Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Be truthful here…how many sermons or teachings have you really heard on heaven and hell? I’m not talking about just mentioning it matter-of-factly, but actual sermons where you discuss heaven and hell?
I don’t know about you (hey, I say that a lot don’t I?) but I want to hear what they Bible says about it as much as I can, especially if I’m going there. I also want to hear about hell so that I won’t do the things that will get me there. So, the problem is…why won’t pastors/teachers preach on this subject way more than they do? Growing minds want to know!
As I have mentioned prior about my son’s death he came to me right after he died and said, “mom, its okay. I am just sleeping”. That did give me comfort, but I understand the confusion that could bring to some. Some believe you die and Wala you are in heaven walking the streets of gold. Well, yes…but not as a body yet. God would have no need to come and raise the dead if the body was in heaven already. I do believe that when we die our spirit is present with the Lord until the time He returns to take us home by raising the dead and meeting Him in the air. It says no one goes before someone else…so as confusing as this might seem at the moment. I do believe our spirit is with God in whatever way He chose us to be there, and that He is coming to raise the dead and we all get this magnificent body one day that never dies, is never sick, never grieves, never cries. So whatever state we truly are in heaven till then…I’ll take that.
The Fifth Seal: The Martyrs
9And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.…
Well, my son, my parents, my sister, and many of my friends have gone on to be “with the Lord” over time. Where are they? What are they doing? We always think we know just how good or bad someone is don’t we? Then they die and people say nice things about them even if they were abusive, mean, or evil people. They talk about them being in heaven and walking with God. But really are they all there? No! But the thing is a mean and awful person could have asked Jesus into their life prior to death and one day we find out they are there. The opposite is we think that someone we thought was really a good person and nice that didn’t want Jesus as their Lord and Savior and they are not there. We might not understand because they were always nice, helping, doing kind things and ,so on. But that is not the requirement for heaven. The requirement into heaven is that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Without Jesus no matter how good you are you won’t get into heaven.
So what are they doing in heaven really? We don’t know really. We know their spirit is there so they must be up there doing something. Whatever it might be…that’s okay with me. But one day not only will we Christians find out but we will partake in it. We will also be raised…even if our bodies had been destroyed on this earth because God is God and He knows where everyone is and what happened to them. One day we get a great new heavenly body and I sure look forward to that one. This one has gotten old and tired out. I hope I did not confuse anyone here as it surely is not my intention. I know people have opinions on this subject and they believe what they do just like I do. I see both sides. Your opinion is important, and I mean no disrespect regarding your opinion.
The moment you arrive as a baby upon this earth is the moment you begin to go to death one day. Some go right away, some very young, some young, some old, and so on. We all have a date with death. There should be a song called “Born to die”. No, not funny…sorry! But the fact remains we will one day die. We can go out with Jesus being our Lord and make it across that finish line into heaven, or we can die and miss heaven altogether. For those that seem to think hell will be a big party and all…..not! It is called hell for a reason and you won’t like it. Right now you can change your destiny. Again, one second after death is one second too late. There are no appeals, no getting out of hell on good behavior, or any other way. Right now is when you get to decide just who you will follow. God into heaven or the devil into hell. Again, choose wisely for that one second after death is one second too late.
Now, think about this. God has tried over and over to get our attention putting things in front of us to show us heaven, Himself, and that He is God. The devil, on the other hand, does whatever he can to get us to doubt God, doubt good, doubt heaven, and he plants these little seeds so you do doubt God. Why? Why would the devil do this? Because the devil is trying to destroy as many lives as he can. He doesn’t want you to love God and he doesn’t want you to make it into heaven. He has done his job well…just look around at all the chaos and evil going on.
I want to go to heaven. I want to spend eternity with my Lord and all those saints who made it. I want to see my loved ones again. The thought of heaven keeps me going. Oh, before meeting Jesus my life was on the road to destruction. I am so very thankful God showed me Him, came after me, and has blessed me so many times. I am not rich, not famous, have nothing of what someone might call privilege…but I have the best of the best of the best and that is I have Jesus in my life. He walks with me each day. God doesn’t always give me what I think I want or need in life, but He always gives me truth and what I really need…even if the answer is to say no or wait. He has my back so why shouldn’t I trust Him? I don’t need what you have, nor do I want it. If God gave you something, then enjoy whatever it was or is. We all have things we would like to have to do whatever it is we think we want to do, but if God says no then there is a reason for the no. Trust that. (I’ll add here that whatever God has blessed you with…honor Him with it)
I used to love to camp for instance. We would take our kids camping and it was great. It was family time to enjoy each other, play games, sit around a campfire, talk or not talk…eat together and so on. It was fun. I miss that time. You don’t get it back if you forget to do things with your kids. Times have changed that is for sure. I’d venture if my kids were little now days they would not want to do the same things we did back then and the dumb phones, and games would not be ones we’d be sharing (violent shoot them up games…no!). I don’t like the times now. Families are not families where time together is important. People do their own things, and it is sad to me. Kids today (many have no clue what family is, means, and how much fun you can have together) Kids are so busy being busy with “stuff”…the miss all the good times with those that love them.
I however, do want a travel trailer. No rough camping on the ground or in a tent anymore. Body just isn’t up to that part. I, however, don’t have a travel trailer or small motor home and maybe never will…but I would still like one to go out and just get away from some of this crazy world we are in right now. Like some mini vacations just out there doing nothing, not watching any news, not hearing all the political garbage and so on. I guess if God would like that for me/us…then somewhere there is something reasonable to get and it would be well used and loved. However, if He says nope…not now, I’m still okay with that for I trust God to know what is best. The older one gets those little pains and issues come up and as I said I don’t want to sleep in a tent or on the ground. It gets harder to get up than it used to, and I love hot showers etc. Yep, a travel trailer would be good. But will wait and see how that one goes. Because either way I’m okay with God’s answer.
