What assurance do we have that our departed loved ones have gone to heaven? What authority have we believed that we shall go to heaven if we’re saved? This may be a bit shocking, but all our loved ones are still in the grave. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Paul, John, Noah, Moses, David, all are asleep in the grave waiting resurrection! The Bible speaks of this resurrection of the dead; the dead in Christ will rise first when Christ returns! No one has ascended into Heaven except Christ, the Son of God. All are waiting for Judgment Day to be rewarded.
The Christian is not yet a possessor of his reward, he is an heir, and what he shall inherit, if saved, is the promise made to Abraham. If one is converted, whether Jew or Gentile, regardless of race, or sex and has accepted Jesus Christ, then he becomes one of Abraham’s children, a Spiritual Israelite, and an heir of the promise made to Abraham. All mankind will be rewarded, some to Eternal Life, others to damnation, once again it is our choice to make.
The seed of Abraham would be a blessing to all nations. From the beginning God anticipated an outreach to the Gentile world. The achievement was to make the Gentiles believers of the Gospel and heir to the promise given to Abraham. If you have received justification through the blood of Christ, then ye are Abraham’s seed: “And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise,” you are that real, spiritual posterity of Abraham, (Galatians 3:16, 29).
Abraham obeyed and went out from his own country having no prospect of any good or success but it was his deep faith in God that gave him the courage; “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went,” (Hebrews 11:8). “And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him” (Hebrews 11:6).
The reward of the saved will spend eternity with Christ; this is a definite promise of God. But the promise was made to Abraham, so when we except Christ as our Savior, we then become one of Abraham’s children and become an heir (Galatians 3:29)
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Yea, from the time of old they have not heard, they have not hearkened to; an eye hath not seen what God hath prepared for him (Isaiah 64:4). God shall change the state of the atmosphere and render the earth more fruitful (Isaiah 65:17).
The inheritance, which God has prepared for you, cannot even be conceived by the natural mind of man (1 Corinthian 2:9-10). We cannot imagine what Eternity will be like, we have only known this life, this world, chaos and sin. He will even remove the old thoughts of this life as we know it. These are promises from God!
But the meek, the afflicted, the poor shall inherit the earth given by God himself as an inheritance to their father, and to all future generations forever (Psalm 37:11). In the testimony of a good conscience, for, without this suffering has nothing but misery in it be exceeding glad, leap for joy because “for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12).
These rewards are not yet dispensed. They are reserved and protected by Jesus who is in heaven. Rewards are not given out until the return of Jesus Christ, then, He says He will reward those accordingly. Then those who are given eternal life will then inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), not the Heavens, after the world is cleansed. The earth will then be filled with men and women who exemplify His spirit in their lives, the saved.
Jesus says the reward, authority; an office of power in the Kingdom of God is being reserved in heaven for you because that is where Jesus is; “and to an inheritance kept in heaven for you that can't be destroyed, corrupted, or changed” (1 Peter 1:4). But it will be brought to earth, where Jesus will reward His saints (Revelation 22:12), in the Kingdom of God, with position over the nations. And with this Kingdom, like no other, there will be no end (Luke 1:33). |
