Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
19 So when it was evening on that same day, the first day of the week, though the disciples were [meeting] behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “[a]Peace to you.” 20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with great joy. 21 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you [as My representatives].”
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Many of us who have lost someone, suddenly or in an expected way; can recall evenings in the aftermath of loss when it felt difficult even to breathe. We sat there with others, grieving in a silence punctuated every so often by reflection.
On the Sunday evening following Jesus’ death, we can imagine His disciples going through a similar experience.
Maybe one casually said, Do you remember how excited and hopeful we were when He walked on water? Perhaps another sullenly added,I remember Him weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. I won’t ever forget it.
In all their reminiscence, they doubtless felt a stabbing awareness that they would never again on earth see Jesus’ face.
Of that they were convinced.
They were fearful of the future.
They had just witnessed Christ’s brutal execution, and they had locked the door behind them (John 20:19), mightily worried that they would be the next targets.
Jesus knew this.
Therefore, when He appeared quietly among them that night, the first word to come out of His mouth was “Peace,” or Shalom.
This was a customary Semitic greeting that came with warmth and without rebuke, blame, or disappointment.
Then He showed them His hands and His side. It was Him. The Jesus whom they were convinced they would never see again was actually standing among them!
“Peace be with you” gave the disciples an indication not simply that their gladness should be prompted by the awareness that He was no longer dead but of something far greater: that by His visible resurrection, Jesus had now come to bestow a new kind of peace as a result of His blood shed upon the cross.
And the peace with which He greeted them is the same peace that He gives to every pardoned sinner.
Shalom takes on a whole new meaning for those who discover this peace.
In our weary world, bowing under the weight of all that is difficult and broken, tainted by indifference toward or denial of Almighty God in all His majesty, we know that He still seeks us out.
Just as He came up behind Mary Magdalene at the open tomb (John 20:11-18) and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), so He pursues you and me in love, bidding us find peace in Him, the one at whose birth the angels sang, “Peace on earth, good will towards men” (Luke 2:14, CSB).
In the face of our fear, our world aches for any semblance of peace.
But longing for it and singing about it will not create it. Peace can only be found in Jesus’ words: “In me you may have peace” (John 16:33; emphasis added).
The resurrection doesn’t simply mean there is a Christ. It means that Christ is alive forever and that He gives us peace with the Father and peace in ourselves, today and forever. Whatever storms are raging around you or inside you, make sure you hear the voice of your risen Savior today, saying, “Peace be with you.”
Stuck in Fear, Sent Out With Peace
On Easter Sunday Jesus’ disciples gathered in a room and locked the door. They were so afraid that the people who had killed Jesus would want to get them too.
But Someone came in anyway, as if the door weren’t even there! And the one who came in was Jesus! He said, “Peace be with you!” And he might well have meant, “Peace be with you, you cowering scared, door-locking disciples.”
Then he showed them his hands and side.
For on them were the scars of battle between life and death, between God and the enemy. Jesus had taken everything the enemy could throw in his way and overcame brutality And there he was, alive! “The disciples were overjoyed.”
Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you!”
And he gave his followers a mission:
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Where was Jesus sending them?
Into the world, where people live and die.
Into the world, where men and women are easily overwhelmed and defeated.
Into the world, where it’s hard to experience true peace amidst total chaos.
Jesus doesn’t want his disciples hiding in locked rooms; he wants us out in the world with the message of life on our lips and acts of life in our hands.
And as we tentatively go forth into the chaos, he says, “Peace be with you!”
In the name of God, the Father God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 27 New American Standard Bible
A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.
A Psalm of David.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom should I fear? The Lord is the [a]defense of my life; Whom should I dread? 2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. 3 If an army encamps against me, My heart will not fear; If war arises against me, In spite of this I am confident.
4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the [b]beauty of the Lord And to [c]meditate in His temple. 5 For on the day of trouble He will conceal me in His [d]tabernacle; He will hide me in the secret place of His tent; He will lift me up on a rock. 6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer sacrifices in His tent [e]with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 Hear, Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “I shall seek Your face, Lord.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, God of my salvation! 10 [f]For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.
11 Teach me Your way, Lord, And lead me on a level path Because of my enemies. 12 Do not turn me over to the [g]desire of my enemies, For false witnesses have risen against me, And the violent witness. 13 I certainly believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “[a]Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins [b]have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
When Jesus first appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, they were in a very uncertain place cowering behind locked doors, fearing what the authorities who had crucified their leader would do next.
But locked doors couldn’t stop Jesus!
