In was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:44-46)
The Lord’s loved ones are precious to Him; it grieves Him when they die. (Psalm 116:15)
It is the last step of the race.
It is the pause between the last note of a great choir selection and the applause.
It is the screech of the tires of a 747 landing at Sea-Tac or DFW.
The voice that called those first disciples, “Follow me,”
The voice that declared to a leper, “I am willing to heal,
The voice that raised a widow’s son, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”
The voice that taught how to pray, “When you pray, say…”
The voice that cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
The voice is now saying, “I am ready to come home.”
Finally, Jesus Christ is reunited with His father. The two are again One. A dismantled Trinity is now unified. The division that once existed is now bridged. Jesus and the Father are again One.
Jesus catches His father’s attention and says, “Bring me home, Dad.” Bring this Son to his Father. Welcome home the Victor. Unite this Pilgrim with His home. Satan and death have been defeated; You can go home.
Good-bye, Bethlehem’s babe. Thank you for walking in our shoes. The journey is over. As Max Lucado says, “God knows that we are only pilgrims and that eternity is so close that any ‘good-bye’ is in reality a ‘see you tomorrow.’” (1)
God Wants You Home With Him
Friend, this is not the land of the living where we go on to the land of the dying. This is the land of the dying, and we are going on to the land of the living. God is looking forward to your arrival to be with Him. Eternity is your destiny and heaven is your home. Since you are going home, let me tell three things you need to know about going home.
1. You were made to last forever.
God has planted eternity in the heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT).
I loved drama in junior high school. I enjoyed being in several plays at North Middle School in Everett, Washington. Before performing for the school or parents, we would always have a dress rehearsal; an evening to work out the bugs, review our lines, get our timing down, smooth out the transitions, and pull all the parts together. This life is a dress rehearsal; it is not the real thing. This is just the staging area, the warm-up lap. This life is just pre-school to the real thing.
Allow me give you my paraphrase of Solomon’s text from Ecclesiastes: “God has hot-wired our brains so we are interested in living forever.” A look at the last saying on the cross gives us a glimpse of that element of life. While the sixth saying, was a declaration of triumph, “It is finished!”, this last one is a declaration of trust. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
The word commit means, “to deposit something of great value into a safe place.” Our life is filled with all types of examples of this:
Ø A baby-sitter for your children on Friday night
Ø A trust worthy mechanic for your SUV
Ø The safety deposit box
When you put your life in order in a will, there are several things of great value that you make sure are kept in a safe place:
Ø A decision about issues of life support
Ø Your assets are distributed to family and charity
Ø Your children are assigned a guardian
Jesus committed the thing of greatest value, His spirit, into the safest place, the Father’s hands.
2. My kids love to put their hand in mine as we wander through the park, go to the car, or as we walk through the mall. From time to time I will squeeze their hand twice. When I do, instantly a big smile encompasses their faces. Why? Because two squeezes mean, “I love you.”
The Father reached down from heaven, took the Son by the hand and squeezed it tight saying, “I love you, let’s go home.” Jesus let go of His life and placed it into the hands of His Father.
That day Jesus was surrendering control of His life into His Father’s hands. Have you done that? Have you said to God, “You take control of my life”? Jesus shows us that all of us should be willing to release our hold on life.
All-State Insurance Company picked up on this idea years ago when a marketing firm convinced them to equate their insurance resources with the slogan, “The Good Hands People.”
Today you have already begun to make hundreds of choices - whether or not to come to church, what clothes to wear, what color should your hair be, which service will you go to, where to eat after church, how to act. But for eternity we are only given 2 options - heaven or hell.
Bart Simpson says, “I’m bored with hell, and proud of it, man.” John Lennon wrote, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it is easy if you try. No hell below us - above us only sky.”
Noted “theologian” Woody Allen says, “Hell is Manhattan traffic.”
Friends, the sad thing is that “hell” has disappeared and no one even noticed its departure. We need to put hell’s picture on a milk carton and circulate it in the grocery stores of America. Try talking to someone this week about hell. Just the thought is uncomfortable. I’ll bet that many will bristle when you bring up the topic. But, you need to realize that heaven and hell each has its own zip code. (2)
Did you know that Jesus taught more about hell than heaven? Jesus taught more about the need to escape hell than He did about the need to enter heaven. You will live and last forever. Where you spend eternity is your choice. Make it today. To not choose is in reality a choice.
