Month: October 2023

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 21 ~ ~ Matthew 25:34 ~ ~ “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:’”

From the book, We Shall See God, and chapter entitled “A Prepared Place For a Prepared People”

SPURGEON:

There is certain longing for home that will be fulfilled only on the new earth. Even now, Jesus is preparing our true home for us – a literal, physical place we can anticipate. This place will be “the best of the best!”

My real text is not from the Bible; it is one of those Christian proverbs which are not inspired in words but the spirit of which is inspired: “Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.”

Yet I shall have two texts from the Scriptures. The first will be our Savior’s words to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2), from which we learn that “Heaven is a prepared place.” And the second will be Paul’s words to the Colossians in 1:12: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light,” from which we learn that there is a prepared people, a people made fit to be partakers of the inheritance which Christ has gone to prepare for them.

When we get to heaven, we shall know – perhaps it may take us a while to find it all out – but we shall know and discover throughout eternity what He meant when He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

I do not profess to be able to explain our Lord’s words, but I am going simply to make a few remarks upon them. First, I ask you to notice that heaven is already prepared for Christ’s people. Christ has told us that, when He comes in His glory, He will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34). so there is an inheritance which the Father has already prepared for the people whom He gave to His Son, and this inheritance is reserved for them.

But if it was prepared from the foundation of the world, how can it be said to be prepared by Christ? The explanation is probably that it was provided in the eternal arrangements of Jehovah that there should be a suitable place for His people to dwell in forever. He made the pavilion of the sun, and He gave the stars their appointed positions. Would He forget to prepare a place for His people?

He gave to angels their places, and even to fallen spirits He has appointed a prison house. So He would not forget, when He was arranging the entire universe, that a place would be needed for the heirs of grace.

Therefore, in purpose and plan and decree, long before God had laid the foundations of this poor world and the morning stars had sung together over creation’s six days’ work accomplished, He prepared a place for His people. It was not actually prepared, but it was in the purpose and plan of the eternal mind. Therefore it might be regarded as already done.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has gone to heaven, He says, that He may prepare a place for His servants. We may be helped to form some idea of what He means by this expression if we just think a little about it. First, I am sure that must be a very great and glorious place which needs Christ to prepare it. If we do not know all that He means, we can get at least this much out of his declaration: He spoke this world into being. It was not: but He said “Be,” and it was at once made. Then He spoke it into order, into light, into life, into beauty. He had but to speak and what He willed was done.

But now that He is preparing a place for His people, He has gone to heaven on purpose to do it. He used to stand still here on earth and work miracles. But this was a miracle that He could not perform while He was here. He had to go back to His home above in order to prepare a place for His people. What sort of place, then, must it be that needs Christ Himself to prepare it?

He might have said, “Angels, prepare a mansion for my beloved.” He might have spoken to the firstborn sons of light and said “Pile a temple of jewels for my chosen.” But no, He leaves not the work to them.

Brothers and sisters, He will do it well, for He knows all about us. He knows what will give us the most happiness – and what will best develop all our spiritual faculties forever. He loves us so well that, as the preparing is left to Him, I know He will prepare us nothing second rate, nothing that could possibly be excelled.

We shall have the best of the best, and much of it; we shall have all that even His great heart can give us.

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Malachi 3:17

 “And they will be Mine,” says the Lord of armies, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man has compassion for his own son who serves him.”

Isaiah 61:10

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a groom puts on a turban, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Revelation 22:17

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost.

Revelation 19:7

 Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.”

Revelation 21:2

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

2 Corinthians 5:1

 For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 20 ~ ~Luke 24:39 ~ ~ “It is I Myself”

From the book, We Shall See God, Spurgeon and Alcorn.

Chapter entitled “Raised Imperishable” Part 2

RANDY ALCORN:

Did you enjoy that 161-word sentence of Spurgeon’s (in yesterday’s writing) the one with all the semicolons? In it he beautifully articulates scores of wonderful things awaiting us in heaven.

When Spurgeon says “We do not put the body into the grave to lose it,” he is referring to the continuity of our personhood from this life to the next – the same soul and eventually the same body, for all eternity.

What makes you YOU? It’s not only your body but also your memory, personality traits, gifts, passions, preferences, and interests. In the final resurrection, I believe all these facets will be restored and amplified, untarnished by sin and the curse. You will be YOU in heaven. Who else would you be? If Bob, a man on earth, is no longer Bob – with his unique identity, history, and memory – when he gets to heaven, then, in fact, Bob did not go to heaven.

The resurrected Jesus did not become someone else; He remained who He was before His resurrection: “It is I Myself” (Luke 24:39).

Jesus said to His disciples, “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with YOU in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). Think of it – in the world to come, the same Jesus will drink the same kind of wine with the same disciples.

