Upgrade

If you take a brand new five terabyte hard drive and put it on a scale, it will weigh seventeen ounces.  If you then load the entire disk with all the words printed in all the books in all of recorded history, the disk will still weigh seventeen ounces. The point is that information does not have mass. It’s the same with our bodies, our earthly tents have mass but our spirit does not. We were originally designed to live forever but not in this physical universe. There is another realm, a spiritual realm where our genetic code will be reassembled. Our earthly hardware is going to eventually wear out but our eternal spiritual bodies will last forever!

Paul tackles this concept in 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” What a great spiritual truth to understand, believe in and hold onto as God promises us a wonderful future with Him. There is a verse in the book of Hebrews 9:27 that states “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

So what is going to happen when you die? When you stand before a holy, righteous God at the great white throne what will be your judgment, guilty or not guilty? Are you willing to chance it? All people have sinned at least once in their lives; actually we all sin multiple times throughout the day. But the fact is that when you stand before God you’re not going to measure up to His measuring stick! Human beings have fallen short of righteousness, perfection and living a sinless life.

It’s interesting that in this age of information science geneticists are discovering how very complex our DNA really is. Our DNA contains all our genetic information which is used to duplicate new cells over and over again as old ones need to be replaced. This information is stored in each cell and is all that is necessary to construct a new you! All your memories, relationships and characteristics that make you unique are already recorded and stored inside your earthly tents. So are ready for an upgrade before your hard drive crashes?

Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 5:2 how our earthly bodies groan wanting to be clothed in our eternal bodies.  Paul is looking forward to being in the presence of God in his incorruptible eternal hardware but is also reminding us that this present life is not all that we were created for.  We have an opportunity while still here on earth to decide to follow Jesus, then once saved to share the good news of the gospel with others around us before returning home to the Father.

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

I believe it’s time to become more heavenly minded so that we can do more earthly good with the time that we have been given. All the money in the world won’t buy an extra breath of life or save you from your appointed time to face judgment.  Please make a choice now to ask God to forgive you. Then start reading the bible where you will discover all that you have to look forward to. The promises of God are true and solid as the rock on which the church was  built, the rock of Jesus Christ!

The last part of this passage is really one of my favorite word pictures. 2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body,” So the Bema judgment is basically a reward ceremony for all Christians for what you did for the kingdom after receiving salvation from Christ. 

All others who did not come to Christ will stand before God at the great white throne judgment. When the books are opened their sins will be read. Without the blood of Christ to cover your sins you will be sent away from God and into hell that was prepared for the devil and his angels. Your name must be written in the book of life to escape this judgment.

So don’t wait until your hard drive starts to act up to get the upgrade, save your data, and just accept the free gift of salvation that God offers you; accept Jesus.

God prophecy

“Prophecy is God’s way of allowing us to look back at what He has said and, seeing the accuracy of His word, to know that we can trust Him for the future as we listen to Him today.” Chuck Smith 2005. 

There is a great prophecy recorded in Genesis 3:15, which took place between God and Satan in the Garden of Eden where God said to Satan “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head and you shall bruise His heel.”  Ever since this prophecy was given Israel has been awaiting their Messiah’s return. Christians acknowledge that the Jewish Messiah has already and that Jesus Christ will return a second time to receive His bride, the church. Most agree that His second appearance is close, on our horizon and imminent.

 Jesus Christ was born into the world to redeem it. He alone will one day receive and open the scroll or deed to the entire planet. All people, at that time, will be subject to Him and have to stand before Him at only one of two judgments. For Christians, or “Little Christs”, we will all stand before Him at the Bema judgment to receive rewards for what we did with our time, gifts and resources God has given to us during our lives.

