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  • Christmas Characters: Part 4

    Christmas Characters: Part 4

    Intro

    It’s taken a while, but I’m finally at the end of my Christmas Characters series. For those of you who prefer to keep Christmas in December, I’m sure you’re quite relieved. For the rest of you who don’t mind Christmas in July, you probably wouldn’t mind a few more Christmas-themed posts. But I’ve got other topics I’d like to cover so I’ll stop here and pick up Christmas again later this year.

    But now on to the main event! Today I’m talking about takeaways from the groups of people that came to visit Jesus unannounced. Yep, that’s right. I’m talking about the lowly Shepherds and the wealthy Magi (or Wise Men).

    The Shepherds

    And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

    Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

    “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

    When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

    So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

    Luke 2:8-20 (NIV)

    We don’t get a whole lot about the shepherds – we don’t even know how many there were. What we do know is that these shepherds lived out in the fields just outside of Bethlehem. And we see that they dutifully watched the sheep – even through the night. Shepherding is a hard job that requires constant attention. It takes a special kind of person to do such a job. Perhaps that’s why – unlike many ancient cultures – the Jewish culture actually respected shepherds to a degree (except for the wealthy, but they tended to look down on everyone). So, the traditional idea of God choosing the lowest-of-the-low to be the first isn’t 100% accurate. Sure, they were still a bit dirty and probably smelled of sheep, but they were fairly respected people.

    Not Ordinary Shepherds

    And that’s especially true if you believe that these were more than just ordinary shepherds. The fact that they lived in the fields is particularly noteworthy since the Mishnah (a group of traditions that governed the Jewish people after the Maccabean revolt) requires that sheep be kept out in the wilderness – not in homes or fields since they’d eat the crops. Of course it’s also noteworthy that the fact they were able to be in fields indicates the time of year had to be during harvest season and the time when there were no crops left (June/July – September/October).

    Back to the requirements found in the Mishnah. The exception to this rule goes to the sheep raised for the Temple sacrifices. Since those sheep needed to be blemish-free, they were raised in the safety of fields and more carefully watched over. In addition, the job of raising these important sheep fell to priests. And lastly, it’s known that the fields around Bethlehem were indeed used for such sheep-raising. So given all this, the first people God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to were actually shepherd-priests. More respected people who would have heard the angel’s message and understood some of the things said more readily than the traditionally imagined uneducated lowly outcast of a shepherd.

    Their Response

    When the angel declared who Jesus was (Savior, Messiah, Lord), these shepherd-priests would have recognized and understood what each of them meant and their significance – far better than any uneducated shepherd. Couple that with the presence of so many angels, and it’s no wonder that the shepherds jumped up and said “we need to see this baby for ourselves!” And when they got there and saw Jesus in a manger as the angel said, they rejoiced and became the first evangelists for Jesus telling everyone they could about it. And even though Luke records that everyone was “amazed” by what the shepherds said, that amazement probably came in the form of amazed that respected priests were running around like this talking about a baby.

    Takeaways

    So what takeaways do I have for you? When God tells you to do something, do it. The angels told the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and they did. No questions asked. Second, when God does something in your life, tell people about it. Your story can encourage others and give them hope. The shepherds told anyone and everyone they could about the infant Jesus and what the angels said. And third, don’t be afraid to do something out of pure joy, even if others say you look foolish. The shepherds probably looked a little foolish running around town like that, but they didn’t care.

    The Magi

    Perhaps the most mysterious of the Christmas characters are the people we call the Magi or Wise Men. We get very little about them from the Bible. Matthew records their story in only a handful of verses. Check them out.

    After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

    When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

    “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for out of you will come a ruler
        who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

    Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

    After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

    Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)

    We get almost nothing about who these guys are or where they came from. And like the shepherds, we have no clue how many of them there were. We traditionally use three because of the three gifts they brought. But there very likely were more. What we see is that the Magi came from “the East”. Not real descriptive. Probably was east of the Jordan river, but that’s still a large area. Common beliefs include as close as Jordan or northern Saudi Arabia to as far as Persia (modern day Iran).

    A couple of things we can derive from the text is that they were very wealthy. The gifts they brought are a testament to that. After all, not everyone has gold lying around to give as a gift. And same with both frankincense and myrrh – both were very expensive to have around. So we know from their gifts that the Magi were wealthy people. We also see that they paid attention to the heavens and studied the celestial bodies to understand signs and such. Many people in the land of Judea missed the Star of Bethlehem and yet these foreigners come into Jerusalem asking about the king of the Jews.