If we weren’t ourselves in the afterlife, then we couldn’t be held accountable for what we did in this life. The judgment would be meaningless. If Barbara is no longer Barbara, she can’t be rewarded or held accountable for anything Barbara did. She’d have to say, “But that wasn’t who I am now.” the doctrines of judgment and eternal rewards depend on our retaining our distinct identities from this life to the next.

Bruce Milne writes, “We can banish all fear of being absorbed into the “All” which Buddhism holds before us, or reincarnated in some other life form as in the post-mortem prospect of Hinduism…The self with which we were endowed by the Creator in His gift of life to us, the self whose worth was secured forever in the self-substitution of God for us on the cross, that SELF will endure into eternity. Death cannot destroy us.”

Some of us read, “You may participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and imagine that we will lose our personal identities, but that’s a belief out of Eastern religions, not the Bible.

This verse is actually saying not that we’ll be indistinguishable from God but that we’re covered with Christ’s righteousness. We’ll participate in God’s holiness yet fully retain our God-crafted individuality.

Our personal histories and identities will endure from one earth to the next. “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me.” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.” (Isaiah 66:22)

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Hosea 13:14

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave, I will be your destruction!
Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

1Thessalonians 4:13-14

 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen [a]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.

John 5:24

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

along with……….

1Thessalonians 4:17

…..And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 19 ~ ~ 1Corinthians 15:50-52 ~ ~ “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

From the book, We Shall See God Today we hear from Charles H. Spurgeon:

Some people fear that we’ll be absorbed into a sort of anonymous spiritual state in the afterlife. But nothing could be further from the truth. You will have the same soul and the same body for all eternity. You will be more you in heaven than ever before.

My body is the same body that it was ten years ago, but I am told, and I believe it, that there is not a particle of matter in my body now that was in it ten years ago. Yet its identity is not disturbed thereby. Protect the seed, as God doubtless will, and you have protected identity. And though when we rise it will not be as flesh and blood, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50), yet it shall be the same body.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, and the glory is not the same, for there is the glory of the sun, the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars. So I may have the same body – the same for identity, and yet as to its components, especially as to its qualities of weakness, mortality and corruption, it may be as distinct and changed as light is distinct and changed from darkness.

Oh my brothers and sisters, let this be an assured truth to us that we do not put the body into the grave to lose it. We put the body there as the chemist puts gold into the furnace; it shall come out the same as to its gold, but the dross shall be left behind. All that was precious in the fabric shall remain; that which was corruptible, defiled, sinful, shall have passed away.

According to our belief, the soul will than return to the body. There will be a joyful meeting. Soul and body often quarrel here, but they always hate to part, which proves how true is the marriage between them.

Will Christ reign? We shall reign with Him. Will He judge the earth? “do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2). Will He be ruler over cities? He will make us ruler over many cities. All the splendor and triumph, the victory and shouting, we shall have a share in. And when the grand hallelujah shall go up from earth and land and sea, and from the depths that are under the earth, our tongues shall sing the tremendous chorus and our ears shall be partakers of the ever-blessed harmony.

Well, what then? Then comes the end, when Jesus shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God the Father. Will the earth be renovated and refitted as the new heaven and a new earth? Will that new Jerusalem that is to come down at the coming of Christ be the future abode of saints?

This much we know, that we shall be forever with the Lord. With Christ shall be the heaven of believers forever, according to the Lord’s own prayer in John 17:24: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see my glory”

His Glory which we shall take part in:

Life in its fullest sense; life with emphasis; eternal life; nearness to God; closeness to the divine heart; a sense of His love shed abroad in all its fullness; likeness to Christ; fullness of communion with Him; abundance of the Spirit of God; being filled with all the fullness of God. An excess of joy; A perpetual influx of delight; perfection of holiness; no stain nor thought of sin; perfect submission to the divine will; a delight and agreement in, and conformity to, that will; absorption into God, the creature still the creature but filled with the Creator to the brim; serenity caused by a sense of safety; continuance of heavenly service; an intense satisfaction in serving God day and night; bliss in the society of perfect spirits and glorified angels; delight in retrospect of the past, delight in the enjoyment of the present, and delight in the prospect of the future; something ever new and evermore the same; a delightful variety of satisfaction and a heavenly sameness of delight; clear knowledge; absence of all clouds; ripeness of understanding; excellence of judgment; and above all, an intense vigor of heart and the whole of that heart set upon Him whom our eyes shall see to be altogether lovely!!

I have looked at the crests of a few of the waves as I see them breaking over the sea of immortality; I have tried to give you the names of a few of the peaks of the long alpine range of glory. But AH! Where are my words, and where are my thoughts? “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Our only satisfaction in thinking of it is that “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (1Corinthians 2:10). May His spirit dwell in you and give you foretastes of the rest which remains, foretastes of the eternal banquet where Christ will drink the new wine with us in His heavenly Father’s Kingdom.

