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Author: Bert Mendelson
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Dwelling Places
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “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.We’ve all seen movies that show many different ideas about heaven. If you ask 20 people their idea of heaven, you would probably get 20 different answers. What do we really know about heaven? What really happens to us when we die? Some people think that we just cease to exist. If so, Jesus was wrong, along with all of the apostles, every prophet, and many others. They were all so convinced of life after death that they were willing to give up the rest of their lives, just so they could tell others.
To Live is Christ
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Paul referred to this in many places. Paul even described in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 how he was caught up to the third heaven. God showed him what it was like.
Citizenship
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
We are only here for a short time. James writes that we are “just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (Jas.4:14, NASB) Jesus said that He was leaving so that He could prepare a place for us. He left; now, we are waiting for Him to return and bring us to Him. When we talk about heaven and our eternal home, we need to understand the actual sequence of events.
People who die now are taken to heaven, where Jesus is. That is only a temporary home for us, though.The Rapture
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NASB)
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.This is called The Rapture. All born-again believers, living and dead, will be brought up to heaven with Jesus. After a time of judgment on this earth, called The Great Tribulation, we will reign with Jesus on this earth for 1,000 years. This is called The Millenium. After that comes the final judgment and punishment or reward.
New Jerusalem
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.After The Millenium, the heavens and the earth will be burned up and pass away (2Pt.3:10,12). God will create a new heaven and a new earth. On this new earth will be the new Jerusalem. This is what Jesus said that He was going away to prepare for us.
God With Us
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
We will be with God forever. He will live with us, and we will belong to Him.
No More Tears
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
There will be no more sadness or crying or pain. “the first things have passed away.” This life is hard and filled with sadness. None of that will be in the next life, because we will be with God and Jesus.
All Things New
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
God is making all things new. Nothing in this life will be left, except for the souls of God’s people. See how God is saying again that “these words are faithful and true.” No, we don’t get to create our own, personal heaven. What we see here is the way it will be.
Alpha and Omega
6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
Jesus created everything in the beginning. He will recreate everything in the end.
He paid the price, and He is giving us the water of life without cost.Overcoming
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
Everything hinges on whether we overcome in this life. We overcome by living for Jesus, giving Him control of our lives. If we do, we are His children, and He gives us His inheritance.
Lake of Fire
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Yes, there is also eternal punishment for those who don’t follow Jesus. These are just some of the things that can separate us from God. We have all sinned. Jesus paid for our sins, so we don’t have to go to this second death; we can live in our second life with Him. John then describes some of the incredible aspects of this city, new Jerusalem.
Lake of Fire
16 The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.
This city is like nothing we have ever seen before. It’s 1,500 miles long, wide, and high! That’s about the distance from New Orleans, LA to New England in the Northeast.
It seems like we might have houses above each other, as well as next to each other. The city is built with giant pearls as gates, and precious stones as walls. The streets are pure gold. All of the things that we consider precious now, God considers basic building materials.
What He considers precious is us, His children.Glory of God
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
God created light, and He is light, so we won’t need the sun or moon.
Glory of God
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
There is a river of the water of life, and a tree of life. Notice how there is no death, no separation, no sickness, no sadness. The leaves of the tree of life bring healing for the nations. We won’t be fighting with each other, because God has healed our hearts.
Name of Jesus
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.The curse of sin that started with Adam and Eve will be gone. Jesus will put His name on our foreheads; we will belong to Him.
Are you ready to meet Jesus today? If not, simply pray and give Him your life.
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Hastening the Day
The Day of the Lord
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
The “day of the Lord” or the “day of God” is a theme that we see in a number of places throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. What Peter is describing here sounds terrifying, at first. Even the heavens will be destroyed, and the very elements will melt. The Greek word translated “elements” here means something that is the foundation upon which other things are built.
Peter tells us, though, that we should be anxiously awaiting this.
It’s like a child getting a bad report card or test at school, and they have to have a parent sign it. The whole bus ride home is complete misery, then the slow walk up to the house. They know that they are going to be in trouble, so they don’t want to face the consequences.
Suppose that same child had all “A”s, and the teacher wrote a note home telling the parents how wonderful the child is. Now, that same child would be running up to the house and yelling for their parents, just so they can celebrate the accomplishment together.
