By: J.Farrell Fisher, August 20-21, 2017

Don’t you find it strange AND alarming that many folks who cross your paths in our known world will “die” without one grain of understanding about why they were on Holy God’s beautiful world, no understanding of ‘the meaning of life’ or ‘the meaning of death’? Sadly, for many of humanity’s world populace there is no thought about “Why am I here?”, they just exist, tolerating whatever comes down their lane!

It was Anna Letitia Barbauld, in her writing “Ode to Life”, who wrote: “Life! We’ve been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; It’s hard to part when friends are dear – Perhaps it will cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose your own time; Say not good-night – but in some brighter clime Bid me good morning.” I’m not sure where she was going to awaken, but be sure, she knew she would – and you should know that YOU CHOOSE through God’s graciousness and kindness and amazing love your destiny of eternal life in Hell or Heaven!

And be assured: Our lives in our known world are of a limited time frame! But, at the same time and in the same vein, you are personally involved in where you spend eternity’s destination! Horatius Bonar wrote: “Beyond the shining and the shading I shall be soon. Beyond the hoping and the dreading I shall be soon…”, but Where and With Whom rests in your own involvement of settling your eternal destiny.

Joshua gave his people and us a necessary warning and needed wisdom in Joshua 24:14-15 when he said: “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt! And if it seems evil to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

IF the anointed Word of God says, “Choose YOU this day whom you will serve,” are you, yes, at least fully aware of the ‘fleshly kingdoms of man’ OR yielded to, in, and for the God-honoring, Christ-glorifying “Kingdom of God”?

Dare I tell you that since ‘fallen man’s beginning’ Holy God has sought to alert in the inward heart of all men the reality of His desire to reconcile every fallen man to the reality of His Rule, His reigning, their Redemption, and their “co-reign” in and through His Son, Christ Jesus?

In Proverbs 1:20-33 the ‘wise man’ of Proverbs wrote: “Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.

Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make known my words to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then you will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

“Facing death or Facing Life?” When it comes to all of fallen men’s considerations of why he/she is here in this world, it is certain that in most men it is their own interpretations about what their lives are all about from fleshly ambitions, fleshly aims, even fleshly desires, ‘eating the fruit of their own way’ without any consideration of eternal, divine, loving intention from the Throne of God, His mind, His heart, His desires for men – the source of men’s inspiration for his/her earthly existence must be: “Lord, what would You have me to do?” The astute mind behind the truly blessed man IS the very Mind, Will, Purpose, and Provision of each of us through Christ Jesus, unveiled for us in Romans 5:6-11 when Paul enlightened us, saying,

“For when we were still WITHOUT STRENGTH (or “helpless” concerning “the God-life”), in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having NOW BEEN JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (“being”) saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Have YOU received “the reconciliation”?

W.H.McDonald and William G. Fisher wrote the hymn: “I Am Coming To The Cross”. It says: “I am coming to the cross; I am poor and weak and blind; I am counting all but dross; I shall full salvation find.

Long has my heart sighed for You; Long has evil dwelt within; Jesus sweetly speaks to me, “I will cleanse you from all sin.”

Here I give myself to You – Friends and time and earthly store, Soul and body Yours to be – Wholly Yours forevermore.

In the promises I trust; Now I feel the blood applied; I am prostrate in the dust; I with Christ am crucified.

I am trusting, Lord, in You, Dear Lamb of Calvary, Humbly at Your cross I bow, Save me, Jesus, save me now.”

Has Christ Jesus saved YOU, redeemed YOU by His blood, resurrected YOU from sin and death, and called to YOU, “Son, daughter, come to Me and I’ll give you rest”? Do you KNOW that you’ve come out of the bondage of sin and death and Satan’s control, assured in your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit are YOU honoring and glorifying Christ in and through your bodily Temple?

