Eternal Homecoming

There’s no joy quite like that of coming home. “No place like home!” is more than an old repeated maxim— especially when we’re tired or have been on a long trip. As an elder once noted: “If you observe out-of-state vacationers speeding on the highways, nine times out of ten they are heading in—not away from—the direction of their license plates!” People often talk about not being able to wait to get away from home, but reality often dictates that we are more anxious to get home.

Homes are meant to be blessings. It is a great blessing to have a home to come home to. And a greater blessing not to come to an empty home. And an even greater blessing to come home to an undivided house (Mt. 12:25). But the greatest of all blessings is to have a home in which “Jesus [is] in the midst” (Jn. 19:18).

Such a home is only possible because Jesus was willing to travel homeless upon earth. He had no pillow for His head. He was not at home in this world living in the midst of sinners and in the smoke of sin. But He was willing to be homeless for a time, in order to bring His much-loved, yes, eternally-loved people back home with Himself into everlasting glory.

Jesus’ ascension was His eternal homecoming. Today, schools often have homecoming nights associated with sports and the crowning of kings and queens. But such homecomings are so typical of this world’s spirit—they only last for a night. Jesus’ homecoming for and with His people endures forever.

We have destroyed our sin-free home in Paradise, but Jesus has opened, as the Second Adam, a better, infallible home in the heaven of heavens. He came down into the hell of this earth to close the gates of hell for His blood-bought church and to open the gates of heaven for them.

Jesus did not return to heaven and the Father’s bosom the same way in which He came from heaven. He came empty-handed in humiliation as Savior with a divine mission to accomplish. He returned full-handed in exaltation as Lord with His Father’s mission completed and approved. He returned with the entire, unworthy-but-elect church in His loins, to present her to His Father without spot or wrinkle.

Jesus’ ascension was His eternal homecoming.

The validity of Jesus’ ascension lies in His reception by the Father. The gates of heaven did not go shut for Jesus when He carried His black-in-self-but-comely-in-Christ (S.S. 1:5) bride with Him. Nor did the Father say, “My Son, I receive Thee back, but not Thy unworthy brides.” Reverently speaking, the Father could not say that. For Jesus had paid the price for sin. In His resurrection, the Father as judge placed His “Amen” upon the work of His Son to the elect’s collective justification. On the grounds of justice, Jesus and His church had been declared inseparable. But in His ascension, the Father went a step further. To the elect’s guaranteed sanctification, he placed His “Amen” as Father upon the work of His Son, who went to glory to be the praying and thanking High Priest. Through the resurrected, ascended, Spirit-sending Savior, a vital, mystical union is forged between the Christ and the Christian which can never be invalidated. He departed from His church in His physical flesh on earth to be eternally with His church in His Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit.

Thus, true believer, you have two true homes that are one in Christ. Both homes are called “the house of the Lord.” Your first home is on earth at God’s house of prayer where you have communed with the Lord and met Him face-to-face in the staggering glory of His attributes and the amazing simplicity of His gospel grace. This home is, however, only a foretaste of the eternal mansions to come where Christ shall be all-in-all without interruption, fluctuation, or cessation.

In a word, you are never left homeless. At times, you have felt homeless. You have felt to be not at home with this world, sin, and self, and you dared not believe that God’s living church could be at home with you. But you never were, are or shall be homeless from God’s side in Christ.

David said it best: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Literally, David here refers to a contented sheep returning to its Shepherd’s home range after a full and successful annual cycle of shepherding activity. Symbolically and spiritually, however, the “house of the Lord” is a scriptural expression, denoting both the church militant below and the church triumphant above. Of the former we hear David testify in Psalm 27, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (v.4). Of the latter, we find Christ informing His blessed disciples, “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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:2–3).

