Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “But based upon his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Earth will still be earth, only new”   As we continue to consider what life in eternity is going to be like for us in our resurrection bodies, it really is important to understand that the new earth is going to be like the current earth, only perfect.   Author Randy Alcorn did a good job explaining this in his excellent book “Heaven”: “By calling the New Earth “earth,” God emphatically tells us it will be earthly, and thus familiar. Otherwise, why call it Earth? … the word “new” is an adjective describing a noun. The noun is the main thing. A new car is first and foremost a car. A new body is mainly a body. A new Earth is mainly an Earth … The Earth spoken of in Scripture is the Earth we know – with dirt, water, rocks, trees, flowers, animals, people, and a variety of wonders. An Earth without these things would not be Earth.”   Christian poets, authors, and songwriters have often described this earth as just a shadow of the one to come and that in this world we get glimpses of the next. Biblically that is accurate. This world gives us a foretaste of what’s to come. Think about the things that bring you the most pleasure and joy in this world – the beauty of a sunset, the magnificence of the Grand Canyon, colorful flowers, laughing babies, the taste of ice cream. Now magnify those joys and pleasures millions of times and you begin to get a feel for how great eternity on the new earth in a resurrection body is going to be.   I once read a statement written by “The Old Country Preacher” Dr. J. Vernon McGee. He was commenting on what he believed eternity will be like for us in our resurrection bodies. Dr. McGee was fascinated by outer space – the planets, stars, and galaxies. He always wanted to be an astronaut who could explore deep space. So, his fantasy for eternity was to spend the first 10,000 years just enjoying being in the presence of Jesus, and the second 10,000 going from planet to planet, star to star, galaxy to galaxy, exploring the wonders of God’s amazing universe.   I don’t know if Dr. McGee will get to do that or not, but I think he is probably not far off in his imaginings about the possibilities that will be available to us in that day.   Next, we will consider who we will get to do all those amazing things with.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time …” 1 Corinthians 15:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The new earth in your resurrection body”   The primary reason Jesus remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection was to provide physical proof of His resurrection. His followers in those days had the almost impossible task of spreading the new Christian faith and starting churches in communities across the land, and they were to do it in the face of skepticism and opposition. So, they needed to have their faith bolstered by having personal, physical encounters with the resurrected Jesus.   But that’s not the only reason He stayed on earth for that time. As was true of Jesus’ entire earthly life, one of His purposes on earth was to teach us lessons through His personal example. That’s true of His forty extra days on earth too.   In his very helpful book “Heaven,” author Randy Alcorn proposes that, “Jesus walked the earth in his resurrection body for forty days, showing us how we would live as resurrected beings. In effect, he also demonstrated “where” we would live as resurrected beings – on Earth.”   The resurrected Jesus walked the earth. His feet touched the dirt road and the dust got between His toes. He walked on a beach and felt the sand beneath His feet. The resurrected Jesus talked to people, and they talked to Him. He started a campfire, He cooked a meal for His friends, and at one point we even see Him eating. His was a resurrected body that was both physical and spiritual, and in it He experienced physical earthly things. That is probably a picture of what eternity will be like for us in our resurrection bodies.   But this is different from what people normally assume will be true about our existence in eternity. We assume that eternity means a non-earth; that it is some kind of mystical spiritual ghost-like existence. But that’s not the picture the Bible gives us. Instead, the Bible describes a new-earth, not a non-earth. It is a new earth that is like the current earth in many ways and which will therefore be familiar to us. In John 14:1-3 Jesus seems to be telling us that we will feel right at home there.   Spending eternity in our resurrection bodies on a new and redeemed earth is going to be fascinating and exciting. There will be much exploring, learning, and activities to keep us occupied. What kinds of exploring, learning, and activities – and with whom? That’s a good question and we will spend some time considering it in the devotionals yet to come.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is you victory? Where death, is your sting? “ 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Welcome to eternity!”   As a result of our extensive study of the important doctrine of salvation, we now know that salvation consists of three parts. It begins with the moment of decision when you open your heart and place your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. It continues with the “working out” of your salvation, as the Apostle Paul wrote about in Philippians 2:12-13. This is the lifelong transformation known as sanctification. The third pard is the consummation of our salvation and it occurs in two stages. The first is when this mortal body dies and we arrive in heaven with the spiritual stature that will be ours for eternity. The consummation is finalized when all believers receive their resurrection bodies. That’s what we are reading about in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 above.   In that passage, Paul reveals some intriguing details about what that day will be like. For those Christians who are still alive on earth when Jesus returns, Paul says those folks will not experience the physical death of their mortal bodies. Instead, they will simply rise to meet Christ in the air and they will instantaneously go from being in their mortal bodies into their resurrection bodies.   