Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

The Lord promised to his chosen people Israel a land to live in. It came to be called the Promised Land.
God delivered them out of the land of Egypt and promised to them a land that was “flowing with milk and honey.” It was a good and large land that the Canaanites and five other countries dwelled in.
(Exodus 3:8)

Israel was promised that if they remained to God faithful, their days, and the days of their children, would be multiplied. Their time there would be “as the days of heaven upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21).

The land that was promised to Israel was not heaven. It was to be a foretaste of heaven, as the hymn puts it: “Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!”

Early in the sixteenth century a man named Peter Martyr got the idea that heaven was located Somewhere on the earth. He wrote to the Pope about his plan to search for a land that, according to his perception, had immense wealth, eternal summer, and perpetual youth.

After receiving the Pope’s blessing on the project, ships were sent out to look for that heavenly land. They Sailed around the world, visiting many islands and secluded areas, but they never found the object they were searching for.

Why did Peter Martyr and his sailing crew fail? They failed because they were looking for heaven in the wrong place.

According to Colossians 3:1, heaven is above. That’s where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.