THE TUG OF HEAVEN IS GROWING STRONGER
INTRODUCTION
“When you feel the tug on the line, pull it up.” That order could fit many situations but it would be effective for raising ore in a bucket from a mine shaft. One below fills the bucket, and when the tug is felt then the one above pulls up the bucket of ore.
What about the tug on our lives? We have expressions like “tugging at the heart strings” meaning you stir up the emotions and sympathy, a device used sometimes for fundraising for some cause. You have “tug at the belly”. That means an association with love. Here is one I was not familiar with – “tug one’s forelock”. A forelock is a lock of hair growing just above the forehead, the part of the mane of a horse or similar animal, which then hangs down over the forehead. It means to try to make up to someone important, to show regard, to get their favour, “to crawl.”
Now talking about heaven, let us look at this expression “the tug of heaven”. It means heaven is tugging on us, pulling us towards it. The older one is, the stronger is the tug. Well, for Christians, it ought to be that way. The Lord has allotted a certain life span to each one of us. We often go about as though we will keep going on in this world, but that is a misconception. When young, we looked at people older and thought they were ancient. Even when I was 50 I thought people of 70 were old.
I would like to read something I wrote in the past. “Now I have reached that age. I am the age David was when he had only about a year to live.” David lived until he was 70. They were the allotted years given to him, three score years and ten. Of course I have passed that as a number of us have.
We are journeying to a waterfall or to a factory engine, and at the start of the trip we can hear nothing, but as we move along after some time we think we hear a faint sound. As we progress that sound gets louder and louder. The journey of life is like that. As we move towards the home call of the Lord, we begin to realise it more and more, and the call gets louder. It is the tug of heaven, heaven’s call, on our lives, in our souls.
WANTING TO REMAIN – WANTING TO GO
We build everything up for this life. For most human beings it is the 100% meaning to life – totally human and material.
Well what of heaven? By heaven I mean to be in the presence of the Lord.
Each one of us who is a child of God has the tug of heaven. We may feel it, be aware of it – in other words have it as a living reality. However the tug may be so faint because we don’t allow the lines to be attached with much purpose.
The question we ought to consider is how worthy is the Lord? I think if you have made Him your life’s goal and the centre of your life, then the Lord is very worthy to you, and the tug of heaven is known to you.
Paul was very aware of this tug on his own life as he expressed it in these verses – {{Philippians 1:20-25 “according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain, but if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labour for me, and I do not know which to choose. I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake, and convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.”}}
Paul had the desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better he said. In life, this is the tug of heaven. Heaven’s tug was strong in his heart. The desire to go home was his wishful purpose, but God was not ready at that time to take Paul into His presence. There was work to do and Paul was needed for that. More ministry was necessary and more scriptures had to be written. Paul’s times were in God’s hands but God’s hands were still open.
What was true for Paul is the same way for us all. I think there is something not right with one who says he/she is a Christian and yet has no desire to go to be with the Lord. It seems unnatural to me. I know the responsibility of younger believers who are raising families and that is where their priorities may lie and the divided aspects of those lives. It can be a balance sometimes and that is how Paul was feeling. Life, even for Christians, is not an exercise of just ticking the boxes. We must let our lives rest with the Lord as David knew. {{Psalm 31:15 “My times are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.”}} We take the first part of that verse as our resting point.
THE KEYS OF DEATH AND HELL/HADES
When a man and woman is truly born again, from that point his/her life belongs to God, and the Master takes control from that point onwards. The Master of God’s Household holds all the keys, each individual key to each believer’s life. {{Revelation 1:17 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man, and He laid His right hand upon me saying, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, Rev 1:18 and the living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”}}
The keys of death and hell are all in the Lord’s keeping. Your key is there as well. It is held in the Lord’s hands from which no one can pluck them. He alone has the right to select and then place your key, from the keys of death and hell, in your lock, turn in, and you pass through into His presence. Our times are in His hand. Not until your time here is finished will the Lord use that key, but when He does, He shuts the door on your earthly ministry, to open the door to the heavenly glory. However, until that time, He has a use for you on earth.