Have you “Faced your deathly state without Christ” and are you daily, yes, day by day, “Faith-ing Life in Him”? Are you NOW “being saved by His life?” Remember, Romans 5:10! “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (“being”) saved by His life.”

Thank God for the Cross of Christ, but if that totals your believing faith, what do you do about His empty tomb and His desire for your redeemed life and body to be the place of His resurrected, abiding presence on earth through YOU? He was made sin for us that through His shed blood, death, and resurrection we might be made “the righteousness of God” in us to be unveiled to the world around us. Loving God made Jesus to be sin for us, yes, the Jesus who knew no sin, but willingly He took our sin and sin nature unto Himself, becoming ‘sin for us’, and by repentance and faith you and I are “made the righteousness of God in Him, in Christ”! Oswald Chambers rightfully stated: “It is not “Christ” FOR me unless I am determined to have Christ formed “in” me.” So true and so aligning to the very heart and mind of God Himself!

“FACING DEATH?” Spiritual death, which is what every human is birthed into, is the reality of the absence of God in the new-birthed, inner heart, because willfully God had no desire to see children birthed with no choice but servitude to the Almighty – He desired and desires the human races of individuals recognizing the empty life, yes, empty meaning, without Christ willfully residing and reigning, but, because of one’s repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s “finished” work at the Cross – one knows, “Yes, it was for ME Christ died because I was a non-possessor of Divine Presence!”

There is a “soul-awakening” sequence of verses in John 2:23-25 that should truly be ‘words of true awakening’ for one in examining his/her own heart and mind! It says: “Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. BUT Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

There’s an interesting Verse in Ezekiel 44:25 that says, God speaking about “true priests”, “And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” Oh, and then in Ezekiel 44:28 the Lord truly exposes the ‘false’ or true men of Faith saying, “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance.” Are there ‘professing disciples’ intoxicated with a “mixed drink” of the ‘holy and the unholy’ or of ‘the unclean and the clean’? That’s “death” in, yes, disillusioned minds and hearts!

“Fallen mankind” is consumed with nonchalant and/or unconcerned indifference when it comes to a “holy relationship to your God – who needs it?” Many live with a cool indifference, even a mindless consideration of the need of Holy God’s mercy and grace!

It was J.B.Phillips, in his writing, “New Testament Christianity”, who said: “The modern intelligent mind, which has had its horizons widened in dozens of different ways, has got to be shocked afresh by the audacious fact that as a sober matter of history, GOD BECAME ONE OF US.” And becoming one of us, He came with the sacred, eternal intent of reconciling us to Himself – but that could never happen apart from “crucified with Christ” and “raised to new life” in Him and through Him!

“Fallen mankind” is fleshly oriented, ruled by the accumulation of the thoughts, ideas, remedies that never satisfies or heals the absence of God but widens the gap further unless bridged, blessed, and beautified by His amazing grace! And it’s only God’s Mind and God’s Heart that can raise “fallen mankind” out of spiritual death and separation from Him only by the shedding of the innocent blood of His Son for us on Calvary’s Cross, then raising Him up by the supernatural power and love of God, taking Him in His arms, then loosing Him to touch us with God’s amazing love and grace!

When it comes to “fallen mankind”, he/she never experiences the sacredness of a holy relationship with God apart from God’s Word, like when He said to Nicodemus, a religious ruler of the Jews, “Except you be born again you’ll never know My kingdom rule!” Of course, fallen men, rebellious to the core and beyond, have no desire to be “ruled” except by their own warped will! Tell me: Do YOU rule in your own kingdom as ‘lord unto myself’, or is it truly in your mind, heart, and walk to be ruled by Another, even King Jesus?

