What Will Heaven be Like? part 2

Rev 21:1-5

It is a place of worship.  A place where God is worshipped in the way that he is due.  Worship means bowing down, kiss towards, pay homage to, revere, hold in awe.  It also has confession of how worthy God is.  Heaven is a place where true worship happens, around the throne of heaven.  God in heaven is continually worshipped, and all the worship here on earth through his people and by his people, rises up to heaven and joins the worship in heaven in praising God.  Rev 4:10-11 "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."  This is the worship of elders in heaven.  Rev 5:9 "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" This is the worship of God by all nations.  Rev 8:4 "And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God..."  Here is the worship of saints on earth, their prayers ascending before the mercy seat in heaven, offered at the throne of God and answered from heaven.  Worship is performed in heaven by those on earth that worship in faith.  Heaven is a place of worship.  All true worship rises to heaven.   Serve, that is another meaning of worship.  What is it to cry and praise God for salvation, to fall before ones face before God, to bow down, that is worship. 

It is a place where the names of the saints, God's people, are written.  Luke 10:20 "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."   Daniel 12:1 "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince.......and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Phil 4:3 "And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel...and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life."   Heb 12:23 "To the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven..."  One of the aspects of heaven is that the names of the saints are written there.  That is something worth rejoicing over.  

Why Do Bad Things Happen to the World and to the Child of God?

This post is further to yesterday's post entitled "Downhearted but why, and then an answer.  Lately I have read quite a few posts at Wordpress asking the question If God is a God of love, why does he allow bad things to happen?  I believe that these notes from the sermon by Paul Dowling provide the answer, why bad things happen to those in the world, and to the child of God.

Why do Bad Things Happen?

Job 1:1-12 

At some time in their life everyone has wondered,  "why do bad things happen to good people?"  Why was the missionary Amy Carmichael, who was doing her best to obey God, who did so much good work for the Lord, why was she confined to her bed in agony for the last 20 years of her life?  Why do bad things happen to good people.   Why is there so much suffering?

Some people in this world take the question further and they say "if God is the God of love why all the human misery".  Why..  For anyone who would ask that question, it is quite easy to answer although most people who ask that question do not want to know the answer.   If God is a God of love, the word if,  that is a sign of doubt and unbelief.  There is no doubt about it, the bible says that God is love, there is no "if" about it.  If there is doubt, there is no belief in the first place.  We need to remember that God is not a God of love only, love is not his only attribute. There is more to God than 1 John 4.

If you know your bibles you do know that God did not create the world the way it is now. Genesis 1:31 "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good...."  The world is the way it is now with all its suffering and misery because of human free will.  In the garden of Eden, when there was free will that was not under bondage to sin,  Eve first, and then her husband Adam, used that free will to believe the serpent's lie and be disobedient to God's command and that is how sin entered into this world..  That caused the fall,  but God did not create the world the way it is now.  

Why are there starving people in the world?  Is it God's fault? No it's not, there are starving people in the world because of human greed.  There is more than enough food in this world to feed everybody but the problem is not in the amount of food.  Some countries are hoarding food and won't give it to those who are starving.  The problem is human greed.  It's not God's problem, it is human caused problem.

Why all the wars? That is easily answered because humans fight.  Why so much murder and killing? It's because of human aggression, this goes back to Cain murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8 "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.").   It's human's fault, not Gods.  Why do so many humans die from simply cured illnesses in the poorer countries of this world. Why do thousands of poor people die? It's because they can't have operations because there are no surgeons but we can have cosmetic surgery to improve our looks. That is how arrogant many people are in the western world, so don't blame God.

Why do triple heart by-pass patients have to wait such a long time for their operation which is life-threatening, but if you pay some money you can have the surgery in a matter of weeks? Because money talks louder than human need.  You can blame God but most of the human suffering in this world is caused by human greed.  So put the blame where it belongs.

If you don't believe in God how can you blame God?   A far more important and honest question is in the bible, in the book of Job.  That is, why do God's people sometimes suffer for no apparent reason.  

Bible Men - John 9: The Man Born Blind

The Man Born Blind – John 9

The man born blind has an important distinction in the bible.  Unlike Bartimaeus or Nicodemus, or others that we read of, he did not come to the Lord Jesus or cry out for him, but the Lord Jesus came to him, and the man born blind was used by the Lord Jesus in a mighty way.  This healing is only in the book of John, which is the gospel that proclaims the deity of the Lord Jesus.

One day, as Jesus passed by with his disciples, he saw a man blind from his birth, and the question arose from his disciples regarding who caused his blindness? V2 “And his disciples asked him saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”  An interesting question, for how could one sin in the womb so that he would be born blind?  But Jesus answered them V3-5 "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The bible says in Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" and all are in darkness, but the Lord Jesus is the light of the world - and we are to come out of darkness and into the light by believing the gospel, and receiving the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. Jesus chose to manifest his power over this man's blindness on the sabbath day, the Jews holy day, showing that he was Lord over the sabbath.

And thus speaking, Jesus V6-7 "…….spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay”  Bartimaeus called out to the Lord Jesus to heal him, and Jesus only spoke the word and Bartimaeus could see.  But in this case the blind man's eyes were covered with clay made by the Lord Jesus and lovingly placed on his eyes.  This was to require an act of obedience from the man.  He was told to "go, wash in the pool of Siloam"  he was to go to a particular place for a particular action. The man born blind went, and washed, and "came seeing".  After this, the man born blind becomes a witness for Jesus.

Bible Women: Hannah - An Answered Prayer

1 Samuel 1:1 - 2:21

Hannah's story presents a beautiful example of love, submission, prayer, praise and worship.  She was a most godly woman.

We meet Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:2.  She is one of two wives of Elkanah. V2 tells us that Hannah had no children, but that Peninnah, the other wife, had children.  Hannah's husband went up each year to worship and sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh where Eli the priest was there with his two sons Hophni and Phinehas. (V3) and his family went with him.  V4-5 tell us that while Penninah  and her children were given portions, "unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb."  This is a testing time for Hannah, but the Lord knew her heart.  V6-7 tell us of the cruelty of Peninnah "her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb." Peninnah is called Hannah's adversary, and there is no mention of her ever doing a kind thing.  Perhaps she was jealous because she knew that Elkanah loved Hannah the most.

V7 tells us that these provocations went on year by year, and "therefore she (Hannah) wept, and did not eat."  Elkanah does not understand why Hannah is so upset, V8 "then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?

In V9 they have gone to Shiloh again, and "... Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD." and now, V10-11 Hannah being in "bitterness of soul, she prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said "O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." With this prayer we learn that Hannah believes in her heart that the LORD could open her womb and give her a child, and not only that but a boy. She shows great faith by being willing to submit to the LORD's will and promises to give the baby back to the LORD.

The Sins of Feminism, Stubborness and Flattery

Feminism, Stubbornness and Flattery

Isaiah 3:12 "as for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead they cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths."

God expects his people to obey him.. he promises blessings for obedience and chastisements for disobedience. 

1.  Feminism and child rule
2.  Stubbornness: The sin of "I will do it my way"
3.  Flattery: The sin of tell us what we want to hear

Feminism: God's people were oppressed by children and ruled by women.. they were causing error and causing God's people to stray.  Feminism is always displeasing to God.  Women ruling is always displeasing to God especially in God's church.  Feminism is a sin among God's people.  Christians are conditioned by world's media to allow feminism into churches.  If churches were obeying the bible, feminism would not be in the church if the new testament Epistles were taught.