₦airaland Forum

Without question, the most marvelous thing about heaven—heaven’s supreme delight—will be unbroken fellowship with God Himself.

Through salvation, we have communion with every member of the Godhead. We can talk and commune with Yahweh. We are adopted as His children (Romans 8:15). We pray to Him as our dear Father—Abba, in Paul’s favorite terminology. We hear Him speak to us in His Word. He moves providentially in our lives to reveal Himself. We enjoy real spiritual communion with eternal God.

But that communion nonetheless seems incomplete from an earthly perspective. It is shrouded. As Paul writes, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). He’s talking about our fellowship with God. In heaven it will be perfect, unhindered, and unclouded by any sin or darkness.

This is one of the things that was on Jesus’ heart and mind as He prayed during the night of His betrayal. It was a prayer for the disciples—and also for every believer of all time.

Anticipating the completion of His work on earth, our Lord asked the Father to return Him to the glory He had before the world began. He prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). He wants us to be with Him. But that’s not all. Notice the kind of relationship He prays for among all believers: “That they may be one; as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21, KJV). His design for us is perfect fellowship with Him and with one another—a picture of the unity that exists between Father and Son!

This is such an incredibly profound concept that there’s no way our finite minds can begin to appreciate it. But it was obviously the foremost thought on Jesus’ mind whenever He spoke of the promise of heaven to the disciples. Earlier that same night on the eve of His crucifixion, He told them, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterward” (John 13:36). Later, knowing the disciples were troubled at the thought of His leaving them, He ex­panded the same promise:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)

Jesus is person­ally preparing rooms in the Father’s own house for each one of the elect! That promises us the most intimate imaginable fellowship with the living God.

And bear in mind that in heaven we will actually see the Lord face-to-face. There is no way to overstate the wonder and privilege this affords us. John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 both say, “No one has ever seen God.” First Timothy 6:16 declares that God “alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no one has ever seen or can see.” In Exodus 33, when Moses was craving a glimpse of God’s glory (Exodus 33:18), God agreed to show only His back, and said, “You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

God is inaccessible to mortal man on a face-to-face basis. That is what made Christ’s incarnation so wonderful. Although “no one has ever seen God,” Jesus Christ, “Who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Christ “dwelt [Gk. skenoō; lit. “encamped” or “tabernacled”] among us” (John 1:14)—“and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He came to our world to tabernacle among us, and He did it in order to redeem us and take us to heaven, where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will encamp in our midst in perfect fellowship with us forever. What a breathtaking reality!

In heaven, since we will be free from sin, we will see God’s glory unveiled and in its fullness. That will be a more pleasing, spectacular sight than anything we have known or could ever imagine on earth. No mere earthly pleasure can even begin to measure up to the privilege and the ecstasy of an unhindered view of the divine glory.

Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The Greek verb translated “see” (horaō) is in a tense that denotes a future continuous reality. In heaven we will continually be behold­ing God, face-to-face. Kings generally seclude themselves from direct contact with their people. It is a rare privilege to have an audience with a king. But believers in heaven will forever have perfect, unbroken fel­lowship with the King of kings!

This has always been the deepest longing of the redeemed soul. The psalmist said, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1–2). And Philip, speaking for all the disciples, said to Christ, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:. Moses’ petition, “Please show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18) reflects the true desire of every reborn heart. David expresses it beautifully in Psalm 17:15: “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness.”

As Christians, our highest satisfaction will come when we see our God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and when we stand before them in perfect uprightness. Heaven will provide us with that privilege: the unclouded, undiminished, uninterrupted sight of His infinite glory and beauty, bringing us infinite and eternal delight.

Nineteenth-century songwriter Fanny Crosby expressed the hope of every believer in a well-loved gospel song titled “My Savior First of All”:

When my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see,
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And His smile will be the first to welcome me. . . .

Those words have special significance—Fanny Crosby was blind from infancy. She knew that literally the first person she would ever see would be Jesus Christ.

In a way, the same thing is true of us all. Our sight here on earth is virtually like blindness compared to the clearer vision we will have in heaven (1 Corinthians 13:12). We ought to be eagerly looking for that day when our vision will be enlightened by the glory of His presence. I sincerely hope that’s your deepest desire.

John MacArthur

(Adapted from The Glory of Heaven; all Scripture references are taken from the English Standard Version.)


https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B130715/unbroken-fellowship-with-god

Evening

nnnnn

morning

morning

Very dry joke. It's not even funny... Everybody wants to be noticed...

“Will we really know each other?” is a frequently heard question about heaven. And the answer is yes. We will forever be who we are now—only without any of our faults or infirmities. Scripture repeatedly affirms this.

For example, in the Old Testament, when a person died, the bib­lical writers said he was “gathered to his people” (see Genesis 25:8; 35:29; 49:29; Numbers 20:24; Judges 2:10). When Da­vid’s infant child died, he confidently said, “I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). David evidently expected to see the child again—not just a nameless, faceless soul without any clear iden­tity, but that very child.

The New Testament indicates even more clearly that our identi­ties will remain unchanged. While sharing the Passover meal with His disciples, Christ said, “Take this [cup], and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:17–18). Christ was promising that He and His disciples would drink the fruit of the vine together again—in heaven. Elsewhere Jesus makes a similar, but even more definite, promise: “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11).