In Isaiah 63:14b, we read the passionate plea of one who recognized the need of Sovereign God ruling in the nation. He cried out, “So You lead Your people to make Yourself a glorious name,” saying in Verse 19, “We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, those who were never called by Your name.” James had a ‘perfecting word’ for all believers when he wrote in James 1:4, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

If our goal “in Christ” IS “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”, is it possible that some become “sidetracked” or “detoured” away from, rather than “pressing in to His fullness”? In James 1:14 James mentions about “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed,” followed by Verse 15, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” [Don’t you find it alarming when ‘professing believers in Christ’ live as if He’s not around, indulging their sin natures while Christ weeps, but it doesn’t bother them because they’re ‘free’? Really?].

Follow James 1:21-25 the brother of Jesus warns us: “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the IMPLANTED WORD, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. BUT he who looks into the perfect law of liberty AND continues in it, and IS NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER BUT A DOER OF THE WORK, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Blessed is the evidence of Christ as the source of your walk of faith! Are you “facing death” or are you “FAITHING LIFE”?

“Faithing Life”? I love Moffatt’s translation of James 1:4 when he translated it, saying, “Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.” IF ‘Christ in you is the hope of glory’, does Christ Jesus have defects, or is it YOUR defects exposed as you try the best you can to be faithful, when your best and your worst, again, I say to you: It was crucified with Christ thousands of years ago, and you are not to lean on your “best”, but to trust His presence to be Himself THROUGH YOU! Amen?

The “Faithing Life” is not your best in ‘independent individuality’ but dependent trust in Christ Jesus being Himself in us and through us! We read in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO JESUS, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

To finish the “Faith Life” are YOU looking unto Jesus, are you presently walking in His joy, are you taking His endurance of His cross daily in your walk, hating the shame, and ARE YOU SEATED WITH CHRIST, RIGHT NOW, IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES WITH CHRIST VICTORIOUS OVER SIN AND DEATH, and celebrating with the angelic chorus and the armies of redeemed saints?

Psalm 66:10-12 says, “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” How glorious does that sound to you?!? An old hymn entitled “Glory to His Name” has a verse that says: “Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name. Glory to His name, Glory to His name; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name.” Amen?

BY J.FARRELL FISHER, September 29, 2014

I found it so interesting as I was reading in Proverbs recently, chapter 15 and verse 9, when the wise man wrote: “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but He loves him who follows righteousness.” The absence of Biblical faith is the way of the wicked, yes, even an abomination to God, but the present walk of the man of redemptive faith is a delight to God because He sees a man following divine righteousness – “self-righteousness” is as filthy rags! And then I came to Proverbs 15:11 that tells us: “Hell and Destruction are before the Lord; so much more the hearts of the sons of men.”

In Job 26:6 Job told his friends, “Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering.” No doubt this is why the author of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 13, wrote: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but ALL THINGS ARE NAKED AND OPEN TO THE EYES OF HIM to whom we must give account.” David made it even plainer when in Psalm 33:13-14 he wrote: “The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth.” God knows us all by name!

If “Hell and Destruction” are before God’s eyes and He reads the heart of every man, does He sense in you a heart for “My Way” or a heart for “God’s Way”? It is so vital that you examine your own heart in Light of God’s mercy or in Light of God’s wrath because a Day is coming in which EVERY MAN will stand before Holy God at the judgment seat as He renders to you “Hell” or “Heaven”, determining whether you chose your way or God’s way!

Oswald Chambers, in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.131], quoted Matthew 5:30. It says: “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Chambers then said, “There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s.” If you didn’t know, “self-righteousness” is the picture of a “maimed life” needing the eternal redemption only God can give. But, it’s true, some men choose a “hellish” life apart from the Blood Atonement!

Three times in Mark 9:42-48 Jesus spoke of those who offended God by their refusing to accept His healing grace with the result that God, yes, casts them into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” It burns and burns and burns, and never dies out, with the recipients of hell forever experiencing the fire! Spurgeon made an eye-opening statement when he preached long ago: “Many of you are hanging over the mouth of hell by a solitary plank, and that plank is rotten!” If I were you I’d consider WHO I’m standing on, examining whether Jesus is your Solid plank or you’ve wandered to rotten planks!

