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You been married ten, twenty, maybe even 40yrs and your spouse dies. You look forward to the day you reunite in heaven so you can continue the marriage forever. If you are married, or have been married at one time or another, and suffered the loss of a spouse, those thoughts may have crossed your mind from time to time. Here’s another question. You were happily married, and your spouse dies, so after a while you marry again, and God blesses you to have another happy marriage. Eventually you both die at a good old age. Whose wife, or whose husband will that person be in heaven?  Beloveth,. people from the beginning of time have wondered about these types of questions and people have formed their own opinion about the answers to these kinds of questions.

When God came into this world in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that question was asked of Him by some of the religious leaders in His day called the Sadducees, who were seeking to discredit Him. Imagine that for a minute. Here is God in human flesh, the one who created us all individually and man gave us a limited capacity to know certain things, trying to discredit the very God that created him by asking Him the type of questions about marriage that we all at one time or another, have wondered about. Look at it in,…(Matthew 22:23-33)

The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married,.. and having no offspring,. left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also.., and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all,. the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection,.. whose wife of the seven will she be?.. For they all had her.”

 Jesus answered and said to them,.. “You are mistaken,.. not knowing the Scriptures,.. nor the power of God..”  ..  For in the resurrection they neither marry,.. nor are given in marriage,.. but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching..…(Matthew 22:23-33)

The Sadducees, did not believe in the coming resurrection of the dead, like many people today don’t, and so in their mind, this whole ideal of a resurrection was ridiculous to them because if there is one, then who’s wife would this woman be who’s been married seven times if there’s a resurrection? The Lord Jesus Christ answer’s the gross error in their thinking by pointing out two very important points.  Look again at how the Lord answers them in the passage we just looked at,. in (Mathew  22:29),   where Jesus tells them this… “Jesus answered and said to them,.. “You are mistaken”,..and then He tells them two reasons why they are mistaken. He says, 1)..“you do not know the Scriptures,..and  2)… nor the power of God..”

Beloveth, whenever you and I get what we believe about God and about heaven from some place other than the Scriptures there’s a very high probability that we are going to be wrong, no matter how much we feel what you believe is right. The only thing that matters is this, “did God say that”  in the Scriptures?  In correcting the two major errors in their thinking, Jesus begins saying this,

 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven….( Matthew 22:30)

Jesus said,. in heaven there will be no marriage. They neither marry or are given in marriage.

The Sadducees’ question therefore was, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her? The Sadducees,. like a great many people today implied that heaven was simply an extension of things on earth men most enjoy, such as marital relationships… (Matthew 22:23)

Heaven,.. Jesus said, is not simply an extension of the pleasures people enjoy on earth. In fact in the eternal state marriage won’t  be necessary. Once individuals have received glorified bodies no longer subject to death, the need for procreation, one of the basic purposes for marriage, will no longer exist. Believers in glorified bodies will be like the angels in that regard, for angels do not reproduce themselves. (He did not say people will become angels.)..He said, they will be as the angels….Look at it again in… (Matthew 22:29)

For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven….( Matthew 22:30)

So, then whose wife will she be in the resurrection? According to Jesus Christ,.. nobody’s. That might disappoint some people because they are trying to compare this temporal joy here on earth with the eternal joy that all in heaven will have. There is no comparison because you and I cannot conceive in your mind what God has prepared for those who love Him and come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what the Scriptures have said,…

But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,..Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”…(1 Corinthians 2:9)

Beloveth, this temporal world at it’s very best, will never be better than the eternal world in heaven that God has prepared for those who love Him. In (John 14:1-3) Jesus says this,

​“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you… I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also…. (John 14:1-3)

Think about this for a moment. If God created marriage, wouldn’t you think He could create something far better and much more satisfying to the glorified body than marriage, if He chose to? That is what God has prepared for those who love Him. If man a creation of God can create the beautiful homes and buildings and cities we see in this world, you and I can’t even fathom in our minds on our best day, how awesome of a place God can create for those who believe in Him.

Then the second major error Jesus corrects in the thinking of these religious leaders concerns the resurrection, which they didn’t believe in. Today, even in our generation, there are people who don’t believe they are going to be resurrected one day. They actually think they are going to just cease to exist. This major error in their thinking Jesus said, also came from the fact that,..”they did not know the Scriptures,.. nor the power of God”….(Mathew 22:29)

If they had read and understood the Old Testament Scriptures,.. they would have clearly seen there is a future life and that when a person dies he continues to exist. To the Sadducees the resurrection was ridiculous because they believed death ended man’s existence. But Jesus quoted a statement God had made directly to Moses at the burning bush: “ I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob in.. (Exodus 3:6). Jesus quotes that verse in (Matthew 22:32)..where God said this,..

I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living… (Matthew 22:32)

Beloveth, when God spoke these words to Moses at the burning bush,.. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead hundreds of years ago.  If the Sadducees were correct and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died and no longer existed anywhere, the words “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” should have been “I was ”the God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac, and I was the God of Jacob.  The use of the words, “I am,” implied that God is still the God of these patriarchs, because they are alive with God and will be in the resurrection of the righteous…… (Matthew 22:29)

So, then no beloveth, there won’t be marriages in heaven, but there will be something far beyond our imagination better.  We can believe that,. because God said that.

But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,..Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared,.. for those who love Him.”…(1 Corinthians 2:9)

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If you have lived long enough, you have heard somebody at one time or another say of someone who died, they in a better place now. Usually, it helps to think of that someone in a better place as we deal with the grief and sorrow at the thought of never seeing them again in this life, and never being able to talk to them again.  Those are the types of thought’s that comes to mind. It is part of the grief process that many of us go through, but is that what God Himself actually said?   Do we all just go to a better place?  Let’s look at it.

In the Old Testament book of (2 Samuel 12: 21-23), that’s chapter 12 and verse 21-23, it tells of King David’s grief after God took the child that was born to him because of King David’s sins. This is a man who God Himself said, was a man after God’s own heart.  Although he sinned greatly against the Lord, and the Lord forgave him when he confessed his sin to God, God still took the child. The child born to him died. Then king David’s servants had a question for him after his child died,

Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”  And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:21-23)

There is much more that God did to His servant King David because of his sin but what I want to point out here is that king David had an ongoing relationship with God before this great sin. He and God talked to each other through prayer, through private time alone in God’s word, and worshipping the Lord in the Lord’s house. As you read through the Psalms you see King David’s delight at being in the house of the Lord. So, when God saw his brokenness and sincere sorrow over what he had done in his sin against God,.. God forgave him. It was on the basis of this ongoing relationship the king had with God, that the king expected to see his child again,. in that better place… which we call heaven. As you read through many of the Scripture passages in the various blog post in this website, the one common thing you will see is that the people who end up in heaven, do so because they have some sort of ongoing relationship with God.

