Have you ever given much thought, I mean really deep thought, about heaven? If you have ever had an immediate family member go on to glory, you have, no doubt thought of heaven often. The following article brought such joy and comfort to my soul that I thought I would share it with you:
“Among America’s greatest orators was John Jasper, a former slave, who once began a funeral sermon, saying, ‘Let me say a word about this William Ellyson. I say it the first and get it off my mind. Ellyson was no good man—didn’t say he was; didn’t try to be good, and they tell me he died as he lived, without God and without hope in the world. It’s a bad tale to tell on him, but he fixed the story hisself.’
“Jasper then shifted gears and took his audience on a breath-taking tour of heaven. ‘I loves to go down to the old muddy James, mighty red and muddy, but it goes along so grand and quiet like it was tending to business. But that ain’t nothing to the river which flows by the throne. I longs for its crystal waves, and the trees on the banks, and all manners of fruits. This old head of mine often gets hot with fever and rolls on the pillow, and I has many times desired to cool it in that blessed stream as it kisses the banks of that upper Canaan. The thought of seeing that river, drinking its water and resting under those trees…Oh, to be there!
“After that, I’d stroll up them avenues where the children of God dwell, and view their mansions. Father Abraham, I’m sure he got a great palace. And David. And Paul, the mighty scholar who got struck down in the Damascus Road, I want to see his mansion. Then I cut round to the back streets and looks for the little home where my Savior set my mother up to housekeeping. I expect to know the house by the roses in the yard and the vine on the porch.’
“At that point, Jasper dramatically sprang back, clapped his hands, and shouted, ‘Look there! See that one! Hallelujah, it’s John Jasper’s. Said He was going to prepare a place for me. There it is! Too good for a poor sinner like me, but He built it for me, turn-key job, and mine forever!’
“Jasper waxed on like this for an hour and a half, but to the listeners it seemed like only a moment. That day, they glimpsed glory.”
✞Praise God for His glorious plan of heaven.
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