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Tuesday

Sep082020

16 Truths You Should Know: Believers Will Live With Jesus Forever

Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 3:30AM

A few weeks ago, I checked out the guest book of an online obituary. Most guests just shared a memory or mentioned how much the deceased person had meant to them, but others tried to comfort the family with something more spiritual—or spiritual sounding, anyway. One person wrote, “Those of us who loved him will carry him always in our hearts.” “He lives on in his beautiful children,” said another.

I’ll leave it to you to judge how much consolation those comments would bring. If I were the one who lost a loved one, I think I would appreciate the kind intentions, but also find the remarks a little hollow. But it was interesting to see what people came up with when they dug deep to find that one phrase they hoped would bring comfort to those left behind by the person who died. Their remarks show that we all long for some sort of never-ending connection to those we love.

After his resurrection, shortly before he ascended to heaven, Jesus gave some words of comfort to his disciples. He would be leaving them and returning to his Father in heaven, and they would miss him. Still, he promised them this:

… I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20 ESV

How is it that Jesus, who would soon leave them behind on earth, could also pledge to be with them always? Were these hollow words—a bit of wishful thinking—like some obituary guest book remarks?

The answer comes in another of Jesus’ promises to his disciples:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 ESV)

The disciples were not left alone because the ascended Jesus continued to dwell with them through the real true presence of his Holy Spirit within them. This promise extends to his current followers, too. We receive, not just words of comfort, but an actual Comforter.

Perhaps I should have titled this post Jesus Will Live With Believers Forever. That’s more like what he promises in these verses. But he also told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them, and eventually, he would bring them to be present with him (John 14:2-3). So both statements are true: Jesus dwells with all believers through the presence of his Holy Spirit, and all believers will eventually go to dwell with him.

In Death

The apostle Paul writes that in everything that happens—and he includes a long list of possible harrowing circumstances—Christ’s love, and so Christ himself, is with the believer (Romans 8:35-39). Nothing in this world separates us from him, not even our death, because when we die, we to go be with him where he is.

At the moment of death, our soul separates from our body and goes to heaven to be with Jesus. The process of dying will undoubtedly be difficult, but “[a] Christian,” J. I. Packer wrote,

may rightly think of his death-day as a date in Jesus’ diary: when the appointed time comes the Saviour will be there to lead His servant into the light of His own nearer presence and closer communion.¹

Right now, J. I. Packer is experiencing the nearer presence and closer communion he wrote about! Christians call this heavenly fellowship with Christ experienced by the souls of believers who have died the intermediate state, because this is how and where where the believer lives between their death and their resurrection.

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the place where our souls wait for our resurrection, and despite all the popular so-called “heaven tourism” books, God’s word is the only reliable source of information about the intermediate state. What scripture does say is that being a soul in heaven is better than being a body and soul united together in this fallen world (Philippians 1: 21-23), because in heaven we will be “at home” with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8). We will be with Jesus in a way that’s nearer and better than the way he is with us now. What’s more, at death, our souls are “made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23). In the intermediate state, we no longer struggle with sin, for God makes us completely holy.

Believers can face death with joy, knowing that what comes on the other side is so much better than what we experience here living sin-wrecked lives in a sin-spoiled world. We will be with Jesus, closer to him than ever.

In Resurrection

But the intermediate state, as wonderful as it will be, is not the best there is. We were created in the image of God as body and soul, and in the intermediate state, we won’t have bodies. We will still be waiting for something more and better—the day of Christ’s second advent and our own resurrection. Then we will receive our glorified bodies and begin life with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth.

It’s then, finally, that we receive it all: a new body, a new earth, and a bodily reunion with all saints we’ve loved. But most important, we will see God face to face, and live in his never-ending presence (Revelation 21:1-4; 22:1-5). And in his presence, the psalmist writes, “there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).

Believers will have full and eternal joy because they will see God’s face and live in his presence forever. We will never again long for anything.

1 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know by J. I. Packer, page 203.

This is the last post in this series of truths you should know. Here are the previous posts in this series:

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Saturday

Aug292020

Selected Reading, August 29, 2020

Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 3:30AM

A few suggestions for your weekend reading and watching.

Bible

Undesigned Coincidences
Here are a few very well-done short videos with examples of undesigned coincidences in the Bible.

Don’t know what an undesigned coincidence is? This video explains.

Christian History

What Governs History?
“What governs history? There have been various answers to this throughout history. Some have said, ‘Nothing governs history. Everything is just open to chance. Who knows even how today is going to end?’ Others have said, ‘Fate determines all things’” (5 Minutes in Church History).

