But What About Those Who Pass From This World

God’s people and the promised land were prophesied to be united. But what about those who pass from this world before that realization. Well, they will, with the New Earth.

The question today in my study is “Where and When will our deliverance come?”. That is such a great question for us to consider, knowing that we are not long in this world. Where I am looking forward to Christ coming again, the reality is that I do not know when He returns and I could pass from this world before then. So the selfish man in me wonders if and when will I get to experience it. Have I been left out? NO.

I have to remember that this earth is just a temporary location for me. Whether I am here at the second coming of Christ or I pass from here beforehand, I am/will be waiting. I have not been forgotten. As a child of God, my destiny is the promised land.

The Israelite people were ushered into the promised land with Joshua leading them after years in the wilderness waiting. Where looking at this would seem that the promised land is or was already given over to God’s people, that was only the land of this earth before the restoration that comes with resurrection and redemption.

“¹⁷For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.” – Isaiah 65:17-18 (ESV)

At resurrection and the conclusion of the final battle, the New Heaven will come down to the New Earth and be opened for God’s people to enter. This is the promised land for us all and the fulfilled promise of God. We will be delivered into the promised land at the restoration of the Earth into the New Earth which will be as God created in the beginning.

What is your thought on your inheritance of the promised land? Do you feel as though you will miss or have missed out? What if you look to the New Earth instead, and know that this is the promise of God and we all will be restored into the restored New Earth as promised?

Limits to the Work of Christ’s Redemption?

In short, NO!

There are no limits to the redemptive work of Christ. He did not just come to renew and resurrect me. Jesus came to defeat the totality of the curse. He came to redeem me. He came to redeem my body. He came to redeem the earth. He came to redeem the universe.

As I was studying this morning I came across a sentence that gave me a bit of pause,

“Earth won’t be put out of its misery; it will be infused with a greater life than it has ever known, at last becoming all that God meant for it to be.” – Randy Alcorn

As I am going through this study, I am also doing another on discipleship where we are currently looking at the walking in obedience. Here we are in study of the passage in Ephesians where Paul indicates to fully change.

“²²to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV)

If the earth is to be “infused” is it really changing to be new. And then, I reached the end of the study to this,

“Earth cannot be delivered from the curse by being destroyed. It can only be delivered by being resurrected.” – Randy Alcorn

What a great picture of the redemptive work of Christ. The evil in the world, the curse, is destroyed. Sin is destroyed. Death is destroyed. Man is renewed in spirit. Man is renewed in body. The earth is renewed. The universe is renewed. All is renewed.

“⁸He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.”

— Isaiah 25:8 (ESV)

There is no limit to the redemptive work of Christ. He came to renew it all. Renew it all back to the way it was created. For that to take place, it ALL is to be renewed and Christ was sent to get it started. He died that we would live. He died that we would be redeemed. All else will follow.

What are your thoughts on the limits of Christ? Are you in the camp that He is only here for the purpose of your redemption? What if you were to see Him as He is, the Limitless Redeemer?

Curse Lifted

“¹⁷To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,”

‘Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life.’”

— Genesis 3:17 (ESV)

Here we see, in the beginning that the curse was due to the sin committed. At this, Adam and we all were cursed to “toil” in the pursuit of food and shelter and protection that was provided by God to His greatest creation. But the curse was more than just on man, the earth was cursed as well. The earth was no longer the free provider of abundance as it was in the garden.

The curse could have been avoided had man just avoided the corruption and sin. Before this sin and corruption, everything was available at the fingertips of Adam and Eve. They were not in need of anything and everywhere they looked, they were surrounded by the abundance of God’s provision. This is the way God intended.

Yes, there are still some remnants of and pictures of the beauty that God created in the beginning. There is still beautiful paintings and man made structures, there is cure for disease and other things that are good. God did not completely wipe out all the good, but a few things are not the norm as we know them today. The curse is still very real and larger than we can even imagine.

But, there is an out. There is a defeat of the curse. Jesus came to this world to take on sin and death on my behalf. To remove the curse from me. To provide me the out. He died that I may live. He took all of my sin and died because of it, effectively removing that part of the curse.

Then there is the curse of the earth. God cursed the ground, yet it will be restored and renewed as the New Heaven and New Earth come down after the defeat of the evil one.

“³No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.” – Revelation 22:3 (ESV)

When the evil one is defeated, Eden will be restored. Abundance will be again. We will no longer “toil” for food, shelter, or protection. All will be back as God created and even better.

What are your thoughts of the curse? Do you believe that you are impacted? How do your thoughts change knowing that the curse has been and will be lifted thanks to Jesus?

All Things Renewed and Restored

“²⁸Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’” – Matthew 19:28 (NIV)

“²¹Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” – Acts 3:21 (NIV)

As we can see in the above verses the plan all along is to bring all things back to their original. All thing will be renewed and restored. All thing will go back to the way the were intended to be.

Before the fall of man at the hand of sin, God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. As noted by Randy Alcorn in my MasterWork study, “earth was Heaven’s backyard”. God spent time on earth as one would in the backyard of your home. As now, thanks to the fall, there is a great chasm between Heaven and earth. The current earth is not so much as a backyard of Heaven, but more of a swampy wasteland at the edge of the property.

Yes, Jesus came and spent time on earth. He was the bridge between the two. He came to prepare for the uniting to occur. The curtain in the tabernacle has been torn so that we can commune directly with God, thanks to Jesus. And Jesus will also tear down that which separates Heaven and earth at His coming again. The two, Heaven and Earth, will be reunited under God as one for all who believe in Him to live forever.

“⁹he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” – Ephesians 1:9-10 (NIV)

All things will be brought back together. Nothing to be left out. All will be renewed and restored. All things will now be one, where “those who know Jesus will will have the privilege of living there” (Randy Alcorn).

How do you see things today? Are you seeing them as being right and in sync? What if they are out of sync and will be renewed and restored to even better than they were before at the coming of Christ?

Heaven and Earth Are Passing

I realized something this morning in my Bible Study. It is not us that is passing through this world, it is this world that is passing. I know, how can that be when it is us that are going to die. Yes, we are going to die, and when we do, we will go to Heaven as it is today. But remember, Heaven today is not the New Heaven or the New Earth. The New Heaven and New Earth are coming down after the final battle is won and Christ has come again.

“¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” – Revelation 21:1 (ESV)

Here, John tells of what he saw in Heaven. What was Heaven and Earth would be no more and the New Heaven and New Earth were revealed. So while we will be passing from this world. This world is passing and we will experience the New Heaven and New Earth when they come down. This world that we know now will be no more.

I have to remember that all that God created is good, His word says so in Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, & 31. Yet we, man, messed it all up with our sin. Thankfully, it was in God’s plan for the renewal of man and all that He had created. Man renewed by the Spirit through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus. And then the Earth was renewed once the evil one is defeated.

“¹⁷For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.”

— Isaiah 65:17 (ESV)

So, God will not just remove all the sin from the world and things will go on as they have without the evil in the world. God will be starting over once evil has been defeated. Heaven and Earth as they are today will be replaced with the New Heaven and New Earth for us to live in for eternity with Him. Everything God created is good or very good and He will be returning it all to be as good and very good as originally made.

What is your thoughts on what is passing? Is it you who is passing on to the next? What is you were to remember that all God created was good and very good and that He will create it again as New for us to experience as He intended?