Do you think John Milton in his “Paradise Lost”, [Bk.1,1.61], was writing about Hell? “A dungeon horrible on all side round As one great furnace flamed yet from those flames…

No light, but rather darkness visible, Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all, but torture without end.”

If you deny God, refuse His saving grace through the blood of the Lamb, and go your own crippled and cursed way, void of the Savior and Lord of life, Jonathan Edwards wrote about you in his “Men Naturally God’s Enemies,” [Works,VII,168], “The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them…When you come to be a firebrand of hell…you will appear as you are, a viper indeed…Then will you as a serpent spit poison at God and vent your rage and malice in fearful blasphemies.”

Let me point you to “TRUTH MANIFESTED”! There are two passages from Revelation I want to share with you. In Revelation 21:8 John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives ALL a warning: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [And the “second death” is the death that will not die!!].

In Revelation 20:15 we read, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Oh, but then Revelation 21:27 informs us that this Book of Life is “the Lamb’s Book of Life”! “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, [can a person ‘defile’ Truth because they don’t accept God’s revelation?], or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Are you unaware that every single person on earth has their own “book of life” as they see it with some personally rejecting God’s Word of Truth? Truth defiled, but also there are those who see Biblical Truth as ‘abominable’ – The Random House Collegiate Dictionary defines ‘abominable’ as that which is “repugnantly hateful; detestable; loathsome; very unpleasant, disagreeable” – oh, and then Revelation 21:27 tells us there an those interpreting “TRUTH” as a lie! AND, THEY HAVE NO PART IN THE REDEMPTIVE WORK OF GOD EVEN IF THEY’RE CHURCH ATTENDERS!

My heart is absolutely broken, shattered, and I find myself in a grieving state for a long time when I hear those who, yes, denounce the God-inspired Holy Word! But I grieve also because Jesus speaks in Matthew 10:28 and tells us: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Greek word for ‘hell’ is Gehenna – I’d define that as ‘good intentions,’ or ‘gross’, ‘godless’, ‘guilt-ridden’, a ‘gad-a-bout’ who wanders away from the God of Truth aimlessly with no God-given purpose, plan, or life in the Spirit!

“Truth-Manifested”? Do you have any idea at all about “eternal remorse”? Again, the Collegiate Dictionary defines “remorse” as “deep and painful regret for wrong-doing…regretful, pitiful, sad”, because one has ignored God’s calling to him/her, His personal calling, through His Word to YOU!!

Follow carefully Jesus’ words in Luke 16:19-31! “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at the gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores…

So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died also 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 upon 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.’

But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

“TRUTH MANIFESTED?” What did Jesus say in Matthew 16:25? But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember…” Can you even begin to comprehend the thoughts of a man who thought by his earthly prominence he was assured of a place in heaven but all he ‘inherited’ was “pictures of the past” with no film of saving grace and mercy?

Memory? Thoughts of his past existence because it certainly was not heavenly living on earth – a life that never gave Jesus a silly inch of consideration but only miles of “fleshly, sinful, shameful” unbelief, rebellion, and denial as he wasted his living on indulging himself in Christ-less living!

Thoughts? Do you comprehend “torment” when the purity of Christ could have been yours through His shed blood, broken body, and eternal sacrifice, but you stood on your “intellectually prowess”, never understanding “raised with Christ, seeking the things above” settling in where Christ IS, seated at the right hand of God! So, you become a part of those who “set their minds on things above, not on the things of the earth,” because you “died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God!”

Horrifying considerations of ‘torment in the flames’? Do you ever read Holy Scripture and sense the depth, breadth and height of God’s love for you as He alerts you to an eternity of an absence of His love, grace, and mercy, and experiencing only the Devil’s hell with all his demons and, yes, the godless who deny Christ as the Savior and Lord of all of life?