Heaven tugs on our heart strings and that is excellent, but in God hand are your times and death’s key. Live by faith, always in expectation of the coming of the Lord to claim His Church. Be a citizen of earth, but remember you are citizens of heaven, so prepare yourselves to be worthy citizens.
WHERE DO PRIORITIES LIE?
Let me pose a question. When you leave this life, what remains here for the Lord and what remains of your own activity? Well the second part is not all that important but the first part is. What have you built in the Spirit for Christ, as against what you built for yourself? Consider these well known verses – {{Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”}}
The part that should make us concerned is, “treasures in heaven.” What might our lives show for God? What treasures are accumulating in heaven? It is a poverty-stricken Christian that has mansions of his own glory on this earth, but all he could build for God was a dilapidated old shack down the back yard.
THE TUG OF HEAVEN CONTINUES
Paul is the great example from Scripture. Paul had the desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better he said. In life, this is the tug of heaven. I don’t know if you watch any videos of an activity in Europe, but especially in England, that is quite popular. It is called magnet fishing where a magnet is thrown into a canal mainly, but sometimes into a river to pick up anything that is magnetic. They actually find some amazing things. Sometimes as they pull the magnet back in, it strikes a lot of resistance for it has attached itself onto something deep in the canal mud. In that case the operator goes through a series of gentle tugs to try to free the object and remove it from the mud. It is taken out from the mud.
I like to think of the Lord tugging on us ever so gently reminding us we are going home, and that tugging gets stronger with age and failing health. Then the resistance of earth’s mud will give way and we are “taken out” immediately to be with the Lord. Gone the dross and mud of this earth, and present with the Lord to be with Him forever.
Back in the 1950s and 60s there were Christian songs that had a country flavour and seemed quite popular with the younger people (I was one back then). That is when John Petersen and Jim Reeves were singing and writing strongly. Nevertheless one song sung by Jim Reeves and written by Mary Reeves & Albert E. Brumley echoes the heart’s desire to be with the Lord. I will quote the first stanza of that and maybe put the entire song underneath.
[[This world is not my home – I’m just a passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world any more.]]
That is what I would call the tug of heaven.
WALKING TOWARDS DEATH – IN OTHER WORDS, TUGGED TOWARDS HEAVEN
I think the Lord wants us to have this heavenly tug. Have you journeyed to meet someone you care about and may not have seen for years, even decades? You know how the excitement grows as you are getting closer. The Lord is our permanent and closest Companion. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He walks with us constantly. Is it not right to want that tug in your heart to increase as you get near the completion of the journey and are about to meet that special friend? (we also mean THAT Special Friend)
Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of one of His saints. {{Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His godly ones.”}} It is just a transition to a much better place, but why do we focus on the place? There is too much focus on the heavenly place and the gold and glory and magnificence. That is not the point. In fact it can be distortion and slanted away from the true focus of heaven. The focus must be on the Person, not the place. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One who saved you and keeps you right through this earthly journey, is the One heaven’s focus is on.
There is a passage here that means a lot – {{2Corinthians 5:5 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 2Cor 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - 2Cor 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight - 2Cor 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2Cor 5:9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”}}
You will notice in verse 6 it begins with a “therefore”. You have heard often from me the words, “When you see a “therefore” always ask, ‘What is it there for.’” It is a conjunction and links what is previous; in this case the pledge of the Holy Spirit given to us at conversion with our future promise with the Lord in heaven.
You know we don’t have to worry about a thing. The Lord is our Shepherd; we are the sheep who follow. When the time has arrived, the Lord will lead us home, take us, the sheep, to the heavenly fold. We walk by faith; not by sight, and that is all that is required. Paul again confirms that he would rather be home with the Lord. The body is just the house we live in.
