Where Did Christ’s Soul Go After His Death? (part 4)

April 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Over the past few posts we’ve established that Christ’s soul went to a place called Hades when He died. The proof text is Acts 2:27, a Messianic passage that says of Christ:

For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

But what we’ve learned is that Hades is a fascinating place, one that actually has two sections. One section is a bliss section designed to hold the souls of the saved, and the other one is a torment section designed to hold the souls of the lost.

However, we’ve also learned that after Christ’s resurrection and ascension He emptied all the souls out of the bliss section and transported them on up to heaven. The text on this is Ephesians 4:8-10. So now when a saved person dies, his or her soul goes straight up to heaven. As 2 Corinthians 5:8 says of Christians:

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Okay, I realize that we are getting a bit off the specific question of where Christ’s soul went at death, but please bear with me for this post while I finish up the word about Hades. As things stand now, the torment section of Hades is still very much open for business and receiving lost souls every day. It is the place we have in mind when we talk about someone dying and going to “hell.” It’s where the souls of Osama Bin Laden, Adolph Hitler, and Joseph Stalin are right now. According to Luke 16:23-24 it’s a place of torment and literal flame. As bad as we might imagine it to be, it’s no doubt worse.

But will this torment section always remain open for business? No. Just as happened with the bliss section, there will come a time when the souls will all be emptied from the torment section and transported to another place. The time will be after Christ’s one-thousand-year reign upon this earth, and the place will be Gehenna, which is more commonly known as “the lake of fire.”

The word Gehenna literally refers to a burning “city dump.” The word occurs twelve times in the New Testament’s original Greek. In each instance the K.J.V. translates the word as “hell.” The passages are: Matthew 5:22; 5:29; 5:30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Mark 9:43; 9:45; 9:47; Luke 12:5; and James 3:6.

Gehenna is actually the Greek representative of the Hebrew Ge-hinnom. An English translation of Ge-hinnom would be “valley of Hinnom.” This was a deep, narrow valley to the south of Jerusalem. It was here that the Jews, in some of their most wicked Old Testament times, sacrificed their children to the god Molech. When the practice was stopped, the site became the “city dump” for Jerusalem. The bodies of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and all sorts of trash and filth were cast into the valley. The constant burning and smoldering of the refuse caused a continual smoke to rise up from the valley. Jesus, the master illustrator, chose the site as a symbolic representation of eternal judgment.

Jesus described Gehenna as a place where “their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48, in each instance “hell” translates Gehenna). The phrase “where their worm dies not” refers back to the “city dump” that was the valley of Hinnom. Those who took their trash out to the site could always see worms feasting on the waste, especially on the corpses and carcasses. These worms lived at the site without being annihilated by the flame and heat of the place. Other Bible passages that teach that the punishment of the wicked is eternal are Daniel 12:2, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, and Revelation 14:10-11.

As I said, the New Testament’s other name for Gehenna is “the lake of fire.” This description is used in Revelation 19:20; 20:10; 20:14; 20:15; and 21:18. The Greek word that is translated as “lake” in these verses is the common Greek word for a lake. It is the same word that is used in reference to the famous “lake of Gennesaret” (the Sea of Galilee). This means that the best way to envision Gehenna is to think of a literal lake, but rather than being a lake of water it is a lake of everlasting fire.

In Matthew 25:41 Jesus speaks of an “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The Greek language doesn’t use the word Gehenna in this verse, but the Bible makes it clear that Jesus was talking about Gehenna. For one thing, the Bible never depicts Satan as being in Hades (see Job 1:7, Job 2:2, and 1 Peter 5:8). For another, the Bible plainly says that the lake of fire will be Satan’s eternal dwelling place (Revelation 20:10). So, obviously, Jesus was referring to Gehenna when he talked about an everlasting fire prepared for the devil and the other fallen angels. Sadly, even though the place was specifically prepared for fallen angels, lost humans will spend eternity there as well.

