“We are homesick for Eden. We're nostalgic for what is implanted in our hearts. It's built into us.” (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, Chapter 8)I couldn't agree more. Lewis and Chesterton also speak of this often. I've often pointed out how our legends and fairy tales utilize this very human yearning for paradise (and they lived happily ever after.)
But it’s not just an earthly utopia we most deeply long for, but something sublime and spiritual, something that answers our soul's yearning for serenity and significance that is beyond anything we’ve known. At least, that we haven’t known yet. Some of the most plaintive of our popular songs express this: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” or “There's A Place for Us,” “Moon River,” “Age of Aquarius,” “Theme from a Summer Place,” “Bali Hai.”
Oh yes. Man, created in the image of God, is wired for paradise. His heart naturally yearns for the righteousness, wholeness, and security of heaven.
