Are We Prepared to Meet God (Part #2)

Earl Gillespie

Are We prepared To Meet God (Part #2)

The Role Of The Church

The young girl’s mother stood by the bedside, tears streaming from her eyes, as she refused to accept the inevitable.   Fueled by the promise that God was going to work a wonder, the family of the young girl had amassed a collection of Bible verses that referred to the healing virtues of God and they struggled to build their faith upon those verses.   The key to their faith as taught by the pious prelates was simple, Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: There is a suggested here that has allowed for the trivialization and the proliferation  of the word of God.  No thought is given to Jesus words nor the context in Revelation 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  It seems as if we are thanking Jesus for not coming back, and we are asking for Heaven on earth.  Many are invoking the promises that God made to the Children of Israel in the ancient time. If the father would answer many of our prayers, there would be no reason to make all things new.  In church last Sunday the minister had delivered a beautiful message on walking by faith. 

There is a contradiction at work here, if we are to believe in the bible, there is no hope for this world.  The book of Revelation tells us what to expect but the churches have become caught up in peddling hope on earth.  Why? Because hope sells.  Ministers have learned the art of being great motivational speakers.  Those who excel become pastors of mega churches.  The book of Revelation tells us that Jesus is walking among the churches admonishing and condemn the action of the leaders, while God angry is building and judgement is pronounced. 

A twenty-four seven prayer vigil was initiated at the church and the message of support to the family was, ‘God is able” and “He might not come when we want him but he is always on time.”  There were those who felt they were close to God testified that God was going to work a miracle.  It seems somewhat strange that the tone of these prayer sessions had changed from the prayer session of old.  

In Heaven, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. This will be one of the characteristics of that blessed state,  not a tear shall ever be shed there. How different will that be from the condition here--for who is there here who has not learned to weep?  Weeping  and suffering is a product of this sin cursed world.  Often the scripture is quoted that God said, "if my people which are called by my name would humble themselves and pray..."  God was talking to the children of Israel concerning their existence in the land he had promised them.   Read the Bible, no amount of praying is going to change the condition of this world.  We should be preparing to meet God.

And there shall be no more death. In all that future world of glory, not one shall ever die; not a grave shall ever be dug! What a view do we begin to get of heaven, when we are told there shall be no death there! How different from earth, where death is so common; where it spares no one; where our best friends die; where the wise, the good, the useful, the lovely, die; where fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, all die; where we habitually feel that we must die. Assuredly we have here a view of heaven most glorious and animating to those who dwell in a world like this, and to whom nothing is more common than death. In all their endless and glorious career, the redeemed will never see death again; they will never themselves die. They will never follow a friend to the tomb, nor fear that an absent friend is dead. The slow funeral procession will never be witnessed there; nor will the soil ever open its bosom to furnish a grave.

Neither sorrow. The word sorrow here denotes sorrow or grief of any kind; sorrow for the loss of property or friends; sorrow for disappointment, persecution, or care; sorrow over our sins, or sorrow that we love God so little, and serve him so unfaithfully; sorrow that we are sick, or that we must die. How innumerable are the sources of sorrow here; how constant is it on the earth! Since the fall of man there has not been a day, an hour, a moment, in which this has not been a sorrowful world; there has not been a nation, a tribe--a city or a village--nay, not a family where there has not been grief. There has been no individual who has been always perfectly happy. No one rises in the morning with any certainty that he may not end the day in grief; no one lies down at night with any assurance that it may not be a night of sorrow. How different would this world be if it were announced that henceforward there would be no sorrow! How different, therefore, will heaven be when we shall have the assurance that henceforward grief shall be at an end!  This is what the church should teach.

Nor crying this word properly denotes a cry, an outcry, as in giving a public notice; a cry in a tumult--a clamor, Ac 23:9; and then a cry of sorrow, or wailing. This is evidently its meaning here, and it refers to all the outbursts of grief arising from affliction, from oppression, from violence. The sense is, that as none of these causes of wailing will be known in the future state, all such wailing will cease. This, too, will make the future state vastly different from our condition here; for what a change would it produce on the earth if the cry of grief were never to be heard again!

Neither shall there be any more pain. There will be no sickness, and no calamity; and there will be no mental sorrow arising from remorse, from disappointment, or from the evil conduct of friends. And what a change would this produce--for how full of pain is the world now! How many lie on beds of languishing; how many are suffering under incurable diseases; how many are undergoing severe surgical operations; how many are pained by the loss of property or friends, or subjected to anguish by the misconduct of those who are loved! How different would this world be, if all pain were to cease for ever; how different, therefore, must the future state of the blessed be from the present!  

For the former things are passed away. The world as it was before the judgment. Our prayer: Lord let your Kingdom come.

In the military the effectiveness of our training taught us to embrace death and not fear it.  It is somewhat strange that the mission of the church is to embrace life and fear death.  A prayer for God to rebuke death could be considered to be an unanswered prayer.

Ask; that is, ask of God. The whole passage (Mt 7:7-11) offers to the Christian a strong assurance of favorable answers to sincere prayer. According to the usual custom of our Savior in his instructions, the principle is stated in a broad and unqualified manner, on the presumption that the good sense and candor of the hearer would apply the qualifications to which all general statements are liable. The very illustration which the Savior uses, show that these limitations are implied. The great Father of all like human parents sometimes finds best to deny the requests, of his children, and often to answer them unexpected ways.

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Part #3