Author: hillturnfs

We know when we die saved now our spirit is instantly in the presence of the Lord. It wasn’t always like that. Prior to Jesus, the righteous who died were sent to paradise within the earth. They couldn’t go to heaven yet because, even in death, they still had their sin nature inherited from Adam.  Sacrificing animals only covered sin temporarily, it didn’t remove sin. The sins of all men, past, present and future could only be forgiven permanently by the sacrificial death of a sinless human being.  There was no such thing on this earth. Only God met the qualifications of being sinless.  So  God came off His throne and became flesh on the earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus the man, while maintaining His deity, became that sacrifice that would remove the sins of every man, past, present and future.  When Jesus died on the cross all the sins of those then in Paradise were instantly removed which allowed Jesus to go down there and take those saints on to heaven before the resurrection.  We see an illustration of Paradise (and hell) in the parable about the rich man Lazarus and the beggar. The beggar died saved and went to Paradise within the earth, also known then as Abraham’s Bosom. Lazarus died and went to hell within the earth where he was in constant pain and torment.

The two sides could see each other but could not cross over. Think of these two areas in the earth as holding cells pending God’s final judgement. Paradise is no longer being used but the other side, often referred to as Sheol, Gehenna, hades, the pit or hell is still in use.  All the unsaved dead, then and now, go straight to the hell within the earth where they wait in torment for the end of the millennium when they will be resurrected bodily to appear before the Great White Throne judgement and be judged by Jesus.  Since they rejected God’s mercy and grace in life they will be sentenced to torment 24/7 for an eternity in the lake of fire along with Satan and his fallen angels.  An angel of the Lord will physically lay hands on them and throw them into the lake of fire.

When you study God’s Word, especially end time prophecy, you will understand all the bad things going on in the world around us. God predicted more wars and rumors of war and it is so. God predicted an increase in earthquakes, floods, and famines and it is so. God predicted an increase in plagues and diseases around the world and it is so.  Most important of all, Jesus along with His Apostles and prophets warned us that in the last days many false witnesses would appear to deceive and fool the people with false teachings in order to divert them from the truth of God’s work. So convincing will be their testimony that even the elect will be fooled.  The only way you can be absolutely sure you won’t fall for any of this nonsense is to study God’s Word yourself so you will know when any false teaching doesn’t conform to Scripture. False teachings will be noticed for what they are and from whence they came.

Matt. 24:4-5 – Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

Matt. 24:11 – Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Matt. 24:25 – False Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

Knowing what is coming as foretold by a loving God should bring us peace, not angst. Knowing we are safely in God’s hands gives us eternal hope no matter what happens to us here on earth. Let us be watchers on the wall as these end times play out before our eyes.

I love Bible prophecy and can’t get enough of it. First, it confirms God is who He says He is. Prophecy is history written in advance and is only possible by the author of that history. Only the one true God knows the end from the beginning.  All other religions don’t have a single fulfilled prophecy between them because they are all fake religions and should be pointed out as such; political correctness be damned!  The men who started the other major religions of the world are all buried in a grave somewhere.  The tomb of Jesus is empty, for He has risen and is in heaven sitting at the right hand  of the Father.

Second, God in His Word gave us prophecy not only to prove He is God but also to instruct the saints and provide guidance on what they should do. There are 16 books on prophecy in the Old Testament and four book on prophecy in the New Testament. Twenty of the 66 books in the Bible are prophetic. That’s 28% of the Bible.  The Bible contains over 1,000 prophecies of which over 500 have been fulfilled. The remaining prophecies will be fulfilled at a later date in the fullness of time.

So far we have a 100% prophetic success rate so we can be assured all remaining prophecies contained in the Bible will be fulfilled.  Prophecy reveals our Lord as He really is. Matthew 24:30, says the Lord will return to the earth on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. At the second coming Revelation 19:16, reveals Jesus will return as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. That will be the greatest day in human history and we will all be there to see it with the Lord!