We also learn in this passage that those who have died and whose mortal bodies turned to dust will now be raised and reunited with their spirit, but in a resurrection body. Somehow, miraculously, the Lord gathers and reclaims all the scattered elements of what had been your mortal body. He then re-forms and raises the body, unites it with your spirit which has been with Him in the intermediate heaven for all this time, and instantly transforms it into a perfected resurrection body that will live for eternity.   When Paul writes that the corrupt mortal body must be clothed with incorruptibility and immortality, he’s simply emphasizing the point that the old mortal body just won’t do for life in an eternal paradise. We need that resurrection body so we can fully enjoy what the Lord has in store for us. This is the consummation of our salvation. Our spirit joined with a perfected resurrection body enjoying eternity in a perfect paradise. Welcome to eternity!   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “It just a question of the sequence”   When it comes to end times theology, it’s important for us to acknowledge that there are differing interpretations of the applicable Scriptures and the actual sequence of events. That is certainly true regarding the two passages we will consider in the devotionals for today and tomorrow. They are 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (above) and 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 (tomorrow). Both pertain to believers being united with Christ and the dead in Christ rising. The debate revolves around whether these passages describe the same event or two events separated by seven years.   In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 Paul writes about an event that occurs seven years before the battle of Armageddon and the defeat of Satan. It is the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period which brings humanity to the end of history. At the beginning of this seven-year period will be the event known as “the rapture.” We read here that at that time, the saints in Christ who are still alive will meet the Lord in the air. They will not experience the death of their mortal bodies but will instead be taken out of the world and instantly transported to be with Jesus.   But we also read in this passage that before those who are still alive at that time are taken up, the dead in Christ will rise to meet Him in the air as well. But as we have already learned, when a Christian dies their spirit is released from their mortal body and goes to be with Christ in the intermediate heaven. So spiritually, the dead in Christ are already with Christ. Since that is the case, when this passage describes the dead in Christ rising from the earth to meet Him in the air it must be referring to their mortal bodies being reclaimed by Jesus, brought up to Him, and being reunited with their spirits which were already with Him. If so, then what we are reading about here is the saints in Christ receiving their resurrection bodies at the time of the rapture.   This is what the confusion and debate is about. There are those who believe the resurrection body is given only after the old earth and the old heaven have been replaced with a new earth and a new heaven at the end of time. But 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 seems to suggest otherwise (and so does 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 if we read it as also describing the rapture). However, there are those who believe 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 describes a second event – the coming of Christ at the end of time, and the dead in Christ who are arising then are those who came to faith in Jesus during the time of the seven-year tribulation period after the rapture.   I personally don’t believe those two passages are clear enough for any of us to be dogmatic about it. And honestly, I’m not very worried about it either. Whatever way it plays out will be okay with me. If I die before the rapture, I will go to heaven. If I’m still alive at the time of the rapture, I’m confident that I will be taken then. And at some point, in the Lord’s perfect timing, I will receive my resurrection body. The rest is just a matter of sequencing and I’m not particularly concerned about it – and you don’t need to be either. As long as you have been saved, the rest is just a matter of the sequence.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Will you be like Casper the Friendly Ghost?”   If you’re as old as I am then you probably remember the old children’s cartoon “Casper the Friendly Ghost”. Casper was a ghost, but he was a happy and friendly ghost and he had a good time interacting with people in the physical world.   Some Christians have the false idea that in eternity we will all be like Casper, a spirit/ghost. A nice ghost, but a ghost none-the-less. But that’s wrong. There isn’t much debate among Bible scholars that we will spend eternity in a glorious resurrection body. Virtually everyone agrees that is what the Bible teaches. It’s true that we don’t know a lot about what that body will be like, but the Bible is clear that we will have one, and the Bible does give us some clues about what it will be like.   In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul tells us that Jesus will transform our lowly bodies into something like His glorious body. So, what was the glorious resurrection body of Jesus like? If we look at the concluding chapters of each of the four gospels, we find that we are given descriptions of Jesus in His resurrection body. We read that He was recognizable for the person He had been in life. We also see that He was physical, “Touch me and see; because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have …” The resurrected Jesus also ate food, He conversed with people, and he lit a fire and cooked breakfast for His disciples.   But we also find in those scenes that His body had spiritual qualities not associated with our current physical bodies. For instance, He could appear and disappear in an instant. He could pass through doors and walls. And finally, His entire resurrection body – physical and spiritual, rose and ascended up into heaven. Paul says that our resurrection bodies will be something like that. Exactly like that? I don’t know, but something like that.   There will probably be many surprises in store for you with respect to your resurrection body. There will be characteristics of it that you never would have imagined, and it will be capable of things you never would have guessed. But you will still be you – redeemed and perfect, but still you and enjoying eternity in a redeemed and perfected world.   