“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:9-10
Heavenly Father, this passage will always come close to overloading and frying the circuit-board of my imagination. That you chose to be so generous is one thing, but that you chose a people like us to be the recipients of your lavish love and extravagant goodness, that’s quite another thing.
It was while we were still sinners that you sent Jesus to die for us, and it is while we are still sinners (though wondrously justified) that you keep promises that are simply “off the charts.” How we praise, adore and worship you, in response to everything you’ve already done for us in Jesus, and will continue to do throughout eternity! Surely, there is no god like you. All other wanna-be gods are simply “empty nothings.”
As I try to wrap my heart around the enormity of your promise, I reach for things I have already experienced in life that are magnificent—things that I’ve profoundly enjoyed. I have seen the Swiss Alps 8 times and would gladly settle for Switzerland being the new heaven and new earth. I have heard great symphonies and choirs; Paul McCartney and my grandson call me “Papa”; cascading waterfalls and great waves crashing on many of your beaches in the world.
And as the Spirit has helped me, I have spent a lot of time “conceiving” the wonders of the world to come, as you describe them in Revelation 21:1-22:6. Quite honestly, I’m a satisfied man if I’m anywhere close to being right about the “things you’ve prepared for those who love you.” Yet you tell us, we’re like infants trying to imagine glory. What you have prepared for us supersedes our most faithful exegesis of your Word, our wildest dreams, deepest longings, and greatest hopes. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
We are those who love you only because you first loved us by giving Jesus as our substitute, by his life of perfect obedience and his propitiating death on the cross. It is because of you, Father, that we are in Christ Jesus, “who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 2:9). By the power that raised Jesus from the dead, free us to love you more and more and more. In Jesus’ name we pray with grateful hearts and refueled expectancy. Amen