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In Revelation 21-22 the apostle John is trying to describe the day that heaven and earth combine…when God once again becomes a permanent resident with humanity; A renewal of the Edenic reality, but even better. How do you describe that which you have never seen or known? When language exhausts her best expressions and you still haven’t even begun to reveal your experience, a new tactic is needed. This is what John does as he tries to describe the new heavenly reality. Instead of telling us what is there, he focuses more on what is not there. “No more tears, no more death, no more pain, etc.” Here is my A-Z list of what won’t be in heaven to help us grasp the beauty of what will be there. Obviously my list is finite, incomplete, borrowed and missing items. That is where you come in. What else won’t be there that I have missed. Continue this story in the comments…
What Won’t Be In Heaven
In Heaven there will be no more:
Acne, aches, addiction, anxiety, anxiety meds, amber alerts, amputations
Bad breath, body odor, broken hearts, broken homes, break ups, bills, bill collectors, bi-polar, bullying, battles
Cancer, coughs, catastrophes, conflict, crash diets, CPS, concussions, court rooms, corruption, crutches, casts, child abuse, chemo therapy, crosses along the side of the road, cutting,
Deception, depression, divorce, drama, doctors, disease, double chins, disco
Evil, erosion, embarrassing moments, enemies, elections, evictions, earth quakes
Fighting, fruitcake, foreclosures, flu-shots, fear, funeral homes, funerals,
Gossip, guilt, greed, graves,
Hospitals, hurricanes, hate, homelessness, hormones, human trafficking
Injustice, infertility, infidelity, insecurity, infomercials, inoperable tumors,
Junk mail, jealousy,
Kooks, k(c)anker sores, kombucha (that stuff is nasty), killjoys,
Legalism, life-support, lawyers, loneliness, labor camps, lines for the lady’s room, love handles,
Motionless ultra sounds, metal detectors, MRI’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Middle of the night phone calls, miscarriages, misunderstandings,
Neurosis, night sweats, nursing homes, negativity, needles,
Operations, orphanages, oppression , Obama Care
Pretending, plastic surgery, politicians, pacemakers, persecution, pain, prejudice, poverty, pink slips, potlucks
Quitting, queasiness, qualifying,
Racism, rejection, road rage, rape, revenge, radiation
Special weigh-loss plans, spanks, saddle bags, sox without a match , security systems, sleepless nights, slums, suicides, suicide bombers, school shootings, sadness, spandex, slander,
Treatment centers, tear stained divorce papers, tissue boxes, tornado, tsunamis, typhoons, trafficking, tiny caskets, taxes
Unibombers, unwanted, unloved,
Victims, violence, vindictiveness, vaccinations, vice
Waiting rooms, wheel chairs, waxing, wounds,
X-rays, Yelling, Zoos, Zero (because everything will have value)
While the focus of your post is what won’t be in heaven, praise the Lord, but it makes me all teary, that we do have all those A to Zs.
hi Kelly! I feel that too. I think for me, (as I read that list and know that there are so many more things that we currently experience like famine, starvation, genocide and a million other things I didn’t include) it is incentive to live incarnationally and bring healing and justice to those areas as I am able…this fulfills Jesus’ prayer that God’s will be done here on earth as it is in heaven…I, for one, want to be a part of bringing about that kind of healing…
Thank you Monty for sharing on Revelation, especially the last one. The lady sitting next to me wept the entire sermon. Many were moved. I was especially by your alphabetical list of what will not be in heaven and the photo of the boy leaping out of his wheelchair. Much to “think on” and “look forward to”. Now what will you share on? Bless you. Shirley Rodgers
hhh… you know me shirley, I’ll think of something :-0 perhaps how we can better connect as the body of Christ and diminish the list…
This has been a “revelation” to me – it is the 1st time I’ve ever understood Revelation and I thank you for your heart in bringing this all important message down to our level and out of the mysticism, I pray that there is a printed copy already in the works containing all this wonderful series so that when my mind forgets the special message – I can find it again in one of the chapters. It needs to be in print (or even an E-book?) just as long as we can have a readable reference copy. Please say it’s so?
Thank you for your love and devotion to bring Jesus to the “church”!
Thanks Sue…well, all though I don’t have a written version in the works you are one of a number of people who have asked…I’ll see what I can do…
What a phenomenal series! What a blessing to know the end game with its victory and emancipation…especially during this sacred week! Thank you!
My mind went a little berserk when thinking of additional things that won’t be in Heaven – anarchy, beheadings, contracts, diets, doubt, fanatics, foster care, hurt, lies, prison, religion, scars, sickness, singing off key, subversion…
BTW, I too would love to see this series in some written form.
Again, Pastor, thank you!
those are great additions Jim!
hmmmmmmmmmmmm….you always make me hmmmmmmmmmmmm….my dear son.
Reading what will not be in heaven, makes me wonder how we even “survive” being amidst all that. God is obviously not done with us (me). There is joy in every morning, daffodils and tulips and God’s ever faithful arms of love.
Thank you and as always, I love you.
it does make you wonder…it also makes that day even sweeter, and creates a deeper longing…may you have an abundance of tulups and daffodils 🙂