Never forget your destiny is eternity and your home is heaven. Psalm 119:19, reminds us that, “I am here on earth for just a little while.” (TEV)
I travel across the busiest border crossing on the planet several times a year. The trip into Tijuana, Mexico takes only minutes, but seldom less than an hour or two to exit. Those who are not citizens and come into the U.S. from Mexico to work, have to carry a green card. It is our spiritual green card that reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven.
3. Your death day is better than your birthday.
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1 KJV)
In the book Facing Death, Billy Graham tells of when he heard of the death Corrie ten Boom. She was a remarkable woman who hid Jews from the Gestapo during WW II and later was sent to the infamous Ravensbrook concentration camp. Her sister died in the camp, but Corrie was released. For more than thirty years she traveled the world telling of her experience. Corrie’s story received national attention in the movie, The Hiding Place, and in the many books she wrote.
Corrie died on her ninety-first birthday April 15, 1983. In the last few years of life her friends and co-workers made quite a celebration for her birthdays. She was bedridden and unable to speak for the last five years of her life, but she truly loved parties. As one friend said, “What a birthday party she must have had!” (3) That is exactly what Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes 7:1: our death day is better than our birthday!
The following saying, associated with programs at funerals, it is another way of declaring the same truth:
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced,
Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
(author unknown)
Is our death day really better than our birthday as the ancients have said? You be the judge. This is God’s way of looking at life. The Christian looks at death differently than the world. The Bible says, “we grieve not as one having no hope.”
Our death day is better than our birthday because of release.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who are the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23 NIV)
A whale in captivity is finally released into its natural habitat or a beautiful butterfly breaks free from its cocoon, both speak of release. Release from cramped quarters. Release from that which is unnatural. Release not just from but release to something greater. Fly away butterfly. Swim deep great whale. Dear one, run unshackled through eternity’s flowers unfettered by old age, unchained from crippling cancer, or loosened from some childhood birth defect. Run. Strut. Soar. Be loosed. Our death day is better than our birthday because of release.
Our death day is better than our birthday because of revelation.
We don’t see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then; see it all as clearly as God see us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (1 Corinthians 13:12 MSG)
Who has not had some truth from God’s Word come alive because of an insightful revelation made by Max Lucado, Tim LaHaye or Frank Peretti? These names sit on the Top 10 best seller’s list of our Christian bookstores. They are masters of revelation.
During our morning commute we turn on Insight For Living, Turning Point, or Focus On The Family, all intended to help us love God more and draw close through His Word. (By the way, years ago, a child referred to Focus On The Family as “Pocus In The Fanny.”)
The Apostle Paul says, “It’s just squinting in the fog compared to what we shall see when we see Him face to face.” A small seed becomes a beautiful flower. A tiny sapling becomes a giant cedar. A small blue robin’s egg becomes a mother building a nest for newborns. Our death day is better than our birthday because of revelation.
Our death day is better than our birthday because of relationship.
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 1:15-KJV)
Take a loved one from the presence of Christ? No way. Bring someone back to this sin-filled world? Not in your most insane moment. When we get to heaven we will be fulfilled. We will be satisfied. We will be complete. We will be home. You were created to live with God. Every other relationship is temporary and inferior at best.
Now, even though our death day is better than our birthday, most will still face death with reluctance. It’s no sign of spiritual immaturity to want to hang on to this life. Paul tells us as much about the life to come as any of God’s servants, but to the Philippians he gave this honest confession:
As long as I’m in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it is better for me to stick it out here. (Philippians 1:22 MSG)
Friend, let’s not be afraid to talk about a subject that is imminent for all of us, unless the rapture occurs first. You can find triumphant peace, you can experience victorious assurance, and you can even laugh your way through a subject that is avoided by many and yet will be experienced by everyone.
Unlike the popular play, Death Takes a Holiday, death NEVER takes a holiday. Death is the most democratic of all life experiences as Author John Heywood says, “It makes equal high and low.” (4)
Learn to live a life that God will reward.
Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value (1 Corinthians 3:12-13 NLT)
This last benefit reminds us that what you are doing today has a direct correlation on what you will experience in eternity. God is looking for every opportunity in this life to reward you in the life to come.