Arianism: It’s Teaching and Rebuttal
Here’s a piece on the history of the Arian controversy and the rebuttal to this heretical teaching (Justin Holcomb).

Punctuation

Use Punctuation Life a Pro to Drive Home Your Meaning
Punctuation choices matter more than you might think. (I love stuff like this.)

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Friday

Aug282020

16 Truths You Should Know: Believers Belong

Friday, August 28, 2020 at 3:30AM

One of the joys of being a grandmother is seeing my grandchildren with their families. They love me, they love their cousins, they love their friends, but when push comes to shove, they all know their truest place is with their own parents and siblings. They belong, first of all, to a family.

When you believed the gospel, you were adopted by God. He brought you into his family. He became your father and you became his child (John 1:12). Before you believed, you were estranged from him, but now you have entered into a loving father/child relationship.

Adoption is one of the saving benefits that comes to us through Christ’s work. A believer’s sins have been forgiven, God’s wrath toward them has been propitiated, and they can be adopted by him.

Or to put it another way, a believer has been been united with Christ. “In and through Christ,” J. I. Packer explains, “God loves them as he loves his only begotten Son and will share with them all the glory that is Christ’s now.”¹Jesus is the unique Son of God, of course, but those united to him, as his siblings, are also God’s sons and daughters—sons and daughters by adoption.

A Perfect Father

Adoption is—or should be—an encouraging truth. If your earthly father loved and cared for you well, you are one step ahead in understanding what it is for God to be your father. Thinking of God as your father will naturally reassure you that you are secure in his love.

On the other hand, if your father was abusive or neglectful, you may need to reshape your idea of fatherhood starting, not from your past experience with your human father, but from what scripture says about God as father. He is the true and perfect father. Even the best human fathers are imperfect copies of him. In God’s family, writes J. I. Packer, “you have absolute stability and security; the parent is entirely wise and good, and the child’s position is permanently assured.”² God, as the ultimate father, will always love you, care for you, and never abandon you.

There are many benefits that come from our adoption into God’s family. First, adoption gives us a loving relationship with God. We can come to him as a child comes to a human father, expressing our deepest wishes and fears, and asking for help with everything. Second, God’s adopted children are led by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to him (Romans 8:13-14). God works his children’s obedience in another way, too—through his discipline. This may not seem like a benefit of adoption, but it is. His loving discipline works for our good, causing us to grow in holiness and keeping us faithful to him (Hebrews 12:7-11).

What’s more, as adopted sons and daughters, we receive an inheritance. We are, says scripture, fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). “All the great privileges and blessings of heaven are laid up for us and put at our disposal because we are children of the King, members of the royal family, princes and princesses who will reign with Christ over the new heavens and new earth.”³

Not Yet Perfect Siblings

The family we join when we are adopted includes all the other adopted sons and daughters of God. Every believer is our brother or sister. Another name for God’s family is the church. The church as God’s family exists at two levels. First there is the family that includes all believers world-wide throughout history, and then there is the smaller family that includes all the members of a local church.

There are no only children in God’s adopted family. The New Testament assumes that all believers will be spiritually nourished and trained in a local church family of believers. Ideally, as believers fellowship, worship, and serve with their adopted brothers and sisters, they grow in love for God and each other. At it’s best, a local church is a little foretaste of our eternal heavenly family.

In this life, of course, none of our spiritual siblings are perfect, and some of our adopted family relationships can be difficult. Several years ago, a very elderly woman who had been attending my church passed away. In an article in the local paper marking her death, someone described her as “crotchety,” and that’s the perfect word for her. She was deeply concerned for the well-being of those who were in need, but she was not easy to get along with! She had been estranged from her biological family for most of her life, but in God’s family she found brothers and sisters who loved her well in spite of herself. And as they helped her with her many needs as she grew more feeble and even more irritable, they gained, at the very least, a little more patience.

This is the way it should be in God’s family. As members of a spiritual family whose bonds are stronger than the bonds of an earthly family, we should keep loving and serving each other even when it’s not easy, knowing God uses our experiences with each other—even the difficult ones—to sanctify us.

Are you thankful for your adoption into God’s family? Are you thankful that you are his child? Do you look forward to belonging to him forever?

1 Concise Theology by J. I. Packer, page 167.
2 Knowing God by J. I. Packer, page 209.
3 Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, page 740.

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