Over the past few weeks, I’ve written a bit about life in glory and  our journey to get there (The Journey and Better Than Eden). Those posts generated a fair amount of feedback.

People are looking forward to their eternal time with the Lord. They don’t necessarily want to go immediately, but there is a deep-seated longing to be in glory and to meet Jesus face to face.

That longing is hard-wired into us. Adam and Eve walked joyfully with God in the Garden. It wasn’t until sin entered the picture that they began to hide from HIm.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8

It was humanity’s choice to be apart from the Lord. He had warned them of the consequences, but they chose to listen to the whispers of the evil one instead. That choice has cost untold suffering and destruction for billions of people and even to the fabric of creation itself.

Fortunately, God was not surprised by this foolish choice and did not give up on us. He knew before anything was created that He would need to send His Son to redeem us.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insightmaking knownto us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:3-9

The world He has designed for our eternal home will be free from the presence, practice, and penalty of sin. There will be no possibility of us ever falling and being separated from Him again. Perfection and security forever more.

A dear friend reminded me of something besides sin that will be absent from glory. There will be no more goodbyes.

When someone dies, there is grief. Those goodbyes are painful even if we know the departed one has graduated to glory. It is even more so when we don’t know, or are sure that they rejected Jesus. Our hearts break doubly at that passing.

That’s what makes this passage such a delight to read.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “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.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.” Revelation 21:3-4

There will come a time when we experience the last goodbye and say so long to death and sorrow. I can hardly wait.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

__________________________________________ 

Please like and share this post with your friends and those in your circle of influence. Also, feel free to comment.

Did you know that we have an email version? It offers the same great content but in a different format. This is ideal for when you don’t want to check your Facebook or share with friends who don’t use Facebook. 

Subscribe today 

___________________________________________ 

All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word.

On the weekend, a teenage boy was brutally stabbed  to death in our community. These things happen all over the world, even in the best of neighborhoods.

Still, when it happens, it changes us, and our world seems a little colder and less safe. I can think of many events, large and small, that changed the world around us.

There were the events of September 11 more than two decades ago. More recently, we experienced the COVID pandemic.

Thinking back, I can recall the Berlin Wall, which had been erected when I was a small child, being torn down, and a divided country was restored.

I remember vividly driving home from work one day and hearing the live reports of the attack on Baghdad by Allied Forces. Operation Desert Storm was underway. Would it escalate? Would we be recalled to the military? The world had changed.

I’m old enough to recall the Killing Fields of Cambodia, the US withdrawal from Vietnam, the moon landing, the assassination of John Kennedy, and more. All changed the world, and many changed even our vocabulary.

Some would change the world as we know it and be known by many. Others were relatively minor but change the lives of those involved.

In 1991, Kathy and I sustained traumatic brain injuries. The world moved on as before for almost everyone. Our lives were forever changed. It’s impossible to list all the changes, both positive and negative, but we rejoice that in the resulting turmoil we came to faith in Jesus..

Change is a fact of life for everyone. It may be sudden and traumatic, like some of the examples I have given. It might be slow, like the changing of the seasons, or even slower, like the gradual erosion of a mountain face, but almost everything changes.

I say almost everything very deliberately. God never changes.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

God is immutable. That’s the fancy technical, theological term for the fact that He never changes.

If God could change, who can imagine the havoc that would ensue? We would never be able to trust in His promises or plan. If He were changeable, then He must not be perfect, and the thought of serving an imperfect God is terrifying.

There are some theological hills worth dying on, and the immutability of God is one. There are times in the Scripture where it appears from a human perspective that God changes His mind, but that can only be from a human perspective if God doesn’t change.

Whatever you are facing in life, you can hold fast to God. He will never change. His plans will never be thwarted. His promises will always come through.

I was going to say God’s promises are as good as money in the bank, but we all know that that has changed over time. There might be some degree of security in having your money in the bank, but ultimately, there is a risk of losing it. God’s promises are better than money in the bank.

Until next time, rejoice that God is who He claims to be and that He will never change.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

__________________________________________ 

Please like and share this post with your friends and those in your circle of influence. Also, feel free to comment.

Did you know that we have an email version? It offers the same great content but in a different format. This is ideal for when you don’t want to check your Facebook or share with friends who don’t use Facebook. 

Subscribe today 

___________________________________________ 

All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).