Dancing in Anticipation

Our dog, Jack, looked at me with those beautiful, shining, brown eyes. They were full of hope and joy. He had just enjoyed a peanut butter bone. He was still licking his lips with that long pink tongue gliding from one side of his mouth to the other. He knew and I knew, I was going to say, yes, he could have a second peanut butter bone. As I lifted his bone from the floor to fill it with another spoonful of peanut butter, His front paws did a little up and down dance of anticipation. It filled me with great happiness to see Jack so excited at what I was preparing for him.

Can you guess what I’m going to say? I want to be just as excited as Jack, at what Jesus is preparing for me, and for all who have received Him into their lives. Jesus said something extraordinary in John 14:1-2, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you” (NKJV). Jesus had begun preparing His followers for what would happen after He was crucified, risen again, and returned to His Father. He would be, and is right now, preparing places for all of us in Heaven. While we don’t know all the details of Heaven, Revelation 21 and 22 gives us a peek into what is to come.

We already know there will be no more tears or death. We are also told that the place Jesus is preparing for us is a city of gold, clear as glass, with walls of jasper. The city itself is square, a measurement of 1400 miles in height, width, and length. We don’t know how many floors are in this city, but we can already tell it will be grand. The River of Life will flow from God’s throne, with a Tree of Life on each side of the river. Twelve crops of fruit are renewed each month. The gates are made of one giant pearl each. Inlaid in the walls are a myriad of precious stones. Are you dancing in anticipating yet?

As we see in our world today, the signs of Jesus’ return coming to fruition, we know it won’t be long now. As weather patterns change, nations go to war, people turn away from God to other pleasures, diseases grow in number, then we know, as Jesus told us, “When all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation in near” (Luke 21:28 NLT)! When I think about what it will be like to look into His face, I get tingles of excitement.

Like Jack, who knows beyond any doubt I’ll give him another peanut butter bone, we also know Jesus is surely coming again. Let’s be ready. Stay focused on Him. Stay obedient to His instructions that are always for our good. Then, when we see Him face to face, we will have no embarrassment that He caught us living sinfully; but rather, He will find us dancing in anticipation.