During worship tonight God gave me a gift of a very vivid vision. As I was singing my mind took me to a place where i was walking down a path, and I saw myself grow into an old man. I watched my transition from being an earthly old man to walking into eternity, there was no pain, no worry, just a very natural transition from this physical life to the continuation of eternal.
As I entered into eternity I saw Jesus in the distance, He was strikingly beautiful and I began to run to Him. I ran through a golden field ready for harvest, as I ran towards Jesus a remarkable thing happened. I began to see myself regenerate and my body began to get younger and younger. The closer I got to Jesus as I ran, the younger I got. Until I finally got to him, which I was about 3-5 years old. I can only try to put to words the amount of joy that streamed through my heart both in the vision and in my physical self as I got to Jesus. What happened next caused me to tear up and begin to cry while in worship. I (as a child) grabbed his hand and we began to walk, talk, laugh, I was consumed by His love, both in the vision and in my physical self as I watched this vision.
I was amazed that I had His full attention. This part of the vision though only lasting seconds in the physical world, felt as if was lasting for eternity. Again, no words can give accurate description of that feeling of being loved by Jesus. I will simply quote the disciple John who often called himself "the one Jesus loved".
As I composed myself during worship, I noticed that in that field where i was with Jesus, was hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of children who all were consumed by His love, and I was there as a child content with this eternal childhood.
The vision faded out naturally with that picture.
I have been reminded of two thoughts since the time of this vision. The first is the the story of Eli and Samuel in the Old Testament. God calls Samuel a few times, each time Samuel assumes the voice is Eli, but Eli did not call the boy. Finally Eli tells Samuel to say to the voice the next time it calls, "speak Lord your servant is listening." I wonder how often our adult minds get in the way of hearing God calling our name, like a loving Father calls his child. Instead we assume it is a man calling us, and we always turn to humans for council on things that God very clearly wants to speak on. What would our life on earth today look like, if an Eli stood up and said to us "son or daughter, next time you hear a voice, sit still, and say 'speak Father your servant is listening'."
The second thought is simply a reminder for a song that we sang allot in the past few years. The song is In Christ Alone, and towards the end of the song we find these lyrics "No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me, From a life?s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny." 1 Corinthians 15:55 says it this way "Where, o death is your victory? Where, o death is your sting?" I have spent much of my life fearing my physical death, even knowing of my eternal destiny. What a great gift to see the 'lack' of sting of this physical death and the great joy in this life and the life beyond being loved by Jesus.
John 10:10 "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come so they may have life, and have it to the full"
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