As I was walking the dog one particularly beautiful afternoon this past week, I took time to notice all the sights and sounds I often take for granted. A band of cirrus clouds slowly passed overhead, the enormous branches of a dozen Ficus trees applauded in the wind, and squirrels raced for shelter at first sight of my furry best friend. It occurred to me in a new way that God’s creation never ceases to shout songs of praise to their Creator—all except the one creature with a rational mind and a soul that is redeemed and everlasting.
Why do we struggle to give God even a small portion of our time and energies? What is this sense of self-importance we carry, which leads us to turn, forget, and blaspheme our Creator? How will our worship change when we enter the New Jerusalem and the effects of sin will no longer restrain us?
Those questions led me to meditate on the first paradise, the Garden of Eden, where mankind last knew the full and immediate presence of God. Like the trees, clouds, and all living creatures, man’s every motive and labor was an offering of praise to the Creator. How effortlessly he rejoiced in the goodness and beauty of God!
The question that has been on my mind since that walk is, “Will we be able to worship God with the same kind of purity as pre-fall Adam when Jesus ushers in the New Heavens and Earth?”
After thinking about it throughout the week, I realized that our worship in eternal rest will not only be greater than the worship of Eden, but far, far greater, even to the point that comparison is impossible. In Adam’s sinless state, he knew the Creator but not the Redeemer; he could rejoice in the greatness of God, but he could not know His mercy, grace, or the full measure of His love. We will possess the purity of the first man and the compassion of the Second. Our souls and imaginations will have capacity for the epic stories of our old world and the lyric, tragic and, most importantly, the comic aspects of Christ, our inheritance. Even though we were created “a little lower than the angels,” our praise will exceed theirs in infinite measure.
Scripture makes it clear that the future Kingdom (of which we are co-heirs with Christ) is only a moment away and that the time to pack our bags, so to speak, is now. So, gather up your list of unfinished business—the neighbor with whom you need to share the gospel, or the besetting sin you need to burn to the ground—pray for the Spirit’s help to get it done, and then come into the King’s presence this Sunday packed and ready for heaven, if even for just a foretaste.
Your brother,
Ryan