    A couple of other notes is they travelled a great distance to honor a Jewish king. This might suggest that their people had relations with the Jews already. And lastly, I want to point out that they were religious in some form. After all, God warned them not to return to Herod via a dream and they obeyed.

    Who Were They?

    Persian/Babylonian

    I’m going to discuss a couple of the most prominent theories as to just who the Magi were and where they came from. The more traditional theory is that they were of some order of astrologers or priests that served in the ancient Babylonian and Persian courts. Think back to Nebuchadnezzar and his court. He had a bunch of wise men who couldn’t interpret his dream and then Daniel walked and said, “here it is”. Some have speculated that these Magi studied Daniel’s prophecies and recognized the time as when the king of the Jews (the Messiah) was to be born.

    While this could be true, the evidence isn’t terribly strong. For instance, we don’t know if those ancient orders were still active during the first centuries BC and AD. After all, those lands were under a totally different empire (Parthian) and we’re not sure if they had anything similar in their courts. To be sure, these people would fulfill the parts we do know about them being from the East and being wealthy enough to have and purchase the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

    Nabatean

    Another theory that’s growing in prominence is that they were Nabataean. The Kingdom of Nabataea encompassed parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Sinai. So they’d fit the Easterly requirement. In addition, they had great relations with the Jews. Herod the Great’s mother was Nabataean and he maintained political ties with them through his reign. So it could easily make sense that the Nabataean’s would want to honor a new Jewish king – especially since they were renowned traders and would desire to maintain strong relations with any nation they did business with.

    Furthermore, Nabataean’s held a virtual monopoly on the trade of Frankincense. In fact, they dealt in Myrrh as well and had gold in abundance. So even if the Magi did not come from here, they probably purchased some of their gifts from the Nabataean traders, who, by the way, would have been very familiar with the stars for navigating the desert at night.

    Takeaways

    In the end, it doesn’t matter a whole lot who they were. I personally grew up believing they were from the Babylonian/Persian area and adopted the belief that they were familiar with Daniel’s prophecies. But honestly, I’m starting to lean toward the Nabataean theory. Regardless of where they came from, the takeaways are the same. First, they recognized God doing something significant. They likely knew the positions and types of stars and other celestial bodies by heart and would have noticed the craziness of everything going on during those couple of years leading up to Jesus’ birth and beyond (check out my post on what the Star of Bethlehem likely was for more detail). For us, the takeaway is to be so immersed in know the Word of God and His Spirit that you recognize when God is moving and can respond and partner with Him.

    Second, is that they showed great honor and worshipped the King of kings – long before He did anything. This is powerful. Today we must do the same and show God honor and give Him worship – even before we see any miracles, any answers to prayer, etc.

    Wrapping Up

    The biggest takeaways with these groups of people probably have to do with worship and telling people about Jesus. And not just at Christmas. It seems that people are more likely to talk about Jesus at Christmas and Easter, but not in June. We should be open to talking about Him all year round.

    By the way, did you notice any major themes that links all the Christmas Characters? Some of the most cross-cutting themes were Obedience, Hope, Devotion to God, and Spreading His messages. And I think if we practice all these things, we’ll find the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Star of Bethlehem

    The Star of Bethlehem

    Intro

    Wait just a minute, Christmas is over, why are you talking about “The Star of Bethlehem”? I know, what a horrible thing I’m doing by talking about Christmas out of season. But I’m going to do it anyway. The reason I’m doing it is because it fits well with the themes of my other Christmas posts this year. Dates and times and prophecies, etc. Next Christmas season, I want to talk about the different characters of the holiday, and the star doesn’t really fit that. So, let’s let the Christmas season extend just a wee bit longer and answer the questions What was the Star of Bethlehem? How did it move? Why did it move? It’s quite fascinating when you get into it. So, let’s do that.

    What Was the Star of Bethlehem?

    For centuries, people have debated what the Star of Bethlehem was. One thing that everyone agrees on is that the star was not an actual star. Stars remain in a pretty fixed position and from Earth, they don’t appear to move (except over incredibly long periods of time). And yet, the Magi claimed that they were able to follow the star, and they witnessed it “rise” and “stop”.

    After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. Matthew 2:9 (NIV)

    So, excluding a literal star, what else could this phenomenon been?

