In (Ecclesiastes 3:11) we read: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…” My friends, I believe, that all of us have a longing for more of life than just our short-lived physical stay on planet earth. We all long for eternal life but few of us have the certainty that when we die we will enter into an eternal state. Only the Christian can know with an iron-clad assurance that eternity awaits us when we physically die.
As eternal beings we all long for more than just what this life can supply and without the certainty of life after death we will never find true satisfaction in what this world has to offer. The late apologist C. S. Lewis captures this thought well when he said: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”1 No wonder that the great majority of the eight billion citizens of planet earth never seem to find real satisfaction in life. They fail to realize as Lewis shared: “we were made for another world.”
As Christians we see this clearly from the Scriptures. For example, we read in (Colossians 3:1-2): “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Here we are told to set our hearts and minds on our heavenly home, not on earthly things.
In (Philippians 3:20) we read where are true citizenship can be found: ”But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” All Christians realize that we have a future destination and that we were made for another world – a heavenly one.
In (John 14:1-3) we see that Jesus is clearly telling His disciples that He is preparing a wonderful, out of this world, residence for each of His children. This future home will be where we spend the rest of eternity with the Lord, for we read: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
And just where is Jesus going? I believe (Revelation 21:1-3) tells us clearly that Jesus is going to our new permanent and eternal home – the new Jerusalem. For we read: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’”
If the Westminster Shorter Catechism is correct, and I believe it is, that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then we can see that we indeed are made not just to enjoy Him now but in our future eternal home – the new Jerusalem.
I don’t know about you but I get excited knowing that I was made for another world and that my passport is stamped eternity bound!