But just when will Satan be cast into Gehenna? Well, there is a distinct order to how Gehenna goes from being unoccupied (which it is now) to being occupied. The order is as follows:

1. Jesus will return for His second coming to this earth during the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 19:11-19)

2. As a part of Christ’s resounding victory at Armageddon, the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet from the seven-year tribulation period will be cast into Gehenna, the lake of fire. These two men will be Gehenna’s very first occupants and they will never get out of the place. (Revelation 19:20-21)

3. Immediately after this, Satan will be chained up in the bottomless pit, which is a place 2 Peter 2:4 refers to as Tartarus. And Satan will remain there in Tartarus for the thousand years of Christ’s reign upon this earth. (Revelation 20:1-6)

4. At the end of this thousand years, Satan will be loosed for a time to mount one final rebellion against God. God the Father will put down that rebellion and then Satan will be cast into Gehenna, the lake of fire. There he will join the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet who have already been in there for one thousand years. (Revelation 20:7-10).

5. Immediately following this will come the Great White Throne Judgment where all of history’s lost will stand before Christ. For this awesome judgment the torment section of Hades will at last be emptied so that all those lost souls can be formally moved into Gehenna. Revelation 20:12-15 says of this time:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

In closing, let me say one last word about the souls who will be called forth from the torment section of Hades to stand before the Great White Judgment. For that Judgment, those souls will be reunited with the bodies they once inhabited. This is why Revelation 20:13-14 speaks of not only Hades delivering up its dead but also Death delivering up its dead. You see, Hades will deliver up the lost soul and Death will deliver up the body. This will necessitate those bodies experiencing some type of resurrection. Obviously it won’t be the resurrection unto glorification that the bodies of the saved will experience, but it will be some type of resurrection so that the lost can be cast body and soul into Gehenna.

If you doubt this let me remind you that in John 5:29 Jesus names two distinct kinds of resurrections. They are “the resurrection of life” and “the resurrection of condemnation.” Let me also remind you that in Matthew 5:29-30 and 10:28 Jesus talks about the whole body being cast into “hell” (Greek word Gehenna). You see, by the time God’s program is completed for the human race there won’t be one soul (saved or lost) left in either section of Hades or one body left unaccounted for by either the “resurrection of life” or the “resurrection of condemnation.”

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Where Did Christ’s Soul Go After His Death? (part 3)

April 12, 2012 Leave a comment

For centuries the dominant translation of the Bible was the King James Version. In answer to the question, “Where did Christ’s soul go after His death?” Acts 2:27 in the K.J.V. reads:

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Not so surprisingly, people seized upon this verse to create a whole line of erroneous doctrinal thinking. It goes like this: “Christ’s soul went to hell when he died because He had to suffer our punishment in hell as a part of Him paying the penalty for our sins.” But think about it, if He really did have to endure the required amount of torment and suffering in hell to pay our sin debt, wouldn’t it have been eternal suffering? I mean, isn’t that the rule? When a sinner dies without Christ, his or her soul has to suffer a lot longer than three days worth of punishment in hell, right? Also, the whole idea of Christ’s soul suffering the torment of hell flatly goes against what He told the thief on the cross, “…today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

As I noted in my last post, whenever you read the word “hell” in the old King James translation you’ve got to dig a little deeper and find out the word used in the original language. Concerning the Old Testament, in 100% of the instances where the K.J.V. reads “hell” the Hebrew word is Sheol. But the interesting thing is that in the Old Testament the souls of both the saved and the lost go to Sheol. For example, Psalm 9:17 puts the lost souls of the wicked there, but 2 Samuel 22:6 puts the soul of David right on the brink of being there.

You see, this hints at the fact that Sheol has two sections to it. It has a bliss section for the souls of the saved, and it has a torment section for the souls of the lost. Really, the Hebrew word Sheol is simply an umbrella word that refers to the general afterlife realm of the dead. That afterlife could be spent in the bliss section or it might be spent in the torment section, depending upon one’s salvation or lack of it. As a matter of fact, just as the K.J.V. Old Testament translates Sheol as “hell” in thirty-one instances, it translates it as “the grave” in another thirty-one instances.

