April 2024 Musings and More
April 2024 Musings and More
On Paradise, Veiled Glory, and Enduring Hope
“When you painted on earth – at least in your earlier days – it was because you caught glimpses of heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Water surrounds me, extending as far as my eyes can see. Gradations of blue—azure, turquoise, and royal—swirl and swoop around sandbars and rock outcroppings, painting the landscape with grandeur. Pink and white sand beaches and rock walls stretch out across the shoreline. Palm trees and mangroves rise up out of the waters, reaching toward the sky. Beneath me, a curious nurse shark glides through the water, gracefully circling the boat while the cool ocean breeze soothes my sunbaked skin.
We worked toward this goal for two years. Now, here we are. We’ve been aboard our floating home, Remedy, in the Bahamas for almost two months. I’ve seen the master artist’s hand in sunrises and sunsets, in antler coral and brain coral, in the Scrawled Filefish and the Queen Triggerfish. The cartoonish appearance of the Puffer Fish makes me giggle at the Lord’s whimsy and frivolity. Others, like the majestic reef shark, leave me in awe (and a lot of fear and trembling). It is, without a doubt, a feast for the eyes.
We’ve had rich, intimate moments with God, one another, and friends we love dearly. We’ve shared joy, laughter, and even a few tears. We’ve feasted on fresh-caught fish and shared fellowship by a bonfire on the beach as the sun set on the horizon. We’ve worshiped and shared communion with brothers and sisters at St. Andrews Anglican, and we celebrated a risen Christ with communion at our own table with just the two of us.
It’s paradise.
Only, it isn’t.
The effects of this El Niño year are visible. Coral reefs are bleached and dying from waters too hot to sustain them and the fish that feed off them. Mold and mildew proliferate on ceilings, walls, cabinets, doors, floors, and clothes in our floating home. Fellow travelers have died from both natural and unnatural causes. The inescapable reality is that there is no paradise on this side of eternity. The earth and everything in it still bears the scars and the ongoing effects of sin. You can’t outrun the curse.
For the last two months, I’ve been in the closest thing to paradise on this side of eternity, but I am the same me. I brought the same fears. The same insecurities. The same weaknesses. The same struggles with sin. The same wounds. The same shame and self-contempt. Even here, old wounds flare up, new wounds are inflicted, and misunderstandings fracture fellowship. Mold and mildew don’t just grow on hard surfaces; they also grow on the contours of the human heart. Sin, brokenness, and hurt are ever-present. You can’t outrun yourself.
To be sure, I’ve caught glimpses that are magical and awe-inspiring! I may be in paradise, but paradise is not yet fully realized in me or the world I inhabit. Even here, echoes of the curse resound. But glory speaks a louder word.
So this month, I am pondering paradise, veiled glory, and our steadfast hope.
“Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness; but your darkness cannot now infect our light.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Veiled Glory
In C.S. Lewis’ classic, The Great Divorce, he invites us to imagine the substantive glory of heaven, where everything is more itself—more solid, more real, more glorious. Even the grass was painful to their feet for those who had newly arrived because they were not yet solid enough to experience God’s unveiled glory in creation.
In the book of Exodus, Moses witnessed God’s glory firsthand as he wielded power over all of creation—commanding everything from frogs and flies to hail and seas—to rescue his beloved Israel from their slavery in Egypt. Not even Pharaoh, the most powerful and resource-rich leader, could rival the glory of Yahweh. Yet, even in this awe-inspiring display, God’s glory was shrouded. Merely catching a glimpse of it ignited Moses' longing to behold the Lord's glory in its entirety. And while the Lord made provision for Moses to catch a glimpse of his backside, he told him that no one could look upon his face, the full display of his glory, and live (Exodus 33:12-34:9). Moses wasn’t solid enough to experience the unveiled glory.
After spending forty days on the mountain in the Lord’s presence, Moses’ face shone so brightly that when the Israelites saw it, they were afraid to come near him, so Moses placed a veil over his face anytime he returned from being in the Lord’s presence (Exodus 34:29-35). The Israelites were not solid enough to experience the unveiled glory.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus took Peter, James, and John high up on a mountain, where he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Moses and the prophet Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus, and while they were talking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” And the disciples fell on their faces and were terrified (Matthew 17:1-8). Even here, the Lord allows only a glimpse because Peter, James, and John were not solid enough to experience his unveiled glory.
And, in the book of Revelation, the Lord, once again, peels back the veil and gives John a glimpse into the glory of the heavenly realm:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1:10,12-17, emphasis mine).
John, too, was not yet solid enough to experience the unbridled glory of God.
If the most brilliant sunrise or sunset you’ve ever seen is veiled, how much more breathtaking will it be in renewed creation? If those moments in Scripture, when God lifted the veil and allowed human eyes a glimpse of his glory, evoked fear and awe, how much more so the unmitigated glory of God?
We may spend our lives pursuing paradise on this side of eternity, yet all we encounter is veiled. As Lewis so aptly captured, we are not yet solid enough to experience the full unveiled glory of God—whether in his presence or in his creation.
“They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” - C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Enduring Hope
Throughout our adventure in the Bahamas, God has graciously and generously allowed me to experience a small fraction of his glory. It has been nothing short of surreal, and I am profoundly grateful. But still, it falls short and leaves me longing to experience true paradise in the fullness of his creation, free from death and decay and where mold can no longer grow on human hearts.
Though there is no earthly paradise, no place on this side of eternity where we can escape the effects of the curse in ourselves or in our world, our enduring hope is that you can’t outrun God. He’s outpaced us every step of the way.
Despite sin's pervasive influence on every facet of creation, God has already begun ushering in paradise. Occasionally, we catch a fleeting glimpse of it—showing up in mundane settings, at unexpected times, and in unpredictable ways—granting us glimpses of redemption, glimmers of healing, and transforming ordinary moments into extraordinary displays of his glory.
Sometimes, he peels back the veil while you’re sitting on a wall, having a vulnerable conversation with a friend about God.
Other times, he shows us paradise in a child’s unrestrained joy.
It breaks through in every sunrise and sunset, and it is present in every heartbeat.
We get glimpses of paradise while sitting on a beach on a tropical island and while changing a diaper far from it.
He lifts the veil during Communion when we come to the Table with empty hands and hungry hearts alongside our Bahamian brothers and sisters and our neighbors down the street.
And sometimes, he allows us to experience something so profound, so rich and meaningful that it almost hurts because we are not yet solid enough for it.
But, while we live in this liminal space, awaiting the unveiled glory of new creation, he is preparing us for a place—lifting the veil from our faces so that we can both see and reflect the Lord’s glory. He is committed to transforming us into the image and likeness of Christ, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). While what we will be has not yet been revealed, we do know that when we see him, we will finally be like him (1 John 3:2). And we will be solid, fully and finally healed—in heart, mind, body, and soul.
And he is preparing a place for us where there is no need for the sun because the glory of the Lord is its light (Revelation 21:23). A place where there are no more tears because there is no more suffering. No more death and decay. No more curse. No more veiled glory. A place where we will dwell with God, where we will see his face. And that is the true definition of paradise.
Until then, I pray that wherever we are, our eyes, hearts, and minds are open to the evidence of God’s glory and that our lives radiate the glory of God to those around us.
Love you guys!
CC
P.S. If you have not read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, it is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it!
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