See you at the throne of grace!

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Revelation 21 describing the heavenly Jerusalem and God’s presence among his people. Whatever might happen before that (I just don’t want to get into it in this post) – even so, I cannot help looking forward to being with Jesus. And with my fellow Christian brothers and sisters.

I currently attend an international church. So the turnover within our congregation is considerably high. About a third leaves every summer and new families come in every fall. In the meantime though, friendships developed, some closer, some more casual, but a lot of people just grow dear to each other’s hearts. So when summer and leaving time arrives, the question is: “goodbye” or “see you later”?

Although some friendships might remain or even stay close and reunions in vacation etc. might happen, we will not see many of them again here on earth.
Some of my friends are leaving this summer. And I remember leaving after my exchange semester in Norway knowing that I would probably not see most of my friends from church, bible study and my Christian student group again.

But I think we will see each other again. If not in this lifetime, then in the heavenly Jerusalem. The Bible teaches us that we will have a different body after our resurrection. But I personally think that we will still be recognizable. I do not know how it will work that people who only met us in our youth and people who only met us when we were adults or old, will all recognize us. But I think they will. God created us in his image, but he created us all as individuals. He loves us as individuals. I just cannot imagine that He would take our individuality from us after resurrection.

So, I personally think that we will surely see our friends who truly believe in the Lord again.
The most important thing about heaven is being with Jesus. But seeing our families and friends will also be wonderful.

So it is not goodbye when we leave, but – as an English friend and leader of our little bible study in Norway wrote into my memory book – “See you at the throne of grace!”