Nothing stopped Him from entering the house and re-entering their lives, proving Himself to be their Savior and their living hope.
He was able to be seen, heard, touched, known—and He approaches our lives in the same manner.
No matter where we are or what we have done, Christ can enter our lives—our sadness, our darkness, our fear, our doubts—and make Himself seen and make himself known, standing among us and calmly declaring, “Peace be with you.”
Maybe you’re a “doubting Thomas,” quick to question matters of faith.
To some degree, questions are good and healthy.
Thomas was straightforward with Jesus, essentially saying, I’m not going to believe in You unless I can actually put my finger in Your scars.
Jesus replied to Thomas, All right, if that’s what it takes for you, here you areand here I am (John 20:24-29).
Jesus can meet us in our doubts.
Or maybe you’re a denying Peter, quick to renounce your identity in Christ and quick to feel condemnation for how you’ve messed up.
Jesus took Peter, who had questioned Him countless times but crumbled before the question of a servant girl, made him the rock on which His church was built (Matthew 16:18).
Jesus accepts us despite our very obvious shortcomings and uses our lives in transformative ways. Or perhaps you’re a disgraced Mary Magdalene, whose past haunts you, making you feel all unworthy of Jesus’ love and acceptance.
Yet God did not ordain Jesus’ first recorded encounter after His resurrection to be with just a Sunday-school teacher but with a woman who had a sordid past riddled with sin and had even suffered demon possession.
It was no haphazard coincidence that the first embrace, as it were, from the resurrected Christ was with such a person.
He offers this same redemptive embrace to us.
Jesus can get past locked doors; He can get through to hardened hearts. souls.
Through His death and resurrection, He was able to bridge the gap that sin had opened between rebellious humanity and a righteous God. We must receive the salvation He freely offers. It must be fresh in our minds each day.
Have you done this? Have you received Jesus unconditionally and unreservedly?
Do you embrace Him daily?
Do you rehearse His gospel to yourself each morning?
To trust in this way means we give ourselves to God in service.
We submit ourselves to His lordship as our Savior.
We take God’s promises to heart, and we take the salvation He freely offers.
With this belief, will you see that He stands beside you, offering you an eternal, intimate peace that triumphs over and transforms your sadness, your darkness, your fear, your doubts. Hear the risen Christ say to you, “Peace be with you?”
Stuck in their Fear – They Were Sent Out With Peace
On Easter Sunday Jesus’ disciples gathered in a room and locked the door. They were so afraid that the people who had killed Jesus would want to get them too.
But Someone came in anyway, as if the door weren’t even there! And the one who came in was Jesus! He said, “Peace be with you!” And he might well have meant, “Peace be with you, all you cowering, scared, door-locking disciples.”
Then he showed them his hands and side.
For on them were the scars of battle between life and death, between God and the enemy showing Jesus had taken everything the enemy could throw his way.
And yet, there he was, alive! “The disciples were overjoyed.”
Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you!”
He gave his followers a mission: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Where was Jesus sending them?
Luke 10:1-12 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Seventy Sent Out
10 Now after this the Lord appointed [a]seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. 2 And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3 Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no money belt, no [b]bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a [c]man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in [d]that house, eating and drinking [e]what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. 8 Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet [f]be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
In their cowering state, into the world, where people live and die. Out into the world, where men and women are easily overwhelmed and defeated. Into the world, where it’s hard to experience true peace, where rejection may be cruel and the norm, where betrayal is a very real, potentially very lethal possibility.
The hardcore reality for Christians is Jesus doesn’t want his disciples hiding in locked rooms; he wants us out in the world with the message of life on our lips and acts of life in our hands, feet. And as we go, he says, “Peace be with you!”
On a scale of one to ten …
Called and Sent into the “plentiful harvest where the laborers are few”
Between …
Cowering behind “locked doors”
and
Moving freely among the “wolves”
How well do we Christians of the 21st century, handle this measure of reality?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 19 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Works and the Word of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their [a]line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. 6 Its rising is from [b]one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the [c]other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is [d]perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. 10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be [e]blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Resurrected Lord, we stand cowering behind our 21st century version of locked doors, pray grant us your peace so that, in a world of violence, struggle, and death, we may confidently claim and put into practice the truth of your victory over sin and death.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She *said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus *said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *said to Him in [a]Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene *came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Stuck in Grief, Pulled Into Joy
Mary stood outside Jesus’ tomb, crying. Her Lord and friend had died, and a real and legitimate grief had come over her.
But Mary’s grief entombed her.
