Will we see Jesus in glory when He finally takes us home? Only if we hearHim on this side of glory. Let’s not waste our time with silly books and movies about people going to heaving and coming back again. They are just worthless fables.

A friend on FB was blasted when she decried another movie about a girl who died and went to heaven, and then came back again to make millions on the story. This latest movie is being put together by T.D. Jakes. We should not be surprised that Jakes wants to cash in on the new wave of heavenly tourism that is sweeping the nation.

These stories are basically the same: person dies, goes to heaven, sees Jesus riding a pink orangutang, or some such nonsense and then they return from heaven where the next sound heard is that of the cash register. Never mind that the Apostle Paul was caught up into the third heaven, and said it was unlawful for any man to speak of what he saw.

The real issue here is that far too many people want to be taken in with this idea of seeing Jesus. Yet, the New Testament rarely talks about us “seeing Him.” It is far more concerned with us “hearing Jesus.” Please don’t think that I mean hearing Him audibly, as in, “Jesus was talking to me today…” That is right up T.D. Jakes alley, but not for those seeking to actually follow Jesus.

We are to hear Him through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. We get a real clear example of that when we find Jesus on the road to Emmaus with his two disciples.

What stands out to me the most is the reality that their eyes were restrained from seeing Jesus. The real question is why would God restrain their eyes? Should not these two have been given the opportunity to see the risen Savior as He was? Why would God keep this truth from them?

The simple answer is that it was far more important for the two disciples to “hear” the words of Christ, than to see Him. This is an astronomical truth that we need to hear in our day for several reasons. First, we must remember that our God is a God of the spoken word.

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