Fred.”  But in reality, Fred is more of an acquaintance to that person.  They don’t really and truly know him.  There is a word for that kind of knowing in the Greek New Testament.  It is “ginosko.” 

But John uses a very different word in his letter.  It is “oida” which refers to a deep, full, true understanding of a person or an issue.  This is a convinced kind of knowing. 

So, John tells us that the person who has trusted Christ should have a deep down, in the pit of their stomach, sure as shootin’ assurance that heaven is in their future.

Ultimately, it’s not where you are from that matters, but where you are going!  If you have trusted Jesus – you are going to heaven!  I just knowd it.

A PRAYER: Thank you God for helping me truly and deeply know that I will be with you when this life has been exhausted.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

travel trauma — November 16, 2022

travel trauma

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Like you’ve never been late!

My wife and I were sipping coffee on a sleepy Friday morning.  Our plan for the day was to pack for our three-week mission trip.  The next day we were headed to several African nations to visit various missionaries that had been sent out from our church. 

At 8 a.m. I happened to glance at our itinerary.  I was stunned when I realized that we were scheduled to depart at noon on that same day, TODAY!  My blood pressure could have inflated a tire. 

Planes within Africa fly their routes once or twice a week.  If we missed the first leg of the journey, the whole trip would be lost along with a fortune in airfare. 

I said to my wife, “Uh Sharie, um I just found out we are leaving today.”   She ignored me, “just another dumb Jim joke.”  With more assertiveness I said, “Honey we are leaving today.”  She said, “no.”  I said, “yes.”  She said, “no.” I said, “yes.”  “Let me see that,” she said.  She looked at it and then lost it.

We had 4 hours to shower, pack, make the 2-hour drive to Dallas, park the car, check in, wade through security and board the plane.  No way!

But we tried!  We showered faster than a couple of preteens.  She had postponed doing the laundry, which meant most of our clothes were dirty.  But she wadded them up and jammed them in the suitcase anyway.  What would the TSA think?

Toothbrushes, deodorant, hair gel were flying into the luggage.

We made it to the airport, but the south parking lot was full. We drove the full length of DFW to find that the north lot was also full, so we parked the car in short term parking.  It might be cheaper just to leave it there when we got back. 

We slipped into the plane just before they closed the door. Our collective adrenaline was pumping for the first 3 hours of our transatlantic flight. 

And then there were the typical airliner annoyances: cramped seating; crying babies; inconsiderate fellow passengers (my wife being the exception) and a bathroom that always seemed to say, “in use.”    

The journey was brutal – but arriving was breathtaking. 

We were greeted and treated like royalty by our missionaries.  There were tears and hugs and joy abounding.  We ate what they ate, saw what they saw, and joined them in their service to the Lord.  We had a superb time. 

As a bonus – we met exotic animals, saw dazzling displays, encountered curious cultures and experienced the wonder of God like never before. 

If we had to do over again, including the plane pain, we would do it.

Now, as a hospice chaplain, I counsel people who are on a difficult journey.  Some battle cancer, others COPD.  Some are disabled by stroke while others lose their memories to dementia. Some are whittled away by diabetes and others tremble with Parkinsons.

They look to me to help them make sense of it all.  So, I tell them about my traumatic and troublesome trip to Africa. 

But then I tell them about heaven, and I say, “The journey is sometimes brutal – but arriving is breathtaking.” 

Death is the portal to the glories that lie beyond.  But what lies beyond makes the journey worth it all.  The Psalmist put it this way, “In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11 KJV

How does the old song go? “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ; One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase; So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”

The journey is sometimes brutal – but arriving is breathtaking. 

A PRAYER: Lord please help us be brave until then. 

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

logging into heaven — October 26, 2022

logging into heaven

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I was present to see the birth of the digital password.  It was so easy back then.  The password I created for my first PC was, “password.” 

Not so easy now.  To log on I need to supply a username and a password with at least 8 characters, using upper and lower case letters, a number, a symbol and maybe a rude exclamation or two!

They are so complicated that I type in my password from my cheat sheet and still get it wrong.   I pretty much hate cusswords, I mean passwords.

So, I had a terrible thought the other day – What if heaven is password protected?

Suppose I am out mowing the lawn when the big one hits.  (I should have listened to my wife and gotten a riding lawnmower.)  Instantaneously I find myself standing outside the gate of heaven at a kiosk with a digital device. 

I was in a cloud needing to access the cloud.

“Oh, OK I guess I need to log in.  Let’s see um: User name?  Jimj worked for me on earth, but wait.  Revelation 2:17 says that we will get a new name in heaven.   Oh no!  Well – what is it?  I guess I’ll just try Jimj@paradise.com.

Password?   What? – I need a password to get in?  Wow – Maybe it’s that special word the soldiers of Ephraim used to cross the Jordan in Judges 12.  What was it?  ‘Shibboleth.'” or “Sibboleth?