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Ephesians 2:5

even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

2 Peter 1:3

as His divine power has given to us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

2Cor. 9:8

 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Ps 68:19

Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah

Dan 11:32

 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.

Joel 2:25

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten ……

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 18 ~ ~ Romans 8:30 ~ ~ “those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called, He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.”

Back to the book, “We Shall See God” with sermons and teachings from Charles H. Spurgeon and Randy Alcorn.

“The Present Heaven”

SPURGEON:

Do you know what happens when you die? Have you ever wondered whether there’s a delay between earth and heaven, whether there is a preparation that needs to take place before your soul meets God?

The moment that the believing soul leaves the body, that justified soul is in glory. We know that there is no preparatory process for it to pass through.

The case of the dying thief is to the point. He was no saint. He had not for many years performed works of moral superiority by which he reached perfection and could claim that the gates should be opened to him. He was a sinner up to the very last moment, and the only good deeds that we ever read of his doing were when he claimed Christ as Lord and rebuked his fellow thief for slandering the Savior. Yet hear the words: “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Nor is this the only instance. We find, when Lazarus died, according to the parable, that he was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom, a place of unspeakable rest and delight which the rich man greatly envied (Luke 16:19-31) (which is where the Old Testament Saints went, because Christ had not yet offered the sacrifice for sin, yet, they believed for the future. Old Testament believers looked forward to the Cross, while we look back to the Cross)

Stephen expected the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit. (Ats 7:59), and the apostle Paul was torn between life and death, being willing “to depart and be with Christ.” (Philippians 1:23). He evidently did not anticipate any delay between earth and heaven, for he says in 2 Corinthians 5:6:

“We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.”

Perhaps that word “paradise”, which Christ uses to describe the state of disembodied spirits, may be a help to us in judging of the condition of the blessed. Paradise is a place of perfect peace, sinlessness, rest, enjoyment and freedom from evil.

Eden! Oh, how shall we talk of its glories long since faded? Let us, however, remember its winding walks among trees loaded with luscious fruits. Let us remember the glory of its rising and its setting sun, the immortality, the peace, joy, love, and brightness which our first parents enjoyed in their naked innocence.

The glory of paradise was that God walked there in the cool of the evening with His creatures. The glory of heaven is that “they will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Revelation 22:5), and that the days of their mourning shall be ended when God wipes away all tears from their eyes (Revelation 21:4) and the Lamb leads them to the springs of living water (Revelation 7:17). God is with them to be their God, and they are with Him to be His happy people at His right hand, where there are pleasures forevermore.

The day will come when the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel and the voice of God. Christ will suddenly come, come to reign and to judge the earth in righteousness. Now at that time, those of us who are alive and remain shall have no preference over them that sleep. It is true “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1Corinthians 15:51-52)

ALCORN:

What we usually think of when we hear the word “heaven” is the INTERMEDIATE heaven. I prefer to use the term, PRESENT heaven, but in any case, it means the place God’s children go when we die. It’s the place we’ll live until our bodily resurrection. (which occurs as described above by Pastor Spurgeon – in the “twinkling of an eye) As Spurgeon demonstrates from Scripture, our spirits go there immediately upon death. It is a conscious existence, even though it’s an unnatural condition in that we are without our earthly bodies

Our Christian loved ones who have died are now in this present heaven. This is not the same as purgatory!!! Some believe there is such a place where people pay the price for their own sin to become ready for heaven, but it’s not a Biblical concept. The Bible teaches that Christ paid the complete price for our atonement and thus we can do nothing to add to it. (if we could pay for our own and go to heaven, He wouldn’t have had to die for us)

Often we think of heaven as our permanent home, as departing from our earthly realm into an angelic realm to live with God where He is forever. But the Bible says that one day God will bring us down from His place to live with Him in OUR place, the new earth (Revelation 21:3)

In the present heaven, God’s people are with Christ and full of joy, and their lives there are “ Far better” (Philippians 1:23) But still it is not their permanent home. They’re looking forward to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 is vitally important to all of us: bodily resurrection, at which time all of creation is renewed also, and we will live on a perfect earth, in a perfect universe, containing perfect animals and plants, with perfect people, all having perfect bodies – forever – as it was at the original creation.

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John5:24

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

Titus 1:2

“in the hope (divine guarantee) of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,”

1John 2:25

“And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.”

John 17:3

“ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

John 6:68

“But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Proverbs 8:23

“ I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.”

