The Biggest Prize of All

Restored relationships in eternity—and experiencing Jesus face-to-face

There are two things I want you to understand about humanity. One is about the past and the other is about our future:

1. First, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and sin, they lost their relationship with Him.

2. Second, when Jesus returns and takes us with Him to heaven, He will completely restore our relationship with the Father.

God made the first two humans perfect, but sin robbed them of their perfection. If you have been saved, Jesus has redeemed you, yet you only have a portion—something like a down payment—of the full redemption you will receive on the day He returns.

Knowing “in Part”

The most important thing Adam and Eve lost when they sinned was their perfect, intimate relationship with God. They lived with God in the Garden of Eden and saw Him face-to-face every day.

Today we have no idea what that might have been like. Yes, our relationship with God has been restored, but we still don’t understand the fullness of that relationship.

The apostle Paul describes it this way:

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”—1 Corinthians 13:12

There are two important aspects to this verse. First, we will get to see Jesus face-to-face on the day He comes back. When you have a face-to-face relationship with someone, you get to see what their face looks like when you are present with them. You read their facial expressions and learn their body language. You know what they are thinking and how they are feeling. You will know when they are pleased or disappointed. You pick up on their moods and expressions.

Satan tries to take advantage of us and harasses us because he knows we can’t physically see the face of Jesus. Yes, we know from the Bible that Jesus loves us. We are His accepted and beloved friends and He has removed our sins from us by the power of His blood. But we are reading that in Scripture. The Spirit helps us understand, but it’s not an understanding we get from, for instance, reading the actual facial expressions or body language of Jesus.

That’s why the devil can come in and say things like, “God doesn’t really love you. In fact, He’s quite angry with you. You’ve sinned too much to be lovable.”

The devil will try to manipulate us because we can’t see Jesus’ face. Satan knows this.

Of course, if we could see Jesus’ face, then we would fully comprehend how much He loves us. The day is coming when you will see His face physically—and you will see it forevermore.

As Paul described it, right now, we see Jesus like an image in a cloudy mirror. I realize some of the people reading this book may have seen Jesus in a vision or a dream, but even then, it was like looking into a dim mirror. But when Jesus comes to get us in the Rapture, we will see Him face-to-face. We will know with complete certainty that He loves us.

From Ignorance to Intimacy

Second, this verse makes clear is that we will no longer be ignorant about Jesus. Let me define that word, because calling someone “ignorant” can sound like an insult in our culture. Ignorance doesn’t mean we are stupid; it simply means we don’t know.

For instance, I know how to drive a car and I even know how to fly a plane. But I am pretty ignorant about operating a cruise ship or a nuclear submarine.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “I shall know just as I also am known.” After the Rapture, we are going to know Jesus as intimately and perfectly as God knows us today.

If you are a believer, I know you know Jesus. You’ve been saved, and you’ve been experiencing a down payment of your relationship with Him. Nevertheless, you can only know Jesus in part.

But pay attention to what Paul writes in Ephesians:

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.—Ephesians 1:13–14

Yes, the Holy Spirit is our guarantee. In other words, He’s our earnest money. If you are buying a new house, you will typically include a small payment when you make the offer. This “earnest money” shows your good faith in putting an offer on the house. It lets the current owner know you are serious about the final purchase.

It also prevents someone else from buying it. Earnest money is like a preliminary down payment, but it communicates that you can be trusted. There is a solid commitment behind it. In the context of salvation, the Holy Spirit has laid down the money and made a solid commitment to you that you will receive everything God has promised.

When God created Adam and Eve, He breathed His Spirit into them, giving them life. When they sinned, they lost that Spirit, and they lost the most beautiful and fulfilling elements of that life. Yes, they still had air in their lungs and their hearts were beating, but their spirits were dead because the Spirit of God departed from them. Eventually their bodies would follow in that death march. That is what it means to be lost and apart from God.

We inherited dead spirits from Adam and Eve, and eventually our bodies will die. But on the day you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit entered and breathed new life into you, the same way God did when He created Adam. He makes your spirit alive again, and He will ultimately give life to your body.

That’s why it’s called being “born again”—you’re reborn in the Spirit. That’s a down payment from the Holy Spirit.

God is earnest. He means business with you, and He makes the offer in good faith. When you got saved, He gave you His Holy Spirit as a guarantee and pledge. However, that’s only a down payment of what you will receive on the day Jesus returns.

On that day, you will know Him as well as He knows you right now. Not only will you see Him face-to-face, but you will also have infinite, perfect knowledge of the Son of God.

The Good News About Heaven

When I preach on eternity and the end times, I often get questions like these:

• Will we know each other in heaven?

• What will we actually be doing in eternity?

• What if I get bored?

These kinds of questions indicate someone who has a wrong concept of heaven. When you are operating from a mistaken perspective, heaven doesn’t always sound like a place you want to go.

I created the Tipping Point community, in part, to educate people about Bible prophecy and help them connect it to what’s happening in the world. But over the past few months, I’ve also been using it to communicate about eternity. That means teaching about heaven, and it’s one reason I wrote the book Look Up!

One of the most important purposes of that book was to help communicate the truth of our final redemption and what we can expect when Jesus returns. That includes the good news about heaven!

Some people imagine eternity in very unappealing ways. They think we will be like ghosts who have been given lobotomies, and all we will do is float around with no ability to know anything or recognize any friends or family members. But the truth is that in heaven you’ll know everybody.

Sadly, it is here on earth right now that we don’t know each other. We keep our guard up, hide our insecurities and hang-ups, and cover our relationship issues. We don’t know whom we can trust. That’s because we’ve been burned. The people we love have failed us in countless ways.

But in heaven, we can trust everybody. No sin nature can remain in heaven. We’ll finally be able to know each other intimately. And at last, we will be in perfect relationships for all of eternity.

In heaven, there will be no ego, pride, competition, jealousy, or envy. All dysfunctions will end. Our past hurts and bad memories will be gone. We will be able to love fully—without fear—for all eternity.

Making All Things New

The most important element of heaven is that we will know Jesus and have perfect and total intimacy with Him.

The apostle John paints a very clear picture of this truth:

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.—Revelation 21:2–7

That is redemption. I want you to know that day is coming very soon; in fact, it could happen any moment.

When Jesus returns for us in the Rapture, we will get every single thing back that we lost. The most important of these things will be a face-to-face relationship with God for all eternity. That’s the biggest prize of all.