It seems like two or three years since I wrote the post that is below.....for it was over 300 posts ago....but it was posted one year ago. I wonder if we evangelicals ever really realize that if we had our own way....and America became....'great'....again....that it would have to be at least twenty-five or so years before we would see Jesus face to face....unless of course we died before that? God's Word speaks to us of...."birth pains"....in the last of the last days. Women could teach me about labor pains....bring some smelling salts if you do....but I understand them to be in stages. I submit to my brothers and sisters in Christ that we are right now in those labor pains that Jesus spoke to His disciples of in the Olivet Discourse....which is the passage....in Matthew 24 & 25 and Mark 13 and Luke 21....meant to specifically inform us of what to expect before He returned. Today we may go a few days of news....but not many....before we have to cry again. I would think that the Christian in the Ukraine right now....wants to see Jesus. That is just one demographic example. There are many more....but what is it that we want in the American church? When a Christian loved one dies....the first thing we might talk about is that we will see them again in Heaven....but if as in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....we enter the gate to the Celestial City....and we would see our loved one on our left....and Jesus on our right....who would we go to? I submit also to you that it would be no use going to your loved one because they would be gazing in adoration at Jesus. We need to examine our priorities....especially since those birth pains are getting closer....and more painful. Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!
"But I Want To See Jesus"
In the 80s and 90s I listened to Christian talk radio all the time....occasionally sending off an email to the host. My wife and I had a Christian bookstore in the late 90s....and these folks at the radio station worked with me on a very nice commercial for the bookstore....but I haven't listened in much over the past few decades....until today when I tuned it in on a very short drive.....to the grocery store. That is the impetus for this short post.
Kathy Keller....the wife of Tim Keller who went to be with the Lord in May of 2023....was interviewed. I got the impression that she has been on the talk show quite a few times....as the conversation was very casual. Even in this short period of time she got my attention by mentioning Puritan related biblical themes.
I'm going to try to relate this as accurately as I can remember. At one point....she is talking slowly....as if sitting around a breakfast table with the hosts. I could almost see her gazing off in the distance as she said something like this....'It's not so much that I look forward to seeing Tim in heaven....but I want to see Jesus.' And then she repeated the sentiment.
How we need to hear this exact sentiment today! It is Jesus who awaits us! Everything is Jesus! Yes....whatever the details of heaven are.....(I think that Kathy Keller used almost those same words)....meeting loved ones for one.....we will find out....and this surely would be wonderful....but this we know....the glorious Lord of our salvation....who beginning in that manger that we will soon celebrate....took on flesh....temptations and sufferings and all....and became as the lowest dreg in the minds of the people who called out...."crucify Him....crucify Him!".....and was brutally....crucified....for those elect who include a worm like me! Why? We will find out in due time....but for now....Maranatha.....Come Lord Jesus!