All the redeemed will maintain their identity forever, but in a perfected form. We will be able to have fellowship with Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, Moses, Joshua, Esther, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, David, Peter, Barnabas, Paul—any and all of the saints we know from Scripture.

Remember that Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the mount of transfiguration. It had been centuries since Elijah was fa­mously transported into heaven in a chariot of fire. Centuries more had passed since Moses died in the wilderness. They had been all that time in heaven, yet they still maintained their clear identities (Matthew 17:3). They had not been changed into some sort of generic beings, devoid of distinctive characteristics; they retained their essen­tial personalities—only in glorified and perfected form.

When the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus about the resurrection, he cited God’s words to Moses: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Then Jesus commented, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). His plain meaning was that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still living as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not in some nameless or indis­tinct identities. Moreover, Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus indicates that both men not only maintained their identities, but they remembered and recognized one another (even though Lazarus was in heaven and the rich man in hell).

Another common question is this: “Will I be reunited with my family and friends in heaven?” Obviously, the answer to this question is implied by all that we have seen so far. The answer is yes, of course. We will be reunited not only with our own families and loved ones, but with the people of God from all ages. In heaven we will all be one loving family. The immense size of the family will not matter in the infinite perfection of heaven. There will be ample opportunity for close re­lationships with everyone, and our eternity will be spent in just that kind of rich, unending fellowship.

Describing the Lord’s appearing and the resurrection of the saints who have died, Paul writes, “We who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Paul’s purpose in writing was to comfort some of the Thessalonians who evidently thought their dying loved ones would miss the return of Christ and that they would then be separated from them forever. Paul goes on to say, “Encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The en­couragement lies in the promise of reunion. Little encouragement this would be if in the reunion we could not even recognize one another. But Paul’s promise that we will all be “together with them [and with] the Lord” forever implies that we shall renew fellowship with every redeemed person whom we have known.

Theologian A. A. Hodge wrote:

Heaven, as the eternal home of the divine Man and of all the redeemed members of the human race, must necessarily be thoroughly human in its structure, conditions, and activities. Its joys and its occupations must all be rational, moral, emotional, voluntary, and active. There must be the exercise of all faculties, the gratification of all tastes, the development of all talent capacities, the realization of all ideals. The reason, the intellectual curiosity, the imagination, the aesthetic instincts, the holy affections, the social affinities, the inexhaustible resources of strength and power native to the human soul, must all find in heaven exercise and satisfaction. (A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1976], p. 400.)

If you’re worried about feeling out of place in heaven, don’t. Heaven will seem more like home than the dearest spot on earth to you. It is uniquely designed by a tender, loving Savior to be the place where we will live together for all eternity and enjoy Him forever—in the full­ness of our glorified humanity.

Is it any wonder that the psalmist said, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”? (Psalm 116:15).

Of all the relationships we will enjoy in heaven, the greatest delight of all of them will be the personal relationship we will enjoy with our Creator for all eternity. That subject will form the climax of this series next time.



(Adapted from The Glory of Heaven; all Scripture references are taken from the English Standard Version.)



https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B130711/perfect-relationships-one-another

jiggaz:
...

nnn

nnnn

afternoon

afternoon nnnnn

afternoon....

afternoon

afternoon...

jiggaz:
morning

afternoon

noted....

vvcvvv

nmnmnnn

morning...

morning

nnnn

morning

1 Corinthians 11:29–30
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Have you ever wondered why some Christians are weak and sick, and die young? I thank God that the Holy Spirit gives us the reason as well as the solution. In 1 Corinthians 11:29–30, He tells us clearly that the one reason some Christians are weak and sick, and die prematurely, is that they don’t discern the Lord’s body when they partake of the Holy Communion.

Many believers don’t understand that the pierced, striped and slightly burnt bread, which represents the Lord’s body, is for their health and healing. And when they partake without discerning this truth, they partake in an unworthy manner. The reverse is true: If they discern accurately the Lord’s body, then they will be strong and healthy, and live long.

Unfortunately, the church down through the years has misconstrued this teaching and taught that if you have sin in your life, you are unworthy and cannot partake of the Holy Communion, lest you become weak and sick, and even die! We have turned a blessing into a curse. Because of this, many Christians are afraid to come to the Lord’s table and are therefore robbed of the health-giving power of the Holy Communion.

My friend, there is no such thing as a worthy person! The best of us still miss it and fail. So unworthy people are the only people who partake of the Lord’s Supper. But because Jesus died for unworthy people, He has qualified those of us who take Him as our righteousness to partake of every benefit that He died to give us.

So it is not a matter of whether you are worthy or unworthy to partake, but how you partake. Come to the Lord’s table with boldness and partake because Jesus has qualified you with His precious blood. Don’t treat it as a ritual, but release your faith for health and healing as you discern that Jesus’ body was broken so that yours can be healthy and whole today. When you partake like this, you are partaking in a worthy manner, and you will not be weak or sickly, or die prematurely!

Thought For The Day
The pierced, striped and slightly burnt Holy Communion bread, which represents the Lord’s body, is for our health and healing.

http://www.josephprince.org/daily-grace/grace-inspirations/single/the-reason-believers-are-sick/

bnvvvv

bnvv