Category: Heaven

Mark of the Beast / Seal of the Saved

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 In studying Revelation and the mark of the beast, I am more appreciative of the truth of the seal that we believers have. Unlike the mark that worshippers of Antichrist will take (which in the Greek language, is a stamp, imprinted mark, brand, or carved image), the seal we have is the living third Person of the Trinity! We are sealed and secured by the Holy Spirit Himself living inside of us! The guarantee is that He will keep us through this life and through death in order to get us to Jesus and the heavenly reward we have in Him. The only “promise” that Satan makes through the mark of the beast is that one can buy and sell in that wicked economy. Food, however, will not prevent either the earthly or eternal wrath of God.

Thank you, Jesus, for securing our salvation and giving to us Your very Spirit as the promise!

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10)

What a contrast. Wow.

– Shelli Prindle

What’s the Difference with the Damned?

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At the end of this world and the beginning of the next, we will all stand before our Creator. He will judge each one of us. Of that fact, there is no doubt. The question is, what’s the difference with the damned? Why will some be forever cast into what God has termed “the lake of fire”? For that matter, why will some be spared such condemnation? There exists near the end of the book of Revelation a short passage that brings the essence of the difference into sharp focus. Let’s read it first:

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15, ESV)

Here we have a summary of the judgment of people who will be forever damned. We notice first that not even the earth or sky itself can stand in the presence of God’s holiness as He begins the final judgment. There is, therefore, no refuge for anyone to escape or to have eased the devastation of what is about to take place. Notice, secondly, that all of the dead – both the great and the small – must stand before the throne. Your soul’s destiny depends not on how influential or wealthy you were in this life, and your status of seeming insignificance or poverty does not excuse you from judgment; all must stand before the throne.

The key component on which we want to focus here is the books that are opened. First, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John tells us in this passage that “books were opened.” Then he adds that “another book was opened, which is the book of life” (verse 12). We clearly understand, then, that this one book of life stands out from the other books. There is a group of books which are unnamed, and there is the book of life.

We are informed that the dead – the “spiritually dead” that is – are judged by what is written in the unspecified books. The contents of these books must be the sinful acts of the damned, because we are told simultaneously that these people were judged “according to what they had done” (verse 12). And no one escapes; the sea (the troubled and sinful world, as I understand it) and all of Death and Hades had to give up the dead in their possession. In other words, no matter when these people had died, no matter if their spirits and bodies had long been separated from God or only shortly, no matter if their bodies had been in the ground for thousands of years or just a few moments, no matter where they had died, and no matter from where they came, death had to yield to God its power over people so that God could make His final, sovereign, and irrevocable judgment.

Death obeys … and gives them up. The solemn words of verse thirteen demonstrate the complete power of almighty God, as Death and Hades give up the dead and “they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done” (verse 13). We observe here the repeating of the same phrase we saw in verse twelve. We read twice that the damned are judged by the things that they did. Their wrong, ungodly, and rebellious actions and words – their sins – are here resulting in an eternal destiny. On the basis of their own sins, they are forever damned to the lake of fire.

Verse fifteen adds one specific emphasis; those who end up in the lake of fire also did not have their names placed in the book of life. Not only do the condemned find themselves paying finally for their sinfulness, but their doom is doubly sealed, for their names are not recorded in the one book that stands alone – the book of life. Clearly, the one difference between the damned and the saved – between those who are put in the lake of fire and those who are not – is one factor. Is his or her name written in this book of life? If a name is not written in that one book, then all of his sins are heaped upon him at the end of time.

I want to make this point unequivocally plain: you will either be judged by your sins or judged by your inclusion in the book of life. You will either one day have the culmination of all the guilt and punishment for rebelling against God heaped on you as your sins are read from many books, or you will stand before the throne and hear only one thing called out to you – your name from the one book of life. All the sins that I have ever committed brought to me for damnation, or hearing God read my name from a book that ensures my safety and everlasting delight – those are the choices.

So how do we get our name in the book of life? We need to know the Owner of the book! We need to have a relationship with the Person to whom that book belongs! He is Jesus. Revelation 21:27 calls that one book “the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 13:8 labels it “the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” There is only one Lamb with a capital “L.” There is only one slain Lamb that ultimately matters when it comes to my sin and my destiny. John the Baptist said it best, as recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter one, verse 29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” The Apostle Peter corroborates John the Baptist’s statement in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “…knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Jesus was the Lamb who was put to death for our sins. He spilled His own blood on the Cross of Calvary to pay for your sinfulness. When He gave up His life that day outside the gates of Jerusalem, He took your sin upon His own shoulders – IF you believe in Him. If you truly believe in the Jesus of the Cross, the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who invaded earthly history to die and rise again, the Jesus who is coming back one day, the Jesus who is the ONLY ONE who can pay for your sin and put your name in the wonderful book of life – if you believe in Him, you are safe from eternal condemnation and the lake of fire. This belief in Him must be real and applied. You have to believe in Jesus to the point that it changes your reality. To truly believe in Him means to accept all of His Word as revealed in the Bible. It means to completely change your mind about your sin and know in the deepest place of your heart that you need His blood and His forgiveness. It means to live with Him and for Him each day. It is a relationship.

If your name is in the Lamb’s book of life, then never will your sins be brought up to condemn you at the end of time. While the sins of the damned are reiterated as the evidence of their rightful judgment, the only thing you will hear is your name – called lovingly from the Lamb’s book. Why will you not hear your sins proclaimed? Because your sins were judged on the Cross with Jesus when He suffered and died. Your sins have been paid for – never to condemn you before God!

Oh, Jesus, how we love You! Dear Jesus, how we thank You! As the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And we can joyfully add to this glorious statement the truth of the book of Revelation and know that there is no damnation and lake of fire for those whose names are written in Jesus’ book of life!

– Shelli S. Prindle

What About Suicide

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suicide

Suicide is both a delicate and a critical subject. It involves the taking of life, which is the most precious thing God has entrusted to humans. (Gen. 2:7) In fact, it was the life of God’s Son that had to be given to pay the price for our redemption and escape from eternal death. Life is invaluable, therefore murder is a sin (Ex. 20:13). Moreover, God has given us a way to a living hope – a substantive hope that never dies, despite the worst trials and temptations. (1 Pet. 1:3, 6-7). He does this through the resurrection of His Son over sin and death, the ultimate proof that life is the way of God.

When it comes to the ultimate outcome of someone committing suicide, the two options are the same as for any other person: eternal life or eternal damnation (John 3:36). Those are the only two existing categories for a person who leaves this temporary world and enters the next. When we try to contemplate how the sin of suicide plays into God’s judgment, we need to remember that all sin is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ for the one who truly believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Although the Bible does not explicitly spell out the eternal destiny of those who commit suicide, we know, indeed, that some among us who have committed murder are in Heaven. We need only to think of Moses and David (Ex. 2:12, 2 Sam. 11:15). Both these men of God murdered at one point, but neither of them made the pattern of murderous sin the way of their lives. The difference between a Christian who sins and an unsaved person who sins is that the true believer repents of his sin and hates it, while the unbeliever thinks not much of his sin and would do it again without any strain against her conscience toward Her Creator. Revelation 21:8 clearly explains of murderers that “their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” However, it is also there said of liars and idolaters, for example, that they will be in the same eternal fire. Every one of us has lied and put other people or things ahead of God (idolatry). We, nonetheless, do not conclude that our place will be in the lake of fire if we are trusting in Jesus Christ and hate what hurts Him and His kingdom rather than embracing such iniquity (1 Pet. 2:24). It is our salvation by Jesus that ensures our eternal destiny. (John 5:24)

The ultimate question here, then, is whether or not a follower of Jesus Christ can commit suicide. For, only followers of Jesus are safe in His presence subsequent to earthly death. This is an inquiry that cannot be unequivocally answered by mortals – even with full appeal to the Word of God. I think immediately of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” How eloquently here does the Spirit express that there are things that only God can know, especially when it comes to issues of His judgment and mercy – as in the context of this verse. What we should point out, though, is that while some things are secret, the things that are revealed are to be known and obeyed. We have enough of God’s Word to understand that He gives to His people what is necessary to overcome in all predispositions, circumstances, and temptations. 1 Cor. 10:13 proclaims, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Also, 2 Pet. 2:9 declares that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.” With these two verses alone, I am compelled to believe that I can have victory over sin and the most terrible of trials.

However, the Bible undeniably reveals a grace, a help, and a forgiveness that meets the Christian at his point of failure. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). These words bring boundless comforts, because we know that Jesus is our Defense. He took the hit in His body and His death for all our sin. “Propitiation” means appeasement. Jesus appeases the wrath of God on behalf of all who sincerely are trusting in Christ as their Savior. Nowhere does the Bible say that the sin of suicide is excluded from the practical reaches of this Scripture. However, nowhere does the Bible say that suicide is excluded from the incontrovertible promise of God’s sustaining grace in trials and provision for victory over sin in the aforementioned verses. Therefore, it seems that the question of whether or not a heaven-bound Christian can commit suicide is ultimately one of the secrets of God, but general parameters for the topic have been made known. As Matthew Henry (1662-1714), the great Bible commentator said, “We are forbidden curiously to inquire into the secret counsels of God, and to determine concerning them. But we are directed and encouraged, diligently to seek into that which God has made known. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us, but only that of which it is good for us to be ignorant. The end of all Divine revelation is, not to furnish curious subjects of speculation and discourse, but that we may do all the words of this law, and be blessed in our deed. This, the Bible plainly reveals; further than this, man cannot profitably go. By this light he may live and die comfortably, and be happy forever.”

When asked my humble opinion on the matter, I lean toward believing that I will meet a few people in Heaven who are now truly repentant after having committed the sin of self-murder. In the Lord’s presence, they now see clearly the purpose their pain could have served, and the sustaining grace the Lord could have shown them. But is not that true of all of us, for all our mistrust and sin? I would caution, however, that judgment for Christians is real. Though we make Heaven despite our sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can lose eternal reward. If one cuts short his life by committing suicide, one forfeits untold reward for the days not lived on earth that had a purpose in Jesus. So much pain will have been caused, so much confusion will have been disseminated, and so many of the good plans of God will have gone unfulfilled. We simply cannot deny 2 Cor. 5:10 or 1 Cor. 3:13-15, “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Finally, we must treat this subject as we should carefully treat many others – with thoughtfulness and a heart full of mercy toward others and humility toward the Lord. This is a mysterious area on which we tread. Only God Himself sees through to the core of who we are. “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). I think of the way the winsome C.S. Lewis put it, “We see only the results which a man’s choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man’s psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises.”

