| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deut. 29:29. Today we explore the final two of the seven New Test. Mysteries. First is the Kingdom of Heaven. Is it a place? Is it a time? Is it at all? Some of you are saying: “well of course it is a specific place. It is specifically spoken of in Scripture”. I am with you. Yet, 70% of professing Christians say they don’t believe in a literal Heaven, or a literal hell. How can this be? “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (suppress) the truth in unrighteousness;” - Romans 1:18. Perhaps the truth is being covertly and even overtly suppressed. Anyway, what does our Lord say about Heaven? See Matthew ch. 13. Jesus gives the folks the parable of the sower. Then of the wheat and tares. Then of the mustard seed. Then of the leaven. Then of the hidden treasure. Then the pearl of great price. Then the net. (I see a pattern). Jesus compares all of these to the Kingdom of Heaven, yet so many scoff and mock. Why didn’t Jesus just speak plainly about Heaven. The disciples asked Him that very question in vs 10, and His response was striking. “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Do you not believe in Heaven? Then which group would you fall into? Finally is The Rapture. There is no such word in the Bible, but the teaching is very clear, in 1st Corr. 15 beginning in vs 51. I get ribbed chronically both by folks teasing, and some hateful saying: “You Baptists just think you’re gonna fly away someday. You even sing about it”. Well, Yea. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. In 1st Thes. 4: 16-17, we read: “for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (we get caught up from the Latin - raptos) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Point is, you’re gonna be dead a lot longer than you are alive, and You Can’t Fly Standby. God Bless. |
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