Every other soul who has cursed God, turned their backs on Him or worshiped other gods will stand before the Great White Throne judgment. If you find yourself standing before God at this judgment I’m very sorry for you. First your name will not be written in The Lamb’s Book of Life. Second, you will be judged for what you did during your life. And lastly, you will be separated from a loving God and cast into a place created for Satan and the fallen angels. A place so wicked Jesus described it as a lake burning with fire and brimstone where the worm never dies and where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything or manipulated your tax returns? Have you ever committed adultery, fornication or murder? Maybe, you have lived a sinless-perfect life in all areas? Let me answer that last question for you, NO!  It’s of the utmost importance that you settle this question about God now, because today is the day of your salvation. As Easter approaches some of you will go to church for the very first time this year and hear the gospel, the good news of how Jesus Christ died in your place and then came back to life promising, all who receive His gift of salvation, eternal life!

There are three incredible prophecies recorded in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. In Matthew 21:1-11 we have a picture of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey that was foretold would be waiting for Him. He also was received as the Messiah as thousands of people cut and laid down palm branches and their own clothing for Him to ride over. All the while the crowd shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest”.

The first prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 says “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah recorded this prophecy 520 years before the birth of Christ. 

The second prophecy in Psalm 118:25-26 ““Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest”. Was written 675 years before the birth of Christ and literally fulfilled by the crowd that day Jesus of Nazareth rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

The third prophecy is recorded in Daniel 9:24-26; written 536 years before Christ was born pin pointing the exact day that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey presenting Himself as the Messiah. The text requires some intense study through mathematics, knowledge of Babylonian and Julian calendars and the starting date recorded in the book of Nehemiah.  Sir Robert Anderson and others were responsible for the research that proved that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on April 6, A.D. 32 fulfilling the prophecy given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel to the exact day.

At the last supper, Jesus would have sung this hymn (psalm 118:21-24) with His disciples gathered together at the table (Matt 26:30) before leaving for the Mount of Olives. “I will praise You, For You have answered me. And have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”

End times

I realize I spend probably way too much time in the Old Testament so I decided to take a week off and look at a prophecy that Jesus Himself made prior to His death. The text is found in several places but we will look at it from the eyes of Luke. “Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it is adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, ‘These things which you see – the days will come in which not one stone will be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.’” Luke 21:5-6

The beautiful temple, that king Herod remodeled, was truly and utterly destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. , just thirty-eight years after Jesus died. For two thousand years those stones have been left in rubble with not one laid upon another just as Jesus predicted. Our bridegroom was going away to prepare a place for us so that one day He would return and take us home. But when could that day of His return be?

In the gospel of John 14:1-6 we find a wonderful look and description of a promise Jesus made to all would choose to follow Him. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you back to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Before we look at the rest of John 14 let’s see what Jesus taught about the sign post of His return.

 Luke 21:7-11“For many will come in My name, saying ‘I am He’ and ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them. But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilence; and there will be fearful sights and great signs in the heavens.”

No matter what church you attend, with all of our differences in doctrines of how and when the return of Christ will happen, one thing we can all agree on is that His return is imminent.  The key that unlocks the secrets of His return is found in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Simply put, without a lot of mathematical gymnastics, Daniel is told that there would be 70 weeks of years until the Messiah’s return. Sixty-nine weeks of years have already been fulfilled as the Messiah was “cut off” or put to death at His first appearance where He died on a cross.

 The period from the birth of the Christian church at “Pentecost” to present time is called the “church age”. It’s a time when bride is waiting, making herself ready, for the bridegroom to return for her at an hour that she does not know. The idea is that she would remain faithful even while the bridegroom was away preparing a house for her to live in. The final week of seven years is known as the “Tribulation” period and is characterized at first by a pseudo time of peace. The first three and a half years is when the temple will be rebuilt with some sort of negotiated peace treaty by a new world leader. The last three and a half years culminates in the Great Tribulation. The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation describes that period of time in great detail. I would encourage all of you to study it for yourself.

I will close with what is probably one of the most important questions ever asked by a man in all of recorded history. It was asked by a relatively timid, doubting disciple of Jesus named Thomas and is recorded in John 14:5 “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Well, there you have it from the Master’s own mouth, there is only one way to get to God and live in His presence and thanks to Thomas’ question that way is through Jesus and Jesus only. Why don’t you take a step in faith and ask God to forgive you and become your Lord and Master. God has invited every man to come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ.