By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
No, I’m not walking the streets wearing a cardboard sign announcing the end of the world. Like everyone else, I have no idea when Jesus is returning.
I expect I will go to him before he comes for us but none of us knows for sure. But maybe today is the day? Hmmm? What I’m talking about is a friend who is near death.
Hospice has been called and his end is very near. So near, it’s unlikely he’ll even get to read this article. We’re doing everything we can to assist him from constant companionship to helping him draft a will and a living will to writing his obituary.
We’re also praying. We’re praying for healing here on earth. We’re praying for rest in his body and for the pain to subside. We’re praying for emotional peace as he faces his end.
We’ve gone over his relationship with Jesus, and he is confident that he is at one with the Lord. We’re even praying for ourselves. We hope to be at peace with his decision and faithful to our commitment to him.
We’re also praying for peace so that our emotions don’t dampen his enthusiasm for his home-going. He’s excited about going to the place he belongs..home.
Paul spoke of it in 2Cor 5:8 “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”. He also told us that our citizenship is not here on earth but in Heaven (Phil 3:20).
Leaving our physical bodies behind is difficult. We mostly like life here as it’s all we know. And, honestly, heaven is a little intimidating. We don’t know what it holds in any specific way.
2 Cor 2:9 “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”
I have a pretty big imagination but since we have no idea what a spiritual life might look like I can’t draw much other than it will be beyond my ability to grasp. We know there will be no regrets.
Isa 25:8 “God will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.”
After meeting God face-to-face, and seeing his holiness, it seems like my first inclination would be to be disgraced and humiliated for all the times I offended him with my thoughts and behavior.
Yet, the Prophet Isaiah says that the Lord will remove my/our disgrace. It is difficult to understand what it means that all our sins will be removed, and that God will have no memory of them.
Ps 103:12 reads: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. But will I personally remember them? I don’t think it would be possible to remember them and at the same time have no regrets. Sadness or embarrassment over them which are not allowed in heaven.
The Psalmist goes on to say in v13-14 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
Isn’t that an amazing thought? He understands how weak we really are in the area of temptation and sin, so he accounts for that in his judgment of us.
Jesus certainly raised the bar on our behavior when he gave the Sermon on the Mount but at Judgment, the bar will be lowered to account for our humanness. Thank you, Lord.
We hear about the Judgement and that there will be 2 lines…the sheep or the saved on their way to heaven and the goats or lost on their way to Hell.
But John describes it a little differently: John 5:24 ““Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
We will not be judged on our sins, because as children of the King, our sins have been completely removed.
Our judgment will be based only on our good works. Our rewards in Heaven are there from our obedience while on earth. And it won’t matter if you have 1 reward crown, or a warehouse filled with them.
Our heart will be to offer what we have to God because he is deserving of all glory and the more we offer him glory, the more crowns we receive.
It feels like a wonderful circle…I take my crown and lay it at his feet, and I return and find even more crowns because I gave him the glory he deserves which I can again take into the throne room and give even more glory and honor to him. That’s what my friend is looking forward to. Truthfully, it makes me a little jealous.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.
