“Oh! I’ve longed for this day,” saith The LORD. “You are just now beginning to have a small concept and a small idea of what it’s like to desire heaven and what it’s like to desire to be over on the other side. You’re just getting a little taste of it. The Apostle Paul got a little bit more taste of it and he said, ‘Please, I want to go and I want to go now.’ But he knew the plan and he said, ‘Nevertheless, because of you and the fact that I’ve been called and God has planned for me to minister to you, I’m going to stay until I get that done.’
“He did, didn’t he? But he said, ‘Oh, to die is great gain. Oh it’s gain. To be with Christ Jesus, oh it’s far better.’ He said. ‘I’m stuck between the two: of going and staying.’ He wanted to go, but the plan said no. So, he stayed. But there did come a time, he said, ‘I am ready to be offered.’ They did not kill him. No. He offered himself and allowed them to martyr him, giving him a greater resurrection. What a man! Whoa! What a man! Go through all that stuff and say, ‘OK, boys, where do you want me now?’ Right about here, OK?’ He was about to be offered. Hallelujah.
“You are beginning to sense that. You are beginning to have thoughts of being over on the other side. Some more than others! Others of you know that you’re approaching that day and that time when you’re finishing your course and every day gets a little more exciting and you get a little more ready to step over on the other side.
“You’re beginning to sense—Oh, but I have longed for you many, many, many years,” saith The LORD of grace. “I am waiting for you. And the time will come and I will have all My family, both heaven and earth gathered around Me to rejoice because the beginning has come,” thus saith The LORD.