Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Death does not exist in Heaven - Ahnsahnghong


Yearning and Waiting for Heaven, Our Dear Home
It seems like yesterday that we started 2011, but it has already come to an end and now another new year has begun. Day after day, year after year, our yearning for the kingdom of heaven and for our Heavenly Father grows bigger and bigger.

I think it is around this time every year that the members of Zion feel a mixture of emotions in their hearts all at once, yearning for the eternal kingdom of heaven which they lost and waiting eagerly for Heavenly Father to come to this earth. I hope that all of you will live a worthwhile and valuable life every day, patiently waiting for our hopes to be fulfilled and eagerly looking forward to the kingdom of heaven—our eternal home—in holy conduct and godliness (Ro 8:15; 2 Pe 3:11-13).


Our dear home, heaven

Everyone has an instinct yearning for their hometown where they were born and grew up. The Bible tells us that our souls sinned in the angelic world and were born on this earth, and that our spiritual home is in heaven. So, human beings have a natural yearning for the spiritual world (Ecc 3:11).

Many poets in all ages and countries have written a lot of poems expressing their loneliness and tiredness from living away from home and depicting their yearning for their hometown. Among them there is a very popular poem titled “Longing for Home,” written by a Korean poet Eun-sang Lee. This poem describes very well the poet’s ardent yearning for his hometown. Let me read you that poem.

I see the blue water in the southern sea of my hometown.
I can’t forget that serene sea of my hometown, even in my dream.
Still now the water birds might be flying.
I’m so eager to go back to my hometown, eager to go back there.
I miss my old friends whom I used to play with when I was a child.
Wherever I may go, I can’t forget my friends whom I played with.
What will they all be doing today?
I’m so eager to see my friends, eager to see them.
Both the water birds and my friends are still living there.
But how come I have left home?
Rejecting all the other things, I want to go back to my hometown,
so we can all live together as we used to do.
I’d like to live with my mind wearing colorful clothes.
Let me go back to the old days when there were no tears.
(“Longing for Home” by Eun-sang Lee)

I feel that the above poem expresses not only the poet’s longing to go back to his hometown but also the hearts of us all who are longing to go back to our eternal home, heaven. The poet thinks about why he left his hometown while the water birds and his friends are all still living there.

Now let us look back upon ourselves: How come we left heaven and are living on this earth, the city of refuge, while our friends—our brothers and sisters—are all still living there? Longing for our heavenly home which we lost, we must go back to the old days when we enjoyed happiness with our Heavenly Father and Mother and the beautiful angels in the glorious kingdom of heaven.


The Israelites’ longing for their homeland and waiting for restoration to their native land

When the Israelites lost their country and were living in a foreign country, there was something in their hearts that they never forgot. It was the yearning for their homeland. Even while being held captive in Babylon, they did not forget Jerusalem, their ancestral home.

Ps 137:1-9 『By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusa lem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. . . . O Daughter ofBabylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us—he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.』

Psalms 137 describes the hearts of the Israelites who wept by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion, longing for the restoration of Zion which they lost. At that time, Daniel prayed three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem. This shows how much he missed his hometown, Jerusalem (Da 6:10).

Everything that occurred in the past is an example for us. Now is the time to think of our eternal home, heaven. Like Daniel, we should always set our hearts on our spiritual home. Thinking of our everlasting home, let us all go back to the eternal world where there is no tears, no pain and no sorrow, just as described in the above poem, “Let me go back to the old days when there were no tears.”

Home is not the kind of place which we can forget or forsake, but it is the place we must go back to. That is because our loving parents and siblings are waiting for us there. However, even though we go back to our hometown, if our parents and siblings are not there, what’s the point of returning home?

When we return to heaven, our eternal home, our Heavenly Father will welcome us and our Heavenly Mother will embrace us with love forever. There is also delight prepared for us in heaven, which we will enjoy forever together with thousands upon thousands of angels. Our home, heaven, is such a wonderful place where we will enjoy everlasting joy and happiness with those whom we love.


Longing for our heavenly home

This earth is not a place where we will live forever; we are aliens and strangers on this earth. Our forefathers of faith also admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

Heb 11:13-16 『All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. . . .』

Our home is the eternal kingdom of heaven. Let us always set our minds on our heavenly home. Those who do not think of their hometown cannot go there. Only those who are always longing and yearning for their hometown can go back there.

