will never forget the day I experienced death, the cold, final weight of goodbye. I was 17, a brand-new high school senior, excited about all the milestones ahead. Just three months into the year, I got a phone call: my father had collapsed. Thirteen days later, I sat in a hospital waiting room as the code blue echoed through the halls. Moments later, the doctor told us my father was gone.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. No more daddy-daughter ice cream runs, no more driving lessons, no more promises of rewards for good grades.

Grief swept over me in waves, anger, sadness, confusion. My heart shattered as I wondered: Who would walk me down the aisle? Who would be there for father-daughter moments now? Why my dad, and why now, God?

Yet in the midst of my pain, God reminded me: before my earthly father lived or died, He had a plan that would one day remove death forever.

The Bible reveals that God has designed a process of healing called the Millennium, a thousand-year period after Christ’s return when the redeemed will live with Him in Heaven. Scripture says,

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?… Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3, ESV).

During this time, God will allow us to bring our questions before Him and see His justice and goodness fully revealed. Our whys will be healed in the waiting room of Heaven.

As the hymn says, “We’ll understand it better by and by.” The Millennium will be a balm for the grief we carried on earth. Satan will be silenced, evil will pause, and the redeemed will know that God is good and merciful. But Heaven is not the end of the story. At the close of the thousand years, God will restore this broken world to Eden’s perfection. Revelation 21 promises a new heaven and new earth where

“He will wipe away every tear… and death shall be no more” (vs. 4).

That is how it all ends: Satan and evil defeated forever. No more shootings, no more cancer, no more storms, no more daughters losing their fathers too soon. When the Millennium ends and eternity begins, every eye will see Christ, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

The beauty of God’s plan is this: He doesn’t just erase our pain; He heals our hearts. The Bible confirms God’s plans with imagery like these:

• Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea” (NIV).
• Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (NKJV).
• Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain” (ASV).
• 2 Peter 3:13 “”But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells,” (NIV).