The great Bible scholar and author Dr. R.A. Torrey wrote, “We will not be disembodied spirits in the world to come, but redeemed bodies, in a redeemed universe.”   No, you will not be like Casper the Friendly Ghost.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme or this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “(He) will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:21 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Just a quick leapfrog over the tombstone”   Hardly a day goes by without me hearing about someone suffering from some physical ailment that is causing them pain, discomfort, or disability. Many of the aches and pains people suffer from are minor. Some of them are simply symptoms of aging and they have to be accepted and adjusted to. But others are the result of accidents or disease and they are much more serious. Those require medical attention.   Regardless of the cause and severity of the physical issue, the fact is that to some extent living means suffering and the longer we live, the more we will suffer. Over time our bodies age and slowly decline until one day, they cease to function altogether. That’s just life. Hopefully as individuals we do everything we can to stay as healthy as we can for as long as we can. But still, over time your body will decline, break down, and eventually it will die.   Fortunately, we have something much better to look forward to – the resurrection body.  The day will come in eternity when Jesus will resurrect your old physical body, re-form it into something glorious and perfect which will have both physical and spiritual qualities (similar to His resurrection body). What age will your new, perfect, resurrection body be? We don’t know. Some have speculated that we will all be a lean, muscular, perfectly toned and perfectly healthy twenty-five-year-old for all eternity.   Author Joni Eareckson Tada (who has spent her entire adult life in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic) wrote in her book “Heaven: Your Real Home,” “One day no more bulging middles or balding tops. No varicose veins or crow’s-feet. No more cellulite or support hose. Forget the thunder thighs and highway hips. Just a quick leapfrog over the tombstone and it’s the body you have always dreamed of. Fit and trim, smooth and sleek.”   Biblically, I think it will take more than just a “quick leapfrog over the tombstone.” I’m pretty sure there’s more of a delay than that, but her point is well-taken – the resurrection body is going to be glorious. I can’t wait to get mine!   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “Then I saw a new heaven … and the first heaven had passed away … I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Revelation 21:2 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Will it be two places or one?”   For almost two months we have been reviewing the important doctrine of salvation from start-to-finish. We are considering it from the moment we professed our faith in Jesus until the moment we are finally the people we will be in eternity in the place we will be for eternity. We’ve covered a lot of ground and we are almost there. Today we will consider the relationship between the new heaven and the new earth.   There is debate among Bible scholars regarding the question of whether the new heaven and the new earth are separate places or if they are different terms for the same place. There is some thought that in the new creation heaven and earth are merged by God into a single place.   I personally don’t think the Bible gives us enough information about it to be dogmatic in our answer. We do know that the intermediate heaven (the place deceased Christians are at now), ceases to exist in that day. There will be a new heaven. We also know that there will be a new earth that will in many ways be a better and perfected version of the current earth. And from Revelation 21:2 we learn that as the new earth is being created, God will create a new city of Jerusalem which will occupy a prominent place on the new earth.   Additionally, we know from Revelation 21:3 that God will dwell with His people where they are, “Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.”   Randy Alcorn takes the position that: “God will bring heaven and earth together into the same dimension, and with no wall of separation, nor armed angels to guard heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind. God’s perfect plan is to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head – Christ.”   Whether the new heaven and the new earth are separate places or a single location created from the merging of the two may be open to debate. But what is clear from a careful study of Scripture is that our eternal existence will be very much like our life on earth, in a perfected earth-like place, we will be with God, and we will have perfected resurrection bodies. Tomorrow we will think about what those resurrection bodies will be like.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 21:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Like earth but better”   As we continue to explore the consummation of the salvation process, we now come to the final fulfillment of consummation. The first part was the time we spend in the intermediate heaven after the death of our physical body. But that is not our final state for the rest of eternity. Instead, we will spend eternity in the new heaven and the new earth and in a new resurrection body.   The first thing we need to understand about our eternal existence is that it will be a real existence in a real place. In the Bible, it is described for us in ways and using terms that we can relate to and understand. God doesn’t promise us a non-earth but a new earth. And He doesn’t promise us the old heaven but a new heaven. We will evidently move freely between both, but most of our time will be spent on the new earth.   Personally, I’m pretty excited about this because I love earth. I love the ocean and the crashing waves; I love the mountains and the snowcapped peaks; I enjoy watching a sunrise and a sunset. I also enjoy beautiful flowers, bubbling creeks, and butterflies. It’s fun to watch a puppy playing with a toy, and it warms my heart to see people smiling and to hear them laugh. There is so much about the earth that I love and enjoy and they are things I would like to continue enjoying for all eternity.   