Numbers 12: 2-3, Job 42: 1-6

“‘Does the LORD speak only through Moses?’ they said. ‘Does He not also speak through us?’ And the LORD heard this. ³ Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:2-3).

“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ² ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. ³ You asked, “Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?” Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴ Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ ⁵ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. ⁶ Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes'” (Job 42:1-6).

Over the past few weeks, if you have been reading along as I wrote, there has been a lot of death in and around me. My mom died recently, the former senior pastor of the church I pastor died last week, and just yesterday, one of my dear clients from the car dealership died. Those of us who know Jesus as Savior have a security in Him and what He did for us that gives us peace. It makes me wonder what the first few moments in Heaven are like. It may seem that we can’t know on this side, but I suspect that we can have a very good idea.

There is a popular meme that one sees on Facebook, and it depicts the first few moments in Heaven; there is a lady with her arms wrapped around Jesus and just this sheer look of joy on her face. I am not sure that is how it will be. Too many of us read the New Testament, and we see the Man Jesus as humble, poor, meek, and lowly. In the pages we read, we see Him taking the form of a servant, as we are reminded in Philippians 2:1-5. But the Jesus we will see in Heaven, although still in a human body, will be glorified, bright, and shining, the One who is on the Right Hand of God to judge the whole earth, and we will see Him in His glorified state when we get there. We will see the One who commands the angels and before whom all Heaven bows.

When we read the passages in the texts above, we see Moses’ and Job’s response. When we take the time to read Isaiah 6:1-9 and see the fear of the Holy God that humbles these men and brings them to their faces to the ground, when we see their sheer sinfulness exposed and brought to light in the presence of Jesus’ perfection, we can get maybe an idea of what our reaction will be like.

Job saw his sin, and he hated himself; he humbled himself in ‘sackcloth and ashes.’ Isaiah was ‘undone,’ and only God could help him. In Luke 5:1-8, once Peter reluctantly obeyed God and let down a net, once he saw the great miracle and understood that Jesus is God, he saw his own sinfulness with great clarity. Over and over again, we see that those who come to see and understand the majesty of Jesus are humbled and broken in His presence. They come to understand, maybe for the first time, how sinful they are versus how holy Jesus is, and it scares and humbles them to the act of abject humility before Him.

Moses spent a lot of time with God in ‘face-to-face’ conversations, and it totally humbled him. Job had a ‘conversation’ with God, and that caused him to abhor himself. I don’t think we will be running up to Jesus and hugging Him like the picture depicts. We will understand what it really took to redeem us for the first time ever as we see His scars and imagine what the pain must have been like. We will be humbled by His majesty and totally broken in spirit by His grace. A sense of true gratitude will envelop us like it never has before, and we will be quiet.

While many think there are no tears in Heaven, we are told that He will wipe away our tears. We are 7 chapters into Revelation before the tears are wiped away. Revelation 7:17, “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Even as I am writing here, I cannot truly fathom what those first few moments will be like. Whether by death or rapture, the first sight of my Risen Lord will be breathtaking. I am but a sinful dog, a broken man at best, and yet, by His loving kindness and grace, by His loving gift of Himself, I can get to see him and live with Him forever. I could never get close to God, so Jesus came and made the way. Have you put your faith in Him and His shed blood to wash away your sins, and have you believed that He was raised from the dead? Only Jesus, no other way.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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Matthew 25:14-30

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. ¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money.

¹⁹ After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²² He also, who had received two talents, came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ ²³ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²⁴ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him, who has ten talents.

²⁹ ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

A dear pastor friend and mentor passed away on April 10. I was by his bedside along with his family; his wife of more than 60 years, who has worked alongside him, was there as he drew his last breath and went home to his redeemer. It was a time of mixed emotions. He had suffered for many years from various ailments, and it was hard to see him deteriorate little by little—first his mobility, then his ability to attend church, stay awake for long periods, the ability to move without pain, and more. The endless doctor visits, 4 or 5 days a week on a dialysis machine, and the gradual loss of his cognizance.

On the other hand, it was hard to watch his wife face the first few moments without him, grandchildren, and children having to say goodbye, the conversations turning to gravesites, and the financial burden of the funeral. Over the tens of funerals I have done, it never gets easier to sit with those who are left behind. Still, there is a peace that overshadows the death, and we are comforted that we know he is truly in a better place. His faith has become a sight, and he can see, for the first time, Jesus, the patriarchs, and billions of saved people from the past 6,000 years of human history.

This brother pastored churches in British Columbia and then in Ontario, Canada. He raised three kids on the road, and they are all still involved. He shared the gospel with hundreds, if not thousands, over the years and led many to faith in Jesus. He never pastored a big church; in fact, I am now pastoring the church he came from BC to Ontario to plant. He asked me to help about 4 years ago, and here we are.

In the parable from our text today, Jesus is the man going away; he leaves his servants to do the work of the kingdom, and then He returns to judge their progress. The first two are successful and are greeted as ‘good and faithful servants.’

As I was pondering this dear brother’s life, I do not doubt that he was greeted as a ‘good and faithful servant.’ But it made me think and wonder how I would be greeted. Maybe we need to ask ourselves that. How would you be greeted? Are you and I truly investing all of our abilities and talents in the kingdom of God? We will all be judged one day.

Maybe it is just that I am getting older; maybe it is that over the past few months, I have seen a lot of death, and I know there may be more to come as in-laws get older and parents get older. This weighs on my mind, and I wonder if we preachers have prepared our folks for the judgment. We talk so much of grace that we forget to remind our folks that even God’s children will be judged and have to give an account of their lives after salvation.

In verses 24-30, Jesus confronts the slothful servant who hides the talent and gives it back to Jesus. There was neither loss nor gain, but Jesus points out that even a bit of interest was better than nothing. The man lost his talent, and he was sent into ‘outer darkness.’ For a long time, I heard many say he was sent to hell. But this is not the case. He was a servant in the kingdom and thus could not lose his place in the general kingdom; instead, he was sent away from the New Jerusalem and into the outlying areas away from the glow of the new city. He did not lose his salvation; none of us can.

How many of us will be in the outer darkness area, saved but not living in the New Jerusalem? Lord, help me to be like the first two servants who diligently worked in your kingdom and joyfully gave you a return on your investment. Which of the servants will you be? Be sure we will stand to be judged; we will not escape.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist ChurchHow to Connect with Us

On Facebook (live broadcast of Sunday’s Message at 11 am): https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09

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