With each passing day, the feeling that we’re going Home soon gets stronger and stronger. Not our home here on earth but our Eternal Home prepared for us by Our Savior. Once a person receives and accepts Jesus as their one and only Savior (John 14:6; Acts 2:21), a longing develops to be free from this sin-filled world and to be in paradise forever. We come to realize that everything on this earth and about this earth is temporary. Even if we were to live past 100 years of age, it wouldn’t even be an eye-blink in Heaven. (ESV all emphasis mine)

We also realize that not everyone will be there; only those who truly ask Jesus to come into their hearts, forgive them of their sins and be their Savior forever. Satan is a master of deception and does everything he and his demons can do to keep us from believing this. He puts it in our minds that the “things” of this earth are more important than anything and that a relationship with the Lord isn’t really necessary. Is it any wonder that his eternal punishment will be the worst of all?

One thing about planning for our eternity, we would wish that all of our loved ones would have the same mindset so that we can look forward to being together forever. Sadly, this will not always be the case.

In our daily prayers, my wife and I ask that the Lord please bless each and every one of our friends, relatives, and even those who are just acquaintances. We don’t want to see anyone lose their eternal home with the Savior. We ask that the Holy Spirit touch all their hearts in a manner that would cause them to consider their forever and give them what they need to make a good decision as to where they will be.

There is a story about a man on his deathbed that calls for his three sons to come to his bedside. When they arrive, he tells the oldest son and the middle son that he will see them again. He then turns to the youngest son and simply says, “Goodbye.” When the youngest asks why his message was different, the father explains that his brothers had received and accepted Jesus into their lives. The youngest had not and was putting all his faith and effort in the things of this earth. The father told him that if he did not change and call on Jesus to forgive and save him, this would be the last time they would ever see each other again.

Sadly, this is how it will be with many families. Some will be saved, and some will be lost. No one can gain Heaven through the will of any other person; it has to be an individual choice. And by the way, for all those who jokingly say they will “party in Hell with friends,” the biblical description of Hell is total darkness, with each person suffering their own punishment alone.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 reveals that after the rich man died, he immediately was in torment. Lazarus was in the “bosom of Abraham,” which was considered a place of peace and joy. This tells us that when we take our last breath on this earth, those without the Savior will instantly know they made a huge mistake. This will not be the final judgment, as that is reserved for the Great White Throne of Revelation 20:11-15. Paul says in Philippians 1:21 that to live is Christ and to die is gain. He made it clear that he did not fear death because he knew where he would be after this life. Each and every one of us can know as well where we will be spending our forever.

God’s word is not hidden from those who seek it, and it’s not complicated for those who are looking for answers. The best part is that when one receives and accepts Jesus as their Savior, their eternal address is set for Heaven forever. It will be with Jesus in a place prepared for us by Him personally (John 14:1-3).

There’s a line in a song that states, “Knowing you’ll be there makes it easy to go Home.” Another song says, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” God knows that those who belong to His Son will have a certain impatience about leaving this earth. That’s why we should continue to ask for our daily needs and protection from evil until we leave here to go to our real Home.

When we know that others are truly saved, especially our spouses, we can actually realize that leaving this earth will not separate us forever. In fact, should the Rapture take place while husband and wife are still living, they will be at the feet of Jesus at the same instant. But even if temporarily separated due to death, we know our relationship will not end. Though there is no marriage in Heaven, our relationship will be even more pure, holy and complete than it can ever be here.

Collin Raye recorded a song called “If You Get There Before I Do.” It represents a relationship between two people that started on earth and will last forever. It’s a message of hope, not despair.

1.) I read a note my grandma wrote back in 1923. Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me. He said, “Boy, you might not understand, but a long long time ago, grandma’s daddy didn’t like me none, but I loved your grandma so.

We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together. Get married in the first town we came to and live forever. But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet; instead, I found this letter; and this is what it said:

(ref.) ‘If you get there before I do, don’t give up on me. I’ll meet you when my chores are through; I don’t know how long I’ll be. But I’m not gonna let you down; darling, wait and see. And between now and then, until I see you again, I’ll be loving you; Love, Me.’

(2) I read those words just hours before my grandma passed away, in the doorway of a church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray. I know I’d never seen him cry in all my fifteen years. But as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears.

‘If you get there before I do, don’t give up on me. I’ll meet you when my chores are through; I don’t know how long I’ll be. But I’m not gonna let you down; darling, wait and see. And between now and then, until I see you again, I’ll be loving you; Love, Me.”

