Good morning everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”
Our Bible verse for today: “So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord … In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6;8 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Immediately in the presence of the Lord”
In 2 Corinthians 5:6;8 the Apostle Paul makes it clear that the moment a Christian dies they immediately go to the current heaven to be in the presence of the Lord. Jesus alluded to this as well in Luke 23:43 when He told the repentant thief on the cross next to Him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” We also see it in Luke 16:22-32 when Jesus told the parable of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. One was in heaven and one was in hell. Both had arrived at their destinations immediately after leaving this life and both were fully conscious and aware of where they were.
Lazarus and the rich man were in the current heaven. It’s the place that both Jesus and Paul were referring to. I say “current” heaven because it is a temporary place which will one day be replaced by “the new heaven and the new earth” described in Revelation 21:1.
The current heaven is what theologians refer to as “the intermediate state.” As author Randy Alcorn explains in his book “Heaven,” “This is a transitional period between our past lives on Earth and our future resurrection life in the New Earth. Usually when we refer to “Heaven,” we mean the place where Christians go when they die. When we tell our children “Grandma’s now in heaven,” we’re referring to the intermediate heaven.”
The intermediate heaven is, by definition, temporary. Anything that is intermediate is not the final destination. How do we know the current heaven is not the forever heaven? Because the Bible tells us so. In Revelation 21:1 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away …”
What will it be like in the current heaven? In the Bible there are plenty of clues. First, we know that we will be conscious and aware of our surroundings. Lazarus and the rich man both knew who they had been in life and they remembered important details about their life. From that scene we also know that we will be recognizable for who we were in this life. So, there is direct continuity between our lives on earth and our lives in the intermediate heaven.
Also, Jesus used the word “paradise” to describe it. Instead of telling the thief on the cross that heaven is beyond description and we are incapable of understanding what it is like, He chose to use a human word that has great meaning to us and which would create an image in our minds. According to the dictionary paradise is “A place or condition of great happiness where everything is exactly as you would like it to be. Like the Garden of Eden.” Read the early chapters of Genesis. There we find real people in a real place enjoying a perfect paradise. It was paradise, and in some way that’s what the intermediate heaven is like.
There’s more we can know about the intermediate heaven and so we will continue this discussion tomorrow.
God bless,
Pastor Jim
(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville
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