It blurred her vision so that when she saw the stone rolled away from Jesus’ tomb, she assumed that someone had stolen his body.
And when she saw Jesus standing in front of her, she thought he was a gardener.
Unrecognized, Jesus, fully alive, faced a friend who was blinded by so much grief that she couldn’t see him.
Perhaps Jesus spoke Mary’s name softly, gently.
But he might well have said it forcefully to shake her out of her grief: “Mary!”—as if to say, “Get a grip on yourself! I’m alive! I’ve conquered death. I’ve broken its grip. Mary! Leave the tomb behind and come into the joy of new life!”
Sometimes grief or other harsh realities can overwhelm us so much that we forget Jesus is alive. But he has conquered death—our death, our loved ones’ deaths—and our future is safe in his hands.
We legitimately grieve the deaths of people we love, and we struggle with the cruelties of injustice and corruption in this world, but we do so knowing that our grief will one day turn to joy. What a thankful call to new thankful living!
Christ has risen, and one day he will return again!
Expecting Even More …
Yesterday Christians everywhere celebrated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Some of us may have sang the words, “I serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today” and in that moment of worship, our hearts resonated with every word.
Today, however, we’re back to school or work or at home facing the pressures of everyday life that we left when we each left our homes to go to our churches.
But with the long passage of time between the resurrection and now, the risen Savior may not seem nearly as close today, and little may seem to have changed.
We’re still faced with that lingering disease, that broken relationship, those same financial problems, or those hardships that come with growing older.
We hear about all the same issues as before being poverty and persecution, about war and conflict in so many countries, and we might just find ourselves asking, “Has Easter really made a difference? How has it changed me for the better? Has anything changed in the past 2,000 years since Jesus’ resurrection? Are things any better in the 21st century than they were in the first century?”
Though nations, technology, and social institutions have changed a lot since then, the human condition, our circumstances are still pretty much the same.
God’s image bearers are still addicted to sin, are still refusing to acknowledge that sin is the very severest of personal issues still confronting all of us today.
Jesus warned his followers, “In this world you will have trouble.”
But because he has overcome the world, we can have new life in him and peace in spite of our struggles.
We can believe despite of our present life circumstance and how we got to that particular circumstance through our life’s experiences, God is not done with us.
We can continue to strive beyond ourselves, to engage the kingdom of God in the place in life we find ourselves to enact God’s restoration in our daily lives.
We can in our full acknowledgement of the resurrection, share his love with others and look forward together to the day when the risen Savior will return!
For Christians, Christ’s triumph over death and sin is the very best news.
Jesus is risen!
God’s promises of forgiveness and new life for his people have been fulfilled.
But the resurrection means infinitely more than an empty tomb.
Mary saw that morning that the tomb was empty—and that was something she didn’t expect.
It was a shock to find that Jesus’ body was gone, and she thought it had been taken somewhere else.
Had it been stolen? Or had someone just moved it? She wondered.
Jesus’ response to Mary indicates that she found more at the empty tomb than she had even imagined.
Through her tears, Mary saw Jesus—risen and alive again!
But she didn’t realize it was him until he called her name.
That’s how it is for us too.
He calls our name too!
He calls us, and we go forth into those places of mission and ministry, we follow him and we glorify, and honor him as the One who has ascended to the Father.
As important as the empty tomb is to the Christian faith, we do not simply linger at the tomb and wonder what has happened there.
We listen to Jesus calling our name, inviting us into a new adventure that leads us to even more—to become witnesses for the risen and ascended Lord.
You are invited to follow the risen Jesus. In what ways can you do that today?
I don’t think Easter is quite done with me yet.
John 20:17-18 New American Standard Bible 1995
17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene *came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
I know what glorious things this Holy Day says to the world at large.
But what does Jesus want me to know, to think about, to wrestle through at this time of year? This season of new beginnings.
So, I’m lingering here a bit longer.
After all, Easter is no longer a ritual to me.
It’s a revelation.
A time where Jesus splits my soul along the fault line of a scar deep within: I was an unwanted and heavily bullied human, no one wanted to be my friend.
Unwanted, heavily bullied and teased, no friends I could ever trust or count on.
But to Jesus … I was wanted so much that He gave His life for me.
It feels so personal.
Even though I know God so loved the world, He gave His son, it becomes very individual if we let it and if we live in it and out from it.
Be personal.
With Jesus.
Yes.
So, in the midst of a world putting Easter away, might we let it sit with us for just a bit more?