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 17~ ~ Colossians 3:1-2~ ~ “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Continuing with Ron Rhode’s book, “The Wonder of Heaven” (again, I want to remind you that these things apply only to born again believers. Those who have not repented, and accepted forgiveness only through the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah, will not receive these promises, nor be able to understand the Word, but will live eternally in the fires of hell. Salvation is a free gift that must be humbly received. Have you made that decision?)

RON RHODES:

(Referring to today’s verse above)

The original Greek of this passage is intense: “Diligently, actively, single-mindedly pursue the things above.” It is also a present tense, carrying the idea, “Perpetually keep on seeking the things above…Make it an ONGOING PROCESS.

Strong words! I love this passage, and I can tell you that putting the passage into practice can make all the difference in how we live our lives on this temporal earth.

It is highly revealing that the apostle Paul found it necessary to issue this instruction. The implication is that he did so because setting our minds on the things above is not something that happens naturally or all by itself. It is not an automatic process for Christians. In fact, it is quite common in Scripture for commands to be issued SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE we, as humans, have a tendency to gravitate toward the precise opposite behavior – in this case, focusing our attention on things below (earth). Because we are unaccustomed to setting our minds on things above, we need to commit anew to it every day.

When you think about it, setting our minds on things above makes good sense. After all, the earth is TEMPORAL. It is passing away. Heaven is ETERNAL, and it lasts forever. Why set our minds on that which is fleeting? It is such an unwise thing to do and yet so many Christians today seem focused only on the things this world has to offer.

One of the reasons we ought to be setting our minds on things above is that this is where our true citizenship is. As Philippians 3:20 puts it, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are citizens of heaven. That is where we truly belong. That is where we are ultimately headed. Meanwhile, we are “strangers and exiles on the earth (Hebrews 11:13). We are pilgrims en route to the heavenly country (vs 16). this in itself can be a source of strength when life gets tough. Christian scholar Arnold Fruchtenbaum urges;

“What that means is that all trials in this life do not need to be taken to the point of defeat or despair. Rather, believers can look upon them and say, “This, too, will pass; I am only a temporary resident on this earth. This, too, will pass; My citizenship is in heaven. I will some day know the full joy of the Lord.”

Our hope in the future glory of the afterlife fuels our faith in the present. Hope and faith – these are closely tied to each other in the pages of Scripture. The apostle Paul tells us that faith involves “being sure of what we hope for” (Hebrews 11:1)

So, then, walking by sight we behold disease, decay and death as regular features of our world. Walking by faith, however, enables us to see the reality beyond the physical senses into the world of the eternal. Walking by faith enables us to be sure of our future destiny. And, the destiny of those who believe in Jesus Christ is a wonderful destiny indeed. For we will live forever with Christ in resurrected bodies that will never again be susceptible to disease, decay, and death. Let our faith cause us to rejoice in this!

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

One of the ways faith brings heaven to our souls relates to the realization of a heavenly destiny with Christ. Such faith rests in the assurance that regardless of what happens on this puny speck-of-a-planet, our destiny is the eternal city, the heavenly country, at the very side of Christ. So, like Peter on the water, let us look more steadily at Jesus, and less at the waves and wind in our lives. Scripture says that God “will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3) Let us keep our steadfast gaze heavenward.

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2 Corinthians 6:17

Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord….

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

• 1 Corinthians 1:20-21

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 2:12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

James 4:4

…..Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Revelation 11:15

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 16 ~ ~ Matthew 6:21 ~ ~ “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Continuing with a chapter from Ron Rhode’s book, “The Wonder of Heaven”. Chapter: “Looking Toward Eternity”

I recently came across a parable intended to teach that while unbelievers typically interpret all human suffering as something that “just happens”, believers can see suffering as something that can help prepare us for the afterlife, and therefore has a good purpose, as guided by God.

It is a parable that imagines twins – a brother and sister – talking to each other in their mother’s womb. It goes like this:

The sister said to the brother, “I believe there is life after birth.”

Her brother protested vehemently, “No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us.”

The little girl insisted, “There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move.” Still, she could not convince her twin brother.

After some silence, the sister said hesitantly, “I have something else to say, and I’m afraid you won’t believe that, either, but I think there is a mother.”

Her brother became furious. “A mother!!!!” he shouted. “What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place, after all. We have all we need, so let’s be content.”

The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother’s response and for a while didn’t dare say anything more. But she couldn’t let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, “Don’t you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They’re quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful.”

“Yes,” he answered. “What’s special about that?”

“Well,” the sister said, “I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?”

The brother didn’t answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone.

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What a tragedy that so many in our world today mimic the behavior of the hard-hearted brother in regard to what the Bible says about heaven and the afterlife. But for those of us, like the sister, who are believers, and who maintain a top-down perspective, the hard knocks of life – those “pressures” – are tempered by the glorious future that awaits us.