As for the New Testament, the equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol is the Greek Hades. And Luke 16:19-31, where the K.J.V. translates Hades as “hell,” leaves no doubt as to the place having two very different sections. The saved soul of the beggar Lazarus goes to the bliss section, while the lost soul of the rich man goes to the torment section.

And so Christ’s soul went to the bliss section of Hades when He died, the same place where the souls of the Old Testament believers went. You see, even though Lazarus the beggar, the thief on the cross, and Jesus lived in the days of the New Testament, they still lived and died in what we might call the Old Testament dispensation. What I mean is, the really big changes concerning afterlife abodes wouldn’t take place until Christ’s resurrection and ascension.

And here now is where we bring things into our current era. So please take special note of what you’re about to read: When Jesus ascended back to heaven forty days after His resurrection, He emptied the bliss section of Hades and took those saved souls formally into heaven with Him. The passage on this is Ephesians 4:8-10, which reads in the New King James translation:

Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

What Paul is doing in this passage is playing off the scene of a Roman general leading a procession through the streets of Rome after a victorious military campaign. For such a procession the general would be at the front of the parade. Then behind him would be the “trophies” he had “won” through his military victories. Some of those “trophies” would be people who had been captured as prisoners of war by the general’s army.

And so, using this earthly illustration, Paul describes how Jesus “won” the souls out of the bliss section of Hades. First, Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth. (Remember that in the previous post I explained that Hades is located somewhere deep in the heart of the earth.) Second, He ascended to heaven with those souls. Third, He marched victoriously into heaven with those souls behind Him. The N.I.V. translation does the best job of conveying Paul’s imagery. It renders Ephesians 4:8 as, “…he led captives in his train…”

You ask, “But why did those millions of saved souls have to wait until Christ’s resurrection before they could formally enter heaven?” It was because Jesus had to officially shed His blood in time and history before their sins could be eternally cleansed. Keep in mind that Hebrews 10:4 says that it wasn’t possible for the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices to take away sin. The best such blood could do was cover sin and stay the wrath of God. It is only Christ’s literal blood that can eternally cleanse sin. As I once heard a Bible teacher say, “Really, the Old Testament believers were saved on credit by looking ahead to Christ’s death on the cross just as we look back upon it.”

And so what does all this mean for the Christian today? It means that at the moment of death the Christian’s soul goes straight on up to heaven. There is now no longer a need for the bliss section of Hades. Surely that section still exists, but it’s empty. The same Paul who wrote about how the resurrected, ascended Jesus entered into heaven with those saved souls from Hades also taught in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 that now when a Christian is absent from the body he is present with the Lord. He also said in Philippians 1:23 that he desired to depart this earth and be with Christ, which is far better. When he said that he knew full well that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God the Father up in heaven. For that matter, just before Steven died his martyr’s death he saw Jesus in heaven standing to immediately receive his soul (Acts 7:54-60).

And right there is where I’ll stop for today. In my next post I’ll finish up the teaching on Hades by explaining what is going to eventually happen to the lost souls that are currently abiding in its torment section. You see, when all the dust has settled and everything is said and done before the dawn of eternity, there won’t be one soul left in either section of Hades. With this post I’ve explained how the bliss side got emptied, and I hope you’ll stay tuned for the explanation of how the torment side will eventually get emptied as well.

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Where Did Christ’s Soul Go After His Death? (part 2)

April 11, 2012 Leave a comment

For centuries the classic King James translation of the Bible was the favored one for the English-speaking world. Many of us grew up reading the K.J.V. and memorizing its verses, and undoubtedly it’s a generally solid translation. Unfortunately, the way it uses the word “hell” has been a longstanding problem.

In the K.J.V.’s New Testament three very different Greek words get translated as the one word “hell.” This has caused untold confusion among sincere students of the Bible. The three words are Tartarus, Gehenna, and Hades. I could devote an entire series of posts to explaining what the Bible teaches about each place, but I won’t do that because I’m already in a series. So, for my purposes here, let me just give you the barest of the bare basics.

First, Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4) is a place exclusively for the imprisonment of certain fallen angels. No human souls have ever been or ever will be incarcerated there. In the New Testament this place also goes by two other names. In the book of The Revelation it is “the bottomless pit” mentioned in chapters 9,11,17, and 20. In Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7 it is “the deep.” The terms “the bottomless pit” and “the deep” both translate the Greek word abussos, from which we get our English word “abyss.”

Second, Gehenna is the eternal lake of fire of chapters 19-21 of The Revelation. Even though this place is in existence now it is completely empty as of yet. Its first occupants will be the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet from the coming tribulation period (Revelation 19:20).

This leaves us with Hades, which is where Acts 2:27 places Christ’s soul after His death. Perhaps it’s best to think of Hades as being a general realm of the dead. In the Old Testament Hebrew it goes by its Hebrew name Sheol. In the Old Testament the soul of every deceased person goes to Sheol (Hades). You ask, “Do you mean that in Old Testament days the souls of saved people went to the same afterlife abode as the souls of lost people?” Yes, that’s right. There is, however, more to it than that.

The thing about Hades (Sheol) is this: It has two sections. One section was for the souls of saved believers, and the other section was for the souls of lost unbelievers. While the Old Testament certainly hints at these two sections, the New Testament comes right out and describes each one. The passage is Luke 16:19-31, Christ’s story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus. The souls of the rich man and the beggar both went to Hades upon death. The beggar’s soul went to the bliss section of Hades, where he was comforted by the soul of Abraham, an Old Testament believer. On the other hand, the rich man’s soul went to the torment section where there was no comfort. The rich man could engage in a brief conversation with Abraham and Lazarus, but a great gulf prevented him from passing over to that other section.

Now, it is the torment section of Hades (Sheol) that people have in mind when they talk about someone dying and going to hell. And this notion is factual because this is exactly the place where every lost soul now goes. This section is a place of torment and flame (Luke 16:24). It is a place of painful remembrance of the events of your earthly life (Luke 16:25). It is a place where all your requests are denied (Luke 16:24, 27-28, 30-31).

And would you believe that Hades (both sides) is literally located in the heart of the earth? The Old Testament always speaks of the place in terms of being “down.” Read the story of how God allowed a medium to conjure up the soul of the deceased Samuel so that Samuel could pronounce a word of doom on King Saul (1 Samuel 27:3-25). According to the story, Samuel’s soul ascended up out of the earth, not down from heaven. Furthermore, not only is Hades located somewhere in the heart of the earth, the Bible also teaches that the place has gates (Job 17:16, Matthew 16:18).

And so now the question becomes, “Which section of Hades did Christ’s soul go to at His death?” We find the answer in Luke 23:43. There, just before He dies, Jesus promises the believing thief on the cross beside Him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Make no mistake, there is no correlation whatsoever between the torment section of Hades and “Paradise.” And since Jesus said, “you will be with me,” He obviously went to the bliss section of Hades.

I should point out that the word “Paradise” is used in two other places in the New Testament. First, in 2 Corinthians 12:4 the apostle Paul uses it in reference to “the third heaven,” which is God’s heaven, the place we think of when we use the word “heaven.” Then second, in Revelation 2:7 (when interpreted through the lens of Revelation 22:2) the word is used in reference to the future city of New Jerusalem, the city where the saved of all history will spend eternity. You see, in the New Testament the specific “Paradise” being mentioned is determined by the context and time-frame of the passage in question. Before Christ’s death and resurrection, “Paradise” was the bliss section of Hades. After Christ’s death and resurrection, “Paradise” became the third heaven, God’s heaven. In the prophetic future, after Christ’s thousand-year-reign upon this earth, “Paradise” will become the heavenly city called the New Jerusalem.

Okay, I’m going to put a period here for now, but it’s not because I don’t have more to say about Hades. I just feel like I’ve given you plenty of scriptural meat to chew on for one post. Let me encourage you to study all these references for yourself. I think you’ll find them interesting reads. Then, in my next post, I’ll say the rest of what I need to say about Hades and Christ’s soul going there after His death.

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Where Did Christ’s Soul Go After His Death? (part 1)

April 10, 2012 Leave a comment

In the days leading up to Easter Sunday, I had two different people ask me the same question: “Where did Christ’s soul go after His death?” So I felt led of the Lord to build my Easter sermon around that question. What I’d like to do with my next few posts is share that information with you.

Let me begin by saying that every human being consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit. This applied to Jesus as well because He was God in human flesh. I could use individual passages that specifically mention the body, other passages that mention the spirit, and other passages that mention the soul, but I’ll just go with 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which brings all three into play:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Several months ago I devoted a series of posts to the body, the soul, and the spirit, and I’ll not repeat all that information. Let me just say that each human being is a soul who lives in a body and possesses a spirit. The soul is the eternal you. The body is that which houses the soul. The spirit is the life-giving spark of God that makes the body alive. As James 2:26 says, “…the body without the spirit is dead.”

Now, we know what happened to Christ’s body after His death, don’t we? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus removed the body from the cross, bound it in strips of linen, and buried it in Joseph of Arimathea’s personal tomb (John 19:38-42). Furthermore, we also know what happened to Christ’s spirit. His last words on the cross weren’t, “It is finished,” as some people wrongly believe (John 19:30). Not long after He uttered those words He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). This chimes in perfectly with Ecclesiastes 12:7, which teaches that at death the spirit returns to God. And so all this leaves only the matter of what happened to Christ’s soul after His death.

Thankfully, the Bible hasn’t left us in the dark as to the answer. As a part of the famous sermon that Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost following Christ’s resurrection and ascension, he loosely quoted Psalm 16:8-11, which is an Old Testament Messianic passage that speaks of Jesus. In Acts 2:27, we read these words from that passage:

For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Frankly, these words really aren’t hard to understand. First, the part about God the Father not allowing Christ to see corruption refers to Christ’s body not experiencing the normal process of decay in the tomb. Second, the part about not leaving Christ’s soul in Hades refers to His soul going there after His death but not remaining there. The point is, Christ’s soul obviously went to Hades immediately following His death.

This gets us onto the subject of Hades, and since that is something of a complex subject I’ll wait until my next post to tackle it. I’m not trying to needlessly draw this out. Nor is this a ploy to keep you coming back. It just takes a little bit of time to get everything explained. So please stay tuned.

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Easter Means A Promise Kept

April 5, 2012 Leave a comment

Consider the following passages:

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” (John 15:26)

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7)

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33)

In each of these passages we see that Jesus did indeed keep His promise to send the Holy Spirit to help His followers. This helping came by way of the Spirit indwelling those followers. The dawn of this new era was the Day of Pentecost that is described in Acts chapter 2, but the era continues today as each person who believes in Christ as Savior is “baptized” with (indwelt by) the Holy Spirit from the moment of the belief. As Romans 8:9 puts it:

…Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

But what does the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers have to do with Easter? That’s simple. The fact that the Holy Spirit came proves that Jesus did rise from the dead. Think about it, He had to resurrect and ascend before He could send. So to deny Christ’s resurrection is to deny some 2,000 years worth of the Holy Spirit ministering through Christians. That’s a lot of denial, much more than is logical in light of all the good Christians have done down through the centuries.

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Easter Bells

April 2, 2012 Leave a comment

During Napoleon’s Austrian campaign his army closed in on the town of Feldkirch. With their town seemingly without hope, the Christians gathered in a little church to pray. As it so happened it was the night before Easter Sunday.

The next morning at sunrise, per the custom, the bells of the town were rung in celebration of Easter. If Napoleon’s army was coming at least the townspeople could enjoy one last joyous Easter. But the ringing of those bells caused something strange to happen. Napoleon’s army, not realizing it was Easter Sunday, took them to mean that the Austrian army had marched into Feldkirch during the night and the bells were being rung in celebration of it. Based upon this erroneous assessment, Napoleon ordered a retreat and the town was saved.