    Angel

    Something I found while researching this topic is this idea that the Star of Bethlehem was actually an angelic being, not a celestial body at all. The argument for this is that the Greek word for star is aster. This word is used 24 times in the New Testament and is mostly used to refer to a heavenly body. However, in Revelation 12:4 it’s used to describe angelic beings. So, there’s precedence to aster being used to describe angelic beings and not just celestial bodies. Furthermore, the way the star seems to move appears unnatural. Which could suggest that it was something else that can move about freely. And finally, it doesn’t appear like anybody except the Magi noticed the star. God selectively revealing an angel to specific people would explain why no one else noticed.

    It’s Weak

    Despite the evidence, the arguments are pretty weak. Every time the Greek word aster appears in the New Testament, it’s translated as “star”. Including the instance in Revelation. Using other clues, we extrapolate John saying “stars” in Revelation 12:4 is a poetic way of referring to angels. We don’t have enough clues to say the same about the Star of Bethlehem. Even the odd movement can’t save this theory. As you’ll see later, the way some heavenly bodies shift around and the way they look from Earth at different angles, etc. makes their movements seem quite bizarre. Ancient astronomers and astrologers certainly thought so. That’s why they were oftentimes attributed to signs from the gods.

    And lastly, just because the Bible makes no specific mention of it doesn’t mean that others didn’t notice it. It just means that no one thought much of it. And besides, people will not see what they don’t want to. After all, the Pharisees had access to all the Scriptures about the Messiah and missed Him. And some people are just spiritually blinded. The gospels record a time when God spoke from Heaven and some people heard words, while others said, “It’s just thunder”. So, Herod and the priests could have seen it and just said, “What an unusually bright object in the sky.” And then go on with their lives as if nothing happened.

    Celestial Phenomenon

    More probable than an angel, the Star of Bethlehem likely was a phenomenon that the Magi took note of and determined the significance of. In my first Christmas post of the season, I talked about the time period in which Jesus was born being the perfect time. Since God set the heavenly bodies up in motion, He could easily orchestrate the timing of an incredible astronomical event that would cause people to notice. Now within this theory of an astronomical event, there are two primary sub-theories I’m going to mention. If you followed along with my post about when Jesus was born, you’ll be able to quickly pick out which one I hold to.

    Jupiter and Saturn

    In this first theory, there was a series of unusual planetary conjunctions that occurred. It started on May 29, 7 B.C. with Saturn coming together with Jupiter in the constellation Pisces. (Note that Jupiter represents royalty in almost all cultures, and some say that Saturn represents Jerusalem with Pisces representing the nation of Israel – but I couldn’t find a good source for those two). Normally this conjunction would only take place every 804 years. However, this time it happened again on October 3 and December 4 of the same year! I can see why some would see that as a significant enough event for the Magi to really take notice. Especially when it happened once more in the Spring of 6 B.C.

    But then, to top it all off, in July of 5 B.C. a nova (an exploding star) lit up the sky. According to ancient Chinese astronomers, it was so bright it could be seen during the day. And if this were the Magi’s cue to start traveling, they would have arrived that fall and on October 5 of 5 B.C. the nova would have appeared as being above Bethlehem from the vantage point of Jerusalem. I understand why this theory appeals to people. Especially if they believe in the older dates of Jesus’ birth being between 7-5 B.C. However, as you might know from my earlier post, I don’t believe in those dates. So, as incredible as this series of events was, I don’t think it corresponds to the Star of Bethlehem. Although, it may have gotten the Magi’s attention to watch for something else.

    Jupiter and Venus

    The years 7-2 B.C. contained so many astronomical events that still amaze astronomers today. Case in point, after the nova in 5 B.C., another planetary conjunction occurred on August 12, 3 B.C. involving Jupiter (again) and Venus in the constellation Leo. Jupiter represents royalty, Venus has been known as the “morning star” for millennia (Jesus is called the bright and morning star in Revelation 22:16), and Leo is the lion, which fits with Jesus coming from the tribe of Judah since the lion was the symbol of Judah. Furthermore, another of Jesus’ names is the Lion of Judah. And it gets better from here. On September 14, 3 B.C. Jupiter came into conjunction with the star Regulus in the constellation Leo. Regulus was well known as the king star. Some scholars consider it to be the star of the Jewish Messiah.