Oh no – what if this is one of those deals where the password has got to be changed every 3 months – for eternity?  How many is that?

OK let me hit enter.  Click: ACCESS DENIED.  I’ll change the lower to an upper case: ACCESS DENIED.  Let me add the chapter and verse reference from Judges: ACCESS DENIED.  What if I throw in a pound sign?  ACCESS DENIED.” 

After 4 attempts, a terrifying, heart stopping, message flashes across the screen.  ‘Account is locked.’  And I begin to uncontrollably sob until I am told that there is no crying in heaven.”

Back to reality:  There actually is a password that we need to get into heaven.  It isn’t Baptist or Catholic or Methodist and it can’t be Presbyterian cause it has more than 8 characters.  It isn’t goodguy or churchman, or altarboy or piouspal.

It’s Jesus.  Just Jesus with a capital J and Jesus alone.   Nothing added – nothing taken away. 

Peter understood this.  He had been involved in the healing of a lame man and was therefore called on the carpet by the same crew that had crucified Jesus a couple of months earlier.  They demanded, “By what name did you do this?”

Peter answered,  “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man—by what means this man was healed—  let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.”  Oh, Jesus is responsible you say!

Peter went on, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”   – Acts 4:7-12 NETBible.com

His name is Jesus and there is no other by which we can be saved.

Jesus is the name that opens the doors of heaven for we who have placed our faith in Him.  We acknowledge Him as the Son of God whose death on the cross, covered our debt of sin and gave us peace with God. 

It is Jesus, and it’s OK to share this password with others!

A PRAYER: Thank you Father for making the entry to heaven so simple – just Jesus. 

This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

getting used to nice — September 28, 2022

getting used to nice

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I have trouble enjoying nice.  Weird right?

I grew up in a home where we were not poor, but we were the next-door neighbors.   So, I trained myself to lower my expectations of life.  I never anticipated having stylish clothes, or a new bike, or to feast on a steak dinner, or to enjoy a family vacation in the mountains.   It just wasn’t in the budget.

Even as an adult I have seldom allowed myself to enjoy the best.  I have never owned a brand new car.  My wife has cut my hair for the last 46 years (at least once a year whether I need it or not)  She and I shop at thrift stores for furniture, clothing and lots more.  Vacations have usually had a camping component – cause tents are cheaper than hotels. 

But, recently I was invited to buy a house that was way out of my league, but still within my frugal budget.  It is a really, really nice house – nicer than any we have ever owned.  It would have been foolish to pass on it.

We have enjoyed it for sure – but I sometimes find myself torn, “This is too much.  It’s too nice for me. I don’t deserve this!” 

I know, I probably need counseling, but that’s just the way I have learned to process life. 

One day, as I wrestled with my guilt, the Lord dropped a thought.  “Jim one day you will be experiencing much more than nice.”   

I began to process what I knew about heaven. 

Paul wrote, “But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”  – 1 Corinthians 2:9

Paul also spoke of being transported to heaven either in his body or by vision.   He said that “he was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.” – 2 Corinthians 12:3-4

I thought through the book of Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, where heaven is described by using the extreme best in terms of human comforts and experiences.   For instance, in heaven, there is nothing to make you sad – sweet and pleasant all the time.  It’s a place of utterly perfect health and life without end.  

The spaciousness of my current house boggles my mind and yet heaven is described as being vast – and it’s a great neighborhood too.  No bad guys there.

The materials we deem precious here – they abound in heaven.  Things like jasper; sapphire; emeralds; pearls, gold and tons more.  The water is pure and crystal clear and there is a fruit tree that bears 12 varieties of fruit all year long.  Eden version 2.0.

It’s a place where the residents have perfect and unbroken peace with God and one another.  There is also round-the-clock live music and feast-worthy food in heaven.  (Revelation 19:9)

Now, if I should enter heaven with my current menial mentality, I may move into the shed instead of the mansion that Jesus has prepared for me.  I might look for the alley to trod behind the streets of gold.  I may even pass up the marriage feast of the Lamb and Google the nearest McDonalds.  By habit, I would probably choose to live more like an impoverished outcast rather than a welcome guest. 

So, God why did you give me this nice house this side of heaven?    Maybe to stretch my thinking that I might be able to enjoy the wonderful things ahead.  Nice for eternity. 

The Lord is so good to us!  We haven’t done anything to deserve it.  His kindness certainly hasn’t been earned – but it is ours to enjoy because of God’s lavish mercy and grace. 

So, enjoy your blessings here today, and let them prime you for the amazing things that lie ahead!  

A PRAYER: Oh God stretch our minds so that we might truly appreciate what you have for us in the future.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Scriptures references are from the NETBible.com

housing authority — January 26, 2022

housing authority

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My daughter met her true love in South Korea.  They were both working at International schools there – each one subsisting on a modest educator’s income. 

He felt it was important that he get to know the parents of his future bride.  We met him at the airport on a cold December night and made the drive to our home.

