Prayer for Hope in Heaven

O gracious God, how great is Thy love and mercy toward us! Not only dost Thou do good to us, and help us, and hear us, and have mercy upon us, and overwhelm us with benefits while we live; but Thou keepest in store for us many and glorious gifts in heaven. And O how great and magnificent are those heavenly gifts! By faith I see Thy majesty and glory, and the splendor in which Thou dwellest; and behold the seraphim and all the angels, and the elect — composed of all the believing who have ever lived on earth — standing around Thy throne, lauding and praising Thee, and saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth.” By faith I see myself standing in their midst after I have calmly and peacefully departed from this world. I shall wear a glorious crown upon my head, be clothed with white robes, and shine like the sun.

O the glory, the happiness, the bliss which the Father of all mercy and grace shall bestow upon me for Christ’s sake! And because death will open to me the door to this glory, I am not terrified by it. If an earthly king can adorn his palace so beautifully that we are filled with wonder and admiration when we behold it, how great and glorious must be the splendor of the heavenly King, and the magnificence of the infinite God! Therefore I will gladly die and take leave of earth. I look with joy to heaven; for my home is there. Here I have no continuing city. Yonder, Jesus has acquired a home for me by His sufferings and death; and by faith I shall go to my Saviour.

When I think of heaven, I remember that it is my fatherland, where all pious Christians, all believers are assembled. As long as I am on earth, I am a pilgrim and a stranger, always journeying on; but when I shall have passed through a happy death to heaven, I shall have rest, and peace, and eternal happiness. I look up joyfully to heaven, and exclaim: There is my inheritance! If my inheritance here upon earth has been great, there is one still greater laid up for me in heaven, — an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Heaven is the paradise in which God will delight the believers; and compared with it the paradise which was once upon earth was but a shadow. O God, when I am permitted to behold Thy glory in heaven, I shall exclaim to Thee in the words once spoken by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon: O my God, O my Jesus, the half of Thy glory was not told me in my earthly life; Thy glory and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Amen.