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It Was Heaven All the Time
I am going to recommend a book that we don't sell. Maybe
two. The title of the book is, The Assurance of Our Salvation: Exploring the Depth of Jesus' Prayer for His Own
by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was the greatest Bible expositor
to ever preach from the pulpit of Westminster Abby.
When we first bought the book in 1993 it was a four volume
set, but it's now available in a single volume. The way I
know it was 1993 is that in books that feed us rich
spiritual food we write the different times of our readings.
The starting volume of our set shows that I first read it in
July 1993, then again in October 1995, November 1996,
January 2004, September 2006, and September 2007.
Beverlee shows different dates for her times of reading.
That brings me quickly to why I'm recommend this book to
you. At the end of Chapter 5 in Volume 1,
Beverlee wrote
down a synopsis of what she had learned from the first 5
chapters—we write notes and Scripture references throughout
our books, learning both from the author and from each
other. What she learned was so great that I wanted to share
it with you and recommend the book.
Her conclusions are based upon a couple of doctrines you
don't hear much about anymore:
God's Plan of Salvation and
The Perseverance of the Saints—both detailed
throughout the book.
- God chose me before He created the world.
- He chose the time of my birth, and to whom I would
be born.
- He set me apart and preserved me.
- He set a time for my salvation by His call.
- He preserves and teaches me each and every day.
- He sustains me in every need and way, and will do so
until He calls me Home.
- (In a bottom note she added, And He choose my
husband.)
In a book titled, The Great Divorce
by C. S. Lewis, which I now can't quote verbatim since I
loaned it to a non-returner, Lewis has his protagonist
on a visit to heaven, where he talks with an old saint
who died many years previously. On earth the saint had
been a popular theologian and writer—actually so, and
Lewis gives his name. At some point in their
conversation, this is said by one of them, the writer, I
believe—and here I paraphrase for the above reason: "If
you come to this place when you die and are allowed to
look back over your life, you will find that
it was heaven all the time.
And if you go to that other place and look back, you
will find that it was hell all the time."
It was heaven all the time—from
before your conception, from your first inhaled breath,
through all the ups and downs, lows and highs, rich times
and poor times, bad times and good times, sick times and
well times until your final exhaled breath, all of it is
guiding, leading, directing, pushing, shoving,
strengthening, sanctifying, and making you ready to enter
that heavenly place that God created specifically for you
before the foundation of the earth. Listen to the words of
the song that sings of God's call and preservation of His
saints: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
'Tis grace that brought me save thus far,
And grace will lead me home. When you stand on heaven's
plane, saint of God, and look back at this old earth and
your years of passing through it, you will know without a
doubt—it was heaven all the time.
Harold J. Chadwick |
Adolph Monod
When I shall enter the invisible world, I do not expect to
find things different from what the word of God represented
them to me here. The voice I shall then hear will be the
same I now hear upon the earth, and I shall say, "This is
indeed what God said to me; and how thankful I am that I did
not wait until I had seen in order to believe."
John Knox of Scotland
During his last days, when he knew he was dying, he asked
his wife to read John 17 to him several times a day, and it
was actually while she was reading that he passed from time
into eternity.
$9.95 - Understanding the Mysteries of Creation and Eternity
Helen Keller
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true
happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but
through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
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