In that Corinthians passage you will see another “therefore” in verse 9. The same principle applies with that conjunction. The previous verses connect with our life here on earth and after our departure. Paul said there is one ambition we must have – we must be pleasing to the Lord. That is a big subject and must be in a separate message.
Would it be true to say that if you are walking at a distance from the Lord then all your tugging is worldly based? The world tugs on the carnal Christian. They who walk closely with God, welcome God’s tugging.
Death is clearly the event that increases the tug. In fact it reels the person in! My thoughts go to Stephen from Acts 7 when he was being stoned. It was cruel and evil, but the Lord more than compensated for it as the tugging of heaven was all that occupied Stephen at that point. He saw heaven open and the Lord standing there. What a lovely thought. As we get older it is natural to think more of death, and if that sounds a bit gruesome, then think of it as departing to be with the Lord. Last year my thoughts on that matter produced this poem:
DEATH IS NOT A MYSTERY
Death opens the door, and closes the door
To pass from this life to the next.
We can’t probe the way; we can not explore.
The Lord places all in context.
The path we must walk is the path of trust,
For we can not see what’s ahead.
We are in God’s hand, mere children of dust;
Not of me, but of Christ instead.
Christ the forerunner; the One gone before –
To follow, is what we must do.
Our Lord is the Way, and He is the Door
From this life to Him, won for you.
To pass from this life to heaven’s grand shore
Is glory we can’t comprehend.
We’ll be with our Lord with life evermore;
Eternity with Him we’ll spend.
If mist clouds the way and the path looks dim,
Then do not be anxious or fret.
Place your hand in His, and full faith in Him;
Upon the Lord your eyes are set.
The way we don’t know, but the Way we know,
For that is all that matters here.
With that joyous fact, your souls will then glow,
So with death there’s nothing to fear.
Death is the exit, but also the start
Of sinless salvation above.
When all is complete, it’s then we depart.
We enter Christ's fullness of love.
[[Poem is copyright – Ron Ferguson - but may be used in Christian ministry with acknowledgement.]]
ABRAHAM AND CONCLUSION
Abraham looked for a city whose maker was God. He so much wanted to be there, a member of the Lord’s flock. Abraham set up his tent in a few places and moved across Palestine/Canaan and he was to become a great nation but the tug of heaven was always central in his life. {{Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”}}
We too look for this “heavenly city” and its Architect and Builder. How do we go through life with this tug in our hearts? It is not a great secret. It is all about connection, not dissimilar to a fishing line. You can’t feel the tug on the line in the water if you don’t have a taut line. That is what God wants for us – a taut (tight) line to heaven. Connection. Another way of expressing it would be a close communion. As children of light, walk in the day and by the Lord’s side.
Have you ever wondered about the other side of all this? Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ feels a tugging as well? Indeed He does, because he has paid for a treasure –the most magnificent Pearl, and He wants to gather the treasure to Him and enfold it closely to Him. That treasure is us, His Church, and one day He will pull the cord in and gather His redeemed. He has the tugging for His saints most decisively, but what about at the other end? Do His saints have the tug of heaven in their souls and long to be with Him for all eternity?
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
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If you are interested, here is the wonderful poem that formed the basis of the song mentioned earlier.
1. This world is not my home,
I'm just a passing through,
My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me
from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
Refrain:
O Lord, I know,
I have no friend like you,
If heaven's not my home
O Lord, what can I do?
The angels beckon me
from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
2. My Saviour pardoned me
from guilt and shame I know,
I'll trust His saving grace
while trav'ling here below;
I know He'll welcome me
at heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
3. I have a precious mother
up in glory land,
I don't expect to stop
until I clasp her hand;
For me she's waiting now
at heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
4. The saints in gloryland
are shouting victory,
I want to join their band
and live eternally;
I hear the sweetest praise
from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
recorded - Jim Reeves
written by Mary Reeves & Albert E. Brumley
