Difference between revisions of "Preparing Yourself 2"

Latest revision as of 21:12, 11 February 2011

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; (Job 19:25-26-NIV)

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10-NIV)

As soon as our body is redeemed we can live once again on the earth.

To those who are worried about losing Heaven, don't be! Heaven is coming to the earth. The Lord Jesus is going to rule from Jerusalem during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and you want to be with Him. I sure do not want to be stuck up in Heaven when Jesus is down here. Do you?

Then after the thousand-year Kingdom Age the Godhead will descend to the earth in their Tabernacle, which is the Christian Church. You don't want to remain asleep in your mansion in Heaven when God and Christ are down here, do you?

I didn't think so. The best of Heaven is coming to the earth. It came two thousand years ago in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will come again soon in the Lord Jesus and His brothers, the members of His Body. After a thousand years of adjustment the entire Group is coming down in the form of the new Jerusalem, the holy city.

Then the earth will be Paradise once again. The difference is, the sons of God will be sitting in the thrones of judgement and rulership, making sure there are no more rebellions.

To keep something for eternity you have to be given it, lose it, and then get it back the hard way. The race of Adam received Paradise, lost it, and then will get it back the hard way. The Lord Jesus did not come from Heaven to do the whole job for us but to help us restore what was lost.

If He did the whole work Himself we would lose it again, because it is in the regaining of it that we learn the value of it and how to keep it.

If your goal is eternal residence there is little you have to do. Hold on to your ticket. Don't be too bad. Practice jumping up and down in case the "rapture" includes the physical body. Some say it does and some say it doesn't. Have some warm clothes laid by because it gets cold when you get up in the region of the clouds.

Don't worry about your bills, the wicked can pay them while you are sitting in air-conditioned comfort, eating popcorn and watching the Jews without the Holy Spirit preach the Gospel in the face of Antichrist. Won't that be fun for us!

Not for the Jews, of course.

However if your goal is to inherit the earth then the demands on you are total. You must lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow the Lord Jesus. You must turn over your life to Him without reservation. Prepare yourself to suffer. No one who has not suffered will govern the nations with Jesus Christ. No cross, no crown! We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation.

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-I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows. (II Corinthians 12:2-NIV)
+I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; (Job 19:25-26-NIV)
-Speaking of feet, I think the idea of golden slippers is probably folklore.
+You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10-NIV)
-It seems to me that wearing golden slippers and walking on a street of gold could make one wish for sandals and grass. Perhaps it was poor folk that made up the part about golden slippers. Sholem Aleichem tells of a beggar who wanted a hot roll and butter when he got to Heaven. Life does beat the starry wonder of the universe out of us, doesn't it?
+As soon as our body is redeemed we can live once again on the earth.
-Of course, we hope to have no contact with Hell.
+To those who are worried about losing Heaven, don't be! Heaven is coming to the earth. The Lord Jesus is going to rule from Jerusalem during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and you want to be with Him. I sure do not want to be stuck up in Heaven when Jesus is down here. Do you?
-We look forward to seeing God and Jesus. No doubt there will be any number of angels walking or flying around. It will be very interesting to see and perhaps visit with intelligent beings who are not human.
+Then after the thousand-year Kingdom Age the Godhead will descend to the earth in their Tabernacle, which is the Christian Church. You don't want to remain asleep in your mansion in Heaven when God and Christ are down here, do you?
-We think there will be music there and many places of interest to visit.
+I didn't think so. The best of Heaven is coming to the earth. It came two thousand years ago in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will come again soon in the Lord Jesus and His brothers, the members of His Body. After a thousand years of adjustment the entire Group is coming down in the form of the new Jerusalem, the holy city.
-Perhaps we will see famous Christians of history, such as John Wesley or even the Apostle Paul. Maybe Adam and Eve, our great grandparents, will be there. They have a lot of explaining to do, but I will forgive them. How about you?
+Then the earth will be Paradise once again. The difference is, the sons of God will be sitting in the thrones of judgement and rulership, making sure there are no more rebellions.
-We hope we will be rejoined with our family, but since Jesus said there is no marriage in the world to come we are not sure how this will work out.
+To keep something for eternity you have to be given it, lose it, and then get it back the hard way. The race of Adam received Paradise, lost it, and then will get it back the hard way. The Lord Jesus did not come from Heaven to do the whole job for us but to help us restore what was lost.
-One fairly common belief is that even though we may have not served Jesus fervently there is no problem. After we die, or at the latest when the Lord comes, we will be changed in personality, becoming a giant of faith, a ruler over the nations. What a stretching that will be for some of us!
+If He did the whole work Himself we would lose it again, because it is in the regaining of it that we learn the value of it and how to keep it.
-How governing the nations fits in with resting in peace in our mansion we are not sure. Maybe we will stay in our mansion in Heaven while the Jews govern the Kingdom on the earth.
+If your goal is eternal residence there is little you have to do. Hold on to your ticket. Don't be too bad. Practice jumping up and down in case the "rapture" includes the physical body. Some say it does and some say it doesn't. Have some warm clothes laid by because it gets cold when you get up in the region of the clouds.
-It is generally believed that the Lord will come soon to bring us to Heaven. Numerous Evangelical Christians are looking for an any-moment "rapture" in which they will be carried up to Heaven before the rise of the Antichrist and the period of trouble known as the Great Tribulation.
+Don't worry about your bills, the wicked can pay them while you are sitting in air-conditioned comfort, eating popcorn and watching the Jews without the Holy Spirit preach the Gospel in the face of Antichrist. Won't that be fun for us!
-Where the resurrection fits into this picture we are not sure, but its purpose appears to be to bring us to our mansion in Heaven. What we will need with a resurrected body in Heaven I do not know. Anyway we go to Heaven when we die so who needs a resurrection!
+Not for the Jews, of course.
-It seems to be a common practice now to prepare for the "rapture" by jumping up and down. We sent some of our young girls to a youth camp recently and they were encouraged to jump up and down to get ready for the "rapture."
+However if your goal is to inherit the earth then the demands on you are total. You must lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow the Lord Jesus. You must turn over your life to Him without reservation. Prepare yourself to suffer. No one who has not suffered will govern the nations with Jesus Christ. No cross, no crown! We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation.
-Personally I think a better preparation for the "rapture" would be to forgive our enemies. But aerobic exercises are usually helpful, especially for those of us who are older.
-Perhaps jumping up and down next to the pews would be more necessary for the older believers and those who are overweight since the boys and girls jump around too much already.
-Perhaps some of the aftershocks we are experiencing now in California are actually believers preparing for the "rapture."
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