Here is the bottom line, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Until then, let us live according to what God has given us with every ounce of strength we have. And let us hold out all hope that the blood of Jesus Christ is fully sufficient for the sin we so awfully commit.

Why Did Jesus Say He’s Coming Back Soon, When It’s Been So Long?

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The last book of the Bible begins with the curious and inspiring sentence, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1, ESV, emphasis mine). The third sentence includes “for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3). Just as amazing are the last recorded words of Jesus at the end of the book, in Rev. 22:20 (ESV), “Surely I am coming soon.” Jesus instructed all of His followers to be perpetually ready for His return, as in Matt. 24:42 (ESV), “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” God clearly presents the Lord’s return as imminent.

Why then, has He not returned after more than 2,000 years since His visible departure from the Mount of Olives? Jesus said He was coming soon, so what does “soon” mean? (It certainly cannot now mean a total period of time less than two millennia!) I would like to outline two reasons that I believe Jesus told us His reappearance to earth would happen quickly. This, then, is not an exhaustive discussion, but one to help us with our biblical confidence.

The first reason you may find to be less riveting than the second, but it needs to be pointed out. God is timeless. He exists completely independent of time, because He is the Creator of time. To God, as the Bible says, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8, ESV). Mathematics enters into the picture. We need to grasp that infinity is not a number, but rather the concept that there is no last number. We can count and count and count, but there is always the possibility to add another number. Maybe we don’t have a name for the number because it is so distant, but the number still exists. This concept of infinity – or boundlessness – helps us understand God. Whether we look backward in time or forward in time, He exists. There is never a point that He didn’t exist, even before creation. Ps. 90:2 (ESV) declares, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

If you tried to tell the number three to imagine what it feels like to be as far away on the number line as five million, “he” could hardly conceive of it. But try asking three to keep traveling forever until he reaches infinity, and he can’t. He will never reach infinity. And neither can we grasp timelessness – the infinite nature of God. For God to tell us that His return is soon may not mean what we take for granted on our timescale. Perhaps that’s exactly why the Bible proclaims, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 Pet. 3:9, ESV). We tend to perceive His timing from our limited perspective, but God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9, ESV). God has a divine and timeless perspective, with a heart toward salvation.

Nonetheless, Jesus did tell us finite humans that He is coming soon. With the backdrop of His timelessness, we still seek to understand His reason for using the term, knowing our limited nature. Let’s, then, discuss the second, fascinating reason God may have expressed Himself this way. If an exasperated mom wants her child to get out the door to an appointment for which they are already late because the child has been dilly-dallying for twenty minutes, the mom may exclaim, “Get over here; we must leave soon!” In this case, when the mother says “soon,” she means “right now.”

If a dad wants his teen to get serious about studying for his permit for a driver’s license, the father might firmly remind his son two months before his eligibility date, “You better be preparing for your permit test; you’ll be taking it very soon.” In this case, when the dad says “soon,” he means “in a couple of months.”

If a mother is trying to foster preparedness in her daughter, she might say to her while the teen is still a high school freshman – “Take your classes seriously, because you’ll be going to college soon.” In this case, when the mom says “soon,” she means “in four years.”

“Soon” must be applied in context. In the first scenario with the distracted child, it is interpreted as “in that very minute,” whereas in the second case it implies a more distant time down the road. However, the third college situation is the one in which the most planning is needed. Many years of serious study and responsibility are necessary to reach the goal. In the last case, “soon” calls us to recognize that much preparation must be made, because the coming event is elaborate and weighty.

Jesus tells us that He is coming quickly because His coming is the most important thing in the universe – the one event for which each Christian is aiming. Everything we do and say and are is invested in the eternal future to which He will usher us when He returns. The one event we cannot miss and must not be ill-prepared for is the coming of Jesus Christ to earth again to remake this broken, sinful world into His perfect kingdom.

His reappearance could be immediate – this very minute. It could happen this year. It could also happen in hundreds or thousands of years. In any case, our knowing that it is soon is utterly appropriate, because this is the event to end all events. This is the hope of every believer. This is the one thing for which you want to say, “I am ready!”

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ… (Titus 2:11-13)

Lottery Odds Or Eternal Assets

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What kind of dreams are you pursuing? How sure are you of your chances of finding the joy for which you are looking?

Some people strive desperately to “get rich quick.” They will spend valuable income on a lottery that has incredible mathematical odds against a win. The miniscule chance of monetary gain is slim beyond understanding. But in an attempt to grasp at a fantasy, people do what is imprudent.

Perhaps lottery players feel that the small amount of money they put into the game of chance is negligible. They decide it is “no big deal” to pay small amounts for such a gamble. But isn’t every penny we have a blessing from God? And does not a whole bunch of little amounts spent regularly add up to a large amount? This principle of caring for each asset provided to us applies not only to gambling, but to all the ways we spend our money – and our time.

What if we moved from slim chances to eternal surety? What if we quit being obsessed with the temporal and truly sought to see the everlasting, as far-fetched as it might at first seem to a mind pulled from God? What if we actually believed what Jesus Christ stood and on a mountain one day and said to real human beings one day, “…Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV)? Could it be true that we can accumulate (lay up) assets in another world (heaven)?

