Been doing some research...

As you likely know, my family and I are in Ohio right now dealing with the death of my father-in-law. Long story short, my mother-in-law has asked me to officiate the funeral and focus all of my discussion on Heaven. With that in mind, I've been doing some in depth research over the past 2 days, and here are some things that have touched my heart about Heaven...Likely, most of this will already be familiar to you, but my eyes have been opened to some new things. I hope they bless you as much as they bless me:

The geographical nature of Heaven will be that of an endless land mass rich with plantation and various bodies of water. The center of Heaven is the city of God, The New Jerusalem (Rev. 21,22). The exact dimensions of The New Jerusalem are measured by an angel and reported as "12,000 stadia", or 1500 cubic miles (Rev. 22:15-17). This makes the breadth of the city over two million square miles. Putting that in perspective, that means The New Jerusalem (alone) would stretch from the west coast of the Mississippi River, and from the borders of Canada to Mexico, and cover the entire westward land mass of the United States reaching beyond California and well into the Pacific Ocean...and that's just The New Jerusalem, the city of God. Revelation 22 suggests that the gates of the New Jerusalem are always left open (I love that, by the way) allowing all to come and go from the great city as they please..anyone up for a hike? But perhaps more impressive is The New Jerusalem's 1500 mile height. By present standards, that would mean that the buildings in this city span 780,000 stories tall...and don't forget that John says those buildings are made of pure gold. Take a minute to try and picture that...It is apparently within this vast city that we will have personal dwelling places, which Jesus, Himself, has prepared for us (John 14:2; Luke 16:9; Rev. 21:2). I guess Jesus wasn't exagerating when He said, "In my Father's house there are "MANY" rooms."

Keep in mind that it is never night in Heaven (Revelation 21:25), but there's no sunlight either. The city, and all of Heaven for that matter, will be luminous with the light of God's glory (Revelation 22:4). Think about that for a minute. God's glory is literally so radiant that it gives light to a space that vast...Perhaps that's why God refused to show Moses His glory (Ex. 33:20)...truly no one could ever behold it. While there will be food and drink in Heaven (Rev. 19:9), we won't eat because we are hungry (Rev. 7:16). But rather we will eat out of the pure enjoyment of breaking bread together... well, that and because there are going to be great parties in Heaven (Rev.19). Jesus, Himself, will be hosting these parties, by the way, proving once again that anyone who says "Jesus is boring" has never really read the Bible.

And their will be loud, rowdy, uninhibited worship in Heaven. Check out Revelation 14's description of the type of worship services that will be going on in Heaven, "I heard a sound from Heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder...And they sang a new song before the throne..." We will have responsibilities, or jobs, in Heaven (2 Tim. 2:12). The nature of these "jobs" will be determined by our faithfulness on earth. In fact, some of these jobs will give us authority over the angels (1 Cor. 6, Rev. 3:21, 22:5). And, what's more, these jobs will even afford us the opportunity to sit on Jesus' throne...That's what Rev. 3:21 says, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne." Wow...

Needless to say, I'm even more excited than ever about getting to Heaven now. Once again, I hope this has blessed you.