A top-down perspective also helps us to have a balanced perspective on money and wealth. John MacArthur is correct when he says our goals “should not include the accumulation of possessions here. Our real wealth – our eternal reward – is in heaven (Matthew 5:12) Why, then, do so many Christians spend a lifetime staying busier than a bee, seeking to accumulate material wealth? They often do so to the detriment of spending quality time with family and others. Ah, my friend, we must be cautious not to be deceived by the enticing allurements of the world which are passing away.

A key passage on the “top-down” perspective is Matthew 6:19-34 – (written out in full below)

Here Jesus informs us that anxiety will not change anything. Certainly it will not increase the length of our lives (verse 27). Our goal should therefore be to store up treasures in heaven. This will help rid our lives of anxiety. Make note of this principle:

OUR HEARTS WILL COINCIDE WITH THE PLACEMENT OF OUR TREASURES.

If we are usually anxious over temporal problems, our hearts are likely not centered on what should properly be our first love, if we have perpetual anxiety, there is a good possibility that we are more occupied with transient realities than Jesus intended. So here we have a ready-made test by which we can assess the depths of our beliefs.

Our goal should not only be to attain but to MAINTAIN a “top-down” perspective. This perspective is a radical love of God that places Him first and foremost in every aspect of our lives. We are to concentrate our concerns on the eternal, not the temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18) and when we do this, God has promised to meet all our earthly needs as part of the package (Matthew 6:33)

WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

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2 Corinthians 4:18

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 6:19-34

19. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27. Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28. “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29. and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32. For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Colossians 3:1

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:2

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 15 ~ ~ Psalm 30:5 ~ ~ “For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Today we’re looking at a book by Ron Rhodes called “The Wonder of Heaven”, as we continue on the subject of the wonderful eternal life we can look forward to if we are saved by the blood of Christ!

It’s in his chapter, “Looking Toward Eternity”

Ron Rhodes:

The Bible begins with “Paradise Lost”, at which time pain, suffering, and death first entered the human race. The Bible ends with “Paradise Regained”, at which time pain, suffering, and death will be a thing of the past.

Once we are in heaven, the sufferings we experienced during our time on earth – even extreme suffering – will be viewed as a momentary bother. As Sister Theresa put it, “In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.” Theologian John Wenham comments, “Not only is it certain that this life will end, but it is certain that from the perspective of eternity it will be seen to have passed in a flash. The toils which seem so endless will be seen to have been quite transitory and abundantly worthwhile.”

It is with this in mind that Christian writer Philip Yancey comments: “In the Christian scheme of things, this world and the time spent here are not all there is. Earth is a proving ground, a dot in eternity.”

We need to have an eternal perspective. I believe that such a perspective gives us the strength we need to withstand the punches that life often throws at us during this “dot in eternity.” Especially given the things that are happening around us, and how quickly they are passing along. This “dot” will soon be over. Our destiny in heaven, by contrast, is an ETERNAL destiny. We will live there forever, and it will be a pain-free and death-fee environment. That is something to look forward to.

The incredible glory of the afterlife should motivate each of us to live faithfully during our relatively short time on earth. Especially when difficult times come, we must remember that we are but pilgrims on our way to another land – to the final frontier of heaven where God Himself dwells.

J.I Packer once said that the “lack of a long, strong thinking about our promised hope of glory is a major cause of our plodding, lack-luster lifestyle.” Packer points to the Puritans as a much-needed example for us, for they believed that “it is the heavenly Christian that is the lively Christian.” the Puritans understood that we “run so slowly, and strive so lazily, because we so little mind the prize…..So let Christians animate themselves daily to run the race set before them by practicing heavenly meditation.”

How I have come to appreciate the Puritans! How I personally seek to imitate their example! The Puritans “saw themselves as God’s pilgrims, traveling home through rough country; God’s warriors, battling the world, the flesh, and the devil; and God’s servants, under orders to worship, fellowship, and do all the good they could as they went along.” We should have the same kind of attitude.

I’m particularly impressed with the writings of Puritan Richard Baxter, author of the classic “Saints’ Everlasting Rest.” Truly he had some habits worthy of imitation. His first habit was to “estimate everything – values, priorities, possessions, relationships, claims, tasks – as these things will appear when one actually comes to die. In other words, he weighed everything in terms of their eternal benefit. After all, our life on earth is short; our life in heaven is forever. If we work only for the things of this earth, what eternal benefit will all of it have?

Baxter’s second habit was to “dwell on the glory of the heavenly life to which one was going.” Baxter daily practiced “holding heaven at the forefront of his thoughts and desires.” The hope of heaven brought him joy, and joy brought him strength. He once said, “A heavenly mind is a joyful mind; this is the nearest and truest way to live a life of comfort…A heart in heaven will be a most excellent preservative against temptations, a powerful means to kill your corruptions.” He offered encouragement: “Be of good cheer, Christian, the time is near, when God and you shall be near, and as near as you can well desire. You shall dwell in His family.” What a day to look forward to!

