Heaven – Light from the Word

Going to the Courts of Heaven

(Job 23: 2-7; Esther 5; Zachariah 3)

“Divine justice is available to every believer”

The high priest, Joshua was found before the Lord in the courts of heaven with Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, a representation of his sins. Satan well knew about Joshua and readily stood by his side to bring accusation against him. But the Lord rebuked Satan and forgave Joshua’s sins. He said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here” (Zachariah 3). Satan had legal issues against the high priest Joshua, due to his life of sin. He never rests until he fulfills his evil desire to kill and destroy God’s people. YAHSHUA said that the devil had come to kill and destroy, but He had come to give life abundantly. After forgiving Joshua, the Lord dressed Him in the robe of righteousness and warned him to walk in obedience in order to continue in his position of serving Him. The high priest was set free from the devil’s accusations after the Lord forgave him. This experience is not unique only to Joshua; through our life’s journey on earth we too have walked in disobedience to the Lord, causing an open door for Satan to have his way against us. But John, in his first epistle, assured us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and purify us. And as He did for Joshua He will do for us too.

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Confessing That They Were Strangers

(Hebrews 11)

Faith, a thing that moves mountains, a thing that compels us to do the impossible, a thing that transforms and directs a life that embraces it, it is a thing that conquers the world. Faith is the assured feeling embed in hope and belief of the reality of things not seen, as if they existed. Faith is the force that keeps us persevering through it all in our pilgrimage on this earth. YAHSHUA, the Author and consummator of it, has given us a measure of it to uphold His promises for now and for the future. Our hope in Him is by faith that springs out from belief. There are many heroes and heroines of the faith that are suffering persecutions and many who have died for the faith in the true God. They have understood beyond doubt the true meaning of following the Savior, YAHSHUA. Their lives were and are true living sacrifices unto God, as they confessed and confess to the world that theirs is the heavenly citizenship. As those heroes and heroines of ancient times, today’s heroes and heroines of the faith, have provided the way for us to follow, carrying the torch of faith that will never be snuffed out, lightening the way for all to see beyond earthly stuff. It is a matter of our heavenly citizenship. Paul said, But our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we eagerly wait the Savior, the Lord YAHSHUA Messiah (Phil. 3:20). As patriots, we love our mother land. It is a natural thing to get attached to it, for it is where our ancestors’ roots are established. We die for it in times of war; we measure no sacrifice to display the love we have for our country. It is an emotion that goes deep into our soul. However, our permanent home is in heaven, where life after death will continue forever in a sphere of holiness and beauty, one we have never experienced before, but long for. Our love for heaven then should be of greater esteem and devotion with readiness to give our life for it.

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Things That Matter Most

(Colossians 3)

The walk of life leads us to many directions in its distractions, accomplishing a lot, sometimes, but again, not a lot of great significance. At the end of the day, we ask ourselves, What did I accomplish today? Priorities get misplaced in the order of which we favor most. The things that demand more from us are those which we dearly care about. But what do we make of Paul’s words to the Colossians? If then you have been raised with Christ…How can we have been raised with our Messiah, if we are still in this body of decay? That’s a question we must consider in our spiritual walk. For many of us Christians, there is the thought that our salvation was free and that there is nothing else we have to do. I do pity the idea, for first of all, salvation was not free for our Lord, Who paid it with His life; and it is not free for us, who must deny ourselves, carry our cross and follow Him. We are not exempt from our duty before God to do our part, if we are to be saved.

Read the words from Paul: And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory (Rom. 8: 17). To be raised with Christ, it is to have died for oneself; raised with Him is He controlling our inner being; it is losing all that has to do with one’s desires; it is, “not I, but Christ lives in me.” The mind, the control center of the body, Paul says to keep focusing on what matters most- on the things above, where YAHSHUA is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 1:1). Dead to the world, we are of no concern to it, neither should it be to us. We, believers in YAHSHUA, are seeds which went through the process of death in order to be alive. The seed that does not die, will never become a tree. In YAHSHUA’S death, he planted in us the seed of life eternal; however, it does not finish there. In dying unto self, the believer gains sanctification, which is a process to attain glorification. Without it one cannot see God. When we go through the new birth, the Holy Spirit seals us with Himself. I call this a ring that unites us with YAHSHUA, confirming our engagement with Him. And that is the most important thing we must pay attention to while in this world. Although, the human heart tends to lean more toward the things of the world than heaven’s. We must make an effort to switch the priority’s direction to heaven. Our citizenship is not of this world; the longing of every Christian should be heaven, because Paul said, Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord YAHSHUA Messiah, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Phil. 3:20-21)

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Mount Zion vs. Mount Sinai

(Exodus 19:1-20; Hebrews 12: 18-29)

“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm, and to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them” (Hebrews 12:18-19); “but rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living YAHWEH, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, to the assembly of the first born whose names have been written in heaven, to YAHWEH, who is the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, to YAHSHUA, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things that the blood of Abel” (Vs.22-24).

The difference between the experience at Mount Zion and Mount Sinai is worth noting for us to realize the wonderful grace of God toward us. When God came down to Mount Sinai to meet the people of Israel, He came expressing vehemently His holiness through fire, in a dense and black cloud that enveloped the mountain. At that time, He declared His covenant with the people and gave them the Ten Commandments. At that time, Israel had a glimpse of the extent of the holiness of God; and not being able to bear it, they begged Moses to speak to them, instead.

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