    On February 17, 2 B.C. Jupiter and Regulus came together again in Leo. Then they did it again on May 8 of that same year. And then to make things better, on June 17, 2 B.C. Jupiter and Venus again came together in Leo, though this time they were so close that they would have appeared as one brilliant star. Things got a little more interesting in August. On the 27th of August, 2 B.C. four planets (Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury) came together in one brilliant display within Leo. Perhaps the Magi took their cue to start moving here. And of important note, on December 2 of 2 B.C., due to Jupiter’s retrograde movement, it would have appeared to “stop” in the sky above Bethlehem from the vantage point of Jerusalem. And not only stop but stopped inside the constellation Virgo – the Virgin – and remained there for several days.

    Coming to a Close

    Notice that in both theories, every single event involved Jupiter. As stated earlier, Jupiter represents royalty. The Messiah was to be of royal lineage. Furthermore, Jupiter in Hebrew means “righteousness” and Jesus is our righteousness. So, I do believe that the earlier ones (7-5 B.C.) caught the Magi’s attention, but not until 2 B.C. did they say “alright, it’s time to move”. After all, the four planets coming together in August is quite the event!

    Now, I want to mention that I concluded in another post that Jesus’ birth occurred in fall of 2 B.C. And I still hold to that. However, you’ll notice that none of the events described occurred in the fall of 2 B.C. In fact, the only fall-ish event would be in September of 3 B.C. Now that doesn’t negate a birth in the fall of 2 B.C. Nothing in the Bible suggests that the star first appeared on the night of Jesus’ birth. The star only guided the Magi to the place of His birth – Bethlehem. And besides, maybe I’m slightly off and his birth was late August. Perhaps when four planets joined together inside Leo. Not sure. What I am sure of, is that the event occurring on the night of Jesus’ birth is less important than the event announcing His birth in general.

    Wrapping Up

    Whether the Star of Bethlehem was an angelic being or celestial bodies doing a dance through the heavens doesn’t matter, what matters is that it guided the Magi to Bethlehem where they met the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let us all remember to seek Jesus every day of the year.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Heaven: Home

    Heaven: Home

    Intro

    Heaven is generally thought of as the place where God dwells and where Christians go when they die. And while this is true, it’s so much more. Jesus describes Heaven as a paradise to the thief on the cross. In Revelation, John describes a sea of glass. He also mentions that Heaven has its own temple and ark of the covenant. And this only scratches the surface. Let’s discover the majesty of God’s dwelling place together.

    Which Heaven?

    This might surprise some of you, but the Bible talks about multiple heavens. Crazy right? Because of that, I’m going to briefly cover all three heavens and then get on with the main event.

    The First Heaven

    The first heaven (not called that specifically in the Bible, but a good label for clarity) is what we call the sky, or atmosphere. James 5:17-18 contains a great example of the Bible calling the atmosphere “heaven”.

    Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17-18 (NIV)

    The Second Heaven

    As we move up the list, we also move “up” in a more literal sense. What we call outer space – or the cosmos – is also referred to as “heaven” by the Bible.

    And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars – all the heavenly array – do not be enticed into bowing down and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Deuteronomy 4:19 (NIV)

    The second heaven consists of all the stars, galaxies, planets, and everything else that exists in the cosmos. There is far more majesty here than in the first. And that pattern continues when we move on to the third – and final – heaven.

    The Third Heaven

    When we get here, we have now entered God’s dwelling place. God sits enthroned above the universe from the third heaven. This is the only one of the three that is explicitly referred to by the name “the third heaven”. Found in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul tells the story of “a man” that he knew that had been caught up to the third heaven. Many scholars believe this man was Paul himself, but because of all the things he couldn’t talk about, avoided questions by not naming himself.

    I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows. (NIV)

    After laying all this groundwork, I’m now going to turn my attention to describing what the Bible has to say about this third heaven and what it means for Christians.

    The Descriptions

    The Bible records various things about heaven including physical descriptions, what life will be like, who will all be there, etc. I’m going to cover some of these and try to show you through these passages the incredible home we have to look forward to.

    What Does Heaven Look Like?

    Humans are visual people. That’s why pictures are so popular. And if you lived before the invention of the camera, it would be paintings – though you had to be fairly wealthy to get one of those. So, it’s no surprise that one of the first questions people have about Heaven is “What does it look like?” And while the Bible doesn’t give details about every aspect, there is some pretty powerful imagery to give us a glimpse of the majesty and beauty of our future home.

    Heaven’s Throne Room

    The throne room of God Almighty is a sight to behold according to John in Revelation 4. Look at the descriptions he gives it. “A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne…From the throne came flashes of lighting, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing…Also in front of the throne was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” Wow! I’m trying to picture this concept of a rainbow shining like an emerald, and I admit, I have questions. But what I can picture is amazing. And I know that it falls short of the truth.

