OUR HEAVENLY HOME

Shelby G. Floyd

Our time on this earth is tentative. No one knows the day they will die. But we do know by divine revelation that Jesus went to prepare a place for his people (John 14:1-4). He described it as a mansion with many rooms!

The Heavenly Home

This heavenly home is for those who are now in Christ and who live like Christ lived while he was on the earth. How did Christ live?

Jesus was always aware of what was going on around him. He took the time to reach out and help the poor and needy people he contacted.

The Beggar Wanted Crumbs

In the story of Lazarus, the rich man was lost and in torment, because he was mean and cruel to the beggar. All he asked for was the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. He was hungry, full of sores, and suffering. And all he wanted was what the little dogs would eat that fell from the table (Luke 16:21; Mark 7:27-28).

The rich man fared sumptuously at a banquet every day. Evidently he was a Pharisee. And they loved money (Luke 16:14-15). And God said no one can serve God and money (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

Death Is Certain

In the course of time the beggar Lazarus died. He was tenderly carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. And this is a place of spiritual bliss! Of course, later the rich man also died. His emphasis in life was outward and material. So it was in death—he was buried. He took care of the outward man sumptuously in his life and the emphasis now is on the outward man in death.

Lost In Hades

But in the afterlife he was in torments in Hades. This means that he was lost forever. He could not go over across the great gulf to be with Lazarus. And Lazarus could send no one across the great divide to help him. He who showed no mercy while living on the earth received no mercy in the afterlife.

Now the rich man is wonderfully interested in his five brothers who live back on the earth. He wants Lazarus to warn them so they will not go to “this place of torment!”

Abraham states that this cannot be done. At this time the law of Moses and the prophets was in effect. They have Moses and the prophets to guide them and that is all they need. They evidently do not believe Moses and the prophets. But Abraham says, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Christ And The Gospel

Today, we all have Christ, the gospel, and the teaching of the apostles. And that is enough. The faith has be once delivered (Jude 3). No one is coming back to warn us! So let us all “Trust and Obey!”

Therefore remember the words of Jesus when he said,

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3).

This epitaph was found written upon a tombstone:
Remember, friend, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, soon you shall be,
Prepare for death, and follow me.

Someone comedian wrote,

To follow you, I’m not content,
Until I know which way you went!

Shelby G. Floyd, Minister, Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana.

Email: shelby@thefloyds.net