When you face the reality of death, my friend, will it be with hope or with fear? The answer to this question has much to suggest concerning your relationship with Jesus Christ. May you trust in Him for eternal life, before and beyond the grave. Peggy is an independent young woman, leaning, politically, strongly left -- a point O'Hara emphasizes, even though for a 1938 novel Hope of Heaven is otherwise surprisingly unconcerned about the (geo)political situation of its times; there is an Oswald Mosley-mention slipped in, but that's about as far as it goes. The prophecy of Daniel is not the revelation of God’s plan of salvation; it is the revelation of God’s plan for the future. It reveals how God’s salvation will be fulfilled, not how it is made possible. Daniel focuses on the manifestation of God’s salvation in history, not its means through the coming, death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Henderson tries to ingratiate himself with his children, but Keith isn't having any of that; Penny goes along with it to a certain extent but also maintains a slightly wary distance. As perfect health was our first happiness, so it will be our last and eternal happiness, for heaven is not merely streets of gold and harps of melodious music, and winged creatures strangely bright, but it is perfection realized, the slough of depravity cast off the soul shall be herself again, and of manhood it shall be said, ‘his flesh is fresher than a child’s, and he has returned to the days of his youth.”

Are you Christ’s own? Do you trust him? Do you live in fellowship with him? Then the hope of the hereafter may well take the sting out of the present.” Those without hope of eternal life try to avoid the reality of death. They are, in fact, enslaved by the fear of death (see Hebrews 2:15). Great amounts of money and effort are spent to conceal the ugly face of death. The gospel of Jesus Christ faces death head-on, with the proclamation that while death is the consequence of sin, Christ is the cure for sin and death.

But no two saints are alike, because each one reflects the love of Christ in a unique way. Human beings are not clones. We are God’s work of art – each of us unique. We have to find our own way of loving, with all our individual strengths and weaknesses. And we have to work out what God actually wants us to do in each situation. It’s not always clear or easy. After a significant delay, the pastor resumed the funeral service, or so he thought. The graveside service was miserably cold and wet, with rain continuing to fall. Everyone tried to crowd under the tent where a small heater attempted to offset the bitter cold. As the pastor began to read the encouraging words of Romans 8, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, …” he was interrupted by flames bursting from the heater, causing everyone to flee the tent. To remedy the problem, the funeral director leaped over the casket toward the heater to disconnect it, sending floral arrangements flying in all directions. The most important fact is that heaven is a real place. Listen to the words of Jesus on the night before he was crucified: But I am sure of this one truth. No one will go to heaven except by the grace of God and through the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ. If a man says "No" to Jesus, he has no hope of heaven.

But it's not the full-on cynicism of so many Hollywood novels -- and it is a Hollywood novel, with (incidental) star-sightings and name-dropping galore, and the occasional handshake --, with Malloy, however much he is successfully a part of the industry, not overly caught up in it: we hardly learn anything about his work beyond which studio he's currently under contract with, much less see him actually at work. Sometimes, we discuss a "God-shaped vacuum" inside the human heart. I believe there is also a "heaven-shaped vacuum," a sense that we were made for something more than this life. We were made to live forever somewhere. In a real sense, we were made for heaven. We have all probably heard of the concept of heaven - but how does the Bible actually describe it? What kind of hope can we have about heaven? Is it a place where babies sit on clouds and play harps, or is there something more grounded about it? What does this word make you think of? A place up in the sky? In the clouds? Perhaps a place much further away, somewhere on a different planet? Or maybe a different dimension of reality altogether? Is it a happy place full of wonderful things to discover and explore, or a tame, quiet, subdued place of quiet singing, harp music, and stillness? Is it filled with the same natural beauty that our planet has, or is it completely otherworldly and supernatural? Are the people there human beings, or angels, or ghosts, or something else?In chapter 10, we were told that Daniel “understood the message and had an understanding of the vision” (verse 1). I do not think this meant he understood everything concerning the future, but he did have a general grasp of the prophetic program of God and of its meaning and message for him (unlike previous revelations he received). As a result of the vision and revelation of chapters 10-12, Daniel understood all he needed to know about the future. As I understand the words of Daniel 10:1, they refer to Daniel’s understanding after the vision was given and the message was conveyed and explained. Daniel’s understanding came not at the beginning but at the end of the process.

In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. 3 I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all, until the entire three weeks were completed (Daniel 10:2-3).

In heaven, we will know each other intimately. That's why Peter, James and John recognized Moses and Elijah, even though they had been dead for hundreds of years, on the Mount of Transfiguration ( Matthew 17:1-9). I don't think they had nametags on. I think there was something about those two men that made Peter, James and John recognize them even though they had never seen them before. Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”