Friday, August 12, 2016
When hearing or learning of some notable event in history, do you often remark to yourself or those around you, “I sure would have liked to have been there on that day.” ? For me, one of those events is found in the 14th Chapter of the gospel of John. Right before His appointment with the cross of Calvary and His subsequent resurrection, Jesus gathered His Disciples to tell them the news and to prepare them for his return back to the Father. In other words, He was going to leave them. And because He knew this was going to be an extremely difficult time for them, He told them not to be troubled, to believe in Him as they believed in God. Then He told them about preparing a place for them in Heaven so that one day they could join Him there. When He said: “You know the way to the place where I am going, Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (verses 4-5)
On a human standpoint, we can’t fault Thomas for his reaction to Christ’s words. After all, if someone were to tell us to go to a place where we have never been, would it be outrageous to say “how do I get there”? On the other hand, we can fault him for not paying attention when Jesus had said previously, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (verse 3) If Thomas had been attentive and had focused on Jesus’ promise to personally come back for them and take them to Heaven, how to get there would not have been an issue.
My dear brethren in Christ, this is one promise we can rest upon and rejoice over. If it was our assignment to go to Heaven on our own, we wouldn’t even know where to start, much less find it. Someone may have wondered why I just said previously that Jesus promised to personally come back for His Disciples. Could He have not sent angels for them instead? Certainly, but if Jesus said “He” was going to come back for them, that’s exactly what He was going to do. And that is the basis of all God’s promises; if He said it, He will do it. I pray we will all learn to trust and rely on His promises daily. They are like money in the bank and are there for us to use them whenever the need arises. Whatever your situation is today, if it worries or concerns you more than it should, remember that there is a promise for it.
God’s promise for today: (1 Thessalonians 4:16) “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
