Proclamation:
“Do not let your hearts be
troubled. You believe in God; believe
also in Me … I am going … to prepare a place for you … and … I will come back
and take you to be with Me …” John 14:1-3 (NIV)
Explanation:
These are the words of Jesus,
The Christ, as recorded by the Apostle John.
Here Jesus was comforting His disciples after He had told them that He
would be leaving them and that they could not follow Him at that moment but
they would follow Him later. (John 13:36)
He had to go first in order to prepare a place for them. After He had completed that He would return
for them and take them with Him.
Application:
These are truly words of
encouragement. Jesus is coming back for His
followers, believers then and now, and He does not want us to worry in the
meantime. He has a place for us so that
we can be with Him throughout eternity. Earth is not our final destination, we are
just passing through and heaven is where we are headed. When He comes back for us, we shall be
rewarded for following Him and doing His work. "For The Son of Man shall come ... and
then He shall reward every man according to his works." (Matthew 16:27) Our works do not save us, our salvation is a
gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Our
works just determine our rewards in heaven.
Everybody in heaven will not be equal. No works down here on earth, no rewards up
there in heaven. Since we do not know
the day or the hour when He will return, (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, and Luke
12:40) we should live each day as if it were our last day on earth.
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