I just opened my Bible open to the place where the angel spoke to the women at the tomb.
Matthew 28:1-7 New American Standard Bible 1995
Jesus Is Risen!
28 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “[a]Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
And I am tangling my thoughts around His words from Matthew 28 as six quietly and ever so subtly prayers, emerge into my resurrected spirit …
• “Do not be afraid,”– God, I hand over to You those things that make me so afraid. Resurrect the parts of my faith squelched by fear.
• “I know that you are looking for Jesus,”– God, when my soul is searching, help me know the answer to every longing can be found in You.
• “He has risen,”– God, the fact that Jesus is risen should lift my head, my heart and my attitude. Help me to live today as if I really believe this with every part of my life.
• “just as he said,” – Jesus, You keep Your promises. Help me live as though I believe that with every part of me. Help me trust You more, obey You more and resemble You more.
• “Come and see,” – Jesus, You had the angels invited the women in to see for themselves that You had risen. You invite me into these personal revelations every day. Forgive me for sometimes rushing about and forgetting to come and see for myself … You, Your Word, Your insights.
• “Then go quickly and tell his disciples,” – Jesus, I don’t ever want to be a secret keeper with my faith. I want to be a bold and gracious truth proclaimer. For You. With You. Because of You. Me, the unwanted human whom You loved, redeemed and wanted.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Yes, let this my miraculous Easter be personal.
Yes, let this my miraculous Easter be relational.
Yes, let this my miraculous Easter be transformational.
And, above all, let this my miraculous Easter be fervently prayerful.
And may I rise from my circumstances to linger with Jesus a bit longer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
4 After this I looked, and behold, [a]a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a [war] trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2 At once I was in [special communication with] the Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. 3 And He who sat there appeared like [the crystalline sparkle of] [b]a jasper stone and [the fiery redness of] a sardius stone, and encircling the throne there was a rainbow that looked like [the color of an] emerald.4 Twenty-four [other] thrones surrounded the throne; and seated on these thrones were [c]twenty-four elders dressed in white clothing, with crowns of gold on their heads.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Once John was charged to write the book of Revelation, when he met with the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus in chapter 1, and having received Christ’s 7 letters to the 7 churches in chapters 2-3, he is given a vision of the throne room of God and commanded to, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Not only was John given important information for the Churches, but he was also commanded to ‘see’ and to ‘hear’ what was going to happen beyond the current Church age, “after these things.”
After acting as God’s heavenly, High Priest to the Church-age saints and interceding as heaven’s Mediator between God and man, John is shown how Christ will begin to take on His role of Judge, before returning to earth to claim His position as King of kings and Lord of lords.
“I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven,” John writes,“and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me.”
The angel who met John in the prologue was the same angel who accompanied him throughout the entire revelation of Jesus Christ – which the Father gave to His Son… to give to John through His angel.
The apostle John was about to receive a preview of the future, which began with a vision of heaven in chapter 4 and moved to the worship of the Lamb of God in chapter 5.
He saw One seated on the throne which had the appearance of crystal-clear jasper and a blood-red Sardis stone, and John recorded that there was a rainbow surrounding the throne that reminded him of a brilliant green emerald.
Twice he was summoned to, “come up here.”
The same voice which sounded like that of a trumpet in chapter 1, commanded him to join the heavenly host of angelic beings that surrounded the throne of God, by means of a door which was standing open in heaven.
And being, “in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” John was given an amazing insight into the future.. and greater revelation of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God and Lion of the tribe of Judah.
After Christ’s revelation to the Churches ended, John’s vison changed, and he was ushered into heaven – in spirit and in truth.
He discovered that the heavenly scene into which he had been brought, was preparing to unseal a special scroll which had been securely sealed by God Himself with seven seals.
As the heavenly scene unfolded, John discovered that he was witnessing to the precursor of the prophesied judgement on earth – the Day of the Lord which he recorded in chapters 6-19 when the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
The sight that John saw during chapters 4-5, were the heavenly preparation for that future time of Great Tribulation, recorded in chapters 6-19, which is to fall on a Christ-rejecting sinful world and which will bring Israel to national repentance and punishment to the God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world.
While John’s body remained on earth, his spirit was translated into heaven where he witnessed a vision of the angelic host that surround the throne of Almighty God – the Ancient of Days.
As he looked, John was introduced to four living creatures who worship God day and night and 24 elders who were clothed in white raiment with crowns of gold on their heads.
The vison of the throne-room of God, the worship of the Lamb Who was slain, and the presentation of a seven-sealed scroll, which no-one but Lamb could break, are all part-and-parcel of the heavenly vision John saw in chapters 4 and 5.
