Many years ago a doctor made a house call on a dying patient, who asked, “Doctor, what will heaven be like?” The physician paused, trying to think of a helpful reply. Just then they heard the sound of scratching on the closed door of the patient’s bedroom.

“Do you hear that?” the doctor asked. “It’s my dog. I left him downstairs, but he got impatient and came up here looking for me. He doesn’t know what’s in this room, but he knows his master is here. I believe that’s how it is with heaven. We don’t know what it’s like, but we know that Jesus will be there. And really, nothing else matters.”

The Bible gives us a few faith-strengthening glimpses of what life will be like beyond the closed door of death. We know that heaven will be a place of radiant splendor (Rev. 21:23). We know that it will be a place of reunion as we meet again those whom we have loved and from whom we have been parted for a little while (1 Th. 4:17). We know that there will be “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Rev. 21:4).

But above all, when we get to the other side, we will rejoice because Jesus is there, and we will be with Him forever.

  — Vernon C. Grounds