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Este (my website) esta por todos mis amigos a HIGHLANDS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY:
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The Glory of Heaven
By C. Matthew McMahon---
"One of the most mysterious truths of the Christian faith is the truth that there is a real heaven. It is a real place, where real people, and real angels, and real glory and the real and living God reside in eternity. The Bible both speaks about heaven, and also shields our eyes from it so that we cannot see it as clearly as we would like; just like the incident with Christian and Hopeful in John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. They were on the Delectable Mountains with the Shepherds and were invited to look at the Celestial City. The Shepherds gave them a looking glass to peer through, and as they looked through it with great eagerness it seemed somewhat fuzzy and unclear. They were only seeing through a dim mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). But what shall we, as Christians today, think about the glory of heaven? What does the Bible say about it?
It is important at the outset to make it plain and clear that heaven is not a place everyone goes when they die. Heaven is reserved for those who are the redeemed children of Jesus Christ. And people only become redeemed children when they receive the transforming power of Christ and His cross into their lives. Not everyone gets to heaven. Jesus spoke emphatically on Hell, and that it was a real place too (Mark 9:35ff); it is the abode of all the wicked who will be eternally tormented for their sin and rebellion against God (Gal. 5:21; Ephesians 5:5; Rev. 22:15). Heaven is a place where the faithful servants of God, who have been born again from above by the Spirit, enter into their joy for all eternity (Matthew 25:34, 46).
Probably the most frequently asked question about heaven is this: "What will heaven be like?" The first and most important aspect of heaven is that Jesus Christ is there. Just as Hebrews 8:1 states, "Now this is the main point we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens..." Jesus is in heaven. We long to be with Him. The presence of Jesus is what makes heaven heaven. We long to see Him as He really is; in all His wonderful power and glory. In theology, we call this the Beatific Vision. One day we shall see God Face to Face. We will see the beautiful vision of His face without any hindrance. His glory fills the heavens, and that is what we long to see (Isa. 63:15). It is the same thing Moses wanted when he was on Mount Sinai, "Lord, show me your glory (Exodus 33:18)." In the New Testament, Philip wanted to see the glory of God when he said to Christ, "Show us the Father and that will be enough (John 14:8)." Philip wanted to see the glory of God's face. And this is the promise of Scripture, that in heaven, we will see God "face to face (1 Cor. 13:12)." That is the blessed promise. This was promised to us all the way back in Numbers 6:24-26, where the High Priest said, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." We long for His face and countenance to be placed upon us for all eternity. And it is a lofty concept to think this: that when we see the face of God and His glory, we will only see it once. We only see it once because the first time we look upon it and see Him as He is, we will continually see Him forever for He is everywhere—this is heaven. There will be no place in heaven where the face of God and His glory will not be in full openness. When we see Him for the first time, we will go on seeing Him for the first time all through eternity-we only get one look which lasts forever (Isa. 6:1ff). Praise God that we cannot escape His beautiful face! Heaven has, as its focus, the glory and honor of Christ."===================================================
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