One of the main things that Pastor John McArthur said that describes being in heaven is JOY. The word "joy" has a much deeper meaning than just happiness. To be happy can change so quickly. It can come and go in a moment. But joy is different. It is a deep seated contentment. Everything is right! No sorrow or grief. No pain or suffering. There is only joy. Heaven is a joyful place. That is hard for me to imagine... Everywhere I look around me, I see so many problems, issues and unresolved conflicts. But in heaven, they won't exist anymore. There will only be joy because my sins have been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, and God the Father has forgiven me because I have repented of my sins and accepted Jesus blood as the payment for them (Gal. 3:13). Because of what Jesus has done for me I now have joy that is unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8). When a sinner repents, there is great joy (Luke 15:22-24, 32). When I go to heaven I will enter into the joy of the Lord (Mt. 25:23). There is joy in the presence of the Lord (Luke 15:10). He is in heaven. My sorrow will be turned into joy (John 16:20). And no man will take my joy from me (John 16:22). My joy is in the Lord now on this earth (John 16:20) and in heaven (Philemon. 1:20).
And another thought is regarding the fact that God takes no joy in the judgment of sinners (Deuteronomy 30:9-10). God in his character is Agape or love (1 John 4:8). He is not joyful when man disobeys what He has told man to do. He is just in what he says and does (Psalm 89:14) as He is perfect in everyway (Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter 1:16). It hurts God when man disobeys Him (1 Kings 13:21) and He is not joyful but rather His anger with sin is set into motion (Joshua 23:16, i Sam. 28:18, Rom. 1:18, 2:8, Psalms 7:11, Isaiah 13:9, Rev. 6:17). When man chooses to disobey God, because man has been given a will to choose either good or bad, right or wrong (1 Kings 3:9, Amos 5:15), God is offended and hurt and His wrath has been kindled (Rom. 1:18, 9:22, Eph.2:3). Man can choose to obey God or not, choose for or against Jesus in believing Him and trusting Him for his salvation (John 3:36). But because Jesus paid for our sin with His blood (Heb. 9:22, 28, 10:19), if we choose with our will to accept Jesus blood in payment for our sin, the wrath of God is not against us (Rom. 5:9, 1 Thes. 5:9).
The joy of the Lord is now present (Zeph. 3:17-18). And heaven will be filled with this joy. God is not angry with us anymore. We have obeyed Him and repented of our sin (Luke 15:7, 10, 2 Chron. 7:14, Acts 17:30, Rom. 2:4, Mark 1:15, Acts 3:19, Luke 24:47, Luke 13:3) and received Jesus as our only Savior (Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 2:20, Acts 5:3, 13:23, 1 Tim. 2:5). God's wrath has been taken care of by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 4:10, Rev. 5:9, Gal. 3:13, 1 Peter 1:18-19). We see that God in his character is love (1 John 4:8), and that Jesus came to this world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). He is the Savior of all men who believe in Him and what He did for them on the cross (Acts 2:23, Phil. 2:8, 1 Tim. 4:10, Matthew 1:21, 1 Peter 2:24), and of the whole world who believe and receive Him (John 3:16, 4:42, 1 John 4:14).
by Dennis Swick
