Good Friday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Yesterday I left you standing in heaven looking at two crowns which Jesus had in His hands, ready to award to those who arrive in heaven because they have fully trusted in Jesus Christ to save them from their sin condemnation. The Crown of Righteousness we saw in 2 Timothy 4:7,8 is a crown which celebrates the sinless perfection God awards to a sinner, saved by His grace, arriving in heaven to live sinlessly in God’s presence for eternity! The Crown of Life, as we saw in James 1:12, is the crown which celebrates being alive with God in His heaven for all eternity… for ever and ever! This eternal life begins the moment God saves us from our sin condemnation, but it takes on a whole new reality when we arrive in sinless, eternal heaven with God!
Today let’s dig in Scripture to find more heavenly crowns! The third crown I find in heaven my friends is the Crown of Rejoicing or sometimes called the Crown of Joy which Paul mentions several times in his letters. This is a joy that is deeply rooted in the almost inexpressible gratitude to Jesus and rejoicing which occurs when we see lives redeemed, rescued from sin enslavement, to become trophies of God’s grace! To the Christians in Thessalonica Paul wrote: “What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.“ (1 Thess. 2:19) For the apostle Paul and millions of other followers of Jesus, they will rejoice in heaven when they see other people there who are in heaven because of the influence of their lives! Paul was overwhelmed with the thought of seeing those in heaven to whom he had brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ which they had never before heard but they believed when Paul explained the Gospel to them. Now we might think this crown could lead to pride, but oh no my friends, this crown will be one which draws tears of rejoicing as people realize the ultimate purpose of God calling His people “ambassadors of Jesus Christ through whom God is making His appeal.” (2 Cor. 5:20)
When people are awarded this crown it’s really a great celebration of the privilege of representing Jesus to our world in our words, our actions, our attitudes, our relationships. It’s a celebration of the miracle of Salvation accomplished in every type of person around the world, no exceptions! It’s all for HIS glory, not ours!
I imagine there will be many praying mothers who will receive this crown as they see their wayward children, for whom they faithfully prayed for many years, finally arrive in heaven. Or pioneer missionaries, some of them martyrs, who took the Gospel to places it had never been heard. But friends, I’d like you to consider that I believe there will be many who receive this Crown of Rejoicing and they had no idea their spiritual life had impacted someone else so powerfully! School teachers; athletic coaches; police and other first responders; pastors and counselors; military people who put their lives in harm’s way to rescue people from evil leaders destroying their country; construction workers; truck drivers; farmers and airplane pilots, auto mechanics and doctors. People from every walk of life, people who walked with Jesus in the everyday practical stuff of their life, and as others watched them, they found themselves drawn to Jesus! The Crown of Rejoicing will be a great celebration of the life transformation work the Holy Spirit of God accomplishes in the life of a person who becomes a ‘new creation in Christ’, a walking advertisement for Jesus! (2 Cor. 5:17-20) I wonder if that will be you, my friend?
Now, let’s look at one more crown today… the Imperishable Crown. Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth these words: “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to gain a crown that will not last, but we do it to gain a crown that will last forever.“ (1 Cor. 9:25) This is what Peter was referring to as he claimed the inheritance awaiting us in heaven is “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power.” (1 Peter 1:4)
This Imperishable Crown celebrates the never fading glory of God which fills heaven and I imagine nearly overwhelms each person who arrives in heaven. This crown celebrates that the relationship Jesus has earned for us with God as our heavenly Father does not age nor fade or grow old or tiresome, but it remains fresh and vibrant and will become even more glorious when we are in heaven with God our heavenly Father. This crown celebrates the day God will create a new heaven and a new earth for the old will pass away and all things will become new by God’s glorious grace! (Rev. 21)
This crown celebrates the reality that our glorified, resurrected, heavenly bodies, like the body of resurrected Jesus, will have no defects, no weakness, no pain. They will be perfect, ageless, resurrected, heavenly bodies which will last us forever for God’s glory! There will be no wheelchairs, and no walkers, no crutches in heaven!
The apostle Paul dedicated an entire chapter explaining this glorious, imperishable, resurrected body: “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised IMPERISHABLE, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,and the mortal with immortality…. Then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory…” Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:52-57) Imperishable! NothinOnce again, my friends, EVERY born-again follower of Jesus who arrives in heaven will receive this Imperishable Crown and when we do, can you imagine the celebration! I’ve been at the bedside of so many dying people over the years. Disease riddled bodies. Bodies broken in accidents. Bodies which have been crippled or blind since birth. Bodies racked by enslaving decisions of alcohol or drugs. But in heaven my friends can you imagine everybody will be a perfect, imperishable body, and remember God doesn’t need anything remaining of your old earthly body to make a brand new, perfect, imperishable body for you! And if that true for you and me who are alive today, it’s also true of babies who died in the womb, or people who died in terrible fires or explosions, leaving nothing remaining of their bodies. Imperishable, God glorifying, miraculously created, heavenly bodies!!
Friends, I know many of you are living everyday with the grief of the absence of a dear friend or family member who has preceded you in death. I have found a wonderful worship song that I hope will be helpful to you and all of us as we contemplate heaven and the Imperishable Crown awaiting us with Jesus…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:52-57.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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