Let’s look at another example of this in the New Testament book of Matthew chapter 17 and verse #1-5 it says this;

​Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,.. led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased… Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it,.. they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only….(Matthew 17:1-8)

Moses lived somewhere around 1500 to 1400 BC. He had been dead nearly 1400 years but there he was appearing with Jesus Christ on the mountain. Elijah lived somewhere around 900 to 800 BC and had died nearly 800 years ago. So they died some 500 plus years apart from Each other, but here they both are, appearing with Jesus Christ on the mountain,.. because when they both died,… they went to that better place. They see each other and no doubt,. know each other,.. but more importantly,.. they both had a close relationship with God during their lifetimes.  Elijah was one of God’s major prophets in the Old Testament days and Moses, God gave the Ten Commandments through Moses. God spoke highly of Moses to His people,

Then He,. ( God ) said,..“Hear now My words: ..If there is a prophet among you,.I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision;..I speak to him in a dream…Not so with My servant Moses;..He is faithful in all My house…I speak with him face to face,..( Numbers 12:6-8)  

Beloveth,.. what we can clearly see in the case of Moses and Elijah the prophet and a whole multitude of others when we read through the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews in the New Testament letters, is that the people who go to that better place when they die, are people who had a relationship with God while they lived their lives here on earth.

The Scriptures tell us of a person who we know for sure, did not go to that better place. We can be 100% sure of that because it is Jesus Christ Himself,. that tells us that this man didn’t go there,.. although there may have been many at his funeral that got up and said he did.  Luke 16:19-31, tells the story of a beggar name Lazarus and the rich man. It is that rich man that Jesus refers to here.  Both men eventually die and Lazarus the beggar ends up in that better place with Abraham. The Scriptures tell us,.. “that those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham”,( Galatians 3:9 ). So, this beggar, although he was poor, he had become a man of faith looking for the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ at some point in his life.

Not so with the rich man,.. who although he was a very successful man financially doing his lifetime, nothing is said of him having any type of relationship with God during his life. We are told Lazarus dies first then the rich man dies. Look at it in…(Luke 16:22-24)

 So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame…( Luke 16:22-24)

Until Jesus Christ returns to take those still living who have believed in Him to that better place, He has prepared for them, there are going to be people, who like this rich man… are going to live their whole life apart from God, with no relationship with God whatsoever, other than acknowledging that He does exist. Although I know where the Scriptures said they will end up when they die, and I believe that with all our heart, only God knows for sure where each individual person is who departs from this life who as far as we know did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ really is right now.  I say that because we just don’t know what went on in their heart as they exited this life. Only God can see what goes on in the heart of people as they exited this life. One of the two thieves that was crucified with Jesus Christ became a believer as he exited this life and went into eternity to be with the Lord and think about this a minute. He went into heaven to be with Jesus Christ in spite of what believers and unbelievers alike thought about him or knew about how he had lived his whole life. No doubt there were people who thought they knew for sure where that wretched thief was going to end up, but they couldn’t see what God could see.

Now in the case of this rich man however, in this Luke 16:22:24 passage, we know for sure where this man ended up because Jesus plainly tells us where this rich man went when he died. So, we can see that the key to getting to that better place,.. is having a relationship with God. It has always been that way. Jesus Christ tells a man that there is only one way to God the Father in heaven, and that is through Him. Look at it in…(John 14:6)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…. ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me”……( John 14:6)

Now everybody doesn’t have to be a great leader like Moses, or a major prophet like Elijah, but everybody has to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Think for a moment about what Jesus said here in (John 10:27-28)

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. …(John 10:27-28)

When we develop a relationship with anyone, we eventually know their voice when we hear it. That’s what happens when we believe in Jesus Christ. I talk more about that in the Blog Post titled, “What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ”.

Beloveth, I want to leave you with this thought. If someone came to you who you don’t know, expecting to live permanently in your house with you, simply because they know some facts about you,..would you allow him in? Common sense says no. “I don’t know you“. That would be our thought, along with some other thoughts. This is the response Jesus said He also would have to those wanting to enter heaven who,.. He does not know.

 “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’….( Matthew 7:21-23)

Do we all just end up in a better place? All who willing came to Jesus Christ in their lifetime will go to that better place is what the Scriptures teach. It may be that you sense God speaking to you right now about the need trust Jesus Christ and have that assurance of knowing when you die, heaven will be your home forever. If that’s you, go to the “Encouragement” tap on the “Home page,” and look for the “Prayer to Receive Christ” you can pray to the Lord from the heart, that God will hear when you pray from a sincere heart,..that wants to be forgiven by God. As for this saying that anybody and everybody who dies goes to a better place,..I don’t see anywhere in the Scriptures where God said that.

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If you are like me, you most likely have been to a funeral of a family member, a friend or co-worker. Depending on how close you were to that person, the pain and the grief could be overwhelming.  Thank God that He comforts us through the loved ones He has put in our lives. We all need that closeness, that togetherness that God uses to give us the grace to get through those difficult times in our life as we think about never seeing the person again in our lifetime. I have heard people say many times that that person who died is looking down on us from Heaven. There are a whole lot of people that believe that.  So, what about that? Are we going to be able to look down from heaven and see the things going on earth? As much as I would love to believe that is true, I have to ask, did God actually say that? Well, there is really not a place in Scripture where God actually said that, so I don’t think anybody can say for sure,.. yes they can, or no they can’t. When it comes to God, we have to be very careful about saying He said something if we can’t prove it with the Bible. That being said there are a couple examples that I see in the Bible that lend me to believe that at times when God sovereignly chooses to, He can permit someone in Heaven to see events here on earth.

In the book of Mathew, chapter 17, and verses 1-8 says this,

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴ Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  ⁵ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” ⁶ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. ⁷ But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” ⁸ When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only….. (Matthew 17:1-8)

There was Moses and Elijah who had died hundreds of years ago, and yet here they are, with Jesus Christ on the mountain, seeing Jesus being transfigured right before their very eyes on earth along with His disciples, Peter, James and John. So, you see God allowed people in that eternal world, those already in heaven to see an event in this physical world. So, we know God can and has let people in heaven see an event here on earth.

Another one that comes to mind is in ( 1 Samuel 28:12-20 ). God has rejected king Saul who God put in power over His people Israel and because the of the king’s continual disobedience to Him, God was not talking to him anymore because of his rebellion. The king went to a person involved in the occult for help, something that the Lord hates.

So, God allowed Samuel the prophet of God who had died to come back, not in his physical body, but in a spiritual body like God allowed with Moses and Elijah had to pronounce judgement on King Saul and tell him he was going to die the next day. So here again you have someone in that heavenly realm seeing into this physical world, but in both cases, they were selected events which God allowed for a specific occasion.