Jacob returned to his hometown in the end because he did not give up even when his hip was wrenched from its socket (Genesis 31-32). The record of Jacob’s journey back home ultimately serves as an example for us who are living today. We must never give up on our journey to our home just as Jacob did even in the pain of his hipbone being dislocated. Our Heavenly Father and Mother have leveled the path for us to return to our home through Their sacrifice, so that we can go back to the old days when we had no tears, no pain and no sorrow. I earnestly ask you all to go back to the kingdom of heaven, without anyone losing it. And I want you to lead our brothers and sisters, who are yearning for Zion while still being held in spiritual Babylon, to the path back to Zion and to heaven—their eternal home, by quickly setting them free from Babylon.


Heavenly children’s repentance and return to their home

Now, we need to renew our yearning for our heavenly home and also think about why we left our beautiful and glorious heavenly home, so we can repent again and go toward heaven, our home. Let us take a look at a scene from Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in the Bible where the prodigal son repented and returned to his father as he thought of his home.

Lk 15:11-24 『Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”』

As the prodigal son thought of his home, repentance arose in his heart. Likewise, we need to have the wisdom to think of our spiritual home especially when we suffer pain, sorrow and loneliness on this earth, instead of just being overwhelmed by those feelings.

Let us look back upon ourselves: ‘How was I before? In the glorious kingdom of heaven—the angelic world, I enjoyed the brilliant splendor and happiness every day, which never exist in this world. But why did I leave my home, and what state am I in now?’ Reminding ourselves once again why we came down to this earth while our other heavenly friends are all living in heaven along with thousands upon thousands of angels, we have to think of going back to our home with a repentant heart like the prodigal son.

Jesus says that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (Lk 15:1-7). Just as the father of the prodigal son held a feast for his son when he returned home, our Heavenly Father is preparing a great banquet to welcome us home; our home, heaven, is always ready to welcome us. I want each and every one of you to go back to the eternal kingdom of heaven without forgetting this fact: The kingdom of heaven is a place overflowing with joy and happiness all the time, and in order to lead us to heaven our Heavenly Mother is suffering and sacrificing so much while staying with Her children on this earth.


Longing and waiting for heaven in holy conduct and godliness

In order to go back to our home, we need to yearn and wait for it. There is a legendary story of a faithful wife who died and was turned to stone while waiting for her husband.

During the Silla Dynasty in Korea, the two princes—King Nulji’s brothers—were taken hostage in Goguryeo and Japan respectively. As King Nulji missed his brothers and grieved over them, Je-sang Park, a royal official of Silla, went to Goguryeo and rescued the prince there. Again, he went to Japan to rescue the other prince. He brought them back to Silla safely, but he himself was captured and killed. Back in Korea, his wife waited and waited for her husband to return every day on the top of the hill, and in the end she was turned to stone.

What if the wife of Je-sang Park had only enjoyed herself together with other women in her village and had conducted herself badly, not having waited for her husband with all her heart at the thought that he would come back home anyway, regardless of what she did? Her heartbreaking, touching story would not have been passed down through the generations.

We have to wait for God so eagerly, just as the Bible says: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pe 3:11-13). Our Heavenly Father and Mother have come to this earth in the flesh to save human beings and have willingly carried the cross of sacrifice and suffering.

Following the path of Father and Mother, we should find our lost brothers and sisters and faithfully carry out the mission of lighting up the world with the light of truth, earnestly waiting for God.

Whenever the seasons change, year after year, I feel that the days of our yearning and waiting for the kingdom of heaven become that much shorter. As children of heaven, let us all put forth more strength and wait for God with a firm will to do good and to save human beings until the moment Father comes to this earth to bring us back to heaven, trying to repay the sacrifice of our Heavenly Mother who is with us on this earth and spares no pains for us.

We must go back to our home which we lost. Not forgetting the fact that we are strangers in this world which we stay in temporarily and leave sooner or later, we need to think about where we must set our whole heart and mind; and we should live godly and worthwhile lives every day while eagerly longing for heaven and waiting for our Heavenly Father to come.

When we return to our heavenly home, we will all go back to the old days; there will be no more tears. The kingdom of heaven—our eternal home, where a new heaven and a new earth are waiting for us, cannot be compared with a kind of hometown where there is a southern sea. Of course, our physical hometown is a good place for us, but it is not worth comparing with our spiritual home, heaven.

Never forgetting the kingdom of heaven, our eternal home, let us all go back there, without anyone dropping out of the journey to heaven. I want you all to run toward heaven with all your strength, yearning for the eternal kingdom of heaven, in faithful obedience to God’s word and will.el

1 comment:

  1. I`ll depend on God the Father and God the Mother until go to kingdom of heaven.
    I wanna go home, my spiritual home.

    ReplyDelete