Many people focus on Matthew 6:19 to the neglect of the verse I just mentioned. We tend to focus on the “don’t” instead of the “do.” We somehow get turned off by the “Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…” (Matthew 6:19, ESV) – forgetting that the next words out of our Savior’s mouth assure us that we can currently be building a mass of heavenly wealth that cannot be lost!

I like, too, how Jesus connects the building of heavenly possessions with scientific truth. My treasure in the next world cannot be destroyed by living creatures, corroded by chemical reactions, or stolen by evil intentions. The assets accumulating in Heaven are one hundred percent safe. There is no gamble, because Jesus is protecting that wealth. You talk about a secure bank and secure investment! My treasure does not need to be kept under lock and key or safeguarded by high level passwords; your true wealth is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4, ESV).

In other words, the treasure I am building by investing in God’s work is not stored in this world. It is somewhere else – where God abides. It is safe! And better yet, I am safe, too, until I get there! The Bible says we have been born again “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed…” (1 Peter 1:4-5). No one can steal my true wealth, and no one can prevent me from getting go the place where God and it resides! Amen!

I have been traveling for a number of weeks, each Monday afternoon, to a Christian school in the area. I pack up my laptop, projector, my Bible, and head to the gymnasium/cafeteria to speak to nearly one hundred students in grades six through twelve about Christian apologetics (a reasonable, intelligent defense of biblical Christianity).

Each week, I speak my heart out, using every ounce of God-given passion to help these teens recognize the validity of the Bible and Jesus Christ. Counting on the Holy Spirit, I press forward, despite a few disgruntled and uninterested faces. Nonetheless, I watch many students suck in truth that they have never before heard. I sense God’s Spirit working, and I give it all I’ve got.

Yet there are times when I wonder what I am doing. The enemy tries to discourage me, saying, “What are you doing in a little gymnasium/cafeteria each week speaking to a group of teens in a small Western Pennsylvania school?” And I begin to ponder in my selfishness, “What prestige is there in this?” and “Who else would do this?”

Then God gets hold of me. He whispers that someone does this who is willing to be obedient in the smallest of things and invest in eternal treasure. Those who play the lottery gamble away little bits of money here and there, but I invest eternally little bits of time and effort every Monday afternoon. It may not seem like much. It is not glamorous. It does not bring me fame. But it is eternal investing, and I got to see a glimpse of that treasure just a few days ago.

A sixth grade girl in a pink hoodie approached me after one of my lessons about the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. I was packing up my projector when she stopped me with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Hi.” I responded, and she proceeded to say, “I gave my life to God on December 14 (a Monday afternoon!) because of your talks here, Mrs. Prindle.” My exclamation as my eyes lit up was, “That’s wonderful!” and “That makes everything I’ve done here worthwhile!” Then I gave this young girl a big hug.

The truly amazing part is that this sixth grade student had been a professed atheist. Her fellow students and teachers were aware of her lost condition. And yet, Jesus got hold of her one Monday afternoon! Now she is telling those same people about her new relationship with God.

There will be another person in the eternal New Heavens and New Earth because of a regular Monday afternoon investment. I refuse to gamble away my time and resources in this fading world. I will invest in eternal assets. I will hug precious people in Heaven who are somehow connected to me by the true investments Jesus has enabled me to make.

Let’s live like Moses did: “He thought is was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” (Hebrews 11:26, NLT)

Animals in the Scheme of Things

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A student recently asked me if animal experimentation is wrong from a biblical perspective. This is an important question that actually gives opportunity to highlight the invaluable nature of humanity, the preciousness of animals, and the incomprehensible love of God.

I will say at the outset that my heart is particularly grateful for animals used in the field of medicine, as the insulin I had to inject for survival during my first years as an insulin-dependent diabetic was pork insulin. Pork insulin was made from pig pancreases. As Erika Gebel, Ph.D., notes, “We’ve come a long way since more than two tons of pig parts were required to produce eight ounces of purified insulin. Today, the insulin that comes in vials, pens, and pumps is not from pigs and cows but from designer microorganisms. These critters provide more of the hormones (and in forms more similar to the body’s own) to the millions of people across the globe who depend on a steady stream of high-quality insulin.” (1)

All of us are touched personally by disease and deformity. Everyone loves or knows someone who survives and/or benefits because of animal use in medicine. Each of us has also been touched by the lives of animals in other ways. God has made them good and beneficial for a number of reasons. We enjoy the companionship of domesticated animals as pets and the beauty and mystery of other creatures.