Finally, in the Luke, chapter 15 Jesus tells the story of a man having a hundred sheep in the wilderness and one wanders off and is lost. Because of the concern for that one lost sheep the man leaves the ninety-nine others to find that sheep. When he finds it, he calls his friends and neighbors to celebrate with him. Then he says this in verse 7,

“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance..( Luke 15:7)

 Even though this is an illustration Jesus is using to make a point, the idea here could be implied that there may be some in heaven that God sovereignly allows to see an event on earth.  Then if you look at what the Lord goes on to say in verse 10 of the same chapter, where a woman finds her lost coin, He says,

 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)

 So, without a doubt we know angels can see into this world, but we also know God can allow people who have passed into that heavenly realm to see into this earthly realm. We saw that in the two previous examples, but in each of these two previous examples the person that has gone to Heaven was allowed by God for specific reasons to see people on earth. Now does that mean everybody that goes to heaven is able to see from heaven all the stuff that’s happening on earth including what’s going on in each one’s family?  As, much as I would like to believe that, in all honesty, I don’t see anywhere that God actually said that.  Now can God do that if He sovereignly chooses to? Absolutely yes. You may have heard about someone who is just about to pass from this life into eternity and God sovereignly choose to let people from that heavenly realm see into this earthly realm just before the person passes away. It may be a family member or friend who is already in heaven. Again, you may see God at the same time allow the person who is about to pass away see into that heavenly realm. I certainly have heard of these kinds of events, and I believe them.  We also have a clear example of that in the Bible in (Acts 7:55), whereas Stephen is about to pass away is allowed to see into heaven and see Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. God in these cases is working out His sovereign plan for that individual’s life. That does not mean that once that individual passes away, now they can see everything going on in the life of their family from heaven. I simply can’t tell you that God actually said that.

Imagine looking down from Heaven and seeing and reacting to the events going on earth. Would Heaven really be Heaven, a place of no more sorrow and pain if we could see everything going on, on the earth?  What did God say about Heaven?

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” …..(Revelation 21:3-4)

Beloved, this is what everyone can look forward to,. who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to get them into heaven and are willing to allow Him to be Lord in their life by submitting to Him. That beloved, is not man’s opinion. God actually said that.

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Did God say that somewhere? That was a question that was on my mind as a young man in my late teens and very early twenty’s. You might be wondering the same thing now as you are reading this and hey, you have every right to wonder about that. It makes it sound like everybody is heading for some type of trouble at the end of their life, doesn’t it? So, if this is just the opinion of some church people that you may run across that’s one thing but if this is something God actually said then the answer to that question becomes really important because one day you, me, and everybody else living today is going to pass from this life into eternity somewhere, and so the only way to approach that final day of our life with peace and confident assurance is to know whether or not God actually said that. Do people really need to be saved, and from what, or is that just a bunch of religious talk? Let’s look at what God actually said it in the Bible.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and verses 16-18, Jesus Christ makes this amazing statement about God’s love for all people of this world, showing us His heart’s desire for us,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him,..might be saved...(John 3:16-17)

So then, there is something you and I need to be saved from according to Jesus Christ. Jesus also tells us that everybody who believes in Him will not perish, but everyone who does not believe in Him is condemned already, and they will perish. Look at verse 18 of this same chapter,

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already,..(why),.. because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God…( John 3:16-18).

Beloveth, there are three types of death that are talked about in the Bible.  I want for the moment to talk about two of them in this post.  The first is physical death, which is separation of the soul, spirit from the physical body at death.

^“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also..(James 2:26)

Then the second one, “eternal death”, which is separation from God forever in a place of torment called the Lake of fire,…(Revelation 20:11-15).

^“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire…( Revelation 20:11-15)

This is what Jesus Christ came into this world to save us from, beloveth. It was His love for us that caused Him to take off the robe of glory He had with God the Father in eternity, a place of everlasting joy, and love and peace, a place where He was worshiped day and night before the throne of God by the angels of God,.. and come down into time, to become a little baby first, then grow into man, so that as man, He could live a perfect life before a perfect God and be a perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, so that those who choose to believe in Him, would not be condemned to go to that eternal place of punishment called the Lake of fire. That place was never created for man though many Jesus Christ said will end up going there. It was created for the Devil and his angels according to Matthew 25:41.

“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels….. (Matthew 25:41)

Everyone is an imperfect sinner who will face a day of judgement before God one day. Every one of us apart from faith in Jesus Christ is a condemned sinner, heading for that place of eternal punishment if we have not placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those words are not just Jesus’ words, they are the very words of God the Father speaking in His Son.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already,..(why),..   because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God…(John 3:16-18).

Beloveth, there is a coming day of judgement, and because God is just, He must punish sin. God takes no pleasure in seeing people eternally separated from Him for their sin. It is because He loves us so much and wants to show mercy to us that He has made only one way to escape the condemnation that every one of us rightfully deserves, and that is through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. That is what God has said through His Son, Jesus Christ.

For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak..(John 12:49-50)

Notice what Jesus Christ said here? He said God the Father, the one who gives you and I our next breath, the one who has determined that you and I were going to live in this generation, and the number of days that you and I are going to live here on this earth,… God the Father, is speaking in His Son,. Jesus Christ.  Jesus said God the Father, gave Him a command, “what I should say and what I should speak”,.

 The letter to the Hebrews 1:1-2 also confirms God the Father speaking in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,..

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1-2)

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.., but that the world, through Him, might be saved…(John 3:16-17)

One of the sad commentary’s about that verse is the last three words’ “might be saved”. Not everybody will choose to be saved, in spite of all the repeated warnings of a coming resurrection day for every one of us and a coming day of judgement directly from the word of God. Both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul warned of that coming day,..

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice  and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation….(John 5:28-29)

I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men… (Acts 24:15-16)

So, it is God who has determined to show His mercy to a world that needs to be saved. God actually said that.

Finally, I want to just reflect on a question John the Baptist ask while he was baptizing people in a river, when he looked up and saw some of the religious leaders of his day coming to his baptismal service.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? …. (Matthew 3:7)

Beloveth, you and I have been warned by God Himself, speaking in His Son, Jesus Christ. He warns us because He loves us and wants us to live eternally with Him. There are times I find myself just thinking about the fact that God knew every sin i would ever do in my in my entire life and yet knowing all that He still chose to draw me to Himself through people He bought into my life and various circumstances he bought about in my life. I had to make a decision one day when i heard His voice warning me and calling me to Himself because He wanted me to be a part of His family, in spite of all He knew about me. What an awesome God! God will warn every one of us because He loves us all. The question you me and everybody else has to answer is this, “will you heed the warnings of God”? I said yes because i have seen in His word that there is a coming day of judgement. God actually said that. What about you? What will you say to God?

