A thought about heaven

Some moments, on our earth, we can catch a glimpse of God in creation: in a waterfall rippling over stones; evening light spilling across the grass; mist descending upon distant mountains. I can't say for sure what causes those moments, when we look at nature and see it as if the divine is being poured through it like water through a funnel (to paraphrase Evelyn Underhill): when we look at a sunset and suddenly realize what is meant by the word "glory," or when we see the brown earth covered in snow and suddenly understand what is meant by "grace": when the world is baptized by the presence of God shining through it. Yet some moments are like that. All of a sudden our vision clears, and we can see God through the world, as we can see the world through a window, or an idea through words, or an experience through a poem. Most of the time our minds aren't aware enough, or the world isn't clear enough, for us to see God through it. But what if we always could?

Imagine a heaven where the world is a perfect expression of God, as the physical man Jesus was the perfect expression of Christ, God's son, the second person of the trinity. Imagine a heaven where our minds have the blinders taken off, so that we can understand clearly all the time: a heaven where the beauty of creation declares the glory of God unceasingly, so that God's presence is with us completely at all times: a heaven where language is perfect, so that every word is the ideal embodiment of the idea it represents. Imagine a world where nature is perfect, so that every stone and tree and blade of grass is a perfect bearer of God to us. That I think would be heaven indeed, when the language of the earth is purified so that it perfectly carries the character of God, so that where'er you walk God's presence is fully expressed to you.

One of my favorite verses is Zephaniah 3:9, "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call upon the Lord to serve him with one accord." It speaks only of language; but how far will that restoration extend?