‘Between now and then, until I see you again; I’ll be loving you – Love, Me!'”

We are looking forward to seeing all those who have gone on before us. The absolute most wonderful concept of this is we will never say “Goodbye” again because of death. To top this off, think how it will be to see all the Saints of the Bible and know they want to see us as well.

For those who won’t be there, I have no doubt that the Father has a way that we will not grieve as we do on this earth when we are separated. I believe that everything in Heaven will be absolutely perfect, and we will understand that God’s way is pure, holy, fair, and totally complete.

This brings to mind a saying that was shown in the video of the above song; “I want to be your favorite Hello and your hardest Goodbye.” The father in the story will be with his two oldest sons forever. We can just imagine how difficult it would be for him to say goodbye to the youngest, knowing he would never see him again.

The “Blessed Assurance” of a believer is that we have Jesus, and He has us. God promised this for us, and He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). We are very near to the time that this age we live in will come to an end. The next phase that will begin will be the worst seven years this world has ever experienced, and God has promised that all who are saved will not be in that “wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, and Revelation 3:10). Paul describes us being taken up to meet the Savior in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and that it will be in the “twinkling of an eye.”

There will still be those who will be saved during the tribulation, but the cost will be high and severe. It would be so much better to be assured that we will not be in that terrible time. Romans 10:9-13 gives the simple steps. The very last verse tells it all; “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus promises in Revelation 3:20 that “…If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” He will not force His way on us but will accept any and all who will call on Him to receive and accept His wonderful gift that was paid in full at Calvary.

Today would not be too early, as tomorrow may be too late. The “unknown day and hour” is rapidly approaching. No one has done anything that cannot be forgiven at this point, as the unforgivable sin is to not have Jesus as Savior when your last breath is taken here. It will be the greatest decision you will ever make.

Maranatha!

huebshman46@gmail.com

Matthew 22:34-46, Mark 12:28-44, Luke 10:25-28, Luke 20:41-47, Luke 21:1-4, Matthew 23:1-7

Summary: Jesus finished His final day of public ministry. He taught the crowds in the Temple, confronted difficult questions, and then left for good. The Temple and its religious system were corrupt, useless, and irredeemable and would be judged by God.

Mark 12:28-44 gives us details about the final day of Jesus’ public ministry and His departure from the Temple. He will go to the Mount of Olives and present to His astonished disciples the reality of what is to come in the future. It does not involve a new Israel free from Rome, nor the re-establishment of the Davidic throne, nor a life of ease for any who follow Him from now on. Jesus has borne the sorrow of rejection, misunderstanding, slander, and rank hatred from the very people He wanted to take under His care, as any loving parent would want to do for their children.

The religious leaders hated Him with demonic rage and contempt and would have had Him killed earlier except that only Rome could put anyone to death, and it had to be based on a trial with specific and proven charges. Jesus only had a handful of true followers by this time, and one of them would commit the crime of all history by betraying Him into the hand of His enemies for a reward amounting to a financial pittance. In this closure of public ministry, Jesus will encounter specific situations that confirm the deadness of Israel’s faith and the fulfillment of prophetic judgment.

First, Jesus encountered a Scribe whose questions and comments were the last gasp of righteous standards in an apostate system (12:28-34). The Scribe asked Jesus which of the commandments were most important? The Law of Moses included the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-22) and the Torah, the first five books of Moses that were the foundation of Jewish life and worship of God. There were 613 separate laws dealing with issues on cleanliness, health, hygiene, procedures for sacrifices, laws against deviant behaviors and idolatry, and the structure of the family. Which one was of the utmost importance?

I do not see this question as a way of cornering the Lord but one of clarification so as to honor Him. Jesus answered by quoting the Shema, commanding the Israelites to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), and to also love your neighbor as you would yourself (Leviticus 19:18), telling the Scribe that the entirety of the Law was founded on these two commandments (Matthew 22:40). The Scribe agrees with Jesus’ answer and is told by the LORD that he was not far from the Kingdom of God. He was close to the gates of heaven, but aside from this, we do not read any further of what the Scribe did concerning his state before God in terms of repentance and seeking salvation.

Second, Jesus dealt with one final question over the issue of the Messiah (12:35-37; Psalm 110:1). Is He David’s Son or David’s LORD? Jesus goes to the Scriptures and asks how the LORD of David can be merely a physical son and heir.