Rejoice and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. (Luke 6:23 NIV)
Look at those last seven words. Jesus lets you know that there is a reward coming for doing, not just believing. Jesus reminded us of this on many occasions:
Ø “He will reward each according to his works.” (Matt. 16:27)
Ø “You will have treasure in heaven.” (Matt. 19:21)
Ø “You will be blessed…for you shall be repaid at the resurrection.” (Luke 14:14)
Please note that God is chronicling everything you do each day. He keeps meticulous records. A door is opened for a stranger. A prayer is offered for a sick senior adult. A kind smile is given to a grumpy boss. At a highway exit, a couple of dollars are given to a stranger holding a sign that says, “Fallen on hard times. Vet needs help. God bless.”
The hope for eternal rewards is not “pie in the sky.” It is a theological truth that draws all servants and saints to a higher purpose than just accumulation and existence. In the moment it took to make this observation you blinked several times. Have you ever thought of how much time there is in a blink? Instant. Immediate. No transition. Now that is real time. That is how quickly you will move from earth to eternity. Then what?
Take out a piece of paper. Put a dot on the left side of the page. Put your name below that dot. Then draw a line from the dot to the end of the page. Place an arrow at the end. The dot represents your life. The linear line represents your life that goes on for eternity. Now, let the visual impact of that truth sink in for a moment. Are you getting the correlation between the dot and line? Jesus is teaching us that, “Everything that happens in that dot (about 70 years) determines all that happens on the line,” as author Bruce Wilkenson says. (5)
As one man said, “I’ve always thought about finishing well, but it turns out that death is just the starting gate.” (6)
Let me clear up one thing. Jesus’ rewards are not some kind of tip for good service, a plaque for 10 years of faithful employment, or a silver watch for 30 years of factory service. Jesus calls these rewards wages, a paycheck for clocking in daily at “God and Son’s.” Did you know that God has a business? He is in the business of taking as many people to heaven as He can. He needs all of your efforts, energies, and resources to make that happen. And you are clocking in daily.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward (lit. wages-misthos) in heaven. (Luke 6:23 NIV)
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to the foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages.” (misthos) (7) (Matthew 20:8)
Does any husband like keeping their kids while their spouse is gone for a women’s weekend? Who wants a phone call late at night that gets you out of bed to come and help neighbor or friend? Could you watch my kids? Can I borrow an egg? Could you cut your vacation short? Will you meet me early? Will you stay late? Will you let me borrow your ladder? Need I go on? I do it and you do it because, “Our Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6)
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward (misthos-wages) will be great.” (Luke 6:35)
Do you want to know what your net worth is? It is not the value of your partially paid off house. It is not the depreciated stock you’re holding on to waiting for a market recovery. It is not your boat, jewelry, or other assets. Your net worth is what you’re laboring for everyday for eternity. Why? Because God is establishing your net worth with a set of books that are not governed by General Accepted Accounting Principles. Some day you will thank me for teaching and emphasizing the doctrine of eternal rewards, for your eternity will be effected by it! Let’s go out this week and lay up treasure in heaven.
Even now the reaper draws his wages (misthos), even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. (John 4:36)
Footnote:
Today I have introduced you to the New Living Translation (NLT), published by Tyndale House Publishing, Wheaton, Illinois. Why do I use different translations? No matter how wonderful a translation is they all have limitations. The Bible was originally written using 11, 280 Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words, but the typical English translation uses only around 6000 words. Also, when we read from the same translation we will often miss the full impact because of familiarity. How many have just skipped over a verse because it was so familiar?
End Notes
1.Max Lucado. No Wonder They Call Him Savior, Multnomah Press, Sisters, Oregon, 1986, pg.
2. Larry Dixion. The Other Side of the Good News. The BridgePoint Book, Victor Books, 1992, pg. 15.
3. Billy Graham. Facing Death. Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1986, pg. 53.
4. Ibid, pg. 18
5. Bruce Wilkenson. Life God Rewards. Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, Oregon, 2002, pg. 28.
6. Ibid, pg. 29.
7. George V. Wigram and Ralph D. Winter. The Word Study Concordance. Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1972, pg. 502.