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That is a great question, and one that has had people from every generation wondering about. You see at times people that commit the most heinous crimes and they live to be 80 plus years old,.. and then you see other people that for the most part seem like such niece people, and they die in an accident,.. or of some disease and you are left wondering why? I remember somewhere around eight years of age I sat on a porch with my best friend at the time talking with him,. and my mother called me to come in the house to eat dinner.  So, I left my friend there sitting on that porch next door to us alone. While sitting there eating dinner I heard a cars racing down the street, followed by a loud bang. When we went to the window to see what had happen a drunk driver had hit the curve, went airborne and landed on top of my 8yr old friend and killed him. I have often thought, why did God spare me that day and allowed me to live on right up to this very day. I have come to the conclusion that the plans of God, and the purposes of God are well beyond anything we as human beings could ever fully conceive with the limited capacity of our human minds. God is busy about working out His plans in each generation on a world level, on a national level, on a local level, on a religious level, on a family level, and yes even on an individual level. Nothing happens in Heaven or on the earth unless God allows it or brings it about, even the day of your birth. Think about that a minute:

I don’t know what time of the day or night it is where you are at this moment. If it’s nighttime step outside or look through a window and look up at the night sky a moment and think about this as you look at that sky,

Before there was ever a star that you see in that night sky,

Before there was ever a moon that you see in that sky,

Before there was ever a Sun that you see in the sky,

Before there were ever planets out there in space,

Before there were ever mountains that you see,

Before there were ever birds that you see in the sky,

Before there was ever an ocean or lake or anything in them,

God ordained that you and i would live at this time and in this generation, and..let this one sink in a miniute,..Even the family you and I would be born in. And God ordained that you would meet the people you have met and will meet in your lifetime, and God has even ordained before time began that you would hear these words. None of this is happen chance. An all wise, all-knowing God ordained before the world was, that you would live in this generation, and that you would live right up to this point in time. That same God has a number on the days each one of us will live to see. The Psalmist David as he thought about all this said,

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them…(Psalms 139:16)

Just a few verses earlier The Psalmist as he thought about the Lord’s perfect knowledge of him says this,

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it…(Psalms 139:6)

There’s another example that the Scriptures show us about God’s purposes for each individual life in Luke, chapter 7. John the Baptist a prophet of the Lord, who lived during the time the Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth, is in prison, and soon will be killed. Look at what Jesus Christ has to say about John,

For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”..(Luke 7:28)

 Jesus said there has not risen a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but this same John is in prison and about to be killed so he’s beginning to wonder if in fact Jesus Christ is the One that the Scriptures promised would come and rule the world. Although Jesus is God in human flesh and the promised one that the Old Testament prophets said would come, He is not stopping what’s going to end up being John the Baptist’s death in prison, and so John has got questions. He sends two of his disciples to Jesus in hope of getting answers.  In Luke, chapter7, and verse 19 it says this,

 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”…(Luke 7:19)

 John the Baptist is in his early thirties at this time, but it is in the plan and purposes of God for John’s life at this time to end, and to bring John home to glory in Heaven. He had fulfilled his God ordained role of preparing the way for our Lord Jesus Christ by proclaiming Him as the Savior of the world and calling men to repent and turn to God through placing their faith in the one that was coming after Him, Jesus Christ. God had a predetermined time for John’s ministry to end.

What God wants us to understand as we are shock at times by the death of someone, or saddened as we have to endure those difficult times together and individually is this, “God has a purpose and plan for this world that is going to culminate in the return of Jesus Christ and a New Heaven and New Earth”, and everything God is allowing to happen, and at times even causing to happen, on an international level, on a national level, and yes, even on an individual level, is moving toward that end. There are people who came into this year alive that are now dead that had no idea this would be the last year of their life. Because you and I don’t know the day God has appointed for us to depart from this life, God call’s us to look to Him, to call upon Him for the forgiveness of our sin against Him because He wants you and I beloveth to live forever with Him in that heavenly city. He alone grants forgiveness to us individually through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we,.. just like John the Baptist can live forever with Him in Heaven when our time is up here on earth. There is nothing more important to God, and it is the very reason God says,..

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…( Hebrews 3:7-8)

 Seek the LORD while He may be found,..Call upon Him while He is near…(Isaiah 55:6)

 Let the wicked forsake his way,..And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,..And He will have mercy on him;  And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon….. (Isaiah 55:7)

 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,.Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,..So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts….( Isaiah 55:8-9)

 I want to end this post on that thought. It is true that the Scriptures teach that God may at times shorten people’s lives due to a judgement for their sin. That truth is taught all over the word of God, but even in those cases it is God that has determined that person’s end. The apostle Paul once ask, “who has known the mind of the Lord, Or who has become His counselor? ..(Romans 11:34). There are somethings about God’s dealings that we will never know on this side of eternity. They are the secret things. God actually said that.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law…(Deuteronomy 29:29)

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When you hear somebody say, I fear the Lord what comes to mind far as you are concerned? Are you thinking God is looking down from Heaven and is ready to get you for the first thing you do wrong? If you are like me, at one time or another you have been driving along a street or highway and looked into your reviewer mirror after hearing a siren and saw the police or highway patrol car behind you flashing lights come on and suddenly your blood pressure shot up and fear began to grip you because you are thinking, “he’s after me”, only to find out after you pull over, he just kept going. It wasn’t really you that he was after, and now you are relieved. Is that the way God expects us to fear Him”? In general no, that is not what God meant when He said fear the Lord.  That is taking it to level of terror and although there is a point that God may allow the fear of Him to get to that point for His sovereign purposes He is working out in a person’s life, in general when the Scripture talks about fearing the Lord, God has something else in view.

If you have a son or daughter that you have raised, one of the first things you teach them is who’s in charge in your house. It’s mom and dad. It is your position as their parent that you want them to respect and reverence. Life is going to be a whole lot easier for them if they listen to you, but if they refuse to honor your position as the parent, there life could get pretty difficult because they will come under your discipline. To fear the Lord is to reverence or respect His position as God. It is to realize that He as God,.. has in His hand my very next breath. It is to respect His position as the Creator of this entire Universe and everything in realizing it all belongs to Him. It is to respect His right to set the standard by which what is right and what is wrong is measured on this earth that He has created, in spite of what society says. It is to respect His right to say what will and won’t go on His planet, this earth and not rebel against it because I don’t like it. We are told over and over and over again in the Scriptures to fear the Lord,

Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him……(Psalms 33:8)

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD….( Deuteronomy 10:12)

“Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him….. (Deuteronomy 8:6)

The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened……(Proverbs 10:27)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding……(Proverbs 9:10)

The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant……(Psalms 25:14)

Beloveth, God expects you and I to fear Him, to have that reverential fear of Him that recognizes He alone is God, and as the God who created all things, He has every right rule over all His creation in the manner He chooses to. We as man, whom He has created may rebel against that in the same way we rebelled against our parents when they set the rules of the house we grew up in, but we didn’t determine the discipline we got for rebelling against those house rules, our parents did. We don’t determine the discipline for rebelling against the Lord in His universe, He does. It paid for us to know what mom and dad said if we wanted to stay out of trouble. In the same way it pays to know what God has said if we want to be at peace with Him. We have peace with Him the Scriptures said through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. The promises of the blessings of God are not to everybody. It is for those who fear Him.