It was after he had received Christ’s revelation to the Church (chapters 1-3) but before the revelation of Christ to the world in His role as Judge (chapters 6-19) when the wrath of God is poured out upon the children of disobedience, that the aged apostle John looked,
“and behold, a door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said to him, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.'”
In chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, the focus shifts to a new and powerful story of God’s ongoing mission.
This new section begins with John seeing “a door standing open in heaven.”
This picture surprises us because we know that an open door often extends an invitation to come in.
This is an enticing opportunity to believe because heaven is often considered a place of mysteries that we do not have access to.
For the most part, it is God’s secret—at least from our day-to-day living in this life.
But here Jesus opens heaven’s door.
And in a voice like a trumpet, he welcomes us, saying, “Come up here.”
The invitation promises to reveal “what must take place after this.”
But as John tells the story of walking through heaven’s open door, the future is not the first thing that catches his attention.
Instead, he sees “a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.”
Heaven’s open door has us standing before the throne of all thrones, from which everything in heaven and on earth is loved and cared for.
Still today, the Holy Spirit opens heaven’s door wide so that we can visualize, believe, this scene and let its story encourage us to live by faith in Jesus today.
Considering Reasons to Believe in Heaven
Let us strive to remember that the one who reads, hears, and takes to heart this amazing revelation is blessed.
“Blessed is he that reads, and those that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.”
Believing in Heaven …
“Heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” –Stephen Hawking
I’m afraid of the dark.
If we are talking about the endless kind of darkness which offers us no light anywhere, no hope ever, and nothing but nothingness, who among us would not panic at the thought of that?
I expect people like Mr. Hawking simply find the idea of Heaven too good to be true, and thus conclude that it must be a product of man’s delusional yearning for “pie in the sky by and by.”
And yet, there are solid reasons for reasonable people to believe in the concept of a Heavenly home after this earthly life.
Here are some that mean a lot to me.
By no means is this list exhaustive.
It’s simply my laymen’s thinking on the subject.
The God who made us created us with a longing for Himself and a satisfaction in nothing less. {Ecclesiastes 3:1-22}
When we get to Heaven, we will finally be satisfied, but not until then.
“I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake” (Psalm 17:15).
“I go to prepare a place for you,” said our Lord. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3).
If it were not so, I would have told you.
Jesus said that.
I believe Him.
I choose to believe.
1. Jesus Believed in Heaven
In fact, He claimed to be a native.
The Lord said to Nicodemus, “No one has been to Heaven except the One who came from there, even the Son of Man.” (John 3:13). No one knows a place like a native.
Jesus told the dying thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
So, wherever we go when we die, it’s a paradise.
True, He left us a thousand unanswered questions on the subject, but what He told us is pure gold.
For instance, when He returns, the dead in Christ accompany Him (I Thessalonians 4:14).
It appears that our eventual destination is somewhere different from the initial, intermediate place called “Paradise,” but we should have no trouble leaving the details to Him – after all, we can trust the One who died for us.
2. Scripture consistently teaches the existence of Heaven.
We must not let people get by with saying the Old Testament knew nothing of Heaven.
“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,”said David in everyone’s favorite psalm.
Or this one:“As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake” (Psalm 17:15).
Job said,“My Redeemer liveth and at last shall stand upon the earth; yet even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another” (Job 19:25-27).
Neither must we cave to those who say the only way to understand such verses is to get inside the mind of the one who said those words originally, as if what they said is determinative and authoritative.
Peter said the prophets said more than they understood and even angels could not fathom some of these things. (I Peter 1:12).
3. I believe in Heaven because I believe in earth.
It’s so wonderful.
There is nothing else like it in the universe.
Suppose we lived in some distant world and all we knew was the planets we have seen–the barren, rocky planets that are molten in the day and frigid at night, those covered with acidic clouds or endless hurricanes–
and if someone told us about earth, with its steadiness, its atmosphere, its lovely scenery and its plant life and the richness of its minerals and a thousand other delights, we would find it hard to believe.
And yet here it is.
We are residents of this amazing planet.
We take the earth in stride because it’s all we know.
4. There has to be a heaven to even up the earthly hell God’s most faithful sometimes endure for Jesus’ sake.
Those of us who are “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,” to use Isaac Watts’ unforgettable image, have little idea of the price some have paid for their loyalty to Jesus Christ through the centuries.