Home on earth

The house of the Lord on earth formed the immediate object of David’s regard in his renowned confession: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” In his early days the ark and the tabernacle were separated from each other. The tabernacle was erected at Nob, and the ark rested at Kirjathbaal. Since the royal palace of Saul at Gibeah stood within a few hours journey of both places, David, as a resident there, could more frequently attend the holy services of the sanctuary than when living in his father’s house at Bethlehem. And the testimony of the High Priest informs us that David did not neglect his spiritual responsibility and privilege, but often resorted to the tabernacle to inquire of the Lord, and to pour out his heart (1 Sam. 22:15).

Nor was David disappointed in his sanctuary-attendance, for to the Psalmist, and all true believers in Israel, “the house of the Lord” was the dwelling place of the Most High God. David knew that the cloud of God’s presence covered the tabernacle, and that the brightness of His glory shone within the sanctuary. In fact, he himself had often tasted the presence of God and communion with God in His courts. Hence David desired to dwell there forever.

The glory of God and communion with God in and through the coming Messiah formed within David the desire to be never absent from God’s house, for especially here were these two great blessings most likely to be found. Indeed, everything of the tabernacle preached to David’s soul (by the Spirit’s application) of the Messiah to come. Through repeated bloody sacrifices, David saw the necessity of Christ’s coming to offer up substitutionary blood once and for all. He saw that without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin, no approach to, and no communion with, God. In the many priestly laver washings, David saw the necessity of the Messiah to be Justifier and Sanctifier to forgive and cleanse His people. In the smoke that arose to the heavens, he saw the necessity of Christ as Advocate. In the golden candlestick, he saw the Messiah as the true Light, so that Jehovah’s face could shine upon such a sinner as he with grace and mercy. The table of shew-bread pointed David to the coming Savior as the bread of life. All the furniture of the tabernacle, yes, the tabernacle itself, directed David to Christ as his justification, sanctification, light, nourishment, intercession, and all-in-all of salvation.

David loved God’s house for he found Christ in the tabernacle, and finding Christ, he found communion with God; and finding communion with God, he found the glory of God. No wonder God’s house was his joy, his delight, his life! How he longed to search after and find Christ in all the types, shadows, and ceremonies of the tabernacle! The more he found of Christ, the more he found comfort in sorrow, deliverance under doubt, victory over unbelief, solutions for mysteries, answers to prayers, strength in weakness, and above all, forgiveness from guilt. In unforgettable moments, he experienced “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” Oh, what liberty of access did David then enjoy! Then he could draw near with a true heart, as a child unto a Father, to confess all his sins before God through the Messiah, in assurance of forgiveness. In difficulties, David found guidance in God’s unerring wisdom at God’s house; in dangers, he found a sure refuge in His almighty presence and power; in darkness and death, he learned to repose on the truth and faithfulness of his sanctuary God, who had promised never to leave or forsake him. His “feet stood within the courts of the Lord,” and his heart was “made joyful in Jehovah’s house of prayer.”

This same glory of God, this same Christ, and these same benefits of salvation still make God’s house beautiful and lovely for His people today! From the smallest to the most advanced in grace, all God’s people are attached to the house and ordinances of God and can say, “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” (Ps. 84:1) It is often good for them to be there, not only to hear their names mentioned and to receive solutions for their spiritual riddles, but above all, to glorify God and find Christ within His sanctuary, for this is what makes God’s house the gates of heaven. To find Christ in the sermon, in the sacrament, in the Psalter, and in the supplication makes God’s house delightful and precious. Then they may sit down under His shadow with great delight, and experience that His fruit is sweet to their taste (S.S. 2:3–4). What better homecoming on earth than this!

Home in Heaven

When God may be worshipped, His children desire to linger in His house. Nevertheless they must turn back to a life of intense trials, worldly temptation, sinful inclination. With David, they come to long for a better paradise than this earth has to offer. They come to long for the difference between Paradise in Genesis and Paradise in Revelation, which, wrote a Scottish divine, is essentially this: “Paradise in Genesis had a way out, but not a way back in; and Paradise in Revelation has a way in, but not a way back out.”