Oh, how great is Your goodness,..Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You…In the presence of the sons of men!….(Psalms 31:19)

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD;..He is their help and their shield..(Psalms 115:11)

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting,.On those who fear Him,..And His righteousness to children’s children,…(Psalms 103:17)

The fear of the Lord then, is to live your life in the presence of the Lord. It is to live daily with the knowledge that God sees every thought I have and every deed I do, and to understand that God knows why I did everything I did and said. It is to live with such a reverence for Him that I am not going to just do anything I feel like doing because of that reverence of Him as God my Creator, who I am going to give an account to one day for all I have and have not done while inside this body He has given me to live in while I am on this earth…, His earth. It is to acknowledge that the only way anyone can be forgiven before Him is the way He has said, not what I feel, and that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who God the Father has committed all judgment to.

The apostle John said he heard a voice from heaven as he was shown things God said were going to happen in the end times, as God brings this world as we know it to an end. He tells us what he heard,

Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”….(Revelation 19:5)

So, did God say you and I are to fear Him?  Yes, He did. God actually said that.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments….(Psalms 112:1)

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That was my mindset during my late teenage years into my very early 20’s. No doubt there are millions upon millions of people today, old and young that think the same way I did. So, what’s wrong with that? If you feel like you need to go to church and read the Bible and all that stuff, that’s good for you. I am not going to knock that, but that’s not what I feel like I need to do. I am just going to live my life, try to treat people right and just enjoy life and when it’s my time to go, I feel like, I am alright with God. I believe in God. I might not go to church, but I believe in God. I just believe in my heart that God is going to let me into heaven because He knows me, and He knows I am not a bad person. That was how I felt, like so many other people, but is that what God actually said? More importantly, is that how God really feels?

The reason it’s important to ask that question is because where I want to go when I leave this world, is Heaven. That’s where we all want to go, to that better place. That’s where God is. That’s God’s house. That’s where the Heaven city is, a place that is so beautiful that our minds can’t even conceive just how beautiful it is. It’s where God’s throne is. It is a place where God wants you and I to live with Him forever when we breath our last breath and leave this life, but let me say this again less we forget, Heaven is God’s house… It’s God’s city. It is the place where God’s throne is, and because that’s so, it is God, not me… that decides what’s necessary to get there. It is what God said,..not what I feel, or what you may feel, that will decide if we go to that Heavenly city.

In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 2,.  God speaks about the feelings we all have individually:

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts… (Proverbs 21:2)

Also in Proverbs 14:12,… God says this:

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death…( Proverbs 14:12)

So according to that verse, God said, I could live my whole life doing what seems right to me and end up not going to heaven when I die, but end up eternally lost, separated from God, forever. Jesus Christ gives us an example of that very thing in (Matthew 7:21-23),

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’…..( Matthew 7:21-23)

Beloveth, pause a minute and think about what Jesus Christ is saying here. This is such a crucial point Jesus Christ is making here. Not everyone who calls Him Lord He says, will enter the kingdom of Heaven. They may feel that they will, but Jesus said no,..Not everyone will. Some who believe themselves to be Christians will not enter Heaven, even though they preach in His name,..even though they do wonders in His name. Wow! Three crucial mistakes they make that Jesus Christ points to here. One, although they felt they knew who Jesus Christ was,.. the Lord, they never knew Him as their Lord. He tells them in verse 23, that “they practice lawlessness’, which means, there was no change in the way they lived life toward Him as a result of their profession of faith in Him. Second, they felt that “doing many kinds of wonderful works, including preaching in Jesus’ name assured them a place in Heaven. Then here’s the critical mistake Jesus points to in their thinking. They trusted their own works to get into Heaven, not God’s work. They actually “relied on what they felt would get them to Heaven, rather than what God actually said was necessary to get into heaven. So, they didn’t seek what God’s revealed will is, in the Bible. They lived their whole life feeling that way and died believing falsely that God felt about them the way they feel about themselves, and Jesus Christ tells them, they were wrong, and since they are dead now, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it, and they are absolutely stunted. Jesus said, those who enter Heaven are those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven…(verse #21). 

So, is God alright with me feeling like I just what to live my life the way I want to and me and Him are good so long as I try to just be the best person I can even if I am not involved in all that Church stuff. I think we can clearly see the answer to that is no. We may feel otherwise, but God did not actually say that. Anyone that does not personally trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and dies in that state has no hope of getting into heaven. They will not enter Heaven according to Jesus Christ.  There are some people that we all know if their name is bought up in a conversation, but they don’t necessarily know us. We see them on TV, or read about them, or hear about them through somebody else. To enter Heaven, we must know Jesus Christ personally as our Saviour and Lord, but more importantly, He must know us as one who has invited Him into our life as Lord.

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If you were like me as a 20yr old black man going up in the inner city there was so much I wanted to do to experience life to its fullest now that I had finally moved out my parent’s house and was on my own, and I fully intended on doing some of those things when I could afford it. After getting a job that I wanted and i started working there, my supervisor and later on another guy working there told me I was a sinner in God’s sight. I thought, wait a minute, I know I am not a that bad of a person. I try to do what is right, I am not a thief, I haven’t robbed anybody. I am just out here trying to live my life and enjoy it, and so my feeling was, if you want to get that involved with all that church stuff and miss out on life, that’s you. I am alright with God I felt, and God was alright with me. Maybe latter on in my life I would do something like they were doing, but not now. Me and God was alright I thought, and I based that on strictly what I felt. At this point in my life, I wanted nothing to do with the Bible. I didn’t care what they told me said God said. God was going to see what I had done in my life, and I know He will see enough to let me in when my time came, I thought.

There came a day when I began wondering about all I heard them say about everybody (including me), being a sinner. That led me to open up the Bible one day and read it. I saw in the very last book in the Bible, which is “Revelation”, in chapter one, verse #3 it says,

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near…. (Revelation 1:3)

It was at this point that I first began to see that maybe I am not alright with God as I thought I was because I wasn’t a person that really reads the Bible the way. I wasn’t a person that was trying to hear what it said, and I wasn’t a person that was trying to keep those things that was written in it. I was living by what I felt it said, not what it actually said. Then I saw where it kept saying things like this,.. “He that has an ear to hear”… and then God made a promise to that person who wants to hear and you see it over and over again:

 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’(Revelation 2:7).

