Talk Together
Family conversations with God’s Word.
Have you ever thought about the future? What do you think you’ll be when you grow up? Where will you live? Thinking about the future is exciting. If you are a follower of Jesus, God’s Big Story is a story that goes on forever!
When God created the world, it was very good. He gave the world light and beauty and filled it with people, plants and animals. When Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden, everything was perfect. They were with God. There were no tears, no pain, no sickness, not even death.
When Adam and Eve sinned, their perfect relationship with God was broken. Sin changed everything. Soon tears, pain, sickness and death changed God’s perfect creation. But God still loved and cared for His people. He didn’t want them to be separated from Him, so He sent Jesus, our Redeemer, who gave His life to pay the penalty of our sin.
When Jesus died on the cross, He made the complete payment for our sin. When you trust that Jesus died on the cross for you, you are saved from the penalty of death and are no longer separated from God. Even though we don’t live with God in heaven now, we know our future with Him is secure. One day we will be with Him forever.
After Jesus resurrected from the dead and came back to life, He returned to heaven to be with God. The Bible tells us Jesus is in heaven with God right now. One thing Jesus is doing is preparing a home for His followers. A new home in heaven sounds exciting; but the most wonderful thing about heaven is everything will be right again, just like it was before sin changed everything. God will be with His people. And nothing will ever separate us from Him again. The Bible tells us about this in the book of Revelation chapter 21, verse 3. Revelation is the very last book of the Bible.
ESV
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3)
God will dwell with us! That means He will be right there with His people! It’s hard to imagine what it will be like to live with God, but the next two verses in Revelation 21 give us a better understanding. Let’s read Revelation chapter 21, verses 4-5.
ESV
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:4-5)
Can you believe it? There will be no more sadness, mourning or death. We will get to live with God for all eternity. His plan for eternity is good. And when we trust in God’s forgiveness through Jesus, we get to experience this eternity. It will be better than anything we can imagine because we will be with God who loves us so much.
We look forward to the time we are with God for eternity. But we also need to live wisely now, while we wait. As followers of Christ, we can spend our time doing the things God has told us to do. Before Jesus returned to heaven, He gave His followers instructions about how to follow God’s ways while they lived on Earth. Let’s read about it in Matthew chapter 22, verses 37-39.
ESV
And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
While we live on Earth, we can show God we love Him by the way we worship, pray and obey His word. We can also love our neighbors. As we spend time with those around us, we can love them and share the Gospel with them!
One day, God will restore all things, and everything will once again be very good — exactly the way it was when God created the world. Until then, our job is to share God’s Big Story with everyone we know!