J.C. Ryle, who seems to have been made of the same stuff as Baxter, urged: “Let us not be afraid to meditate often on the subject of heaven, and to rejoice in the prospect of good things to come.” Indeed, “Let us take comfort in the remembrance of the other side.” We ought to “look up and look forward! The time is short. The world is growing old, and evil. The coming of the Lord draws near.”

Heavenly mindedness can help us keep our heads “screwed on straight” as Christians. Mark Buchanan put it this way “Heavenly-mindedness is sanity. It is the best regimen for keeping our hearts whole, our minds clear….It allows us to endure life’s agonies without despair.” It can also motivate us to engage in the work that really matters.

J. Osward Sanders agrees, noting, “A study of history, both secular and sacred, reveals that the Christians who have affected the most significant social change have been those who have been gripped by the ‘powers of the coming age’ (Hebrews 6:5)

Certainly a top-down perspective comes in handy when life throws us a punch. I love the way Randy Alcorn says it: “Anticipating heaven doesn’t eliminate pain, but it lessens it and puts it in perspective. Meditating on heaven is a great pain reliever. It reminds us that suffering and death are temporary conditions.” He is SPOT ON in his assessment that “the Biblical doctrine of heaven is about THE FUTURE, but it has tremendous benefits HERE AND NOW. If we grasp it, it will shift our center of gravity and radically change our perspective on life.

(Tomorrow, Mr. Rhodes will have a modern-day parable for us as well as more enlightening thoughts.)

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Psalm 89:15

Blessed and happy are the people who know the joyful sound [of the trumpet’s blast]!
They walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!

Colossians 3:1

 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Titus 2:13

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 12:2

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:26

considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Philippians 3:20

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 14 ~ ~ 2 Corinthians 4:17 ~ ~ “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

I have another chapter from John MacArthur’s book that fits this subject, before we go to Ron Rhodes, and back to Charles Spurgeon and Randy Alcorn.

The chapter subtitle is “A New Building from God”

FIRST ~ ~I want to make sure that everyone understands that these Biblical promises, statements, and scripture verses, that we talk about every day, are directed to the “saved”—-to those who have repented of their sins, knowing that Jesus Christ became man, while still remaining God, and suffered and died for your sins, becoming sin for you so that you can become His righteousness. If you understand that that is the ONLY way anyone can be saved, and if you have sincerely made the decision to repent, claim salvation, and from now on live for Christ as your Lord and Savior, then God will/has performed a wonderful work in you through the Holy Spirit, and you are a new creature. You may not feel any different, but now you can grow in your relationship with the Father through Jesus, and receive all the promises in the Bible.

John MacArthur:

Paul says that when the earthly tabernacle of our body is gone, we will receive a new building from God, eternal in the heavens. To complete 2 Corinthians 5:2 which we quoted yesterday, “…in this tent we groan, LONGING TO PUT ON OUR HEAVENLY DWELLING.” Romans 8:32 says that in heaven even our failing bodies will be redeemed – glorified. Christ himself “will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.”

(Philippians 3:21). Our groaning will be ended when we are finally clothed with a heavenly body.

A glorified body alone would be a good reason to fix all our hopes on heaven. Paul had vivid expectations as he waited for heaven. Look again at these first few verses of 2Corinthians 5:1-4:

“ For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

In this body we groan because we are burdened by sin, sickness, sorrow, and death—both our own impending death and the death of loved ones. Yet we don’t want to be unclothed. In other words, we have no ambition to become disembodied spirits. That’s not what we’re yearning for. We want both our spirits and our bodies to enter the presence of God. And that is God’s plan, too.

Some people have the notion that heaven is wholly ethereal, spiritual, and unreal. They envision it as a wispy, intangible existence in a dreamlike spiritual dimension. That is not the Biblical conception of heaven. In heaven we will have real bodies – changed, glorified, made like Christ’s resurrection body (Philippians 3:21) – bodies MORE solid than our current state, because they will not be subject to the effects of aging, injury, illness, or death. 1Corinthians 15:53-54:

“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:5:

“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee”

The Greek word translated “guarantee” is ARROBON, the same word Paul used in Ephesians 1:14, also referring to the Holy Spirit. In modern Greek a form of this ancient word is used to signify an engagement ring. In New Testament times is usually referred to a down payment or first installment on a debt – earnest money. So, the Holy Spirit is a token of God’s pledge to us that even our bodies will be made new and imperishable in the glory of heaven.

Paul brings is around to daily life in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8:

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

This world held no fascination for Paul. He longed for the world to come.

Do you find it difficult to say honestly that those verses express the deepest desires of your heart? There is a tendency for most of us to hold tightly to this world because it is all we know. It is familiar to us. All our dearest relationships are built here. We too easily think of it as home. So we become captive to this life.

But notice that Paul says he would rather be “at home” with the Lord. That is precisely what the Greek expression in the original text means. It is a form of the verb ENDEMEO “to be at home.”

We are most truly “at home” only when we are finally with the Lord. Paul understood this. And the knowledge that he belonged in heaven was the very thing that helped him endure the struggles of this life.

We too should long to be clothed with our heavenly form. We should look forward to being absent from the body and present with the Lord. We should become more preoccupied with the glories of eternity than we are with the afflictions of today.

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John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:17

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Colossians 1:3-4

Our hope is laid up for us in heaven.

Revelation 3:5-9

The one who conquers will be clothed in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

1 Thessalonians 4:17

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 13~ ~ Colossians 3:2 ~ ~ Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”

Today I’m going to change a little, and take the excerpt from John MacArthur’s book, “the Glory of Heaven”—–Chapter: This World is Not My Home. We will be going back to “We Shall See God” again.

It may sound paradoxical to say this, but heaven should be at the center of the Christian worldview. The term “worldview” is a name for the moral, philosophical, and spiritual framework through which we interpret the world and everything around us. Everyone Has a worldview, whether consciously or not.

A proper Christian worldview is uniquely focused heavenward. Though some would deride this as “escapism,” it is, after all, the very thing Scripture commands:

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). The apostle Paul penned that verse, by the way, and his approach to life was anything but escapist.

In fact, Paul is a wonderful example of the proper Biblical perspective between heaven and earth. He faced overwhelming persecution on earth and never lost sight of heaven. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 he says:

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” Then in verses 16-27 he adds, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” Elsewhere he told the church at Rome, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18)

Paul was saying exactly what Peter told the scattered and persecuted believers he wrote to in 1 Peter 1:3-7:

“Whatever we suffer in this life cannot be compared with the glory of the life to come.” In other words, we don’t seek to ESCAPE this life by dreaming of heaven. But we do find we can ENDURE this life because of the certainty of heaven. Heaven is eternal. Earth is temporal. Those who fix all their affections on the ephemeral realities of this passing world are the real escapists, because they are vainly attempting to avoid facing eternity – by hiding in the fleeting shadows of things that are only transient.

The irony is that all the things we can see and touch in this world are less substantive and less permanent than the eternal things of heaven, which things we can grasp only by faith. The apostle Paul wrote:

“We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”(2 Corinthians 4:18-5:1)

It always amazes me when I encounter someone living as if this life is an unending reality. Nothing is more obvious than the transitory nature of human life. The fact that this earthly tabernacle – the human body – is dissolving becomes obvious at an all too early age. This tent is being torn down:

“In this tent we groan” (2 Corinthians 5:2) Then in Romans 8:22: “The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Nothing in this world is permanent. That should be obvious to anyone who contemplates the nature of things, even on the most superficial level.

There are many who mistakenly conclude that the brevity of life is a good justification for unbridled self-indulgence. After all, if there’s nothing to life but what we can see and experience in the here and now, why not make the most of personal pleasure? How different that is from Jesus’ advice to use this earthly life as an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven!

But if this life were the sum total of human existence, then our existence would be a tragic affair indeed. Nihilism would indeed be the only philosophy that would make sense: Nothing would truly matter, so we might as well try to gain all the pleasure we can from life before we die and return to nothingness. Sadly, many unsaved people today believe this.

As Christians, we naturally deplore that kind of hedonism and lament the despair it breeds. But let’s acknowledge that a nihilistic worldview is the most clear and logical alternative to Christianity. If our existence is the product of nothing and will lead to nothing, then life itself is really nothing. If that’s the case, then there’s no good reason we should not “eat, drink and be merry.”

But Scripture tells us that is the worldview of a fool (Luke 12:19-20).(see Scriptures at end)

How much better to have the eternal perspective! A pamphlet I once read related the following anecdote from the life of John Quincy Adams:

One day in his 80^th year….he was approached by a friend who said, “And how is John Quincy Adams today?”

The former President of the United States replied graciously, “thank you, John Quincy Adams is well, sir, quite well. I thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundations. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out, it’s walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quite well, sir, quite well.” And with this the venerable statesman, leaning heavily upon his cane, moved slowly down the street.

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Luke 12:19-20 “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

Ezekiel 11:19: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.”

Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Proverbs 18:14: “A (person’s) spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”

Proverbs 20:27: “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord that sheds light on one’s inmost being.”

Romans 8:27

“And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”

Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

2 Timothy 1:7

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

John 4:24

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 12 ~ ~ Isaiah 25:8 ~ ~ “He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.”

