Tuesday's Trust - Gone... But Still Alive... - Part Three

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it. 

~Hebrews 4:16 (New Living Translation)

Tuesday's Trust

Gone... But Still Alive...

Part Three

What is life like for our children who have gone before us to Heaven?

Two weeks ago:

Tuesday's Trust - Gone... But Still Alive... - Part Two

 as I mentioned, in his book, Heaven, written in 2004, Randy Alcorn describes a "temporary" place into which we go before we are called into the New Heaven and the New Earth which is the final culmination of God's victory over Satan. This "temporary" Heaven into which we believe our (deceased) children have entered, Alcorn calls "the intermediate Heaven." In his book, he describes his rationale for this interpretation of Scripture:

"I've made these observations on the intermediate Heaven based on only three verses (Revelation 6:9-11). Unless there is some reason to believe that the realities of this passage apply only to one group of martyrs and to no one else in Heaven --- and I see no such indication --- then we should assume that what is true of them is also true of our loved ones already there, and will be true of us when we die."

The following are the next seven (7) of Alcorn's observations for what he thinks are true of this "intermediate Heaven":

• 8) The believers martyred for His name, ask God to intervene on Earth and to act on their behalf: "How long . . . until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (v. 10)

• 9) Those in Heaven are free to ask God questions, which means they have an audience with God. It also means they need to learn. In (the intermediate) Heaven, people desire understanding and pursue it.

• 10) People in the intermediate Heaven know what's happening on Earth (v. 10). The martyrs know enough to realize that those who killed them have not yet been judged.

• 11) Heaven dwellers have a deep concern for justice and retribution (v. 10). When we go to Heaven, we won't adopt a passive disinterest in what happens on the earth. On the contrary, our concerns will be more passionate and our thirst for justice greater. Neither God nor we will be satisfied until his enemies are judged, our bodies raised, sin and Satan defeated, Earth restored, and Christ exalted over all.

• 12) The martyrs clearly remember their lives on Earth (v. 10). They even remember that they were murdered. 

• 13) The martyrs in Heaven pray for judgment on their persecutors who are still at work hurting others. They are acting in solidarity with, and in effect interceding for, the suffering saints on Earth. This suggests that saints in Heaven are both seeing and praying for saints on Earth.

• 14) Those in Heaven see God's attributes ("Sovereign . . . holy and true") in a way that makes His judgment of sin more understandable.

To be continued.









Picture, thanks to ~Dee Flores of ~Christian Pictures, found in Pinterest 

Tuesday's Trust - Gone... But Still Alive... - Part Two

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it. 

~Hebrews 4:16 NLT

Tuesday's Trust

Gone... But Still Alive...

Part Two

Two Earthly Views of the People Who Are Now in Heaven… 

First, from Charles Spurgeon:

June 29 Morning Charles Spurgeon devotional:

Morning

"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
1 Thessalonians 4:14

Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," is the whisper of Christ to every dying saint. They "sleep in Jesus," but their souls are before the throne of God, praising him day and night in his temple, singing hallelujahs to him who washed them from their sins in his blood. 

The body sleeps in its lonely bed of earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is this sleep? The idea connected with sleep is "rest," and that is the thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it slumbers on its mother's breast. 

Oh! happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Their quiet repose shall never be broken until God shall rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by angel watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the inheritors of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the fulness of redemption. What an awaking shall be theirs! 

They were laid in their last resting place, weary and worn, but such they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and glory. The shrivelled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness, rises from the dust a beauteous flower. The winter of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of incorruption. Blessed are those who "sleep in Jesus."

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Second, from Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven:

21 Observations Alcorn Makes of the Heaven to which God's children have been called:

(before the Final Rapture and Culmination of all God's Promises to Remove Sin's Curse from Mankind…

 (We will cover only seven (7) of these twenty-one (21) observations today.)

From Revelation 6:9-11 [These verses directly refer to those martyred for Christ's name, but Alcorn believes it also applies to all our loved ones who have gone on to Heaven.

• 1) When they died on Earth, they relocated to Heaven (Revelation 6:9).

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

~Revelation 6:9 (New International Version)

• 2) There is continuity between our identity on Earth and our identity in Heaven. They are now "righteous men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23).

 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

~Hebrews 12:23 (New International Version)

• 3) People in Heaven will be remembered for their lives on Earth (Revelation 6:9).

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

~Revelation 6:9 (New International Version)

• 4) "They called out" (Revelation 6:10) which means they are able to express themselves audibly. This could suggest they exist in physical form, with vocal cords or other tangible means to express themselves.

They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

~Revelation 6:10 (New International Version)

• 5) They can raise their voices (Revelation 6:10). This indicates they are rational, communicative, and emotional---even passionate--- beings, like people on Earth.

They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

~Revelation 6:10 (New International Version)

• 6) They called out in "a loud voice," not "loud voices." Individuals speaking with one voice indicate that Heaven is a place of unity and shared perspective.

They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

~Revelation 6:10 (New International Version)

• 7) They are fully conscious, rational, and aware of each other, God, and the situation on Earth.

They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

~Revelation 6:10 (New International Version)

~~~~~~~

May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of Heaven and earth.

~Psalm 115:15 (New International Version)

Contents, thanks to Charles Spurgeon Morning and Evening Devotionals, and to Randy Alcorn from his book, Heaven

Tuesday's Trust - Gone... But Still Alive..., Part One

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it. 

~Hebrews 4:16 (New Living Translation)

Tuesday's Trust

Gone... But Still Alive...

Where are our children now? What is it like in Heaven? Who is in Heaven? God plainly spells it out in His Scripture found in Hebrews 12:22-24:

• But you have come to Mount Zion, to the City of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem.

• You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,

• To the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in Heaven.

• You have come to God, the Judge of all,

• To the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

• To Jesus the Mediator of a New Covenant, and

• To the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

~Hebrews 12:22-24

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Pictures, thanks to
~Hers To Treasure
~Angela Starkey via pinterest via "3:16 To Heaven"
~Angela Starkey via pinterest via "3:16 To Heaven"
~Angela Starkey via pinterest via "3:16 To Heaven"~Greg Olson, artist

~Angela Starkey via pinterest via "3:16 To Heaven"~ "In the Arms of His Love - Greg Olsen"
~Angela Starkey via pinterest via "3:16 To Heaven"