languages by many other voices. At the time I understood the words and thought I would never forget them. Yet later I could not remember either the words or the melody.
As I prayed for an answer to this on my motel balcony, these words flashed before me:
You see through a glass darkly.
Quickly I turned to the well-known thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians on love. Carefully I read it over in my King James Version. With rising excitement I wrote down certain verses and studied them, at the same time keeping up my prayer dialogue.
For now we see through a glass darkly . . . . Our obvious condition in this world, Lord, is not to be able to see or understand the mysteries of the world to come.
But then face to face. You have already shown me that at death we come face to face with You, Lord.
Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. We have partial knowledge now which will become full awareness in heaven. This must mean, Lord, that in Your City we will know everyone there, just as everyone there will know us. And in heaven we will have instant knowledge of all other languages (. . . we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is —1 John 3:2). When I stood at Your gate, Lord, I had this knowledge; I knew the meaning of all the different words in all the different languages! But this knowledge was withdrawn once I returned to this world. I suppose it had to be this way, Lord, otherwise having such wisdom in this world would give me an exalted status.
For an hour I prayed and read His Word and was enriched by the bits of knowledge He dropped into my mind and heart. Then John awoke and we sipped coffee and prayed together.
Later that day we were sitting on the balcony watching the shadows of trees and buildings lengthen as the sun sank below the western horizon. John had gone through some heart tests in the morning, then had slept several hours in the afternoon. He was rested, eager to continue his questions.
“Years ago, Bets, the pastor in our church preached that we make our heaven or hell on earth. That made sense to me then. But not now. I’ve come to believe there is a heaven after this life. I’m just not sure I’m going to like it. I’ll miss so many things. Sports, for example.”
“What makes you think there’ll be no physical activities in heaven?”
“What makes you think there will? I can’t imagine playing ball in long flowing robes.”
“The Bible says Heaven will be a busy, active place.”
“I don’t know that passage.”
It was in the 65th chapter of Isaiah: Therefore thus says the Lord God. . . . Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. . . . They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit . . . for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands (Isa. 65:13, 17, 21, 22).
We talked at length about the kinds of work there could be in God’s City. John wanted to know other passages which promised life after death. I did some research and came up with the following:
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2).
He [God] will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces (Isa. 25:8).
To the thief on the cross, Jesus said: Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).
And then there were those tremendous words I saw in block letters: Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:26).
I could see that John had no real problem accepting the Bible promises. He just could not believe that the next world would be better than this one. What would there be to do?
“I can’t point out any more specifics than what the Bible tells us,” I replied. “In the singing I heard outside the gate I felt great joy, vitality, creativity, love,
As I prayed for an answer to this on my motel balcony, these words flashed before me:
You see through a glass darkly.
Quickly I turned to the well-known thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians on love. Carefully I read it over in my King James Version. With rising excitement I wrote down certain verses and studied them, at the same time keeping up my prayer dialogue.
For now we see through a glass darkly . . . . Our obvious condition in this world, Lord, is not to be able to see or understand the mysteries of the world to come.
But then face to face. You have already shown me that at death we come face to face with You, Lord.
Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. We have partial knowledge now which will become full awareness in heaven. This must mean, Lord, that in Your City we will know everyone there, just as everyone there will know us. And in heaven we will have instant knowledge of all other languages (. . . we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is —1 John 3:2). When I stood at Your gate, Lord, I had this knowledge; I knew the meaning of all the different words in all the different languages! But this knowledge was withdrawn once I returned to this world. I suppose it had to be this way, Lord, otherwise having such wisdom in this world would give me an exalted status.
For an hour I prayed and read His Word and was enriched by the bits of knowledge He dropped into my mind and heart. Then John awoke and we sipped coffee and prayed together.
Later that day we were sitting on the balcony watching the shadows of trees and buildings lengthen as the sun sank below the western horizon. John had gone through some heart tests in the morning, then had slept several hours in the afternoon. He was rested, eager to continue his questions.
“Years ago, Bets, the pastor in our church preached that we make our heaven or hell on earth. That made sense to me then. But not now. I’ve come to believe there is a heaven after this life. I’m just not sure I’m going to like it. I’ll miss so many things. Sports, for example.”
“What makes you think there’ll be no physical activities in heaven?”
“What makes you think there will? I can’t imagine playing ball in long flowing robes.”
“The Bible says Heaven will be a busy, active place.”
“I don’t know that passage.”
It was in the 65th chapter of Isaiah: Therefore thus says the Lord God. . . . Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. . . . They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit . . . for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands (Isa. 65:13, 17, 21, 22).
We talked at length about the kinds of work there could be in God’s City. John wanted to know other passages which promised life after death. I did some research and came up with the following:
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2).
He [God] will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces (Isa. 25:8).
To the thief on the cross, Jesus said: Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).
And then there were those tremendous words I saw in block letters: Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:26).
I could see that John had no real problem accepting the Bible promises. He just could not believe that the next world would be better than this one. What would there be to do?
“I can’t point out any more specifics than what the Bible tells us,” I replied. “In the singing I heard outside the gate I felt great joy, vitality, creativity, love,
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