There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t sin. Critics deride Christians because they don’t live the saintly lives they expect. When people throw that in my face I tell them Christians aren’t perfect but we are forgiven.  Our salvation into the kingdom of God is by grace through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  It is the starting point of our walk with God. During our earthly journey God expects us to grow and mature in our faith so we can do the good works He has planned for us to do. Our goal is to sin less over time by asking for God’s help in overcoming sin in our lives.  We should pray to God for the forgiveness for our sins on a daily basis. We need to tell our detractors being a Christian is a journey not a destination.

Eph 2:10 – For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works , which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We know from Scripture that a bird doesn’t fall to the ground unseen by God. We know God sees everything we do and knows what we’re thinking.  That doesn’t really bother us because we know we’re loved by our heavenly Father.   What I find unnerving is we are also under constant observation from the spiritual plane by other supernatural entities, be they angels, demons or Satan himself.  When I contemplate a secret sin before God I must also consider my “other” audience. Satan is a keen observer of our actions, always looking for a weakness. Satan can’t read your mind but he can hear your words so guard your tongue because what you say can and will be used against you. Being aware you’re on the “big stage” of life before an unknown audience should give you motivation to live a holier life.

In the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) an absent master temporarily leaves valuables in the safekeeping of his three servants; each with five talents, two talent and one talent, respectively. In our story the absent master is Jesus who is temporarily away from the earth but will return at the second coming to recover what is His.  The servants in our parable refer to those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the saints of the kingdom of God.  The talents Jesus left in our care is the, “good news,”   of the gospel of Christ whereby all men are saved unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as  Lord and Savior.  

As disciples of Jesus we are not to sit on our salvation.  We are to go forth and spread the gospel to the unbelievers in all nations according to our individual abilities.  This “Great Commission” is the number one command of God.  Notice in the original parable the two servants who obeyed the master and used their talents so that the “increase” went to the master were equally rewarded, not because of their results, but because they simply obeyed the master’s command to use the talents wisely.  The servant who did not obey lost his reward.

On the last day when the saints stand before the bema judgement seat of Jesus those who have simply obeyed the Great Commission and witnessed for Christ to the best of their ability will receive their reward.  Their reward for sharing the gospel will be more for their obedience and love of God than any quantitative results.  Men would judge results but God judges the hearts of men.  Our goal is to hear Jesus say “Well done good and faithful servant”.  A faithful servant is one who obeys his master.  

The book of Job was placed in the Old Testament after the book of Ester and before the book of Psalms. I say placed because the book of Job was actually the first book of the Bible ever written. Job was written somewhere between 2100 BC and 2600 BC. Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, around 1400 BC so the book of Job is at least 700 years older than the Law of Moses and could be 1200 years older.

The question is what is so important about Job that God had to add it as part of His Word when the timeline is so out of sequence with the other books of the Old Testament?  I think the story of Job reminds us God is sovereign, He is righteous, and He is just.  That means God is sufficient for our needs and trustworthy in every situation to do the right thing for us. God tells us we will suffer here on earth and although we may not understand why we should still trust in God and bear up under our affliction while continuing to worship and praise God in all circumstances.

We note in Job some things that are important. Satan travels to the ends of the earth doing evil. Satan still has access to the throne room of God where he accuses us before God. We see that God limits the power of Satan to harm the saints and puts a protective hedge around His own.  The protective hedge mentioned in Job is an indirect reference to guardian angels dispatched by God to protect those who love Him. God’s comfort and strength are always available to those who will surrender everything to Him in faith.

God put us on this earth to seek Him out and bring Him glory by the way we lead our lives in fervent praise and worship through Jesus Christ. We are not to conform to the world. We are to be set apart and live to please God. We cannot serve two masters.  The world is evil and will persecute us.  God made us to live in heaven. Our citizenship is there. The earth is not our home, we’re only visiting. Jesus said the following:

John 17:14-17 – I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world; just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.

When God says something in the Bible more than once it’s important. When God repeats Himself in the same verse of group of verses it’s very important. God is telling us our home is in heaven. Since we have to be here to witness Jesus has prayed for our safety and continues to be our Champion in heaven.  Twice God tells us our best defense in this fallen world is His Word. Read it, study it, apply it so that we will be sanctified before the Lord and ready to meet whatever the world throws at us.