David knew that he was to be the king whose bloodline would bring about the Promised Redeemer, but it went further than that for him. David knew that his descendant could not be a mere flawed person but had to originate from the hand of Almighty God, free from the limits of humanity and sin. David knew that his “son” was to be the eternal King of Kings and Sovereign LORD of All who would conquer the world and its evils and usher in righteousness forever. No mortal monarch could ever do that, even if he emulated the behavior of godliness and righteousness.

This mortal king would still be a sinner in need of a Redeemer, and that was the role which the prophet Isaiah saw when he wrote of the “Suffering Servant” and His mission (Isaiah 53:1-12). It would not be until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2) that many Jews would have their spiritual eyes opened to see that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Messianic Psalms (Psalm 2:110) and prophecy itself.

Third, Jesus gave His final rebuke to the Pharisees (12:38-40), who were devoted to ritual and religion but not to God in their lives, worship, and deeds. They were exposed by Jesus for their hypocrisy, petty grievances, attention to trivial matters, and undisguised resentment of Him for going against their traditions and procedures they saw as a devotion to God and His laws. None of them, save for Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, accepted Jesus as an equal and as the fulfillment of Scripture during His lifetime.

Many Pharisees did repent and believed on Him after the resurrection, but caused concerns over obedience to the laws of Moses along with faith in Christ. This led to the Jerusalem Council, where decisions were made that freed both Jewish believers and Gentiles from further restraints (Acts 15:1-29). Paul’s letter to the Galatians dealt with this issue as well. We are free from the bondage of the Law and traditions. We do not have to obey dietary laws, rituals, perform sacrifices, or undergo circumcision to be a child of God in Christ. It is faith in Christ alone that grants us grace, salvation, mercy, and forgiveness (Ephesians 2:8-9). People still don’t understand that today.

The final observation Jesus made (12:41-44) was to watch a poor widow give her last coins to the upkeep of the Temple, then go home and probably die of starvation, neglect, or other tragic situation, all for the sake of religious fear that God would not honor her or allow her entry into the kingdom if she neglected to pay the Temple tax or do some other work. This story is often used as an illustration of giving and personal sacrifice for the work of God, but nothing could be further from the truth. This poor widow, and others who scrape by in this world, are prime targets for unscrupulous hustlers who use God as a way of lining their own pockets by feeding off the fears and desperation of people who want to get a better chance at life and prosperity.

There have been priests, popes, and preachers in name only who have used tactics and gimmicks over the centuries to dupe gullible souls into giving to “ministries” that promise untold blessings, personal wealth, health, and happiness in the name of Jesus. It has been used to do everything from rebuild Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome all the way to the use of “seed-faith gifts” to a notable personality on TV or in a “megachurch” (or what some folks refer to as “Six Flags over Jesus”). We see the work of these “anointed” skunks in suits and the bitter aftermath of shattered faith and the skepticism that has washed over not just our country but the world in these last days.

We are to give cheerfully and out of love for God, not out of fear of religious tyranny (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Jesus saw what had become of authentic faith and trust in the LORD by Judea. It had died a lonely, harsh death years before as the nation wrapped itself up in its own viewpoint of who the Messiah was and what He would do for the people in delivering them from the hands of Rome. Faith and belief had become empty, mindless rituals and repetitious motions that showed no devotion to God nor the need for personal repentance and forgiveness.

The Pharisees and Sadducees had made the worship of God into a horrid time of fear and trepidation for failure to observe traditions and self-imposed interpretations of rabbis who valued their own opinions over the standard of the Word of God. Judaism had turned into an apostate religion no better than the paganism of Rome and its forbearers such as Greece, Persia, and Babylon. The beauty of the Temple and its courtyards were empty and hollow representations of a faith that had died long ago yet had not been buried. It was still exposed, rotten, and putrid. The Lord then did a terrifying thing. He walked out of the apostate Temple for good, giving it over for judgment and destruction, not to be rebuilt to this day.

Jesus walks out of churches and gatherings today where He is not welcome, worshipped, or honored, leaving them to die and wither, useless and fit only for the fire or dung heap. Even after two thousand years, the world and those who call themselves believers and followers of Jesus still don’t get it. There is a day coming when He will say, “ENOUGH” to this world system, its evil and its games. Do not let Him say that to you on the Day of Judgment. Give your life to Him today and embrace Him as Lord and Savior. You have no guarantee of tomorrow (2 Corinthians 6:2).

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

Join me for “The Reality City Daily Review” weekday mornings at 10:00 CST on YouTube (USA). It will then be posted on Facebook and on my website. My main area of discussion will be on the basics of the Christian faith but will also deal with prophetic issues and other topics as the Lord impresses upon me to handle.