Who But Jesus...

WHO BUT JESUS...

Ps.73: 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

The priests of the order of Asaph were anointed by God to lift up worship unto God and especially through music. The man named Asaph put many psalms to music including the psalms of David. He had a special relationship with God and he lived to be at least one hundred years old. Through the years he had seen some wonderful things at the hand of God, but he had also watched as priests were killed and Jerusalem attacked and God’s people turned to idols. Many of his psalms were written as an old man.

Anyone who knows God has an unmistakable desire to be with our God. But notice what the Spirit writes through this man. He says “Whom have I in heaven but You?” So often we speak of gates of pearl or streets of gold, but in reality being with Jesus is what will make heaven what heaven is. Without Jesus it would only be a very nice place.

Are we not tired as well as restless in these days where all kinds of issues have crowded out Jesus? The church takes all kinds of positions and is intent on repairing a nation that never was whole. And the church holds all kinds of seminars and conferences about everything from finances to marriage, and yet Jesus must take a rather peripheral position in it all. Evangelicals are not known for Jesus; we are known for being pro-life and anti-gay marriage and capitalists and following in the steps of the founding father’s mirage. But Jesus? Yes, we give Him a wink and a nod, but that is not what we are known for. In fact, we use Jesus for our own selfish reasons.

We ask Jesus to change our nation; we ask Jesus to elect godly leaders; we ask Jesus to bless our troops; we ask Jesus to help our finances; we ask Jesus to defeat our enemies; we ask Jesus to keep us healthy; and we ask Him a laundry list of other things we say we want. But how often do we ask Jesus what He desires from us? How often do we approach Him without a preconceived notion about what He wants? Do we even come before Him with a vulnerability that surrenders everything and says humbly, “Here am I Lord. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”?

Think about a person who you love very dearly and you would do anything for them. Think about that person being very, very sick and you must wait on their needs. They ask for a drink of water and you run to get them a pillow. When you return your loved one says that he does not need a pillow but desires a drink. You run and get him a magazine. He rejects that. You bring him a hammer. He still cries out for a drink. Over and over you faithfully bring him all sorts of things, but still not the drink he needs and asks for.

Is that not what we do for God? We run about doing all kinds of things that we deem He desires but we refuse to come before Him and listen. What does He require of us? He is not just our focus, but He should be our very life. The psalmist rightly recognized that even in heaven Jesus will be our eternal life. We have not been given eternal life so that we can run around heaven admiring our new bodies or reaffirming earthly acquaintances and generally having a good time in earthly terms. No, heaven is illuminated by the Risen Christ and as much as our limited attentiveness can understand we will be worshiping Him for all eternity. No more will we work, the work has been done. Yes, the heavenly surroundings will be surreal. The gates, the streets, the lights, the angels, and the immeasurable expanse will be beyond what we can imagine here. But how can we take our eyes off the Risen Christ? Will he not consume us? Will not His glory imprison our beings? How can we underestimate the impact His glorious presence will have upon all creation on that day?

Yes, there will be our redeemed loved ones, and Moses and Peter and Paul. But look again what the psalmist says, “Who have I in heaven but You?” I believe with all my heart that the person of Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb of God, will be so overwhelming that He will draw all attention for all eternity. “Will we get a little bored?”, you ask. Are you kidding? You do not understand eternity or what eternal, spiritual bodies are capable of. And most of all you do not understand the power, glory, and majesty of the Risen Christ.

What words, what thoughts, or what imaginations can even come close to the coming reality?

But in these days who meditates or speaks about heaven? Everything is centered upon this life and the temporal, and heaven is vilified as some pie in the sky imagination. Can you believe such a thing has happened? Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we could have eternal life with Him and yet we expend all our energies attempting to enhance this life?

Dead in trespasses and sins, and living a death life that moved from one fallen dream to the next. That was us. But we were rescued, we were redeemed. We were given a life abundant with Him here and an eternal life in His presence. We had no hope in this world and we were given a hope that surpasses knowledge. No promises, no covenants, and without God in this world. And we were bathed in ourselves and everything that could benefit us, and yet we were blind to the fact that we were just heaping death upon death.

But Christ came, Christ died, Christ rose, Christ sought us, and Christ saved us. Can there be anything above our Lord Jesus Christ? Then why does the church go a-whoring after everything it can? Politics, prosperity, health, power, success, sex, church membership, Christian cruises, and a laundry list of activities designed to temporarily satisfy the hungry flesh.

But there we will be on that day. We see Him as He is, and for the first time we are utterly immobilized. Is it the tangible power of His presence, or is it the overwhelming glory of His vision that breaks us? It surely must be both. Where are all the great theologians now? Where are the post modern thinkers now? What has become of the major doctrinal squabbles about minor things? Do your precise prophetic chronologies matter now? Go ahead, think about what you scarificed for earthly success now. This is what you could have had, at least in part, but instead you chose the dirt from which you came. The Christ reigns before us and we are undone.

Oh but who can compare to the beauty and majesty of the Risen Christ in all His eternal glory?? While we feed our souls with leeks and garlic, the milk and honey of His presence goes unconsumed. This is not time for religious games, the end of all things is upon us. But under His redemptive wings we must not fear. For with each prophetic tick of time’s clock, we are that much closer to being with Him. And with all the descriptions of heaven, both open and some hints, we can be assured of one immutable fact.

Who do we have in heaven but our Lord Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the Lamb that was Slain, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Words fail and imaginations reach a dead end. But one day we will receive the earnest of our inheritance. Forget about gold or silver or pearls. We have a token of them here. Our inheritance and our glory will be Him and Him alone. Basking in His glory and bowing in worship before Him, what we have dared to believe will be an unspeakable reality beyond all expectations. The embodiment of God’s love will shine forever and light all of eternity with the power of holiness and love.

He is Jesus…He is Jesus. Forever. Selah