Cancer Blog #42
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #42 – Death and Translation to Joy
May 28, 2022
[Psa 84:1-2 NASB95] 1 For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely [amiable, KJV] are Your dwelling places, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God
As I’ve discussed before, the OT doesn’t give much attention or detail with regard to our abode in heaven. And yet, it is not as if it gives no attention to that place or state. In this passage, I believe that once again the Psalms look to our future and not just our current situation before God for help and encouragement.
There are two aspects mentioned here relating to our heavenly dwelling. First is the psalmist’s appraisal of that place: “How lovely [amiable, KJV] are thy dwelling places…” The psalmist calls God’s abode an amiable, a lovely, living place. “Amiable” or lovely is a somewhat surprising description of where God lives and the home in which He resides, but to me it is a very comforting term. God’s residence is lovely, friendly, inviting, open to us His people. My first thought about the dwelling of a great and mighty King, one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, would be to think of it like that of a Nebuchadnezzar, or that of a Caesar, or the President of the United States (POTUS), a residence great and impressive, but not amiable, terrible in its display of power and might. For most such sovereigns, it would not even be open to the average citizen. I’m reminded of King Ahasuerus, the king from India to Ethiopia, who is one of the central characters in the book of Esther. Entrance into his presence was by invitation only, and if uninvited, then entrance had to be immediately granted or the subject was summarily executed. That is more the picture of any Lord such as Caesar or the POTUS (try approaching him uninvited in the White House). Hardly the picture of an amiable dwelling, welcoming to the masses. And yet, God does not hesitate, through the psalmist, to describe His residence as “amiable” or “lovely”. That doesn’t mean, of course, that just anyone could walk in. Yet, if our holiness is a prerequisite, it is still an open court for all who meet that requirement.
As we see in the second aspect described by the psalmist relating to God’s heavenly home: “My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God”. Though we know from elsewhere in scriptures that there is a great risk to entering into God’s court, yet the psalmist’s reaction isn’t what Esther’s was: fear of death. Instead, the psalmist describes his feelings as just the opposite: he longs for, yearns for, and is full of desire for, entrance into the great King’s court. This is a King that the psalmist obviously loves and who he knows loves him. No summary execution awaits the psalmist, or us either, for that matter. On our death and entrance into the Lord’s courts, we expect no second death as a result of a rejection of entrance. Rather, we look forward to an amiable reception, a prodigal son being feted as he comes into the courts of his heavenly Father. What longing is fulfilled, what yearning is met, what a song of joy at being united with the one who loves us even more than we love Him? What a wonderful picture of what awaits us at our death!
Next: Death and Life in the World