We lived in a modest ranch style house of about 1,400 square feet – but he didn’t know that.   So, when we turned down the street with the illuminated million-dollar mansion on the corner, I pointed to it and said to my wife, “Oh honey did you leave those lights on again?” 

Boy did he perk up!  He thought he was marrying into money until we drove on and pulled up to our little bungalow.  

He wed our little girl anyway, and we are glad he did. 

___________

So, what kind of house would you like?  May I tell you what you are promised?  

Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”  John 14:2 KJV

These are familiar words with a foreign meaning.  How can a house contain mansions? 

Jesus was reaching back into the culture of His day.  When a young Jewish couple was engaged, the young man would prepare for his bride by building a one-room house that would become their home. 

It would be erected on his father’s property and adjacent to his father’s house.  As each of the father’s sons married, they would do the same, so that over time – there would be multiple homes, built around a common courtyard. 

The whole complex, even the courtyard, was considered to be the father’s house.  

According to John 14:2, heaven is our Heavenly Father’s House.  Jesus called it a “place.”   It was a specific destination – a workplace where He would prepare eternal homes for each of His people. 

He underscored and italicized His words by saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you.”  

Heaven is a wonderful literal place.

Jesus went on to say, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” – John 14:3 KJV

Once that Jewish young man had finished building his house, he would return to his bride, formalize the marriage and escort her back to move into their cozy home.

In the same way Jesus promised to return for those He loved.  We will accompany Him back to the Father’s house to move into that special place He has prepared for those who belong to Him.  This is how Paul described the event in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17,

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. 15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.” – NET Bible ®

I love this!  It says to me that Jesus longs to be with us, even more than we long to be with Him. 

And yes, heaven is a place, but most importantly, heaven is a person.   The essence of heaven is just being with – united with Jesus.   

Hmm – Looks like we have married into something way more valuable than money.

A PRAYER: Lord, when I get caught up in the grind of this life, help me contemplate the great things to come.

This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ truly be with you.

questions of heaven — September 29, 2021

questions of heaven

/pickleheavenpress

My wife loves the find-a-friend app on her phone.  It utilizes GPS to help us pinpoint each other’s location.   This means I can no longer sneak off to the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard without her knowing it. 

This is a little annoying, but there are benefits.

If I have my phone with me when I die, I will still be able to track how often she goes to Wal-Mart AND she will be the first to know the exact location of heaven!

_________________

– So, do we actually know where heaven is?

Scripture speaks of it as being up.  Jesus ascended to heaven. (Eph. 4:10) When He returns Paul says, “the Lord himself will come down from heaven…” (1 Thess. 4:16) The Bible actually speaks of three heavens.  The first is the atmosphere, the second is the space habitat of the planets and stars and according to Paul, if you could go beyond that you’d find the heaven of God.  (2 Corinthians 12:2)

Location is but one of many questions we have about heaven.  Another one…

– Are there animals in heaven? 

Yes.  At least one.  When Jesus returns for us, He will be riding on a white horse.  Revelation 19:11 says, “Then I saw heaven opened and there came a white horse!”

– Do the people there know what’s happening down here? 

Possibly!  According to Hebrews 12, those saints who have died, such as Abraham, David and Grandma are watching from heaven as the rest of us run our race.   We can’t speak with them nor they with us – but it appears they are aware and are rooting us on.  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

– Will we recognize one another? 

Probably so.  When Moses and Elijah left heaven to meet with Jesus at His transfiguration, they could be distinguished from each other.  (Luke 8:28-30)

– Can you leave once you get there? 

You wouldn’t want to.  Again, there was that unusual time when the Father sent Moses and Elijah from heaven to rendezvous with Jesus on the earth at His transfiguration.   If that had been me, and I had been away for a while, I would have headed for Pizza King for a pepperoni and mushroom.   

But the record indicates that they wanted to get back to heaven as soon as possible. (Luke 8:33 & 36)  You probably would too.  After all the Scripture says, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”  (2 Corinthians 2:9)

We have a plethora of questions about heaven, but none is more important than this…

– Can I be sure that I am going?

Yes! The Apostle John passed on these words, “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” – 1 John 5:13

John wrote to those who believed in the name of the Son of God.  To believe in Jesus is to understand that He is the divine, eternal Son of God who took flesh upon Himself so that He would be capable of suffering an execution on the cross that was due to you and me.  He paid our debt of sin that we might be debt free.  His resurrection is the proof that the debt was satisfied.

To believe is to commit ourselves to Him.   When we’ve done that – we can be positively sure that heaven is ours. It’s a solemn promise from God.

Once we are born, we become eternal entities – never to cease to exist.  We can choose however, where and how we will spend eternity.  Just two options according to John 3:16, God gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” One more question about heaven.

– Why not choose it for yourself?

A PRAYER: Lord, please hear the prayer of those who are ready to commit themselves to You.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com.  If you’d like to discuss this, please contact me.  And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Scripture references are from the NETBible®