Longing for God, not just his house

Over the past couple of months, I've been reading through the Book of Isaiah and it has given me great joy to see all that Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah, being fulfilled perfectly in Jesus.
But it really made me wonder: why did Jews persistently believe that Jesus was not the one who Isaiah was referring to? How did they manage to miss it?

To understand why, I think we need to put ourselves in the shoes of Jews of Jesus' time:
1. They had waited a long time for their Messiah to arrive. They had heard prophecies from Isaiah, from Jeremiah and from so many other prophets about who he was going to be, and they had waited for him for centuries.
2. They had suffered greatly. Their wait was not a comfortable, joyous one. They had suffered war, exile and enemy rulers, finally culminating in the rule of Caesar & the Roman empire in Jesus' time.
3. They were desperate for freedom, for Israel to be restored to all its former glory. And no doubt, the Messiah was promised to bring God's people together under God's rule again, which we, post-Jesus Christians, are able to see fulfilled in part spiritually and will be fulfilled completely, when Jesus returns and takes us to be with him & God for eternity.
When Jesus came to the Jews, he did not fit their expectations of Him. Jesus did not overthrow the Roman empire. Instead, he taught and then, he died. To these Jews, to believe in Jesus, as Messiah, would have meant accepting another long, arduous wait to see God's people restored fully to Himself. And for some of them, it was too much to face; too hard to believe it was true.

I wonder if we are much different these days. As post-Jesus-Christians struggling with chronic illness, we too have waited for what seems like a long time to be free from the bondage of our illnesses. We too have suffered greatly, each enduring and carrying the weight of our poor health and relational isolation. We too are desperate to be restored to fullness, to finally be physically free to be who God made us to be. Unfortunately, this means that we too are in danger of forgetting who God is and has revealed himself to be now.

Friends, do you ever find yourself day dreaming about heaven, about that moment when you'll receive your resurrection body and finally know what it is like to breathe/walk/worship/etc without pain? I'm definitely not saying that this is an evil thing to do, but consider this: If you could have heaven right now, with no sickness, pain and a fully restored body, with all the friends you've ever had on earth and all the food and activities you've ever liked/enjoyed and all the natural beauties you've ever seen and no human conflicts or disasters, could you be satisfied with this heaven if God was not there? 

I think as Christians, and even more so as Christians who battle life-long chronic illness, we need to be ever vigilant & prayerful to ensure we do not forget what heaven is truly about; what Jesus actually accomplished for us on the cross - ie. a restored relationship with God and what we will receive in heaven - a life forever walking with our God.


God, thank you that Jesus is the Messiah that you spoke of, through the prophets. Thank you that because He died and rose from the dead, that our relationship with you is restored & we can be your sons & daughters again. Please help us never stop longing for the day when you fully restore this world. But as we look forward to that day when Jesus returns and calls us to heaven, help us long to spend eternity with You, and not just with your great gifts that are ours in Christ.