HEAVEN IS BELIEVERS ETERNAL HOME!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JULY 02, 022.

SUBJECT: HEAVEN IS BELIEVERS ETERNAL HOME!

Memory verse: "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” (First Peter 2 vs 11.)

READ: Hebrews 11 vs 13 - 16:

11:13: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

11:14: For those that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

11:15: And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

11:16: But now they desire a better, that is, an heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. 

INTIMATION:

Believers are “sojourner sand pilgrims” on this earth because our real home is with God. Believers are residents of the world, but the spiritual expatriates of this world. However, their citizenship is not of this world. Their citizenship (membership) is registered in heaven. Heaven is not the pink-cloud-and-harp existence popular in cartoons. Heaven is where God lives. Life in heaven operates according to God’s principles and values, and it is eternal and unshakable. 

The kingdom of heaven came on earth in the symbolism of the Jewish sanctuary (the tabernacle and temple), where God’s presence dwelt. It came in a fuller way in the person of Jesus Christ “God with us.” It spreads through the entire world as the Holy Spirit came to live in every believer. 

The most damaging act of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. The child of God is a citizen of heaven where the child enjoys the best of life unlimited. The devil is not a citizen of heaven, and cannot access such life hence his effort to drag people to his side of total misery. There is far more to life than just here and now! 

What is it going to be like in eternity with God? Although the details of eternity are unknown, we need not fear because Jesus is preparing for us and will spend eternity with us. There are few verses in Scripture that describe everlasting life, but these few verses are rich with promises.

Frankly, the capacity of of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of life in eternity with Christ. It will be trying to describe the Internet to an ant. He will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65 vs 17; Revelation 21 vs 1), and we will live with Him forever. There will be no more death, sickness, lack, want etc. The Bible, in the Book of Revelation chapter 21, reveals the idea of the home God is preparing for His children. Words have not been invented that could adequately convey the experience of eternity.

We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven, we put on our celestial bodies (Spiritual bodies (First Corinthians 15 vs 40 & 44)), we will be reunited with the loved ones who are believers, released from all pains and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that we will enjoy doing. We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and He will enjoy us for forever (unlimited, and endless).

God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will live on earth here. God offers you opportunity to live with him beyond your lifetime on earth. 

It is a common knowledge that the only time people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, and sentimental thinking based on ignorance. Most people feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 7 vs 2, says, "Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart." Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. We need to think more about eternity, 

Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so is life on earth, a preparation for life in eternity with God, or without God. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but certainly not the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. 

The Bible says in Hebrews 13 vs 14, "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven. Every moment we spend in this earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus. The time we spend on this earth, if measured against eternity, is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. This calls for serious caution noting that the deeds of this life are the destiny of the next.

It is therefore, wise to listen to the counsel of most preachers; "Prepare yourself each day in life for eternity, living as if each day is your last day of your life on earth, being ready at all times to meet with your Creator."

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to lead a life pleasing to You, preparing myself each day in life for eternity, living each day of my life as the last on earth, so that to die will be gain to me because I will live with You in eternity forever, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!