May 31, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
I LONG FOR THAT ‘BETTER COUNTRY,’ HOW ABOUT YOU?
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off [by faith] were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a HOMELAND. And truly if they had called to mind that COUNTRY from which they had COME OUT, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a BETTER, that is, A HEAVENLY COUNTRY. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called THEIR GOD, for He has prepared a city for them.” Heb. 11: 13-16, NKJV.
In John 14:1-3 Jesus promised His faithful disciples that He would prepare mansions for them. “A fear of making the future inheritance SEEM TOO MATERIAL has led many to SPIRITUALIZE AWAY the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our HOME.”
“Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare mansions for them in the Father’s house [the “third heavens” itself]. Those who accept the teachings of God’s Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. Human language is inadequate to describe the REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS. It will be known ONLY to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.”
“In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a COUNTRY. There the heavenly SHEPHERD leads His flock to the fountains of living waters, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God dear their lofty summits.”
“On those PEACEFUL plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long PILGRIMS and WANDERERS, shall find a home [on the earth made new after the millenium].”
The “pilgrims and wanderers of the earth” are exactly opposite who in their hearts and lives “love the world and things of the world, the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh” (1 John 2:15-17; see James 4:4).
The heavenly country is offered as a choice. Your decisions and corresponding plans and actions will determine your eternal destiny. Choose wisely. God bless all. NMF