Thus, the house of the Lord on earth, though immediately desired, did not form the grand and ultimate object of David’s regard when he exclaimed, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever!” He looked beyond the narrow scene of this present world, and fixed his eye on “the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Here all his desires terminated. In this all his privileges centered.

Dear true believer, when you will have bid farewell to the house of God— your spiritual home and friends below— you will find another home and other friends, waiting to receive you above. You will attain the summit of Mount Zion and enter the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You will join the innumerable company of angels, and the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You will appear in peace before God the Judge of all, and form an everlasting fellowship with the spirits of the just made perfect. You will come near to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and find that the blood of sprinkling has spoken better things for you than did the blood of Abel for unrighteous Cain. Oh, what a blessed exchange from the home-church on earth to the home-church in heaven! Who shall describe the ecstatic emotions of your soul—your astonishment, joy, and transport upon entrance there? What soul-satisfaction will you feel with all you see, meet, and hear! With what grateful adoration will you worship that faithful God who has exceeded all His promises, and surpassed your own highest expectations! Who can conceive the rapture of joy and gratitude with which you will join the song of your redeemed brethren? “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto Cod and his Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever” (Rev. 1:5–6).

During the period of your abode on earth, you painfully experience that flesh wars against spirit. Amid the highest attainments in grace and converse with God, your soul is not completely holy and constant, not entirely free from infirmities and wanderings. Often with intense wrestling you pray for the cleansing of your deepest stains, and for freedom to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Earnestly you sigh for true humility of spirit, for godly sorrow over sin, and for entire purity of thought and feeling. With intense longing after growth in grace, you confess: “I desire more faith and love; more contentment and resignation; more patience and meekness; more knowledge, zeal, and courage; more hope and joy; more freedom from the dullness and deadness of my nature; more gratitude for my innumerable mercies; more longings for an eternal homecoming!”

Keep courage! Soon the unstung hand of death shall deliver you from every carnal clog and set you free to take a place among the pure and perfect spirits (Heb. 12:23), granting you to think, speak, and act with angelic holiness. Your soul shall be made perfect in all its powers and faculties: its perception clear, its judgment sound, its love ardent, its gratitude intense. All your impressions shall be holy, affections pure, emotions sanctified, aspirations heavenly. You shall be perfect in love, in peace, in judgment and conscience, in knowledge and filial obedience to all the holy will of your heavenly Father!

As a departed saint, thus perfect in spiritual energy, you will never weary in the everlasting employment of praising God. You will offer unto Him perfect service—perfect in motives and affections as a worshipper, in the purity and fervency of your worship, and in its un-interruptive and everlasting continuance. No reflected light of Urim and Thummim will intervene between you and God. You will enjoy beatific vision. All ordinances, ministers, and sacraments will be laid to one side at once and forever. Your fellowship with the Most High will be visible and audible, direct and personal. It will occupy and enlarge your soul-faculties, call forth and increase all your spiritual energies, enliven and magnify your gracious dispositions. No temptations will distract you now. No defects of intellect, no weakness of memory, no waywardness of will, and no wanderings of thought will disturb the harmony of your communion with the Lord. Neither pride nor selfishness will lurk within you. No impatience and murmuring will break forth. You will never again be actuated by a double purpose, or an unworthy motive. Lip service and formality will have ceased. Lukewarmness and indifference will flee forever. No divisions will exist; no contentions, arise. No party spirit will agitate. No care or anxieties will be felt—no fears and perplexities; no doubts, disappointments, or riddles. Nothing will appear dark, mysterious, or contradictory in the works, ways, and words of God. All will be light, joy, love, and life while beholding the face of God in unveiled glory. No room will remain for any petitions, for prayer will give place to praise; the beggar’s staff will be exchanged for the palm branch of victory. You will believe God fully, fear Him reverentially, follow Him constantly. You will serve Him faithfully, magnify Him worthily, rejoice in Him supremely, love Him perfectly.