But as our culture continues to deemphasize the value of human life while simultaneously emphasizing the significance of the environment and animals, we begin to see questions surface. As Christians, we rightfully need to think through the issues using biblical principles; for the biblical perspective is the only perspective that is always correct and never changing. Despite our culture’s changing standards, God’s Word is timeless, and its principles stand true through all of history. As we will explore in the Scriptures in a moment, human value is above that of both the environment and animals (though the other parts of creation are vital and blessed!). William A. Dembski (mathematician, philosopher, and theologian) asserts, “Genesis clearly teaches that humans are the end of creation. For instance, Genesis describes the creation as merely ‘good’ before humans are created but describes it as ‘very good’ only after they are created. God’s activity in creation is therefore principally concerned with forming a universe that will provide a home for humans. Although this anthropocentrism sits uneasily in the current mental environment, it is not utterly foreign to it. Indeed, the intelligibility of the physical world through our intellects and, in particular, through such intellectual achievements as mathematics suggests that we live in a meaningful world whose meaning was placed there for our benefit.” (2)

I appeal to two passages of Scripture at the outset. First, Genesis 1:20-28 (ESV):

    And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
    And God said, “Let the earth bring for the living creatures according to their kinds – livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
    Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Notice that the living creatures were created and deemed “good” by their Creator. Notice also that when God created man and woman, He jumped into a new paradigm, making them “in his own image” – unlike anything else He had made. Humans were designed to have a unique relationship with God that no plant or animal or galaxy can ever have, no matter how beautiful or enjoyable. Additionally, humans were instructed to “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Part of the human task of filling and subduing the world God created was to dominate the other creatures. Certainly this dominion is not for evil purposes, as evil goes against the very nature of God. The subduing of creation is for the purpose of building society.

The second passage to which I appeal at the start is Psalm 8:3-8 (ESV):

    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
    Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

We see here reiterated the emphasis of Genesis. Added though, is the truth that people are made just a bit lower than heavenly beings and are crowned with glory and honor. All things are put under our feet in order that our true destiny of godly glory and honor is fulfilled. Again, I add that it is dishonorable to mistreat any part of God’s creation out of a malicious heart. Moving toward honor and glory in a broken and sinful world must happen as we seek to do so within the parameters of God’s plan, for honor and glory can only come from Him.

Our Lord clearly tells us that unneeded cruelty is wrong. Proverbs 12:10 (ESV) proclaims, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” Jesus Himself often uses the metaphor of being a Shepherd, and He even speaks of “laying down his life for the sheep” (John 10:15, ESV). When we look at righteous King David of the Old Testament, we see a man who valued the keeping of His sheep enough to risk his own life in protecting them from lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34-35). In fact, when necessary, he would kill the beasts if both the life of the sheep and his life were threatened by them. So we see – that in a fallen world – the best option to protect what is valuable can involve death.

Research seems to demonstrate that domesticated animals can be a benefit to their owners in terms of emotional and physical health. This seems right, as God made animals to live on the same earth as humans, yet under our ultimate dominion and as part of the plan for us. In the same way, animals can benefit humans by providing health research for the treatment and cure of illness and disease.

Here is the ultimate biblical point that brings home the case for both the precious nature of animals and the allowance for their use in saving human health and life. Think about our redemption from sin. Our salvation from our own sinful nature is necessary to preserve our eternal life with God. Without salvation from sin, we die one day physically and we die spiritually for an eternity. Our Creator thought our redemption so vital that He provided His own Son as the sacrifice to stand in our place. His death on the Cross and His blood that was shed appease the wrath of a holy God against our sin (Ephesians 1:7).

God sacrificed Himself in real flesh – and in real space and time – to save us. (No other religion’s god claims to have done this utterly unique and historically evidential act.) Our value is inestimable. Not only do we read of our worth in His Word, but we know of our value because the infinite Son of God gave His own life for ours. Two thousand years ago, Jesus began the restoration project of giving back to us our intended glory under the sovereignty of God. Made in His image to reign under Him, we will see that reality in the future. The cost was the very life of the Son of God.

Now think about this. Before Jesus came to earth to die and do the most pivotal thing God could do to demonstrate our human value and His love for us, how did He instruct humans to look forward by faith to that coming promise? The answer is critical: He told humans to make animal sacrifices. Innumerable animals were continuously slain so that their precious blood could point to the perfect blood of Jesus. As Scott Langston and E. Ray Clendenen note, “Leviticus 1-7 gives the most detailed description of Israel’s sacrificial system, including five types of sacrifices.” (3) As a matter of fact, when Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves after the shame of their sin, God quickly demonstrated the inadequacy of such an attempt, and made them garments of skin (Genesis 3:7, 21). Skin clothing requires the death of an animal. And from then on, humans were instructed to deal with their sins by shedding animal blood to look forward to the final answer in the blood of Jesus (Genesis 4:3-5).

Sacrificial animals were precious enough (having been made by God) to foreshadow the work of Jesus. But they were not as valuable as the people for whom their blood would temporarily point to redemption by Jesus. God Himself makes clear both animal value and the limits of that value when compared to humanity. To God, our spiritual hope is worth animal sacrifice. Most assuredly, then, our physical health is worth it, too.

God cares for the animals. “He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry” (Psalm 147:9, ESV). Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26a, ESV). But then He directly adds, “Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26b) This rhetorical question Jesus asks, which follows an affirmation of His care for little birds, drives home the point. Animals are important. God sees all that happens with them. But people are more important, and one of the ways God has certainly provided for humans is by animal life.

We rejoice in the New Heavens and New Earth God that God is creating, because the sin curse will be erased and all disease eradicated (Revelation 22:3). People and animals will live without the hindrance of sin’s nasty effects. For now, we thank God for His calling on us to take dominion of this world under His sovereignty. Above all, we thank Him for the unimaginable price He paid for our entrance to the new world – foreshadowed at great cost by precious animals – and fulfilled in His Son. As I Peter 1:18-21 (ESV) tells us:

    Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

All of us who value animals and what they provide by way of medical help and emotional help rejoice in this promise about the millennial reign of Christ in the beginning of that new world (Isaiah 11:6-9, ESV):

    The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

References:

(1) Erika Gebel. “Making Insulin: A behind-the-scenes look at producing a lifesaving medication.” Diabetes Forecast. July 2013. Web. Jan. 27 2015.