From the book, We Shall See God

Homesick for Eden, part 2

RANDY ALCORN:

We are homesick for Eden. We’re nostalgic for what is implanted in our hearts. It’s built into us, perhaps at a genetic level. We long for what the first man and woman once enjoyed—perfect and beautiful earth and free of unstained relationships, with God, one another, animals, and the environment. Every attempt at human progress has been an attempt to overcome what was lost in the Fall. If God’s plan were merely to take mankind to the present heaven or to a heaven that is the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heavens and a new earth. Why refashion the stars of the heavens and the continents of the earth? God could just destroy His original creation and put it all behind Him. But that is not His plan.

Upon creating the heavens and the earth, God called them “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Never once has He renounced His claim on what He made. He isn’t going to abandon His creation; He’s going to restore it. He won’t go to heaven and leave earth behind. Rather, God will bring heaven and earth together in the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God’s perfect plan is “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:10)

Albert Wolters says, “Redemption is not a matter of an addition of a spiritual or supernatural dimension to creaturely life that was lacking before; rather, it is a matter of bringing new life and vitality to what was there all along… the only thing redemption adds that is not included in the creation is the remedy for sin, and that remedy is brought in solely for the purpose of recovering a sinless creation…Grace RESTORES nature, making it whole once more.

We have never seen the earth as God made it. Our planet as we know it is a shadowy, halftone image of the original. But it does whet our appetites for the new earth, doesn’t it? If the present earth, so diminished by the curse, is at times so beautiful and wonderful and if our bodies, so diminished by the curse, are at times overcome with a sense of the earth’s beauty and wonder, then how magnificent will the new earth be?

Spurgeon speaks eloquently of what awaits this earth: “Her curse shall be removed, her stains taken away, and this world shall be as fair as when God first formed her from His mind.”

Earth cannot be delivered from the curse by being destroyed. It can be delivered only by being RESURRECTED. Christ’s resurrection is the forerunner of our own, and our resurrection will be the forerunner of the earth’s.

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A little addition from the book, The Wonder of Heaven by Ron Rhodes

Think about it. In view of the sheer vastness of the stellar universe, it is truly amazing that God sovereignly chose our tiny planet as a center of divine activity. Relatively speaking, the earth is but an astronomical atom among the Whirling constellations, only a tiny speck of dust among the ocean of stars and planets in the universe. To the naturalistic astronomer, the earth is but one of many planets in our small solar system, all of which are in orbit around the sun, with any other solar systems, in many other galaxies. But the earth is nevertheless the center of God’s work of salvation in the universe. For, indeed, it was on the earth that God created humankind and has appeared to people throughout Biblical times. It was on the earth that Jesus became incarnate and died for the sins of humankind. It will be to the earth that the Lord Jesus comes again at the second coming. And He will then create the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21:1-2; 22:3)

The centrality of the earth is also evident in the creation account, for God created the earth before He created the rest of the planets and stars. Why did God create the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth rather than the first day? Apparently because the earth is the central planet in God’s sovereign plan.

Tragically, as we think back to the scene in the Garden in which Adam and Eve sinned against God, we remember that a curse was placed upon the earth by God (Genesis 3:17-18 see also Romans 8:20-22). Hence, before the eternal kingdom can be made manifest, God must deal with this cursed earth. We also remember that satan has long carried out his evil schemes on earth (see Ephesians 2:2). and hence the earth must be purged of all stains resulting from his extended presence.

In short, then, the earth—along with the first and second heavens (the earth’s atmosphere and the stellar universe)– must be renewed.

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Hebrews 12:26-27

“God will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven, and remove the things that can be shaken.”

Isaiah 65:17-19 – “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more

(Revelation 21:27).

“Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”

1 Corinthians 13:12

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

2 Peter 3:10

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”

Revelation 21:4

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Isaiah 53;6

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Romans 8:20-23

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Genesis 3:1

“…..Has God really said……?” (The lie of this fallen world ~ ~ Humanism, false religions, the occult, psychology, materialism—-all say, “….Has God REALLY said?….The Bible is just an outdated book that has been proven wrong.” But we know better!

Genesis 3:4-5

“Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

(They say, “be enlightened—-don’t stay in the dark ages—open your eyes — get “woke”.. try this drug, you’ll understand everything. When we die, we just cease to be, that’s all…….”)

Genesis 3:9-10

“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

(And hasn’t the world been hiding from God ever since, lest their nakedness (sin) will show.? They deny His existence, or change Him to suit themselves, so they aren’t found out. Satan hasn’t changed his tactics in 4,000 years.)

Daniel 2:44

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

Daniel 7:27

Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.

Isaiah 65:25

he wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”
Says the Lord.