This Easter we Christians should let the bells of our heart ring out in celebration of the fact that Jesus is alive. Of all people on earth, we should feel the most joy and hope. No matter what our circumstances are, our great God and Savior stands ready to come to our aid and defense. That’s so much better than awaiting the arrival of a human army, one which may or may not provide the help we need.

So, Christian, are you having difficulty this Easter season? Does it seem as if your enemy’s victory is inevitable? Is your situation desperate? Then let the bells of your heart ring out loud! Remember that Jesus lives and stands ready to help you in your time of trouble.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Resurrection, Easter, Joy, Problems, trials, Trusting In God, Worry Tagged with , , ,

Praying In Jesus’ Name (part 6, last one)

March 22, 2012 Leave a comment

For the past several posts, I’ve been explaining what all is involved with praying “in Jesus’ name” (John 14:12-14). Thus far we’ve covered the following ground:

1. Praying in Jesus’ name can only be done by a Christian.

2. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray in submission to God’s will.

3. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray in the authority of Jesus.

4. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray with an understanding of the limitless power such praying offers.

5. Praying in Jesus’ name means praying the kind of prayer that Jesus would pray.

Okay, now let me move on to the sixth and last thing I want to say on this subject. It is this: To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray with an awareness of the work of redemption that Jesus completed.

Christian, when you pray you should be keenly aware of the fact that your privilege of prayer rests upon the foundation of Christ’s divinity, virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, miraculous resurrection, and victorious ascension back to heaven. Hebrews is the Bible’s great book here. Allow me to string together some of the relevant passages:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone (2:9)…Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things, pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.(2:17)…Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.(4:14-16).

You see, the teaching of these passages is this: The only reason we Christians can bow our heads anytime, anyplace and have our prayers heard by God the Father is because Jesus did the work that we might be redeemed. If you take that work out of the equation, our prayers take a deadly hit. That’s why, Christian, when you pray you should always have Christ’s work of redemption in the back of your mind. You should remember not only that Jesus is your High Priest but what it took for Him to earn that title. The redemptive work He did is of infinite importance, and without it your prayers would carry little if any weight with God the Father.

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Find Things For Which To Be Thankful

August 1, 2011 Leave a comment

A subway car was overly crowded, which caused several people to be forced to stand. Naturally, most of them were griping about the situation. As the car pulled into another station where still more people boarded, one man who was standing said to those coming aboard, “I hope you people like standing because we’ve been doing it for a long while.” He didn’t see the crippled invalid who was helped aboard the train and graciously given a seat, but the invalid heard the comment. To it he somberly replied, “You are fortunate.”

Please don’t hypocritically judge the fellow who was standing. The fact is, he could have been any of us. Speaking personally, his complaint sounds just like something that I would have said. It’s just typical human nature, isn’t it? But that doesn’t make it right or pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:15 says:

Therefore by Him (Jesus) let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Christian, I ask you, how are you doing at continually offering the sacrifice of praise to God? What form is the fruit of your lips taking these days? Are you in the habit of giving thanks to the name of the Lord? Truth be told, our answers to these questions probably leave much to be desired.

The Lord knows that you have legitimate problems. He also knows that life can oftentimes be a difficult game to play. But through it all He remains forevermore worthy to be praised. Even during those instances in which you don’t feel like praising Him, He is still worthy. The secret is to train yourself to count your blessings. As the old saying goes, “Count your blessings one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

You see, even that crippled invalid who was boarding that train wouldn’t have had to look very hard to find something for which to be thankful. He could have been thankful for the people who helped him get aboard the train. He could have been thankful for the person who gave up his seat for him. He could have been thankful that someone in his condition could get aboard a train and travel to distant places, places he could never have seen on his own. Do you see my point?

So in the midst of all your grumbling and complaining, make yourself stop and be thankful for all the good things that God has sent your way. And if you can’t come up with anything, be thankful for the fact that Jesus Christ (God the Son) left heaven, took upon Himself human flesh, lived without sin among men, died on a cross to pay the sin debt for the sins of the world, arose from the dead, ascended back to heaven, and now offers salvation and forgiveness of all sin to anyone who will believe in Him as Savior. Trust me, that one item right there should be enough to keep you thankful for all eternity.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, contentment, Disappointment, Forgiveness, perseverance, Problems, salvation, Thankfulness Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

How Optimistic Are You About Your Future?

June 22, 2011 Leave a comment

Flagstaff, Maine was chosen as the site for a huge hydroelectric installation. The installation would include a dam that would impound miles and miles of water and bury the town under water. So, in 1950, the town was physically abandoned.

Even before everybody left, when the plan was first approved and announced, the need to keep up the appearance of the town went by the wayside. No one bothered to paint his house anymore. Worn streets were left unrepaired. The school building and the church building were left to decline. One newspaper reporter who went there summed up the situation by saying, “Apparently, when there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”

That’s a profound statement, isn’t it? And in the light of it I want to ask you this question: When you think about your future, do you do so with optimism or dread? Imagine yourself ten years from now. Do you see yourself as happier, more at peace, and more contented? Or do you see yourself in an even worse state than your current one? How you answer says a lot about you.

Every Christian should be an optimist because, if for no other reason, he or she is bound for heaven and eternal bliss. You can’t beat that for a future. 1 Peter 1:4 describes it as:

…an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

Be sure to notice that word “inheritance.” How does a person collect an inheritance? Somebody else has to die. Well, who died so that the Christian can collect a heavenly inheritance? The answered is found in the preceding verse, 1 Peter 1:3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

You see, Christian, you have been begotten to “a living hope,” and that hope and optimism about the future should be inseparable. Does this mean that you won’t have any difficult times here upon this earth? No. Does it mean that the last days of your earthly life will be the happiest days of it? Not necessarily. But what it does mean is that you can be sincerely optimistic about the future because you understand that this world isn’t the end. Even if things get bad for you down here, you have an unshakable reservation for a better place. The point is, if you are looking to the future with dread, you just aren’t looking out there far enough.

Filed under Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, contentment, Heaven, Reward, salvation Tagged with , , , , ,

Suffering

June 2, 2011 Leave a comment

We live in a culture in which we are taught to avoid suffering at all costs. After all, avoiding it does seem to make perfect sense. However, the problem is that God, Who oftentimes delights in making little or no sense, sees suffering as one of His tools. It’s a tool He uses to grow the sufferer in terms of maturity and spirituality. As one writer has written, “God often digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow.” Another one has written, “A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor; uninterrupted prosperity and crowning success never qualifies a man for usefulness and genuine happiness.”

Coming at this issue another way, we know that God certainly used the sufferings of Jesus. No, Jesus didn’t need to become more mature or grow spiritually, but God used Christ’s sufferings in an even greater way: to provide a payment for the world’s sin debt. Hebrews 9:26 says that Jesus “has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” And in Luke 24:25 Jesus says of His death, burial, and resurrection, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

My goal with this post is to remind us that suffering, as unpleasant as it is, is not without its benefits. As a matter of fact, the Bible actually sings the praises of suffering for the sake or cause of Christ. Acts 5:41 says of the apostles who had just been beaten:

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Along the same lines, Philippians 1:29 says:

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Of course, such passages exclusively apply to the Christian. But if you are a Christian there is one other passage that I’d like to share with you. It’s Romans 8:18:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

That is the verse that I will leave with you today, Christian. So if any bouts of suffering do come your way, please try to keep them in proper perspective. Remember that they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will one day be revealed in you. This is the great promise that allowed the apostles to rejoice that they got to suffer for Christ’s name, and it’s the same promise that should motivate us today.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Disappointment, Patience, Persecution, perseverance, Problems, Reward, salvation, Waiting Tagged with , , , ,

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