(2) William A. Dembski, The End of Christianity (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2009), 143-44.

(3) Scott Langston & E. Ray Clendenen, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1429.

The Very First Thing God Ever Told Us To Do

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When the average person (or even an average Christian) thinks about the commands of God, he thinks mainly of all God says we can’t do. Our minds first go to the Ten Commandments, where we are instructed in many “no’s.” Do not take God’s name in vain, do not murder, do not steal, etc. Sadly and mistakenly, we often think of Christianity in terms of what is forbidden, rather than the glorious promise of all that is given!

Do you know what is the first command of God directly to humans? It’s certainly not a “don’t do this” instruction. It’s actually a “do everything” kind of command! Check out God’s first mandate in Genesis 1:28 (ESV). Keep in mind that at this point He has just created Adam and Eve and has not yet put the close on the sixth day of creation. No sin has yet entered the picture. The Bible boldly proclaims, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on earth.'”

So there stand the first two human beings, having been blessed by their Creator and commanded to fill up the earth and take charge of it! They are to subdue under their feet all God has given to them. They are to bring glory to their Creator by ruling for Him at His direction while walking in unhindered relationship with Him.

Imagine the scene back then. Adam and Eve are standing on that section of earth in what is now the Middle East. How would they proceed to fill the earth? At the very least, this meant to bear children. But to fill the earth – to get from where they were to all over the earth – they would need transportation. For transportation they would need to observe and study and learn about all the natural resources God had given. They would need to educate the children and families. They would need to build societal structure as the population increased. Housing would be necessary. As society grew, cities would be built. Government would be established. Systems of trade and buying would be developed. Education must continue. Harnessing resources for medicinal purposes would become necessary. People would learn to specialize in their areas of passion and ability.

Fast forward to today. Eventually even the silicon God put in the earth’s crust would be used to build computers. Those computers would access the internet that humans developed. That technology combined with more advanced transportation methods would enable the Gospel to be spread throughout the world in order that Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 (ESV) might be fulfilled, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, …”

You see, the first command of God is critical and eternal. Knowing that we would fall into sin, God still gave this original mandate to people. We are to be his vice-regents, harnessing the stuff of the world in order to take dominion for God’s purposes. The instruction God gave in Genesis 1:28 is often referred to as the “Cultural Commission” or the “Cultural Mandate.” It is a beautiful gift to each of us. We can get up each morning and take our part in filling and subduing the earth. We can use the passions God has given to us and enjoy being who He made us to be. In order for us to take dominion, some will have to enjoy academics, some car repair, some construction, some teaching, some musical arts, some medicine, some government, some space exploration, some farming, some manufacturing, some engineering, some journalism, some cleaning, some ocean exploration, some nutritional science, some economics, etc. We are commanded by God to enjoy and take pride in our calling, knowing that all work is sacred when done in obedience to Genesis 1:28. The person delivering packages to our doorstep does sacred work just as the Sunday school teacher – if both are responding to the call of God to fill and subdue this creation for His glory.

One of the greatest gifts for which we can be thankful is the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28. This gift never ends. God is not going to throw away His creation. He will redeem it and remake it. And I will miraculously dwell one day in this New Heavens and New Earth, passionately studying and teaching as I do now, and exploring a universe restored by my Jesus! We will learn, travel, explore, engage, eat, connect, laugh, run, rule, and reign under the King of Kings!

The critical change will be that the curse of sin will have been removed. We will at last be free to pursue God’s will unhindered by the burdens and stresses we now carry. Our sinfulness has caused our work to contain an element of pain and disappointment (Genesis 3:16-19). In the new creation, all that misery will be removed (Revelation 22:3). We will pursue the desires God put in our heart without resistance – the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 37:4. What a day that will be!

Do you remember hearing that familiar Christmas passage from Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)? “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

That child, Jesus, was born so that the command and promise of Genesis 1:28 could continue in my life. He came to die and pay for the sin that otherwise would damn me and banish me from a relationship with Him now and the New Heavens and New Earth to come. Were it not for the sacrifice of the Son of God, my part in the glorious Kingdom of God would come to nothing. But, because of Jesus, I will be a part of the plan. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,” and I will be there … doing what He made me to do …. reigning with Him!

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him …” 2 Timothy 2:11b-12 (ESV)

Can You Be Sure?

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Belief in a vague idea of Heaven and Hell is one thing, but confidence in the place to which you are personally headed is another, as I experienced in a recent encounter.

God never meant for our destiny to be unclear in the least. He intends for us to have assurance of the outcome of our lives, and I believe that is one reason the devil tries frantically to steal from humans a true understanding of their eternal condition.

Have you ever heard someone say falteringly, “I hope I make it to Heaven” or “I’m trying to be good so I can go to Heaven”? Those who say such things demonstrate a hesitance to declare with boldness a truth about their future … and their present.