    The New Jerusalem

    Revelation also gives a description of the New Jerusalem, the city that comes down from Heaven to be the home of the saints for all of eternity. Now you could argue that this is the future home and not the current home. I say, so what? Whether the New Jerusalem will be current Heaven brought to Earth or something God creates (or has created and is currently waiting) as separate, is entirely irrelevant because they have the same designer and are going to have similar majesty and beauty. This gives me confidence that many of the features of this city reflect what Heaven is like today.

    And those descriptions include walls made of jasper, streets made of gold, foundations made of various precious stones, and the gates made of pearls (Revelation 21). Talk about incredible! Talk about majestic! I can’t wait to live there for all of eternity. The majesty of it is only topped by the majesty of God Himself – who will be living there among us.

    What Will We Do In Heaven?

    For some reason, an idea got started and circulated that living in Heaven will be boring because all we will do is sit on clouds, play harps, and maybe fly around and talk to other people. There is so much more than that! Ever hear of the marriage supper of the Lamb? That’s right, there’s food in Heaven! As my pastor likes to say, “If you’re looking for me, I’ll be over by the chocolate fountain.” So, we’ll be chatting with friends and family over food. Coming from the Midwest, this will be both fun and normal.

    Incredible People

    And speaking of talking to others, what’s so boring about that? Being able to hang out with people who have died before you and talking to them. Talking to people in your family tree whom you’ve never met or hardly knew. Or how about talking to Biblical characters? Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, etc. Or other people throughout history. The Bible indicates that we will see them and be able to interact with them. Talk about all the stories we don’t have written in the Bible. And if you’re worried about seeing someone you had a rough relationship with here on Earth, don’t worry, all things are made new – even relationships.

    Worship In Heaven

    But more importantly, we will worship God. Again, in Revelation, John describes numerous scenes of worship around the throne. Look at Chapters 4, 5, 7, 13, 15, and 19 to see incredible scenes of worship to God and to the Lamb. There will be no end to the worship of God. Does that mean that all we will do is fall on our face and sing to Him? No, how can you eat and sing at the same time? What it does show is that there will always be someone singing in worship. And further, it also shows that worship is more than just singing. It’s a lifestyle. And once we get to Heaven, we will be perfect so everything we say and do will be a form of worship to the one who created us.

    Learning New Things

    The Bible hints that all throughout eternity we will continue to learn and discover new things. New things about God and new things about all that He has created. That’s a lot of discovery and I’m excited about it.

    Who Will Be In Heaven?

    And now, perhaps the most controversial question: Who will be in Heaven? What are the criteria to spend eternity in this incredible place? The reason this is controversial is because no one wants to spend eternity in the alternative to Heaven. Consequently, various religions put up very lax requirements to get to their version of Heaven. Even within Christianity, there are some differences on who goes to Heaven and how you are saved. This post is not about the criteria for salvation – though I’ll get to that at some point since I’ve been covering a lot of the basics since I started blogging – so I won’t go into the details about that.

    Those Included

    That said, here’s some verses that tell us exactly who gets to go to Heaven.

    And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

    Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 (NIV)

    Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3 (NIV)

    A good summary of these verses is that only those who are children of God, or born again, will be in Heaven. Again, I’m not going to define all that it means to be born again, or saved, or even “what about the Old Testament saints” question. I’ll address those at a later time.

    Those Excluded

    Equally important to know is who won’t make it into Heaven. People you see here will not enjoy God’s presence for eternity and will instead suffer for that same period.

    Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Revelation 22:15 (NIV)

    Anyone who loves and practices these things (and this isn’t a comprehensive list) will not be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb. Of note, it says those who love and practice these things. If you are someone who struggles with it and are praying through it and fighting to be free, be rest assured that this verse does not apply to you. It applies only to those who do it, love it, and have no intent or desire to change.

    And I bring to you a warning as well. A warning found in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Beware that you do not fool yourself into believing you are good just because you “do good works for God”. It may be good. But is it what God asked you to do? Are you in His will? Do you truly know Jesus? Or are you trying to earn your way into Heaven?

    Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 (NIV)

    Wrapping Up

    While we’ll never fully comprehend heaven here on earth, the Bible gives us a glimpse that gives me assurance that no matter how bad it gets here, this world is not our ultimate home. Take confidence in that, my brothers and sisters. Let that knowledge fill you with hope today.

    Outro

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