There’s a mansion now empty, just waiting for me At the end of life’s troublesome way Many friends and dear loved ones will welcome me there Near the door of that mansion

One day when an assembly is held in honor of my graduation from this life to eternity, there are some three songs I want sung at that assembly, one of which is “An Empty Mansion”:

“When my labor and toiling have ended below And my hands shall lie folded in rest                   

  I’ll exchange this old home for a mansion up there”

  There’s a mansion now empty, just waiting for me At the end of life’s troublesome way

  Many friends and dear loved ones will welcome me there Near the door of that mansion           

   some day”

Heaven is the promise of a better day for all of us (Rev. 21:1-4). Our joy will be multiplied because there will be no sorrow, pain, tears, darkness, death or separation. Over there we will never grow tired or weary. With joy we should be anticipating the day when we will reach that golden shore (Phil. 3:13-14). This old earthly tabernacle being burdened does groan more and more with each passing day. My friends, this earthly journey has been exciting but like a wanderer home from his travels, my soul thrills at the thought of “going home” to a better country (Heb. 11:13-16).   I don’t know what kind of body we will have in that abode. I only know that God will clothe us with a new body (1 Cor. 15:35-57). I have no idea what that new body will look like but I believe that our personalities will survive the shock of death and live on beyond the grave (Luke 16:19-25).  To all that I know and have known,  I believe that if for some reason another day in this life does not come for me, there will come a time when, if you I and have been faithful to God, we will meet again.  One of our grand old songs says it so well: “You’ll know me in the morning by the smiles that I wear when I meet you in the morning in the city that is built foursquare.”    

Yes, Heaven is truly the dawning of a better day! We just can’t afford to miss heaven. Given the brevity of life, the reality is that whether you be young in age or older in years, your life had best be one in which you can say in all truth that you are ready to shed these earthly bonds. At this very moment can you say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith? (2 Tim. 4:6-8)  One day you were somebody’s little boy, somebody’s little girl and, like myself, probably learned this child’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”. If we are faithful children of God this little prayer is one that we can pray with a fervent spirit and it will have great meaning to us. If we are in Christ when the sun sets on this life, then it will not be “good-bye”, it will be “so long, see you”. To God be the glory forever and ever, Amen (1 Pet. 5:11).

Charles Hicks