Then I looked at what God says in Revelation 2:26, and also verse 29;

“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’( Revelation 2:29)

One thing I became convinced of through reading all this was this..,“God was not making any promises to me because I wasn’t trying to hear Him at this point. God’s promises,. according to these passages,. is to those who overcome and keep His works until the end,. as it says right hear in verse #26, and to those who have ears to hear Him. What I felt made me right before God up to this point in my life, was wrong and i was starting to realize just how wrong i was in my thinking. I was wrong because I never actually looked at what God actually said in the Bible.  When I finally did, I hear are just a few things I learned;

For there is not a just man on earth who does good, And does not sin…( Ecclesiastes 7:20)

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God…( Romans 3:10-11)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23

In the book of First John, (1 John 1:8),… this is not the Gospel of John, that a different book, it says this,

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.,,( 1 John 1:8)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness….(1 John 1:9)

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us…(1 John 1:10)

If you live in this world long enough somebody is going to lie on you. Somebody is going to say you did something that’s just not true. Somebody is going to say, you said something that you did not say, and it may make you so angry that you might want to get back at them even though you may not do so. God said we all are sinners. We all have sin. Nobody is without sin in His sight, and if we say or think otherwise we make Him a liar,..and I am sure not going to say,. God is a liar. Therefore, because I came to realized that I am a sinner and one day I would stand before God to be judged by Him,.I knew I needed His forgiveness for my sins like everybody else.  Forgiveness for sin against God can only be given while we are still alive. Once we die, it’s too late. I think about what Lord Jesus Christ said to a group of people that didn’t believe He was Christ, the promised one that the Scriptures said hundreds of years before would come into this world. In the Gospel of John, chapter 8, and verse 24, Jesus says this to those who did not believe who He was,

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He,  you will die in your sins.”…(John 8:24)

Every one of us came from Adam and Eve and because they took on a sin nature when they sinned against God, everybody that descended from them takes on that same sinful nature. It is that sin nature that causes us to want to be independent from God, doing our own thing, our own way, and be our own God. That is what we inherited from Adam and Eve.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way…(Isaiah 53:6)

So, is everybody a sinner in God’s sight?  Yes,.. God actually said that. However when we realize that in our hearts and come to the Lord Jesus Christ and truly confess that confess that that before Him, then He will forgive us. We then become a redeemed sinner, which is what a saint is.  I talk about how to confess our sins before God and know He has forgiven you in the Prayers page under the Encouragement menu on the home page. I also talk about it in another one of my blog post titled, “Can I know for sure I am going to Heaven when I die”?

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That’s a question the most of us never even stop and give much thought to until we are confronted with some kind of crisis, either medical, physical (old age), an accident of some kind, or some kind of threating situation, either in our own life or somebody else’s life. It is during those times that we think about the people in our life we are going be leaving behind, and where we going to end up at that final moment, when we close our eyes for the very last time and take our last breath. I can remember a time before I became a Christian that I would find myself wondering when I would see people on my job who just seem so confident, they were going to make it into heaven when they die and I would often wonder in the back of my mind, how can they be so sure of themselves? Did God actually say a person can know for sure they are going to Heaven, or was that something they were just feeling about themselves based on the good being more than the bad in their life, and what they felt in their heart God thought about them?  Can a person really know for sure?  That’s what I would think about at times. Here’s an even deeper question I had to ask myself at those times? Do I even really want to know?  If you find yourself wanting to know the answer to those kinds of questions beloveth,.. it’s because God is at work in your heart.

Most of us, at one time or another have wanted to work for a particular company or get into a particular school or college, and one thing we could never do is presume we know what the qualifications are for getting into those places without doing some background work by checking to find out from them what’s necessary to get in. We gather information from those sources about what’s necessary because we want to be sure we know what we are talking about, or that what we are thinking to be true is actually true. That way we not basing what we believe on what we feel, but on what we know. What we end up finding out is there is some sort of requirements or some sort of process that you have go through, whether that is interviews, resumes, or testing for certain qualifications, among other things. What we also end up finding out is that everybody, without exception, has to go through that process. If you simply showed up at company or at that college on the first day of class without ever going through the process to get in, thinking they are going to let you in solely on the basis of what you felt was necessary to get in, you would be setting yourself up for a very disappointing day. They simply are not going to change their rules for you simply because you were wrong about what was necessary to get in, especially since you had every opportunity to find out what was necessary but you simply chose to trust what you felt in your heart what they were going to think of you, rather than check their policies and procedures so you would know for sure what the requirements are.

Beloveth, this is what people think they can do with God. Without ever listening to God’s thoughts about how to get into Heaven, without ever looking at what God has said in the Scriptures about what He says is necessary to get into Heaven, people presume they know, not based on what God has actually said about getting in, but based solely, on what they personally feel, God will accept. Let me be first in raise my hand here and admit that I personally made that mistake, right up to the age of 22. I want to pause here for a minute to say this,..”there is not a bigger mistake you could ever make in your entire life,. that would be bigger than that mistake,” if that is what you are doing. So, Iet me right now plead with you, on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.., “don’t make that mistake”.  Yes, you can be sure you are going to Heaven when you pass from this life, if you are basing what you believe, on what God has actually said.  God honors His word. God is under no obligation whatsoever to honor what we feel is right or what we feel is necessary to get into Heaven,.. unless what we believe is what He has actually said. I had to come to grips with that one day, .and here’s what i discovered God actually said. There is one way,. and only one way,.. to get to Heaven and that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what the Lord says to someone in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, and verse 6,

^“ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life… No one comes to the Father except through Me…..( John 14:6)

 So, that blows away any ideal whatsoever that there are many ways to get to God, or that there are many religions that lead to God in Heaven like we hear today. No, absolutely no,. the Lord Jesus Christ said,.. that’s not true… There’s one way to get into Heaven and only one way,.. and that is through Jesus Christ… “No one comes to the Father except through Me”…..( John 14:6).

 In another passage in the same book (John 17: 1-2),..says the same thing and it also shows us why no one can get to the Father in Heaven except through Him.  Here, Jesus Christ is praying to God the Father as He prepared to give His life for the sins of the world,.. and He says this,

^“ Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh,” that He should give eternal life”,. to as many as You have given Him…(John 17:1-2)

 Beloveth, what God wants everyone of us to see here is that,.. the “eternal life”.. we all want with God in Heaven,. is something that’s given,.. and one who gives it,. is the Lord Jesus Christ”. There is no other person of any other religion,..that can give you eternal life. There is no deed you might do that can earn it for you. Eternal life,. is given beloveth.  It is absolutely crucial, that everyone of us sees that the only one who can give eternal life to us,.. is Jesus Christ.   He has been given authority, over all flesh. That means all of us. Now if you are like me, I had another question here,. because I am looking at what Jesus prayed in that prayer to God the Father that we just read in (John 17:2), where He said,

“as You have given Him authority over all flesh,.” that He should give eternal life”,. to as many as You have given Him”. 