Can you even begin to comprehend every man, woman, boy, or girl, who heard of the saving grace of God, of Calvary’s great love, of the suffering and death on innocent Jesus who knew no sin, but took their sin upon Himself and died a cruel death, hearing Him say, “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!” What tormenting shame for the rejecters of Christ!

Eternity in Hell with unbelievers, sordid companions, sick sinners of body, mind, heart, and soul? Revelation 22:15 Jesus Himself testified of those who weren’t allowed to enter the Holy City! “But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and WHOEVER LOVES AND PRACTICES A LIE!” Loves a lie, practices a lie? “Jesus isn’t divine, Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin, Jesus was not Emmanuel, Jesus wasn’t the Sinless Son of God, Jesus doesn’t save, Jesus doesn’t give us Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope for Eternity – he was just a man!” So they GO TO HELL!!

Oh, hear the Word of God!! John 3:36!! “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Wrath? Hell? Punishment? From God? You do understand that there are some who believe it to be impolite to even speak of Hell and who goes there, but if Jesus does, so should all born-again believers! There are those without grace and mercy in their hearts, living hopeless of hope and heaven without Jesus as Master, Savior, and Lord of their lives.

Have you read 2 Thessalonians lately? Verses 7-10 “…the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who DO NOT OBEY THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe [trust in, rely upon, rest in], because our testimony among you was believed.” Tell me what YOU believe?

Would you be surprised if you discovered that Jesus had more to say about Hell than He did Heaven? Why don’t you “use” the Word and see the difference between Hell and Heaven! I don’t know what you’ve discerned about Hell in God’s Word, but more importantly you need to truly know the heart of God! 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” [And especially related to the “church”, how does the last verse apply when “repentance” is a word missing from the church’s daily dictionary? Too many pastors have no desire to “offend” regular attenders and especially those who are big tithers!]

Let’s examine “Truth Manifested” as it relates to Heaven! In John 14:1-4 Jesus speaks to our hearts today: “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. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Jesus talked clearly, plainly, passionately about those who believed in, trusted fully, and followed Him faithfully, that He had gone after His death and resurrection to “prepare a place for you”! But one doesn’t merit Heaven as he/she mixes, messes, or mangles the profession of faith in Christ while daily dancing the devil’s or fallen flesh’s tunes! It’s “I surrender all” or one is not His “at all”!

But in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9 Paul encourages true believers with the hope of our eternal Heaven: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day…

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 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…

5:1-9, 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. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee…

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 to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” Heaven? Paul said later in 2 Corinthians 5:18 that “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…” If you’re not experiencing Heaven now, in Christ, what do you think will make His Presence more pleasing when you’re with Him there?

Do you understand “joy in Heaven”? Luke 15:7,10 says, Verse 7, Jesus speaking, “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.” Then Verse 10 says, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Heaven? The Holy Presence of God, the Presence of Jesus who is King of kings and Lord of lords, and the Holy Spirit bathing the redeemed in eternal, heavenly fruit of the Spirit, and multitudes after multitudes of Heaven’s angels singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” along with the born-again Family of God!

R.A. Torrey wrote the book entitled “Heaven or Hell?” In it, [p.72] he wrote: “There will be no unpleasant or degrading companions in heaven. The devil will not be there. The lewd, the vulgar, and the obscene will not be there. The greedy and the scheming and selfish will not be there. The liar, the slanderer, the backbiter, the meddler, and the gossip will not be there. The mean, the contemptible, and the hypocrite will not be there. The profane, the blasphemer, and the scoffer will not be there. No money, influence, or cunning will get them in. ‘And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie. [Revelation 21:27]”

And YOU don’t know, refuse to believe, yes, doubt and try to refute daily that you have a great High Priest in Heaven whose name is Jesus? Hebrews 4:14 tells me, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Beyond this eternal truth the author then tells us in verses 15-16, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

[But how many do you know who deny Jesus as our great High Priest, have no confession, certainly recognize in themselves no weaknesses, void of temptation and sin, and vow they don’t need mercy or grace because their “flesh” and “sin” is of no consequence to God!]

