A descent of God from the Throne of the Third Heaven, down to the heavens seen by man, and down to the clouds of the first heaven above us in this earthly atmosphere; even down to the dust and ashes upon which we walk is a great humility for the Living God Who created it all.
As if Jesus being born of ‘adam (Mary, betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth) is not humility enough – as if crucifixion for our sins is not humility enough; Jesus descended into Hell before He was raised to His former glory.
Ephesians 4:9 In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
We walk closer to Hell than the Third Heaven of our Lord God. We are nearer to perishing than to salvation.
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Do you recall the devastation of Mount St. Helens in 2008 A.D or Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii in 79 A.D.? Certainly the power and wrath of God are in evidence in current disasters: hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, even the eruption of mountains spewing out hot lava from the depths of the earth.
Can you think vertically? We walk nearer the bowels of the earth than to the Third Heaven of God.
God can wash the sea upon us, crack the earth beneath us or cover us with the ashes that were once a mountain.
Why do the nations not worship God? Why do the people refuse to follow Christ Jesus, our ONLY hope for eternal life?
Think horizontally for a brief moment in these last days:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Matthew 1 provides a genealogy of the Son of man, Christ Jesus, beginning from Abraham, the descendant of Adam. We refer to this horizontal timeline as B.C., that is: Before Christ.
2013 A.D. (from the Latin) means in the year of our Lord.
We have no problem projecting horizontally into 2014 A.D., 2030 A.D., even perhaps a time beyond our certain death like 2100 A.D.
Think ahead.
Think of Jesus Christ as the center of the Cross of grace for you. HE has descended into the depths of hell from the heights of Heaven. HE was before the beginning. HE was before His incarnation, His own death and His resurrection. HE IS.
HE was before you and I were born. HE IS now. HE will be after our death.
All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
From the futility of our earthly existence the inhabitants of the world look to our own devices and forget the God of Heaven above.
We forget that we are of dust and to dust we will return. We forget to give thanks and worship to the Lord God for the very breath of life He as breathed into our lifeless flesh. We fail to bow down to the King of the Highest Heaven above, our God Who came down to His own and laid down His Holy Life on a lowly Cross for your sins and for mine.
He IS the King of Creation, the God of all creatures, the first born ‘adam of sinlessness.
Jesus Christ IS risen into the place of His former glory.
He has promised His faithful the eternal salvation of His Heavenly Home.
Further, He will awaken all souls from the dust of our demise. He will call up the souls of all the inhabitants of the world to justice and judgment for every past sin, every unaccounted transgression. He will burn away the iniquity of the dead in the pit of eternal torment, as the forgotten faithful receive our full reward forever more.
He IS the Lamb of God, His Blood the Sacrifice of the Cross for the victory over sin and death!
6 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
You, O earth, have not given the Lord His glory.
You have not bowed down in worship to the Lord your God.
You have not acknowledged the Sacrifice of His only Son for your sake.
You do not look to the Highest Heaven and bow down to the Throne of His glory.
The people and the church do not hearken to the signs of the trumpet soon to sound.
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Raise ear to the sound of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!
Revelation 8:7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
Revelation 8:8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
Revelation 8:10The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
Revelation 9:13-14 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Let those with ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14
Matthew 10:11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
IF anyone will not listen.. Shake off the dust of your feet when you leave that house.. It will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah. + “Jesus – Matthew 10:14-15
35 For I have come to set a man against his…
… nearest and most beloved family members.
Rejection! Rejection by loved ones for taking up your cross…
His Cross… and His reward.
36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Rewards
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves…
Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you…
10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’
16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
The Light in You
Luke 11:33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light…
35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Acknowledge Christ Before Men
Luke 12:8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
You Must Be Ready
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
Not Peace, but Division
49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!
50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.
Repent or Perish
Luke 13: There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
The Narrow Door
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…
Temptations to Sin
Luke 17: And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all
— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
The Death of Jesus
Luke 23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus,calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Luke 24: Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them,“Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit…
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things…
The Ascension
50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
The Risen King has sent them out…
It will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah
A servant of the Lord comes to you. He needs a room. He needs work. He needs food. He asks for your love and friendship. And he shares Christ Jesus, his Lord with you.
He invites you to be part of His family and fellowship of lasting true love.
What will be your reward?
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Do you recall the devastation of Mount St. Helens in 2008 A.D or Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii in 79 A.D.? Certainly the power and wrath of God are in evidence in current disasters: hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, even the eruption of mountains spewing out hot lava from the depths of the earth.