After getting a refill on my iced tea at a local restaurant, I paused at the table of an older gentleman with whom I have tried to have several conversations about Jesus. This dear man struggles with guilt about many things – including his service in Vietnam. In the past, I have assured him that we are all on equal ground as sinners and that I am no better off before God than he is. We all have selfish hearts and are corrupted at the core. The only difference is that I have trusted Jesus to be my righteousness for me, because He bore the penalty of God’s wrath against me at the Cross.

On one particular afternoon, this man was sharing a conversation he had just had with a cardiac nurse who was trying to discern whether or not he understood the seriousness of his condition. He told me that he proudly declared to her, “I am not afraid of dying; everyone has to die.” Then he said to the nurse, “The only thing we have to be afraid of is where we go after we die … and no one can know that ahead of time!”

Wow. This confused gentleman actually had the first part of his idea correct to some degree; for Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body [Satan and his followers] but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28, ESV) Obviously, there is validity to a healthy fear of our soul ending up in Hell.

It is the second part of this man’s thought that I had to immediately and gently confront, for it was way off base. His real fear was in the not knowing that he could know where he was headed.

I looked at him, addressed him by name, and said, “Yes you can know where you are going. I know. I know because I believe in Jesus and trust His sacrifice for my sin.” I could have added, “And I have trusted His life for my living”! However, my hurting friend soon changed the subject – still not ready to deal with the main issue of his soul.

The Bible is unequivocal in its assertion that we can know our destiny. The Apostle John proclaims I John 5:12-13 (ESV), “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Notice – amazingly – that our assurance of our place after death is directly related to our current status of life. Those who are certain of Heaven in the future have that confidence based on the reality of Jesus’ life in them presently. If a man, woman, or child has the Son of God as the source of their forgiveness and hope, then that person already has life. Eternal life is a continuum. It begins with true, life-changing belief in Jesus (not simply mental assent) that continues drawing us closer to Him and His will, and then it culminates in the reality of Heaven.

Do you have the Son of God? Really have Him? For you who want the promise of Heaven, He cannot simply be a mental concept or a part of your life. He must be your life. That life He gives you is eternal. He gives it now, and He sustains it past your death and into an infinite future. Amen!

Far As the Curse Is Found

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Third verse of Joy To the World:
“He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found…”

Just exactly how far IS the curse found?

It reaches down every aisle at Walmart in the hearts of frustrated people.
It’s found at every opening of a bottle of medicine at the hands of the sick.
It strikes the houses in the neighborhood in the hearts of lonely people.
It stretches to the office of every person with an unfulfilled dream.
It extends to the corner of the classroom with the isolated child.
It spreads through the community after the devastating storm.
It seizes the face of the hurting as tears run down their cheeks.

Jesus came to bring His redeeming grace far as the curse is found. This grace currently enables us to hold on while we walk in the places touched by the curse. This redeeming power will one day overcome the curse in all places of its grasp.

The God who brought the curse because of our sin, will soon remove the curse because of His Son. The curse does not magically disappear; it has been undone through the curse put upon the Son of God on the cross. (II Corinthians 5:21)

Thank you, Jesus, that one day no person will walk in frustration.
No medicine will ever again be needed.
No person will ever be lonely.
No worthy dream will ever go unfulfilled.
No natural disaster will ever wreak havoc.
And no tear of sadness will ever be shed.

“He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.”

(Revelation 21:3)

Your Christmas Is Too Small

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Your Christmas is too small. And by that, I do not mean your tree is too short, you don’t have enough lights outside, or your gifts are not expensive. Your Christmas is too small if it leaves Jesus in the manger, or on the Cross, – or even rising from the tomb and ascending to Heaven.

If your “Silent Night” does not give way to “Resounding Day,” then your Christmas is too small. No amount of presents, perfectly placed wreaths, wonderfully decorated cookies, delightful parties, or time-tested traditions can erase the ultimate letdown you will feel when your Christmas is too small and your “Silent Night” does not point you to the greater “Resounding Day.”

See Christmas through to its infinitely, far-reaching end. Let the star of Bethlehem over the tiny manger remind you of how stars, moon, and sun will be eclipsed one day by the light of Christ’s all-consuming glory. He who lay under a star in the prickly hay of a feeding trough will soon outshine every heavenly body He has made! (Revelation 21:23)

Let the fact that He could find no place in the inn at birth (Luke 2:7), and that He had no place to lay his head in life (Luke 9:38), remind you that He is returning to this universe to take over all places. . . . And prepare them perfectly for you! (Romans 8:21, Revelation 21:1-4, John 14:2-3)

Precisely because Jesus walked this broken earth, we can walk the restored earth soon. He came to the real world in order to bring real hope for a new, real world. Though the best of Christmas seasons come and go in this life, we will enter an eternal season of unending joy and activity – never to be bothered again by the stinging pain of sin as it currently invades every facet of living.

Your Christmas is too small unless you connect the message of the angel Gabriel two millennia ago to the future message of the nameless, seventh angel and many loud voices:

    FIRST CHRISTMAS: “And [Gabriel] said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus'” (Luke 1:30-31, ESV).
    FINAL, ETERNAL ADVENT: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'” (Revelation 11:15, ESV).

When Christmas seems too small, remember a line from the third stanza of “Silent Night”: “Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace . . .” Christmas is only the beginning – the dawn of the new Day.

