Dear Ted & Phyllis,
This morning as I was having devotions I was thinking of
you. (That is not unusual; I think of you every day.) I had just gotten back
from a long trip to the southern tip of Thailand 6AM I had breakfast and checked in a room.
Opening the familiar passage in John 14, the Word again came alive; “Let not
your heart be trouble: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” This has got to
be one of the focal points of the Christian walk. The Lord greatly desires His
people to live free from fear, and the devil is always doing his best to
instill in us fear. I’m sure the Lord is meeting with you daily and you are
discovering in new ways that indeed “underneath us are the Everlasting Arms”
(Deut. 33:27). But even so, when we get in water substantially over our heads,
it is not uncommon to get a little apprehensive sometimes. And that wonderful
tender Word of our Lord reminds us that there is no basis for our fears.
“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” This is something too
wonderful to be true. If Jesus Himself hadn’t said it I would argue with any
theologian that tried to suggest such an incredible idea. But then it is a
common practice for any young man when he first gets married to spend a great
deal of effort preparing a lovely home for his bride to be. In this context I
can see where Jesus has gone ahead of us to get things ready and is working on
a new residence for us. I sure hope I get a chance to see your place. It
wouldn’t surprise me if there is a nice garden and perhaps as winding walk up
to the house. But the thing that I think is the most amazing will be the sign
out front – “The Brannen Residence”. Old 3304 South
222nd St.
Certainly one of the main features of life in heaven will be
the cooperate life of believers. It is true we are one body and together we
will worship our Lord; but I believe there will also be a great deal of private
life also. In studying the Temple Temple
It is strange, but when I think about these realities I come
up with a blank for myself. I seriously doubt that there is a house in heaven
with a sign “The Cooks”. We had two fabulous places here in Japan
We know that there will be no marriage relationship in
heaven. In that sense things will be different. Jesus told us that we won’t be
married but be like the angels (Mt. 22:30 ).
I know for people like yourselves who have had such a wonderful marriage this
has the potential of being sad; but I really don’t think things will be any
worse there than here. If anything I am sure that marriage relationship will be
on a higher plane. A good friend of mine who loves to fish says he is sure
there are trout in the stream that flows from the Throne of God. He says if
there are trout here there has to be trout there. It wouldn’t be heaven without
them. Maybe he’s right. But I believe the family unit will certainly be intact.
That is a major theme in the Word of God; the Lord always recognizes the family
unit. In the Pentateuch the people were always assembled under the flag of
their individual families (Num. 2), and even when the spirit of repentance is
given to Israel 12:10 -14). If this is true, then there has got to be a
Brannen family in heaven – and there has got to be the “Brannen Residence”.
Can you imagine the excitement in the heart of Christ?
Having built many houses, one of the big moments for me is to watch the face of
the new home owners light up when they see what we have done. The NLL cabin in
Karuizawa was a dump. Two years ago, they finally got town water in the place
and Roald asked me if I could put in a shower unit. I spent two months up there
working with Bill Rees and when we were done we had totally restructured the
building. No amount of money could have compensated the joy I had when the Lidals
first came up to see what we had done. Inga just screamed! For ten minutes her
mouth was open! I doubt that she has ever lived in such a nice place. The old
ofuro was a place you didn’t want to wash your dog and now they had a fabulous
bathroom with the finest shower unit I have ever seen. Seven years ago I built
a house for a Japanese pastor, and that poor family had lived in pitiful
housing for twenty years. Their daughter was 20 and had never had a foot of
privacy in her life. They always slept two and three in a bed so tight you
could hardly roll over. I made her a beautiful private bedroom with a lovely
built in dresser and outstanding lighting. When I got that done, to look at her
face was all the reward that I needed. I enjoyed watching her as much as she
enjoyed her new room. It would be totally out of character with Christ if the
same principle was not true now. If He has gone ahead to prepare a place for
us, there must be tremendous anticipation in His heart as He gets each room
ready.
Sometimes we find it hard to wait, but I really think the
waiting is harder on Him than it is on us. When I first studied the Song of
Solomon I was bewildered by the contrast of the various speeches. There were a
few verses where the Bride expresses her love for her Lord. But there were
chapters of His love for her. This was totally 180 degrees out of line with my
theology. I took a blank sheet of paper and wrote the number of every verse in
the book on it. Then I used a color code to show who was speaking. The contrast
came out 5 to 1. I asked the Lord why this disproportion and He showed me a
truth I had never grasped. Not that we love God – BUT THAT HE LOVES US! (1Jn. 4:10 ). His love for me is 5 times more intense
than my feeble love for Him. After Rosemary and I were engaged, that was the
longest year of my life before we could get married. When we went down to Ikoma
it was my greatest joy to make the finest kitchen I have ever made for
Rosemary. Love is that way. Love longs to give. Love delights in seeing the joy
in others. I’ll bet Jesus is looking at the calendar and counting the hours
when He will have the joy of seeing your face when the Brannen’s move into the
place He has prepared for them.
There is no way we can imagine what He has in mind. He has
told us that it has never entered into the heart of man the things that God has
prepared for those who love Him (1Cor. 2:9). My most extravagant imagination
doesn’t begin to approach what He has in mind. I am dead serious about all that
I have written thus far, but your spirit must go beyond my words. It is
impossible that the Brannen residence would be anything less than breath-taking.
But the most wonderful feature will be the neighborhood. I don’t know how He is
going to do it but I do know for a fact that Jesus will live there. The only
thing that the Lord told us about the place He is preparing is that it is near
Him – “That WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE
ALSO.”(Jn. 14:3). I believe Ezek. 40-48 is one of the most mysterious passages
in the Bible and yet I am totally convinced it is the New Jerusalem – Heb. 12:22 & Rev. 21, 22. Wherever it is, and
whatever it is like – that is where our citizenship is right now and our
eternal home. But the last verse in Ezekiel says the name of the City is
Jehovah Shammah – THE LORD IS THERE. That’s it folks! That’s the bottom line.
The Brannen Residence is going to be in the kinjo where Jesus lives. Isn't that
great? I get so excited I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve whose heart is
pounding waiting for morning. Do you see why I consider it such a privilege to
know people like you? I really hope I can get a chance to stop by to see you
all. Time shouldn’t be much of a problem. Gomen, Phyllis, but along with that
cup of coffee could you fix me a roast beef sandwich?
I
love you all dearly,
In
our wonderful Lord Jesus, bill
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