Thoughts on Discipleship by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

HEAVEN HAS AIR CONDITIONING!

Summer in much of the world finds man, animal, and plant life at the mercy of extremely high temperatures sometimes matched with equally high humidity. Men seek refuge in air conditioned houses, cars, and workplaces when possible. Gardens burn and die. Animals are often hard pressed to survive in any absence of rain. Truly, it can be miserable! Let’s think about it for a minute or two!

There is a verse in Revelation (among many) which is intriguing! It says in English, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.” (7:16). It is this last phrase, “nor any heat” that catches attention. What is meant here? That the sun of the Milky Way solar system will be gone is understood, but the notion that life flourishes in an environment without any heat merits thought. Could it be that life in the next dimension exists in what is now known as absolute cold? Of course, if so, all would be impervious to it, but while intriguing, the thought is discounted for something better. Heaven has perfect air conditioning! Jesus will be the light of heaven, and the environment will never be too hot or too cold since life in resurrected, immortal bodies will be unaffected by those things. But there is more.

The term “heat” as used in this verse identifies burning, consuming heat. It alludes not only to literal heat of that sort, but to the burning, consuming heat of temptations, difficulties and pressures of life so common to earthly existence.

Certainly, there is more than one reason that the term “heaven” has a blissful ring to its sound. When one’s imagination has done its utmost to envision the ultimate ideal of immortal, incorruptible life, it falls woefully short of its reality due to the limitations of one’s present status and environment. Nice things are spoken of as being “heavenly,” but they only connote a tiny bit of idealism that heaven holds for those who will enjoy it forever. To miss that is surely the most unthinkable thing in all the vocabularies of all men! It is so grand as to make all other things known to mankind trivial. On the limited commission of Jesus to His disciples, they returned with tremendous rejoicing stating that even the devils were subject to them in the name of the Lord. Jesus proverbially brushed that aside and told them a far better reason to rejoice was the fact that their names are written in heaven. Is your name written down in heaven? If not, there is another eternal home where it is forever hot beyond imagination, and there is no island or refuge of air conditioning there!

FOR THOUGHT: Did you know that heaven is presented in the Bible as a place of comfort, rest, and the absence of any and all problems so that perfect peace prevails? Finite minds, even spiritual minds in this world cannot begin to comprehend its never-ending wonder. Are you prepared for it? Did you know admittance there is not automatic without preparation?