We long for Jesus, don't we? We want to be in heaven where things are beautiful, and perfect, and where we won't sweat or toil. We want peaceful rest and perfect fellowship with the saints. We definitely don't want to sin any more.
But above all, we want JESUS!
We like to picture Him on His throne, reigning with an iron rod, in perfect peace and justice. (Revelation 2:27). We mostly picture this in the Millennium Kingdom because the bible says almost nothing about life after the 1000 year kingdom concludes, our eternal state. Prophetically the order of things to come at this point is
--The Rapture. This is when the saints who believed in the Resurrected Jesus all throughout the Church Age (between Jesus's ascension/Pentecost and the rapture) will be translated alive or resurrected from the dead into perfect bodies able to withstand gazing upon His glory. We live in New Jerusalem which for the time being is in heaven. We enjoy the Rewards ceremony for the things done in Christ (Bema Rewards) and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Down below, the tribulation is happening,
--The Tribulation AKA the Time of Jacob's Trouble. Jesus will unleash His stored-up wrath upon the sinning inhabitants of the world and also punish Israel. This time of wrath and punishment will last 7 years. It will be a time of hell on earth, the antichrist and false prophet will be allowed a very long leash, many thousands or millions of salvations occur, and just as many martyrdoms.
--The Second Coming. Jesus will return from heaven, with us and also the angels, put a stop to the carnage on earth. He will judge the nations. (Sheep and Goats judgment)
--Millennium Kingdom. Judgment concluded, those who are saved will be allowed entry into the kingdom. This will be a time of the prophesied 1000 years of Jesus reigning on earth, which will be a renewed earth, and the church age saints living in New Jerusalem which had descended to earth. Satan will be bound in the pit during this time. At the end of the 1000 years, he will be let our for one last, very short battle, and then satan is thrown forever into the lake of fire.
--The Eternal State. Earth will be melted. We continue on in eternity with Jesus forever.
Here is a question. Jesus came to live in a body and He was killed in a body and when He was resurrected, He still had that body. He is man AND God but He is in a body. That was the sacrifice.
During the Millennial Kingdom period, when Jesus reigns from His throne in Zion (Isaiah 9:7), will Jesus be in only one place? Will those who live in Egypt or Assyria be able to be with Jesus even though they live far from Mt. Moriah? Do they lose out in being able to petition Jesus or worship Jesus or be with Jesus personally?
And what about us? The Millennium Kingdom will be vast, with all Israel's originally promised borders finally unmolested and intact, and peoples re-populating the world, and all the Church Age saints living in New Jerusalem...with so many people around worshiping and sacrificing to Jesus, will we be able to be with Jesus personally? Have one-on-one time, in His presence, worshiping Him or just gazing in adoration?
Yes, we absolutely WILL be able to be with Him and personally, too. He is with every person who believes right now, whether they are in Greenland or Australia, Chile or Germany. How? I don't know. But He is. (Matthew 18:20, 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).
Psalm 55:22 says He sustains us, and this means each one of us. He personally knits together every babe in the womb.
We see that He is personally involved with us now, from womb to death and beyond, and when we get to heaven, He will be personally available to us as well, but even better because He will be bodily there. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says we will see face to face. He will personally wipe each tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4)
If each person who ever lived will stand before Him to be personally judged individually by their deeds, how much more glorious will it be when we share eternal joy with Him, standing with Him at the bema seat to be rewarded! (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). We will be with Him, with Him, with Him...
He is the creator of all dimensions. How could Paul be in the body on earth but also in the spirit seeing the third heaven, (2 Corinthians 12:2) which is so beautiful no man can say the things that went on there? How can John be both on Patmos but also among the lampstands speaking with Jesus? (Revelation 1:12-13). How can Peter be on the mountain but suddenly out of another dimension he sees Moses and Elijah with them on the mountain, too? (Matthew 17:3). Which reality is real, the one where Elisha's servant sees only the army coming to conquer them, or the one that Elisha asks God to show, the chariots of fire which were there all along? (2 Kings 6:17). God makes it happen, in heaven there are no space constrictions, and no time worries!
Have no fear, in heaven there is no disappointment, only joy. Therefore since Jesus is our joy, we will be with Him. (Matthew 25:21). He will not forsake us, ever. If he is with us now, He will be with us then, and face to face.
