Monthly Archives: October 2019

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2-3

Jesus tells us that He is preparing a place for us in heaven. He said that He will come for us and receive us to Himself. Why are people so confused about what Jesus means here. He’s going to return, and we are going to leave with Him. The question we have to ask, who was Jesus speaking to? Even though He was literally speaking to the disciples, I believe He was also speaking to the church as a whole. Jesus hasn’t returned to receive us to Himself, so this must be a future event. But when will this event take place?

The fact is, Jesus WILL return to receive both them AND us to Himself! That’s what Paul explains in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 – 17 when he writes: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

When will this happen? No man knows the day or the hour…but we can know the season. We know it will be in the last days…when the world will be living as in the days of Lot, and as in the days of Noah. I believe we are seeing the days of Lot and the days of Noah being lived out right before our eyes. Are you waiting for and excited to see the day when Jesus fulfills His promise and returns for us? I know I am!

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1 – 3

We can take this encouragement from Paul to the Ephesians personally as it applies to us today. We are reminded to live as examples of Christ, and to be at peace with one another. Paul is not implying that we have to keep the peace at the cost of denying or ignoring the Word of God. There are some people who want to argue that Jesus isn’t who He said He is, and that we should disregard what the Bible tells us. One way we prove them wrong is to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called. We remain humble and bear with them in love, but we don’t compromise our belief.

The unity of the Spirit is revealed in the truth of the Word of God. We can agree with our brothers and sisters in Christ about who Jesus is, and how we are saved by His sacrificial offering on the cross. When we agree on the essentials, the non-essentials of our faith don’t get in the way of our unity with the brethren in the bond of peace.