The good news is that we will. The Bible describes the new earth in terms we can relate to from what we know and experience here on the current earth (For an expanded study on this subject I recommend Randy Alcorn’s excellent book, “Heaven”). Even a quick read of Revelation chapters twenty-one and twenty-two is enough to convince us of the similarities between the old earth and the new earth. In those chapters the new earth is described with images of atmosphere, mountains, water, trees, people, houses, buildings, streets, and even entire cities. Other passages in both the Old and New Testaments speak of animals, feasting, and music.   The picture the Bible paints of the new earth is essentially a new Garden of Eden – but a greatly enhanced Garden of Eden. Imagine if sin had never entered the world and if creation, including people and civilization, had continued to advance and grow for thousands of years in absolute perfection. Now you have a glimpse of what the new earth might be like. Randy Alcorn writes,   “Some of the best portrayals I’ve seen of the eternal heaven are in children’s books. Why? Because they depict earthly scenes, with animals and people playing, and joyful activity. The books for adults, on the other hand, often try to be philosophical, profound, ethereal, and otherworldly. But that kind of Heaven is precisely what the Bible doesn’t portray as the place where we will live forever.”   The picture we are given of what our eternal existence will be like is fascinating and inviting. Therefore, we will continue exploring it 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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “For I will create a new heaven and a new earth …” “Isaiah 65:17 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Returning to Eden”   Bible scholar Albert Wolters once wrote, “It is quite striking that virtually all of the basic words describing salvation in the Bible imply a return to an originally good state or situation.” The entire salvation process – all three stages of it (past, present, and future), are intended by God to return His people to the state that was enjoyed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That will be fully accomplished in eternity when we have been given our resurrection bodies and our salvation has then been completely consummated on the new earth.   The completion of God’s plan requires a new heaven and a new earth for our new bodies to spend eternity in. The old heaven and the old earth just won’t do. It will literally be a return to Eden. God has been talking to us about this truth for thousands of years. He said it through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 65:17 above. There are also more than 100 other verses in both the Old and New Testaments that point to this. Our eternal existence will be on a new and perfect earth.   If you’re like me and you enjoy life on this present earth, then you will be excited about spending forever on a new earth – but one that is a perfect paradise. There are many passages scattered throughout the Bible which give us some insight into what the new earth will be like, and all of them use words and descriptions from the current earth to help us understand. Revelation chapters twenty-one and twenty-two are by far the most complete of those passages.   In those passages we read about a resurrected mankind, a redeemed earth, no pain, no grief, no tears. There is no sin and there is perfect harmony. We read of trees and rivers, buildings and streets and cities, animals and mankind living together in peace. The land is fertile and there is bountiful vegetation and fruit. In other passages we read that we will be recognizable for who we were in this life and we will reside in dwellings. We also read about feasting and fellowship and a lot more.   In the Bible God used realities from the current earth to help us understand what the new earth will be like. This is important because it’s the nature of our eternal existence that is being described, and now we know that the current earth is filled with clues about what the new earth will be like.   There is more we can know about the new earth and our return to Eden therefore, we will continue this 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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.” Revelation 6:9-12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “It’s a temporary state”   In Revelation 6:9-12 we are reading about some Christian martyrs who had been killed for their faith and who have been waiting in the intermediate heaven for the fulfillment of all things. Like much in the book of Revelation, this passage includes some strange imagery that is not easily explained. But in his book “Heaven,” author Randy Alcorn did an excellent job of drawing some insights from this scene which help us to better understand some important truths about the intermediate heaven.   1. When these people died, they obviously left earth and relocated to heaven. 2.  They remembered their lives on earth. 3. They were fully conscious and aware of themselves, others, God, and the situation on earth. 4. They were free to communicate with God. 5. They asked God a question and they received an answer. That means that even though they were in heaven, they did not know everything and there was still learning going on. Evidently, in heaven we continue to explore and learn things. 6. The fact that they were given white robes to wear could be symbolic language, but it could also indicate that each individual has a form that is something more than we would normally think a spirit would have. They were recognizable and they were clothed. 7. There was a strong sense of family ties with “brothers and sisters.”   It’s unlikely that this was a unique group with a special experience that no one else would have. All people depicted in the Bible are real people who are like the rest of us and who are representative of the rest of us. Normally what’s true for them is also true for us. So, it’s safe to assume that in many ways their experience is similar to what ours will be.   We’ve now spent several days considering the intermediate heaven. But since it is a temporary destination for us, I think we have now spent enough time thinking about it. Therefore, we will now move on to thinking about the New Heaven, the New Earth, and our resurrection bodies.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571