So, back to heaven for a few here. You hang in there. You study God’s word regarding heaven. You trust God and ask Him into your heart for He will come and stay if you do. Don’t push God away. He always wants to spend time with you. Sometimes we feel Him near and sometimes we don’t. However, that doesn’t mean He is not there. He is always with us. He always listens. He doesn’t always reply as we hoped for because just as a parent doesn’t always give their kids what they ask for (because it is not right for them or age appropriate, or can’t afford it then) Well, God knows what is best for us as well. Some roads of life might look good and be horrible for us to take. Maybe it is like climbing a dangerous mountain and finding when you get to the top…on the other side it had a road, stairs, and a safe trail. Just saying….we don’t always know the dangers out there on certain paths we choose to take. I wonder just how many times in my life that God turned me a different way because I was headed to danger. Then I think of 911 and a few of the stories that were told…like I got up late or I would have been there, there was traffic, and I went a different way, or I had to stop and do such and such first. Do you think maybe a few of those people were steered a different way that day? Then one will ask…why not everyone? I don’t know. This side of heaven we just don’t know all the answers. But I do know some didn’t do their normal routine that morning. Sometimes the very things we think are distractions and inconveniences are really a blessing in disguise.
Post 140…Study of Heaven
When you read or hear the word ‘heaven’ what instantly comes to your mind? How do you see heaven as being, who is there, what are they doing, and why do you think that? I’d venture to say that over your life you, in the back of your mind, heard or read what people said about heaven so that is how you might perceive it. I did that as well until I chose to study it to find out what God says about it and most of what I thought was not what God said.
When I was doing chaplain work and went into see patients I’d say most of those who were not saved were very fearful of what death had for them. They didn’t know Jesus and most still didn’t, but what did they think was about to happen? Why were they so afraid to ask the creator into their life? Why is the word Jesus cause so many to fear and hate? Right then they could have changed their destiny, but most chose not to. I find that so terrible, but I can’t make their choice for them or every one of them would have asked Jesus into their life.
Why do so many people see heaven and Jesus as a bad place to be but will accept the devil, the evil, and the lies so easily?
- In Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden , surrounded by fruit trees and beautiful things. But the most beautiful thing of all was that they walked with GOD. God loved to come and take a walk in the garden in the evenings when the shadows were cool, and the flowers smelled sweet, and when all the animals came out to play. Isn’t that a beautiful sight? However, because of sin that changed (for the time being). What would it be like right now had sin not entered this world? How different would it be?
You and I have a final destination coming. Some call it a resting place. I would not say that even about heaven. Who would want to just rest in such a glorious place. On the other hand…I seriously doubt that even one person who goes to hell would have one day of peace there for it is called hell for a reason. One is good and the other destination is not. One has Almighty God in it who loves us, and the other has separation for all eternity from our loving God.
When we make that final journey to heaven our bodies will be changed. No, we don’t know what we will really look like, but I bet it is wonderful because the God of all creation made it.
Now what will there not be in heaven that we should all be excited about? No sorrow, no grief, no pain, no suffering, no terrorists, no man-made governments, no fraud, no corruption, no racism, no hatred, no murders, no rapes, no abuse, no beatings, no “woke” crap, no crying, no loss, no one thinking they are more important than you are, no backbiting, no gossip, no lying, cheating, and all the rest of what is wrong with this world. That sure sounds great to me!
Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Praise God. He was a carpenter on earth, but wow…what the carpentry in heaven must be like. Heaven won’t be like earth, but I’m sure that in His descriptions He used words we would more easily understand.
God knows everything about each of us. You can’t hide even one thing even by thought…so why not just tell the truth to begin with. Upon your death bed, let’s say for a moment…if God were to ask you to tell Him one special thing you would want to be in heaven…what would it be? Whom would it be? I guess, here, you can make a longer list. For me it would first be to see my Savior. I would like to see my son and all my relatives. I’d like to see the apostles and tell them thanks for spreading the message of Jesus, and then so many more. I want to see the lady who was the one who took the time to share Jesus with me as a child…Iona. What a wonderful lady she was. As for what I would like in heaven…just to be at peace for once. Wherever He puts me there in a mansion or if it were a closet…I’d be there and that is what would matter. I hope everyone who has gone through my life would be there. There are many people who come and go in one’s life, and then there is that special one you always hoped would be happy and find great love to share their life with. I’d also like to find out that anyone who ever hurt me had come to Jesus and accepted Him into their life and I hope they are there as well. I don’t wish badly on any one of them. I would still like to ask God a few questions about certain things and hope He answers them, but I suspect that even if He chooses not to answer something, it won’t matter any longer.
Heaven is real and I sure want to be there. I want you there too. We all make a lot of sins in our life, but we can still change our destiny and be forgiven. Ask Jesus into your life, confess of your sins/repent and change direction. He wants you in heaven. If you miss it…it is because you chose to. I still have lots of things to say regarding heaven, but I think I will stop now. I sure hope that you got something good in this study, that you will study even more because heaven is a wonderful subject to study. Thank you for taking the time
Now, may the creator of all bless you, keep you, take care of you, draw you to Him, provide for all your needs and may you…want more and more of Jesus in your life.
God bless you.