HomeWord - May. 12, 2011

 If You Like Disneyland You Won’t Believe Heaven
This devotional was written by Dan Johnson

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. —John 14:2

Walt Disney started talking about building a park for his employees and their families in a 1948 memo. What started as a discussion to build Mickey Mouse Park ended with the 1955 Grand Opening of Disneyland. Built on 160 acres of orange groves around Anaheim, Disneyland cost 17 million dollars to build. Opening day, July 17, 1955, was a gala affair with over 28,000 guests. The ceremonies were broadcast live on ABC with Art Linkletter as one of the hosts and celebrities like Ronald Reagan.

I was 36 years old when I first visited Disneyland, by then a 45-year-old theme park. With a child’s excitement, I wandered the streets wide-eyed knowing that this was the “happiest place on earth” and so well-managed that they pressure-washed the streets each night. At nightfall, as I sat with my wife and small children along the parade route, music began wafting through the trees. I fought back tears as the lights came on and the parade began to come to life. It had taken a long time, but we had made it to Disneyland and it was better than expected.

If you think Disneyland is something, a man-made amusement park in crowded Southern California, try the Bible’s description of Heaven. There’s too much detail to mention, but let’s just say that it is a place of such enormity and grandeur that comparisons fail completely. In Revelation chapters 21 and 22, Heaven is described as a real city, 1500 miles by 1500 miles by 1500 miles in size (2,250,000 square miles). This city is surrounded with walls made of precious jewels and the street that runs down the center is made of gold. This city is the one Jesus Christ has been working on since His resurrection 2,000 years ago.

God’s building projects are beyond our ability to fathom. The Hubble telescope has released photos from galaxies 12 billion light-years away from earth. And the earth is just a speck in the universe that God has made for us NOW. Imagine what lies ahead.

In that city there are no lockers, because it’s perfectly safe. In that city, which the Bible says will be on this earth, there are no tears, except maybe tears of joy. The music will be angelic and the light will come from the Main Attraction. At Disneyland, Mickey Mouse rules. In the coming Kingdom, Jesus Christ is the Star of the Show. This would be a really good time to plan your trip.

GOING DEEPER:

1. Take some time to investigate what the Bible says about Heaven.

2. What types of feelings and actions does this spur?

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