Your soul will dwell in a perfected mansion. It will do no wrong, see no iniquity, hear no evil, receive no spiritual hurt; for the adorable Redeemer, seen in His glorified human form, will occupy its thoughts, form the theme of its converse, and the object of its adoration. Oh, how your soul will burn within you while He unfolds the things He had suffered, and the glory He has entered! With childlike confidence, your soul will praise Him in high, holy, and seraphic strains.

Dear child of God, how imperfect are our highest conceptions of the beauty, blessedness, purity, and perfection of God’s eternal house! To know it but dimly and darkly we must be caught up like Paul into the “third heavens.”

And yet, great as are the happiness and glory which the departed saint enjoys in his purely spiritual condition, we know that another state of being awaits him as a dweller in God’s mansions—a state of still higher glory; for his broken mortality is to be raised out of the dust, no longer a natural and corruptible frame, but a spiritual and immortal body (1 Cor. 15:44). Gathered from the dust of the grave by the hand of the Framer of the new creation, it shall be made a pure and crystal vessel meet for the reception of the believer’s glorified soul. Oh, what joy shall pervade the house of the Lord on resurrection morning, when the saints shall be made perfect in soul and body—be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and be introduced into the glorious, eternal liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21)!

At the glorious appearing of the great Shepherd-Savior, there shall be joy unequalled in heaven and earth. The “times of the restitution of all things” shall gladden every holy, redeemed being. The jubilee trump shall proclaim that “the year of the redeemed has come.” Then shall be a glorious release, such as the fiftieth year in ancient Israel but faintly shadowed. Universal liberty shall be granted to all God’s elect; the bond slaves of corruption shall be emancipated without ransom. The prison house of the grave shall be thrown open, and the property of this world shall be restored to its original Owner in full possession. There shall be one continued season of spiritual peace, harmony, joy, brotherhood, happiness, and prosperity. All the saints shall be arrayed in white and shining garments; they shall wave the palm, and be crowned with Christ’s crown.

The dead in Christ shall rise first; the living saints shall be changed into the likeness of their Lord, and both in one blessed company shall be caught up to meet their glorious Redeemer, who shall have changed their vile bodies into similitudes of His glorious body— incorruptible, powerful, spiritual, and heavenly! In soul and body the redeemed saints shall now be the entire and perfected possession of their Lord. Their names shall be confessed before the assembled angels, and they shall be placed in full possession of their everlasting inheritance. They shall forever dwell in the house of the Lord, and surround the throne of the Lamb!

The “pilgrims” have now reached their rest, and the “strangers” have entered their home. The “good and faithful servants” have “well done” their work, and are called into their “Master’s joy.” The runners of the “race” have “finished their course,” and have gained the “prize of their high calling.” The wrestlers in prayer have “prevailed with God,” and have obtained a “princely name.” The soldiers of Christ have “fought the good fight of faith”; they have secured the victory via grace, and have received the “crown of righteousness.” The “little flock” now “fear not” for they see it was their “Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom.” The “poor” now find “treasure in heaven, inheritance in light, fulness of joy, and an eternal weight of glory.” All doubts of acceptance are forever perished. Faith has now given way to sight; hope, to fruition. They know that they are now within “the everlasting mansion.” They perceive that He who went before has indeed “prepared a place” for each of them. Eternally folded in the Shepherd, they feel security and safety within their Shepherd’s fold. They hear themselves welcomed at the table their gracious Host has prepared for them. They “behold the King in His beauty.” They live in the enjoyment of His love. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are their unfading Portion, their ever-open Temple, their everlasting Light, and their eternal Glory. They dwell in the house of the Lord, and are forever encompassed with blessedness, for they are forever encompassed with God!

“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord His God” (Ps. 146:5), “for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17).

Shall you also be among those who will dwell in the house of the Lord forever? Hell is eternal homelessness; heaven is eternal homecoming.

Where is your home? Will you be crowned not for a night but forever in the eternal heavens?

Who is your home? Is He Christ Jesus?

What is your home? Is it dwelling with God Triune?

Rev. J.R. Beeke is pastor of the First Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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