Welcome Home

When I see the videos of servicemen returning home and surprising family members, the reunion always brings tears to my eyes.

I remember as a young teen being concerned for my brother in Vietnam and how relieved we were when he returned home safely.

My family recently lost my 26-year-old granddaughter who had a congenital heart defect that was supposed to be repairable by surgery but she took a sudden turn for the worse and surgery was no longer an option.

It has me thinking about a Great Homecoming that is ahead in our future. There is a welcome home that lies ahead of us that will outshine any reunion from the past. 

This will be a time spoken of in Ezekiel when graves will be opened, dry bones will be restored and everyone gathered from wherever they have fallen even if their molecules were blasted into space or their ship went down in the middle of an ocean. God who knows and named all the stars in our universe certainly knows every human that has ever lived. God, who not only named but also created all the stars and planets in the universe will have no difficulty restoring the lives that have been lost, all the way from righteous Abel thousands of years ago, to our loved ones who have died before that immense resurrection of all who ever lived.

When they have been restored physically and given a new heart and a new mind released from all that had marred them in the past, it will be so joyful to be there and welcome them home with open arms.

Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

“Thus says the Lord God: ‘On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt’” (verse 33).

We will have a thousand years of preparation so they can be given their own piece of property on an earth that has been renewed to its original beauty and the potential to live a life they were denied in the past.

Micah 4:4 “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.”

I can’t know for sure, but one thing I have always thought is that God will have each of these people have someone who was close to them or someone they are familiar with be there to welcome them home.  I hope to be the one who will take my granddaughter by the hand and lead her to her new property, her heart that gave out on her will be whole and she will be ecstatic that all the world’s injustices that weighed so heavily on her will be taken care of.

My heart can rejoice in the midst of sorrow knowing this is not the end of the story.  New chapters in her life and the lives of all the others are waiting to be written. When they are confused and starting down a wrong path, a gentle voice will guide them saying this is the way for you to walk in. They will be given every opportunity to know God and to become a part of the eternal family.

Isaiah 30:21, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.”

Where can you find this scenario of everyone who ever lived being resurrected?

Revelation 20:4-6 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

I want to emphasize “The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.” A separate resurrection from the saints raised in the first one.

Revelation 20:12-13 “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.”

We are in a time of judgment now to determine if we will be in that first resurrection, but those who have not had that chance in this life will have their own time of judgement. The White Throne Judgment won’t be: raise them up, condemn them, then destroy. They will be given their time of judgment to know God and to choose whether to join in His vision or to go the way of the rebellion of Satan.

Isaiah 65:20-22 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people.”

Most religions leave out these critical verses that show all who have ever lived will live again! If they never had the opportunity to know the real Savior, God intends for them to have that chance!

It is a complete misrepresentation of our loving God that he intends for some of his children to face continual torment for an eternity.

I know that my Redeemer lives and that He loves and wants all to come to repentance. It is not His will that any He gave His life for be lost (2 Peter 3:9).

For those resurrected at this time it will be as though they were sleeping and they will have no sense of the passage of time. 

Time continues to pass for us and we are left with a hole that will not be filled until this great reunion takes place.

As we read in Job 14:14, “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.”

That great homecoming won’t be in some nebulous hazy fashion.  It will be a well-planned welcome home like no other. 

I want to be there to get another long hug from my Hailey and to tell her and my first husband who also died young: “Welcome Home!”