So, in my mind,.. right about now,.. I am thinking, well then who are those that God the Father has given to Jesus Christ His Son because it’s those people that Jesus said He gives eternal life to. That has to be everybody’s question that wants Heaven to be there home when they die.  Beloveth,.. Jesus Christ answers that question for us in…in (John 6:37), He says,

^“ All that the Father gives Me,. will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me,.. I will by no means cast out…(John 6:37)

 There it is…  Did you see that beloved?  “All those that God the Father gives to His Son Jesus Christ,. will come to Him”,.. and those who come to Jesus Christ.., are the ones that He gives eternal life to.  Some may come early in life,. some in midlife,. some later in life, and some at the very end of their life. Whenever it is that they come to Him, Jesus wants them to know this, “and the one who comes to Me,.. I will by no means cast out…(John 6:37)

I want to pause here for a minute and look at one passage, because what I want you to see is this,. “to hear what Jesus Christ says,… is to hear what the Father in heaven Himself has said”. That is what he Scriptures tell us in Hebrews, chapter 11, and verses 1-2,.. it says this;

 “God., after He spoke long ago to the fathers,.. in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,   in these last days has spoken to us,.. in His Son,.. whom He appointed heir of all things,…. through whom also He made the world….(Hebrews 1:1-2)

 God, the Scriptures said,. has spoken to us,.” in His Son”,..the Lord Jesus Christ,. And because it is God that has spoken to us,. in His Son,. to not listen to His Son beloveth,.. is to not listen to God the Father Himself.

Let me go back a minute and just share with you something else I wondered about that Jesus said in that.. (John 6:37) passage that we looked at, and that is this, “how does God get people to come to Jesus Christ?  I ask that because of what Jesus says here in ..(John:6:37)

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me,.. I will by no means cast out…(John 6:37)

Jesus answers that question in several passages. First, in (John 6:44) Jesus says something that startled those who heard it when He said this,..

No one can come to Me,.. unless the Father who sent Me,. “draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day ….(John 6:44)

 Let me pause here just for a minute before I go on,. and think about this.  Jesus said God the Father draws people to Him. Now the next question is,  ‘How does the Father draw people to Jesus Christ”?  God answers the question in in the next verse  ..(John 6:45),

It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard,.. and learned from the Father,.. comes to Me….( John 6:45)

 Here Jesus said those that come to Him have been taught by God,..” And they shall all be taught by God”.  And He doesn’t stop there, but He goes on to say this,..

Therefore everyone who has heard,.. and learned from the Father,.. comes to Me….( John 6:45)

 Now, when I stop a minute and think about all this that Jesus Christ said, when I put it all together, this is what Jesus Christ is saying,..He said He gives eternal life.. to those who come to Him,..and those who come to Him,.they come to Him,.. because they have been drawn to Him by God the Father, .and the Father draws then to Him by what they have heard and learned from the Father…..” And they shall all be taught by God”… is what Jesus said.

 So, now my final question is this,  “what does God the Father teach people that draws them to Jesus Christ so Jesus can give them eternal life”?

Beloved there are at least four things that those who come to Jesus Christ have learned from God the Father, and God teaches them, “in the order that each individual person needs to learn them.  First, and most importantly, is that this Jesus Christ that you have been hearing about from people God has sovereignly bought into your life, is Lord of the entire Universe. God grants the ability to see,.. what you otherwise would never be able to see, “Jesus Christ is Lord” and the Savior of the world. Look at what the Scriptures said in …..(2 Corinthians 4:6)

“For it is the God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness,.. who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ..( 2 Corinthians 4:6)

Just as God commanded the light to shine out of darkness when He created the world, God commands light to shine in the darkness of the hearts of people to show them who Jesus Christ is,..the Lord of the entire Universe,. the God of Creation, and the Savior of the world, so they will come to Jesus Christ for eternal life.

In Matthew, chapter 16, where Jesus ask His disciples who do people believed He really is? Then after listening to their answers,..He follows that question up with another question, directed at His disciples about who they themselves say He is in verse 15-17,

^“ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,.. but My Father who is in heaven….. (Matthew 16:15-17)

 Then there’s a second thing that those who come to Jesus Christ have learned from God the Father and that is this,  “every single one of us is a sinner in the sight of God”, Those the Father have drawn to His Son have realized that in their heart and will willingly confess that before God.

For there is not a just man on earth who does good,..And does not sin.. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

God said He looks from heaven upon every human being on the face of the earth in every generation, and God wrote about what God He saw in the Scriptures,

  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…( Romans 3:23)

 We don’t have to look any further than God’s first commandment to see that everyone of us is a guilty sinner. “You shall have no other god before Me” the Lord says. The god we all have that we all put before God in our lives, is ourselves, and every one of us, regardless of who we have broken that first commandment.  Beloved, it is God the Father that convicts us of the eternal consequences of that great sin so they will come to Jesus Christ.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; .. .. (Isaiah 53:6)

 Then there’s a third thing that God the Father has taught those who come to His Son Jesus Christ and that is this,. “their own righteousness before God is as filthy rags before Him”, and will not get them into heaven, because they do not have a day by day, minute by minute, thought by thought, completely perfect life lived under His rule to present before God. Nobody, except for Jesus Christ has ever had that type of life before God. Therefore God, works in the heart by His Spirit to convict those who come to Jesus Christ of their sinful condition, of the own righteousness that falls desperately short of His righteousness. They then begin to realize in their heart that there’s nothing can do to change that themselves and look to God for mercy.

“But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags….( Isaiah 64:6)

^“ As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;..   (Romans 3:10)

 God the Father has taught those who come to Jesus that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Creator of the entire universe. God the Father has taught those who come to Jesus Christ that they are a sinner in His sight in spite of what they have thought about themselves in their hearts. God the Father has taught those who come to Jesus Christ that their own righteousness before Him is as filthy rags because nobody has a perfectly lived life under His rule to present before Him as His Son Jesus Christ has. God the Father teaches us them do not trust your own righteousness. It is not sufficient to get into heaven. God working in their heart warns them of that fact by His Spirit. Jesus talks about God’s Spirit working in the hearts people in the world.

^“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin,.. and of righteousness,.. and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged……( John 16:7-11)

Then there’s a fourth thing the Father teaches those that He draws to Jesus Christ and that is this,” “there is a day of judgment coming for every one of us”.  A day in which each one of us, both believers in Jesus Christ and those who chose not to trust Jesus Christ as their lord during their lifetime will be resurrected from the dead to give account of themselves to God. Jesus refers to that day in the passage we just read as the last work of the Spirit of God in the heart of men.  This is what Jesus is referring to in the last past of this verse in (John 16:8).

And when He (the Holy Spirit of God), has come, He will convict the world of sin,.. and of righteousness,.. and of judgment:

Every one of us will appear before the Lord Jesus Christ one day to be judged by Him.