Peter says that since we know that this whole universe is about to be judged, we should make sure we are doing what God has called us to do.
In the book of Revelation, John tells us his vision of God’s judgment, as well as the New Jerusalem. He then ends this book, and the whole Bible, with this.Come, Lord Jesus
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.Jesus said that He was coming quickly. John replies, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” He was anxiously waiting for Jesus. He wanted to be reunited with Jesus forever.
Right or Left
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;There were only two groups – those on His right and those on His left. There is no middle group – no middle ground. Thankfully, God is the judge. He is the only One that we can always trust to be loving and merciful, yet fair and just.
We can clearly see from scripture that there will be a Judgment Day. Notice, also, that this eternal fire was not prepared for people. It was prepared “for the devil and his angels.”Judgment of the Devil
10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
God is very clear about what will happen to the devil. Many times, people are reluctant to talk about hell and judgment. If they are real, and the Bible says that they are, we need to talk about them. Talking about them will help us stay far away from this eternal torment.
Unfortunately, there are people who will be thrown into that lake of fire.Judgment of People
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
We see here some examples of the deeds of people who will be in the lake of fire and brimstone (sulfur). There are many deeds that we all do that deserve eternal death. The bottom line for these people is that they chose to follow the devil and his deeds, instead of Jesus and His righteousness.
It takes courage to live a godly, Christian life. We have to take a stand for what is right and be willing to oppose what is wrong.
If we study the Bible, right and wrong are very clear — no shades of gray.Book of Life
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation talks about books where all of our deeds are written down. We have all made mistakes; we have all sinned. None of us deserves heaven, but God made a way for us. All we have to do is get our names into this book of life. How can we do this?
Eternal Life
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.Jesus did not come to judge the world; He came to save it. Our part is to believe in Him, which means putting all of our faith, hope, and trust in Him. If we do this, and strive to live a godly life, loving and worshiping our Lord daily, He has a different promise for us.
River of Life
1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.If we give our lives to Jesus, our names will be in His book of life, and these are some of the things that we will receive.
- A river of the water of life
- The source was the throne of God and of the Lamb (Jesus)
- The tree of life
- Healing of the nations – no more fighting
One day, we will see every nation, tribe, and tongue in heaven, worshiping together.
Name of Jesus
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.The curse of sin is gone, because of Jesus. We will be with Jesus, serving Him always, instead of the devil. We will “see His face, and His name will be on [our] foreheads.”
Name of Jesus
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
We won’t need the sun, because the One Who created the sun will be our light. We will serve and reign with Jesus. This is what He promised us, if we simply live for Him. Are we ready to give up the temporary, sinful things of this world, so that we can have eternity with Him?
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Ordinary People
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More Than These
Decisions
There are always times in our lives when a single decision makes a huge difference in the rest of our lives. I’m sure you can think of some in your life – college, job, spouse, children. We’re going to look at a couple of these times in Peter’s life and see how they apply to us today. The first was when Jesus called Peter to follow Him.
18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.Peter and Andrew had already met and spoken with Jesus (Jn.1:35-42). They knew that there was something very different, very special, about this man, Jesus. This was probably the biggest decision of their lives.
We know that Peter had a family that he had to support. If he just walked away from his fishing business, how could he do that? Besides being his job, it seems like he probably enjoyed it, as well.
Jesus was asking Peter to walk away from his entire life, everything he knew and everything that defined him. Peter weighed the cost and followed Jesus, along with his brother Andrew and two other fisherman brothers, James and John.Pearl
Jesus told a story of a pearl merchant who came upon a once-in-a-lifetime pearl.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matt.13:45-46)Jesus was saying that the kingdom of heaven is so incredibly valuable that it can’t even be compared with anything else. As a matter of fact, He went even further than that.
Hate
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. (Matt.14:26)
Jesus preached quite often about love. He even said that the greatest commandments were for us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, as well as loving our neighbor as ourselves (Jn.23:37-39). In comparison to our love for God, though, every other relationship should seem like hate. Some people want to simply “add Jesus” to their lives. Jesus is saying that we need to make Him our whole life, not just part of it.
