On Death and Glory

“Death, when its sting is drawn and its powerful fears are rendered harmless, is but the means of our awakening on the morning of a new day in the presence of God. Despite all its power to terrify and bring us into bondage, death for the Christian whose faith is firmly fixed on Christ is but a sleep. It is, says Paul, a matter of the ship releasing its moorings, ‘departing’ from where our souls have been anchored in this world (Phil 1:23), entering into the endless sea of Christ’s nearer presence and being ‘with Christ.’”
“‘Then the end will come,’ says Paul (1 Cor. 15:24), or, as we might say from a different perspective as we contemplate what it means to stand in resurrection bodies, changed into the likeness of Christ, sharing in the regeneration of all things which will accompany our full sonship, ‘our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies’ (Rom. 8:23) – ‘Then the beginning will come.’ Then shall we enter into the world of eternal light and glory and joy!
“But the New Testament will not leave matters quite there. This prospect has a practical application: Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure (1 John 3:3).
“This is the unaltered emphasis of the New Testament’s teaching on the last dramatic events of our salvation. If these things will take place then, they possess life-transforming relevance now. No man can believe he has such a glorious destiny when he will be changed into the perfect likeness of Christ, without living a life that is already changed by that prospect. . . . It encourages us to live the Christian life.”
~Sinclair Fergeson, The Christian Life

JERUSALEM MY HAPPY HOME
Jerusalem, my happy home!
Name ever dear to me;
When shall my labors have an end,
In joy, and peace, and thee?
When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pearly gates behold?
Thy bulwarks, with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold?
There happier bowers than Eden’s bloom,
Nor sin nor sorrow know:
Blest seats, through rude and stormy scenes,
I onward press to you.
Why should I shrink at pain and woe?
Or feel at death dismay?
I’ve Canaan’s goodly land in view,
And realms of endless day.
Apostles, martyrs, prophets there
Around my Savior stand;
And soon my friends in Christ below
Will join the glorious band.
Jerusalem, my happy home!
My soul still pants for thee;
Then shall my labors have an end,
When I thy joys shall see.
O Christ do Thou my soul prepare
For that bright home of love;
That I may see Thee and adore,
With all Thy saints above.