 ^“ For it is written:“As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”  So then each of us shall give account of himself to God…( Romans 14:11-12)

That coming resurrection is also referred to by the apostle Paul  in,..  (Acts 24:15-16). He says,

^“I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men……(Acts 24:15-16)

These two resurrections are at least a thousand years apart from each other. I will talk more about them in future blog post. Beloved,.. because God so loves us, in His mercy He put’s the fear of that coming judgement in the hearts of those who come to Jesus Christ and God teaches them of the reality of that coming resurrection day judgement, to draw them to the only one that can forgive us of our sin against a Holy God,.. while we are still here alive on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…”(Mark 2:5-10)

 ^“ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”…..( Acts 4:12)

Therefore the Father convict us of the need to go to His Son, whom He sent into this world to be a sacrifice for our sins on that cross, so you and I can live eternally with Him in that heavenly city with all who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ while they lived on this earth. Here’s what the Lord Jesus Christ says to every one of them that come to Him who have been drawn to Him by God the Father,

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”……( John 6:37-40)

^“ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life….( John 6:47)

 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.”…(John 10:27-30)

I understand now why those people I used to work with before I became a Christian, were so confident that they were going to heaven when they die and it’s the reason, I am confident today that I am going to Heaven when I died. My faith in Jesus Christ is not based what on what I feel, or things I did, but on who Jesus Christ is in my life, Lord, and what He has done in giving His life on that cross for me.

Beloved,. You might be wondering right now in your heart thinking, do I really know if I died today, that I am going to Heaven? If you were told by your doctor, you probably won’t make it through the night because there’s nothing else, they can do for you, do you know when you close your eyes for the last time that you will go into the presence of God? You don’t have to wonder about that beloved. You can be sure about it when you place all your faith to get there in the one God the Father sent into the world to get you there,..the Lord Jesus Christ. When you are willing to come to the Lord Jesus Christ because you know what you are, a sinner in the sight of God who does not have a perfect life to present to God,.and you are willing to ask the Lord to forgive you, and  willingly allowed Him His rightful place as Lord in your life. If that is indeed what you want, go to the “Encouragement” menu and look in the “Prayers page for the “Prayer to receive Jesus Christ. Beloved it is those who are willing receive Him that God gives this word of assurance to,

 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God….(1 John 5:11-13)

 Beloved, yes you can know for sure you are going to heaven, but only if what you believe is based on what God, has actually said.

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That is a question a lot of people have wondered about, and some have answered the question themselves, rather than looking to God for the answer. Think about that for a minute. We all have heard that God loves us, so it stands to reason that if God loves us, He would want us to be happy right? The things I do to be happy, it would seem that God would be alright with that right, as long as I am not hurting nobody, and after all God loves us and wants my happiness, right? Beloveth, it is true that God loves us. In fact, His love for us is so deep, it is so great, that our human minds cannot comprehend the depths of His love in its fullness. I am reminded of something God said on the sixth day of Creation. God said,

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;.. Genesis 1:26

Of all the creatures God created, He chose only to make one in His image, mankind. The crown of the Creation of God was man, and so even though you read where God said after each of the previous five days of Creation that what He had created was good, it was only after man was created on the sixth day of Creation that God said what He created, was indeed, “very good”.

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day….( Genesis 1:31)

Here was man created in God’ image, who had God’s character. A chip off the old block as we use to say. Now God had created a human being who could love as God loves, and reason like God reasons, and fellowship with God like God wanted. Here was man who wanted to walk with God and one who understood who his Creator was as no other creature on the earth could. Here was a human being who could show mercy and do justly and speak truth and show compassion. Here was one who was made righteous in character because God is righteous. Like God they were created to live eternally with God. Here was one who could create things because God gave man that ability. Even to this day we see man creating things unimaginable years ago whether its cars, spaceships, beautiful houses and buildings to whole cities. That ability to create came from God. More important than that ability to create though is the God like character that God created us in. God is holy. Throughout the Scriptures you will see God reminding man of that.

Then God says this to both Adam and Eve, in Genesis, chapter 1, verses 27-28,

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”…( Genesis 1:27-28)

Think about that a minute. God told them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. God’s original intention for man was to fill the earth so that, don’t miss this,..everywhere God looked across the face of the whole earth, ..God would see an image of Himself because as we have seen,.. man was created in the image of God. That image of God in man got distorted and corrupted by Adam and Eve’s sin. When God created them, God gave them a free will because He wanted them to have the ability to choose to obey Him. When they chose to disobey God as Genesis chapter 3 tells us, they became infected with a deadly disease called sin. Once sin entered into their lives now, they were destined to die, and because God is a righteous God, He had to render a just judgement to them. What made Adam and Eve’s sin so deadly was it is passed along through them to everyone who has ever lived on this earth, with the exception of Jesus Christ. What Adam and Eve passed along to us is a sin nature. It is a desire to be independent from God and do what I want without God interfering till we need Him. It is a desire to have God conform to my way of thinking and living rather than me seeking God and desiring Him and His thoughts and ways. This sin nature so corrupted the God like character in all mankind that God had this to say about us all as He look from Heaven at us all,

God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.³ Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt;..There is none who does good,..No, not one..( Psalms 53:2-3)

Now you have man capable of stealing, lying, murder, deception, pride, arrogance, rebellion against anything God has to say about how he lives. What you have now is a complete distortion of the man who God created in His image. That’s what you see when you turn on the news every night and you wonder how could he, or she do something like that?  Man,. who God created in His image,. has become so arrogant that he questions in his heart whether or not he is a sinner as God clearly said we all are. God’s desire beloveth is that you and I be restored to that original image of Himself so that you and I can live eternally with Him. It is that,. that God is working His personal plan out in your life and my life to bring about. God’s plan to do that involves people He sends in your life. It involves circumstances He allows to come about in your life, good and bad. It may involve dreams, decisions He suffers you to make right and wrong ones. All these things are designed to lead you to understand that you and I and everybody else are a distorted image of Him, which means we are all sinners. Listen, if you are successful in life that’s great, nothing wrong with that. If you are blessed to have achieved things in life that is awesome. God has nothing against success, or the happiness that comes with that if it’s done justly, but you can be happy and die and be eternally lost forever. That’s why your happiness is not God’s priority. God’s priority is that you become again like He originally designed you and I to be holy,..like Himself. God and only God, can do that in you I,.. and God does that through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  It is through believing in His Son Jesus Christ that God does that. See my post, “What does it really mean to believe in Jesus Christ” to get God’s view of what that really means, because it doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody. It is critically important to believe in Jesus Christ the way God said believe in Him. If you have not yet seen a need to turn to Jesus Christ you can know this for sure,. Everything God is doing is designed to lead you see that need. He says, “today is the acceptable day”. When God says, “today” He is talking about the day you realize in your heart, God is speaking to me today through His word, or this circumstances, or through people God has caused to cross your life’s path. I call you beloved, because God calls you beloved, because He loves you. Tomorrow beloveth, is not promised to any of us.

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