A dear friend recently shared the following question with me that I want to share with you...it deeply intrigued me so here it is...with my response following...
So here's the thing (and it sounds really silly now that I'm writing it out!) but... okay, so I am so in love with Jesus, and I need Him with me every minute, and I know that He will never leave me, and He's the Friend that sticks closer than a brother, and I have that promise my whole life. But in light of that, whenever I think of heaven, I suddenly feel abandoned, like I've lost that closeness. That seems totally backward--I mean, heaven is supposed to be the complete fulfillment, of getting to be with my Lord for all eternity. But how do I get to be with Him when there's millions of other people there, and they all want to be with Him, too? Do I get a turn every thousand years or so? And what kind of heaven is that?? Omnipresence is easier to understand when we are here and He is invisible--but when we are *there* and then God is up on the throne, and there are ten thousand upon ten thousand gathered around, and maybe I'm in the back row... well it's a lot harder to understand...help?
So, here's my answer...included is a link that is a great article on the names of God and a brief discusion on the Biblical concept of glory, in the Greek, doxa...
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=220
Thank you for trusting me with such a deep question! I must admit that I had never pondered that one myself but in meditating upon it, it stirred my own curiosities and interest…so thank you too for the journey it has been for me!
Here is an article for you to read, mostly because it is a reliable listing of the names of God, that is where the journey for me, this question begins and ends.
I usually find myself turning to His names when I face questions like this because as the article states, I believe that God with great intentionality gave us very specific names to reveal very specific aspects of His character.
I was teaching these to our children, rather the concept, a few years ago in the car as we were driving to pass the time. Derick was really the only one old enough to grasp it and when we got to Shammah, this is what he said…
“So Dad, God is in the car with us right?” I said, “Yes, that is right.” My son replied, “But He is also at home waiting for us to get there?” I said, “Yes that is right.” My son said, “He also still at the grocery store where we just left?” I said, “Yes, that is right.” He responded, “But He is still in the car with us even though He is at all those other places?” I said, “Yes, that is right…He is Jehovah Shammah.” My son said, “Wow, that’s cool!”
He is Jehovah Shammah, He is “there,” it’s just that simple because He is just that vast, glorious isn’t it! So in heaven, for every person, for every entity, He is still Shammah…on the throne surrounded by all of us in worship of Him, yet with each an every one of us, giving each and everyone His complete attention…Shammah! And not only with us, but fully in us…Shammah! You get to have all of Him as if you were the only one there, as do we all…doxa!
