Beyond the Sunset

BEYOND THE SUNSET

When I was very young, we sang a song called, Beyond the Sunset.  What do you think is beyond the sun you see dipping into the sea in the western sky?  We imagined Heaven being just behind the sun, further up in the sky.  And so, we sang:

                      Beyond the sunset, oh blissful morning
                  When with our savior, heaven is begun
                  Earth's toiling ended, oh glory dawning
                  Beyond the sunset when day is done

Wherever the physical location of Heaven might be, it's that place where God has a wonderful, eternal home set up for His children -- just waiting for the day each of us steps beyond that sunset and into our final destination.

Is Heaven real?  You betcha it's real!  And it's more amazing and fantastic and more than every superlative you can think of!  The enemy has tried to twist people's view of Heaven into something boring where you wear a white robe, sit on a cloud and strum on a harp all day.  Ho-hum...that would indeed be boring.  News Flash --- that picture of Heaven is a lie and not surprising when it comes from the enemy camp where lying is their language.

Heaven is beyond amazing and has so much more to offer than this earth every could.  We will have so much to do up there and so many people to visit that we'll be very glad we have an entire eternity to do it all.  The things we'll be doing will be stuff we enjoy and we're good at -- after all, it will be what we were created to do.  "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" 1 Corinthians 2:9. 

I've typed below lyrics from a recent song about Heaven by Mercy Me, called Almost Home:

     Well this road will be hard  /  But we win in the end
     Simply because of Jesus in us  /   It's not if but when
     So take joy in the journey   /  Even when it feels long
     Oh find strength in each step  /  Knowing heaven is cheering you on

     We are almost home  /  Brother it won't be long
     Soon all your burdens will be gone
     With all your strength /  Sister run wild, run free
     Hold up your head  /  Keep pressing on
     We are almost home  / Almost home   /  Almost home

     I know that the cross has brought heaven to us
     But make no mistake there's still more to come
     When our flesh and our bone are no longer between
     Where we are right now and where we're meant to be
     When all that's been lost has been made whole again
     When these tears and this pain no longer exist
     No more walking we're running as fast as we can
     Consider this our second wind.       We're almost home.

When I heard this song on K-LOVE radio this afternoon, it was followed by another song about Heaven, but I wasn't able to find the lyrics to the second song.  I'm not sure the name, but it had the words, "In Heaven" in it.  I thought, wow, I keep thinking about the end times and the Rapture, and now all these songs about Heaven -- do I detect a theme?  Certainly, this upside down world we are living in today makes us wonder what's coming next.

Lately, I keep thinking of the verse in Luke where Jesus says, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" 21:28.  Seeing that beautiful sunset God paints across the earthly sky is just a reminder of the even more beautiful world He has prepared for us -- one that is just beyond the sunset -- and, I believe, just around the corner.  We're almost home.

--photo taken in Corolla, NC