Many live under oppressive regimes in our day, punished for doing nothing more than meeting in someone’s living room to worship or giving a friend a Bible.
I’m tempted to say “God owes them, big time,” but I don’t believe I want to be presumptuous or blasphemous.
“God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love that you have shown toward His name in having ministered to the saints, and in still ministering” is how Hebrews 6:10 puts it.
If God were not to reward the faithfulness of the most loyal, it would be sin on His part.
After all, “this momentary light affliction is working for us an exceeding weight of glory far beyond all comparison” says 2 Corinthians 4:17.
5. Every caterpillar/butterfly testifies to our heavenly future.
Suppose we could inform that caterpillar crawling across a leaf of the glorious future just ahead of him (it?).
Would that humble creature believe he (it) would someday have gorgeous wings and flit through the sky?
So, why do we have such difficulty believing in the destiny God has planned for and promised to His own?
6. I believe in Heaven because the alternative belief is in despair.
“I would have despaired had I not believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living”(Psalm 27:13).
This world, by the way, is not the land of the living, but is the land of the dying.
The “land of the living” is just over the next ridge, immediately following our final breath here.
Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live.”
Who among us has not grieved at the thought of never seeing a precious loved one again, as we have left the cemetery.
The alternative to faith is despair.
7. I believe in Heaven because some of the best people who ever lived believed in Heaven.
Pick up a Bible and read it ….
A whole lot of formerly ordinary people from literally all walks of life had come to faith in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit long before I was ever even told there was a God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Hebrews 11, Hebrews 12:1-2.]
8. I believe in Heaven because I believe in hell.
Luke 16:27-28Amplified Bible
27 So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’
There has to be a hell.
I don’t like to think much about hell.
But I have to because God’s Word teaches about it.
The plain truth is that hell is real, and real people go there forever.
Several times in the Gospels we read Jesus was grieved when people turned away from him–grieved because he knew they were walking down the road that eventually would lead to hell.
The message Jesus brought is simple: Unless you turn and put your trust in me, you will die in your sins and face an eternity without me.
In Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we see the rich man begging for a little relief from his suffering.
Father Abraham explains that this kind of relief is not possible.
The rich man then turns his attention toward his brothers who are still living.
“Then I beg you … send Lazarus… Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”
Notice a short time in hell turned this unbeliever into a motivated evangelist.
In a sense the rich man is saying,
“Someone has got to warn people that hell is real and that real people go there.”
How tragic that the man in this story found out too late.
What’s it going to take for you to become motivated?
Pray God’s grace, not his wrath, will fill your heart with a passion to save the lost.
9. I believe in Heaven because it’s a great incentive to responsible living and compassionate everything.
Skeptics will point to the shallow sayings of some believers that for the Heaven-bound this world does not matter, and that improving life on Earth is just so much arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Those who say such are wrong, their thinking unbiblical, their teachings are misleading.
We have great responsibilities here in this life, and it’s not just to get people to (ahem) “pray the sinner’s prayer” so they can go to heaven.
We were commissioned to make disciples, a far bigger thing.
“The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,” says Psalm 115:16, “but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”
We are stewards of this planet, and thus answerable to Him.
I’ll go so far as to say those who are working to give the planet clean air and pure water, safe streets, are also doing the work of the Lord in their own way.
10. I believe in Heaven because of reasons I’m yet to discover.
There is so much more.
As some have said, we are “hard-wired” to believe in God and likewise in Heaven.
I willingly accept that and see it as residue of the creation.
The God who made us created us with a longing for Himself and a satisfaction in nothing less.
When we get to Heaven, we will finally be satisfied, but not until then. “I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake”(Psalm 17:15).
“I go to prepare a place for you,” said our Lord. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3).
“If it were not so, I would have told you.”
Jesus said that. I believe Him.
I simply choose to believe.
God, the Father …
God, the Son …
God, the Holy Spirit …
The Revealed Word of God …
The Resurrection ….
In Heaven …
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for the book of Revelation and for the greater insight and understanding it gives us into the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus, of what is to take place after He comes to take the members of His mystic Body to be with Himself, and how we should live in this present age. I pray that You would bless me as I read and take to heart all that is written in this final book of Scripture. Thank You that You are the eternal and immutable God Whose plans and purposes can never fail. Thank You for the Cross of Christ and His glorious Resurrection, which secured for us an eternal inheritance, by faith. I pray that all I say and do would give glory to You and that one day I may cast my crown before His feet. Thank you for all Your goodness and grace to me and to all men. This I pray in Jesus’ wonderful name.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 