“Heaven”? Can you even begin to fathom the fullness of perfect love, perfect peace, perfect identity, as the son/daughter of God Almighty? What did John write? I John 3:1-3 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” [Would you call that “preparation for Heaven”? But there is no purity of heart and mind apart from “the blood of the Lamb of God” WHO IS JESUS ONLY!]

“Heaven”? You just read R.A. Torrey’s summation of “absence”, but consider the absence of all of God’s enemies of true faith, your enemies of saving grace! Can you rejoice because you understand there’s the eternal absence of that which sought to mar your life and journey of faith? Life’s pains become His perfect peace, life’s troubles become His triumphant spirit, life’s poverties become His eternal riches, life’s laborious conflicts become His eternal “rest” of faith, life’s fleshly questions become His heavenly answers, life’s “sleepless nights” become the dawn of His bright days, life’s baffling questions become our Lord’s clear answers, life’s tears will be transformed into His rivers of sweet memories, life’s bitter and hateful seconds will become His eternal moments of blessed peace that passes all understanding!

I’m telling you: As true children of redemptive faith, we inherit an eternity of perfect praise, perfect love, and perfect “on key” rejoicing! What does Revelation 7:9-12 tell us? “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,…

And crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying:…

‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. AMEN!!”

“WHAT ABOUT HEAVEN’S DOOR”? I know you’re not unfamiliar with what Jesus said about Himself – reject Him if you choose, but Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Promised Messiah, Emmanuel, King of kings and Lord of lords, IS HEAVEN’S DOOR, and there is no other way to enter! In John 10:9 Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture.”

“WHAT ABOUT HEAVEN’S HOUSE”? In Hebrews 3:1-6 we read: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house…

For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God…

And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE, whose house WE ARE “IF” we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end!!”

Once more, consider R.A. Torrey’s comments in his book, “Heaven or Hell?”, [p.86], “Do you know the difference between a hog and a sheep? A hog will fall into the mud, and he will stay there. A sheep may fall into the mud, but he gets up as quickly as he can. Many people that we think are Christ’s sheep are only washed hogs. A hog that is washed will return to the mire, but a sheep will not stay in the mud.” [2 Peter 2:22 says, “But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’”

And also if a “Heaven-bound saint”, one truly ‘set apart’ for the glory of God alone, what gives with the man as an unbeliever whose goal is self-actualization?

Read Oswald Chambers’ comments on Philippians 3:10 where Paul said, “That I may know Him..,” [Jesus Christ!!]. [“My Utmost For His Highest,” pps.140-141], “The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything as dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and He will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do. Self-realization leads to enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples’ feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father in the most menial work. “JESUS KNOWING…that He was come from God, and went to God…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet.”

If you didn’t know it, Jesus was ‘Heaven’ come to earth, and ‘Heaven’ for the true saint is, “that I may know Him’!! And Heaven’s goal in each true believer? Ephesians 4:13, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The “FRIEND OF HEAVEN” is Jesus – the “friends of earth” are those, yes, who bring “heaven” to earth! What did John say in I John 3:14? “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren,” and our Lord even tells us, “Love your enemies”! THAT’S HEAVEN!

No doubt this is why Peter wrote: I Peter 1:8, “whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory..”

What did Jesus tell us in John 15:13? “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” AWESOME!! I love what Jeremy Taylor said long ago: “By friendship you mean the greatest love, the greatest usefulness, the most open communication, the noblest sufferings, the severest truth, the heartiest counsel, and the greatest union of minds of which brave men and women are capable.” JUST HOW BRAVE WAS JESUS? HOW BRAVE ARE YOU? DO YOU STAND FOR THE ETERNAL TRUTH OF HEAVEN AND, YES, HELL?