January 18
“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness,” Psalm 17:15.
The psalmist is speaking for himself. He begins with the words, “As for me . . .” Looking down the corridor of time, he speaks of what he will enjoy as a resurrected child of God. He is speaking of the day when he will be raised from the dead and with his own eyes see God face-to-face. He was persuaded that he would stand before the holy and just God robed in the garment of Christ’s righteousness which was his by faith in Jesus. Faith is the hand that reaches out and clings to what Christ has done for us.
The psalmist was overwhelmed with the thought of seeing God face-to-face, as it was also expressed by Job in the words, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27.
We cannot fully imagine what it will be like when we will be taken to heaven by the power of God and meet Jesus in the clouds! It is beyond our comprehension at this time. The apostle Paul wrote: “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face-to-face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known,” 1 Corinthians 13:12.
Likewise, the evangelist John also wrote of our limited knowledge of the hereafter: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” 1 John 3:2.
One of the most comforting ways to think of heaven is to recall the words of Jesus. He said to His troubled disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also,” John 14:1-3. We will see and be with Jesus! We will be with the patriarchs and the prophets, the apostles and the evangelists, and the host of others who died believing in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior, whose blood cleansed us from all sin and who conquered sin, death, and the devil for us!
The psalmist adds, “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Robed in Jesus’ righteousness by faith in His forgiveness and mercy, we will be holy and happy eternally! We will be in that place of which the evangelist John wrote in the Book of Revelation: “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 21:4.
“I’m but a stranger here, Heav’n is my home;
Earth is a desert drear, Heav’n is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand Round me on ev’ry hand;
Heav’n is my fatherland, Heav’n is my home.
There at my Savior’s side, Heav’n is my home;
I shall be glorified, Heav’n is my home.
There are the good and blest, Those I love most and best;
And there I, too, shall rest, Heav’n is my home.
Therefore I murmur not, Heav’n is my home;
Whate’er my earthly lot, Heav’n is my home.
And I shall surely stand There at my Lord’s right hand;
Heav’n is my fatherland, Heav’n is my home.” Amen.