Silent night of long ago will give way to the resounding day of yet-to-come when the humble Jesus of the manger re-enters the world as the mighty Christ of the universe. The story goes from obscure birth without fanfare to angelic trumpets and loud voices proclaiming the inversion of a godless world into the glorious kingdom of God. He who served us with His birth and death will finally rule us with His life!

Do Babies Go To Heaven When They Die?

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This question is one close to our hearts. As the Bible does not spell out the answer in any particular manner, I will render my opinion based on the “big picture” of God’s revelation.

First, we understand that no circumstance is unused by God; He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV). Therefore, we trust that even the tragedy of the death of King David’s little child had many purposes. One reason, I believe, is for countless people to glean hope regarding the death of children. After praying and fasting that His child not die, David arose and ate upon hearing of the death of his son. When criticized by his servants for rising and eating, David explained, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (II Samuel 12:22-23, ESV, emphasis mine)

King David certainly knew the depths of God’s mercy and salvation. The Holy Spirit has chosen to reveal through the situation the fact that David believed he would one day go to his child. The man of God was obviously convinced that he would be reunited with his son in an actual way. In David’s heart, there existed a comfort in knowing the reality of a place called Heaven and his child’s location and safety there.

Second, in the New Testament we catch the heartbeat of Jesus when children were brought to Him to be prayed for and to have the Son of God lay hands on them. The disciples rebuked people for bothering Jesus with children, but our Lord proclaimed, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14, ESV)

The Greek word for “children” here includes little ones and infants. Jesus made one thing abundantly clear to both his disciples and the broader public – God wants children coming to Him! He even speaks metaphorically of the need for people of all ages to trust and be vulnerable as children, for this represents the heart of those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In terms of the issue at hand, we see – most importantly – that Jesus is very much for children coming to Him and against their being held back from His presence.

Third, Romans 1:18-20 concisely explains that people are without excuse before God because they knowingly suppress the truth that is before them and refuse to acknowledge the existence of a Creator to whom we are accountable, in light of the evidence of the created universe. How could infants and small children possibly apprehend the truth revealed in creation and the attributes of God made evident by what He has designed? How could babies suppress truth? We logically begin to see that small children could not fit into the category of those “without excuse.” For that matter, nor could the severely mentally challenged people of the world. And although God does not go on to explicitly outline a sub-category for infants and those without sufficient mental capacity, we catch glimpses of His heart elsewhere.

For the three main reasons outlined above, I believe we will be joyfully reunited in Heaven with the people we have known here on earth for such a short period of time because of their death in infancy or childhood. Ultimately, we stand on the words of Abraham in Genesis 18:25 (NIV, 1984), “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Staircase to Heaven

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God wants your eyes opened to a dynamic, spiritual world that both coincides with and transforms the physical universe. He wants you to live extraordinarily in the context of the ordinary. He wants you in on the secret – the supernatural is accessible. Yes, God desires to live with you, despite the infinite distance between the two of you. He wants you to see the unseen and build the eternal, even while stuck in moments of time.

The unveiling of this awesome, spiritual realm can happen at any point, in any place. Consider Jacob, son of Isaac. Running from his brother, Esau, whom he had deceived, Jacob finds a place in which to rest one night. “Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep” (Genesis 28:11, ESV). Then God gave Jacob a dream about a staircase set up on the earth that reached to Heaven. Angels of God were ascending and descending on this glorious staircase. To me, one of the most amazing parts of the dream was what the Lord said as Jacob watched angels travel from Heaven to earth and from earth to Heaven. God promised, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your offspring . . . Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Genesis 28:13, 15, ESV).

Did you catch it? God is interested in even the dirt beneath our feet! God is in the business of bringing His presence to this earth and His promise to the very real and practical places of our lives. The Lord does not beckon Jacob to somehow climb into a spiritual-only realm way out “beyond the blue.” Our God shows Jacob that He connects the earthly and heavenly. The Lord tells Jacob that the very ground on which he rests with a stone as a pillow will be the land that is blessed – the land where God will be with us. Our Creator has not forsaken us or the earth His hand fashioned. No, our Maker reveals to Jacob – and to us – a portal to the spiritual realm of blessing. Through God’s supernatural working, the ordinary stuff is transformed into the utterly amazing.

When Jacob awoke, he proclaimed something that resonates in our own hearts, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it” (Genesis 28:16, ESV). Yes! We need awakened to the reality that God is right where we are – working and moving. Your house is more than just a house; it is a place where God lives and moves and comforts and grows you. The stoplight at which you sit in your car is contained in no mundane intersection; it is a location where angels dwell and where God’s Spirit speaks. Do you see the staircase? Is your heart open to that portal between the regular and the miraculous? If not, I can tell you why.

That staircase – that Way – to the spiritual realm . . . is Jesus. He said to Nathanael one day, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51, ESV). Jesus here declares that He is, in fact, the staircase of Jacob’s dream. Jesus Christ is the Gate through which we enter the supernatural world of God’s blessing. Jesus is the Way to see what truly matters in the midst of the ordinary. He paid the price for our sin, in order that we might experience the miracle of God working right here where we are.

Ultimately, God will bring His dwelling place to us. The apostle John declared in a vision from God of the future, “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:2, 3, ESV, emphasis mine). Until that day when God surrounds us with His fullness, we thank Him for Jesus, the staircase that opens the way for us to the things of God even now . . . as we walk this “ordinary” terrain.