A Foretaste of Glory

The fellowship you share now is a down payment on the fellowship you will share forever.

When John is transported to heaven in his vision, the first thing he sees is not a display of God's power. It is not a celestial palace. He sees a vast multitude.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10)

This is the final state of the redeemed. We are not individuals in isolation. We are a people. Gathered from every nation and tribe. United in worship.

The fellowship will not end. It will be perfected.

Every failure we have experienced in our attempts at community will be redeemed. Every wall that has divided us will be broken down. Every word spoken in anger will be answered with forgiveness. Every loneliness will be replaced with perfect belonging.

John sees the new creation itself.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4)

This is the fellowship of God and humanity, perfectly realized.

Jesus prayed for this on the night of His arrest. "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). He was not praying for our individual spiritual experiences. He was praying that we would be together with Him and with each other forever.

The goal of salvation is not that you go to heaven. It is that you are brought into the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that you remain there eternally with all the redeemed.

This changes how we understand fellowship now.

It is not a temporary arrangement. It is not a holding pattern until we die. It is the beginning of something eternal.

Every time you sit with your church family in worship, you are participating in a rehearsal of eternity. You are gathering with people you will be with forever. The circle will not break. The fellowship will never end. This is why Paul can write about our departed brothers and sisters that we do not grieve as those without hope. "We believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The dead in Christ are not lost. They are waiting. They will rise when Christ returns. And we will be reunited with them forever.

The recognition that fellowship is eternal should sanctify our behavior now.

If you are going to spend eternity with someone, should you not treat them with eternal weight? If you are holding a grudge against your brother, you are holding it against someone you will be with forever. If you are withholding forgiveness, you are creating a breach that eternity will highlight. If you are neglecting your church family now, you are neglecting people who matter more than you can fully grasp.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

The fellowship in glory will be far deeper than what you can experience now. You will know each other completely. You will understand each other's hearts. There will be no more pretense, no more hiding, no more judgment. But it will still be the same fellowship. It will still be the same circle.

You will recognize those you worshipped with. Walked with. Served alongside. You will understand finally why that difficult person was placed in your church community. And you will rejoice that you persevered in loving them.

You are part of something far larger than you can see. A fellowship that stretches across two thousand years, around the globe, and into eternity itself.

When you gather with your church family, you gather with the apostles. With the martyrs. With the saints of every age. When you take the Lord's Supper, you participate in a mystery that connects you to believers in every time and place.

The circle of fellowship has no end.

You belong to it. You are never alone.