Own Cross
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Matt.14:27)
Everyone wants to live an enjoyable life. The problem is that we think that the things around us can give us an enjoyable life. Joy comes from fulfilling our purpose in the eyes of God, not other people or even ourselves.
Fishing
Peter committed everything he had and left everything he had, so he could follow Jesus. He told Jesus that he would even die for Him. When the time came, though, Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter then repented and turned his life back to serving Jesus.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared a number of times to His disciples, for 40 days. One of those times is recorded in the Gospel of John. Peter was with several of the other disciples when he said he was going fishing. They said that they would go with him. They fished all night, but they caught nothing. Then, the sun was just starting to appear. They saw Jesus on the shore.So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.“
So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.“
And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. (Jn.21:5-6)Jesus
All night long, Peter and the others labored in their own strength, and they caught nothing. Then, Jesus appears and tells them what to do. When God directed their work, it was fruitful. I would imagine that they needed money at that point, and didn’t know where to get it. Now, they could sell these fish and have what they needed.
Peter jumped in the water and swam to Jesus on the shore. The other men used the boat to drag the nets full of fish to shore, as well.So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. (Jn.21:9)
Jesus already had fish and bread cooking, waiting for the men.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” (Jn.21:10)
Jesus didn’t need their fish, but He wanted to show them again how He provided. He also wanted them to be able to participate in this miracle. They ate together, then Jesus asked Peter something very important.
Love
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” (Jn.21:15)
Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Peter’s mind and emotions were probably on a roller-coaster – up and down, up and down. He had followed Jesus for over three years, then denied that he knew Him. Now he was looking for direction.
Jesus knew that this was the moment of truth for Peter; he had a decision to make. Once again, Jesus was asking Peter if he was willing to give up all of these things.
That’s a question that Jesus has for all of us – do we love Him “more than these?”
Think of all the things in your life. We live in this world, so that is how we probably define ourselves and our place in this world. But do we love Jesus “more than these?”
After Peter replied, Jesus gave him direction – simply, “Tend My lambs.” Sometimes, we wish that God would be more specific. Peter could have asked, “What does that mean?” Jesus knew that Peter knew what He meant.
Jesus then asked Peter two more times, and Jesus told him basically the same thing.Elisha
When the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, was old and his time here on earth was up, God told him to go call his replacement.
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. (1Ki.19:19)
Elisha was a farmer. He was probably a very prosperous farmer, because he had 11 other teams of oxen and plowmen who were plowing with him. When Elijah threw his mantle (cloak) on Elijah, he knew that Elijah was calling him to follow him. Elisha knew who Elijah was, and he knew that this meant leaving everything that he had and everything that he knew.
Burning Bridges
He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” (1Ki.19:20)
Elisha wanted to tell his parents good-bye, before he followed Elijah. Everyone knew this was a lifelong calling.
So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him. (1Ki.19:21)
Elisha sacrificed the oxen and plow that he had. He was saying that his old way of life was over, and he was ready to follow God’s calling. It was like he was burning the bridges behind him. There was no turning back, no retreat. This was his new life.
More Than These
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” (Jn.21:15b)
Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me more than these?” What are we telling Jesus today? Do we love Him more than all of these things around us, or do we love these things?
A new, wonderful life is waiting for everyone who gives Him the right answer.Yes, Lord, we love You more than these!
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God of Grace
God’s Nature
Some people think God is an angry judge, waiting to strike us down for every little thing we do. Others think He “understands” us, so He forgives everything we do, no matter what it is. The truth, according to the Bible, is that God does expect us to do what is right and worship Him. It’s also true that we all fail to be perfect.
What happens when we do fail? God is always anxious and ready to forgive; we just need to come to Him, confess our sins, and He will wash us “white as snow.”More…
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Looking Out For #1
Number 2
When I used to play softball, I chose the number 2 for my jersey. I had a good reason for that. Every time that I thought of that number, I reminded myself that in every relationship, I should always consider myself number 2. It doesn’t always work, because the flesh wants to be selfish. Still, it helps to keep reminding ourselves that we need to put others before ourselves.
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Investing for the Future
Eternal Investments
Are you only investing for your future on this earth? God has our future just waiting for us. Take the long view – the eternal view.
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