Time to be Born
I am waiting .... any day my first great granddaughter will be born! I don't have to tell you what my mind has been focused on.
I wonder ... while we all know there is a time for a baby to be born, do we consider the baby's feelings? If asked, would my great-granddaughter want to stay where she is? If you think about it , it is a pretty good place to be. It is always just the right temperature, food is always available, mommy's heartbeat is so reassuring, it is safe and protected. Maybe it would be scary to think about leaving and be pushed into what is unknown and unfamiliar.
While children love to hear about how they were in their mommy's tummy, and we are all aware of where we came from, I have yet to hear of anyone who wished they could go back!
That reminds me of the verse in Isaiah 65:27 that reads, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind."
Will we really not remember this earthly life when we leave it to be forever with Jesus? If we don't remember it at all, would that not be like spending years going to school to learn how to be a brain surgeon and then we finally finish our training and get a job , and then promptly forget all we learned!! What kind of surgeon would we be??
If we do not remember our earthly 'training' that makes us 'fit' for heaven, then would it not be wasted?
But.... isn't that what the quoted verse says, that we won't remember? I have mentioned it before but I'll note it again. 'Remember' in the original Hebrew does not have the same meaning as in English. In English 'remember' is the opposite of forget, and 'not remember' IS to forget! But in Hebrew the word 'remember' means 'to act upon' and 'not remember' means 'not to act upon'.
As in God 'not remembering our sins' means that He will not 'act', - will not hold forgiven sin against us ever again. (Is. 23:45) Or as God 'remembered Noah' in Gen. 8:1 and 'acted' by sending a wind over the earth to subside the waters.
So I think just as we know and understand we were once in our mother's womb but have no desire to go back, there is the same sense of meaning in Is. 65:17. We will remember our earthly life but will never 'act on it' in a way that would stir our emotions or mental longing to go back.
Just as a mother remembers giving birth, she remembers it without reliving the pain. The 'eternal' life that awaits us will be so much better in every way that no memories of our earthly sojourn will ever tempt us to desire to go back, no more than we would long to go back into our mother's womb.
While children love to hear about how they were in their mommy's tummy, and we are all aware of where we came from, I have yet to hear of anyone who wished they could go back!
That reminds me of the verse in Isaiah 65:27 that reads, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind."
Will we really not remember this earthly life when we leave it to be forever with Jesus? If we don't remember it at all, would that not be like spending years going to school to learn how to be a brain surgeon and then we finally finish our training and get a job , and then promptly forget all we learned!! What kind of surgeon would we be??
If we do not remember our earthly 'training' that makes us 'fit' for heaven, then would it not be wasted?
But.... isn't that what the quoted verse says, that we won't remember? I have mentioned it before but I'll note it again. 'Remember' in the original Hebrew does not have the same meaning as in English. In English 'remember' is the opposite of forget, and 'not remember' IS to forget! But in Hebrew the word 'remember' means 'to act upon' and 'not remember' means 'not to act upon'.
As in God 'not remembering our sins' means that He will not 'act', - will not hold forgiven sin against us ever again. (Is. 23:45) Or as God 'remembered Noah' in Gen. 8:1 and 'acted' by sending a wind over the earth to subside the waters.
So I think just as we know and understand we were once in our mother's womb but have no desire to go back, there is the same sense of meaning in Is. 65:17. We will remember our earthly life but will never 'act on it' in a way that would stir our emotions or mental longing to go back.
Just as a mother remembers giving birth, she remembers it without reliving the pain. The 'eternal' life that awaits us will be so much better in every way that no memories of our earthly sojourn will ever tempt us to desire to go back, no more than we would long to go back into our mother's womb.
Just as my g-grandbaby is totally unable to conceive of what is awaiting her - she has no way of knowing how richly she will be surrounded by love and everything she could want or need - so also God says to us, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who live Him." I Cor. 2:9