In His love and mercy God has provided saving grace to those who believe in the gospel of truth and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life. Through faith our sins are forgiven and the saints are covered by the righteousness of Christ Jesus and are not condemned.  The saints are heaven bound and will miss the Great White Throne Judgement of God reserved for the unbeliever.  Those who do not have the Son will spend eternity in the lake of fire and be tormented without end.  The saints must still stand before the bema judgement seat of Jesus to receive the reward for works done in the body but salvation is assured.  God has appointed Jesus to judge the nations and rule over the 1,000 year millennial kingdom of Jesus on the earth before taking the saints to live with Him in heaven forever.  Jesus created the universe and will rule over His creation forever.

John 5:22 – The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement to the Son.

Acts 17:31 – Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

Hebrews 4:13 – There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Matthew 10:26 – There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

In Tim LaHaye’s book, “Understanding Bible Prophecy,”  he references a Gallup survey on religion revealing 62% of Americans believe in the literal second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. The same percentage also believe Jesus is God. The amazing thing is only 40% of Americans profess to have had a born again experience with Jesus Christ. This book was written a few years ago but things will not have changed very much.  That means 22% of Americans, two in ten people you are likely to meet, are ready to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior if they are approached in the right way by a witness for Christ. This is one of the reasons I went from the hard sell approach to witnessing to a more gentle method of speaking passionately about my witness for Christ in order to identify myself to those 2 in 10 who are ready to accept the grace of God unto salvation.

That is better than butting heads with the 80% who are not ready to hear you and will reject you out of hand. Using the gentle approach lets everyone know what you’re about but offends no one. You will be remembered when they need a witness in future.  You must continue to winnow the wheat from the chaff which can be time consuming but there is no other way and any amount of effort is worth it if it saves even one person from an eternity in the fires of hell. Take heart in the fact that even in the face of rejection you are sowing the seeds of the gospel that may be reaped later by someone else.

Most people who get saved need to hear the gospel numerous times before they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior so every rejection of the gospel they hear helps bring those people closer to a decision to accept God’s grace.  Sower or reaper, it makes no difference; all will be rewarded and God gets the increase. We are merely God’s messenger presenting the gospel of Christ. It’s up to the Holy Spirit to convict a person of their sin and apply God’s saving grace unto eternal life. We only help out. It’s up to God to save someone.

Before reading the rest of this blog take a few minutes and first read Revelation 20:11-15.  If you die in Christ Jesus your spirit immediately goes to be with the Lord in heaven. Jesus purchased that gift of God by His death on the cross and our faith in Him. You will eventually stand before the bema judgement seat of Jesus to receive your reward for works done in the body. Heaven has already been secured for you.  However, if you die without accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you will have missed the boat. Your spirit will go directly to hell within the earth and suffer torment continuously until resurrected bodily for the Great White Throne judgement at the end of the 1,000 year millennial kingdom of Jesus on the earth.

At that time every sin of your life will be reviewed by Jesus and judged.  Your sentence will be handed down and carried out by an angel of God.  Everyone who finds themselves here gets the same sentence. The angel will lay hands on you and physically throw you into the eternal lake of fire God originally created for the fallen angels where you will be always in pain and agony for eternity along with Satan, the fallen angels (demons), the antichrist and the false prophet.  Our finite minds cannot grasp how long eternity really is. One hundred billion years is only a day in eternity.

The point is we must avoid hell at all costs.  Whatever it takes we must do it and the sooner the better! The way out of that fate is found in the Bible because God loves you and doesn’t want to send you to hell.  God has provided a way for you to escape hell through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior of your life. But God is also a just God and He will send you to hell if you turn down the mercy and grace offered to you by your loving Father. You have free will here.  It is imperative you make the right decision!

Hebrews 9:27 – It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement.

Revelation 20:15 – And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 22:12 – Behold, I am coming soon, and I will bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own works merit.