Wow - Jesus Christ. What an amazing name and what an amazing prophecy. Jesus Christ, is the Savior and he is GOD! I don't know. Something about that makes me stand in awe. Wholly God, wholly man and One incredible purpose! I had a moment that I've rarely had where I desired above all else to just see him. I desired that I could have had the chance to know him as he humbly walked this earth before his death. Then I flashed to a concept (which I've always wanted to try to write) that's always made me giggle and yet humbly stand in reverent fear of God.
This is my interpretation of the reunion of all the saints in heaven. I don't believe this conversation would ever happen because I don't believe complaining and comparison is present in heaven, but I feel it represents a reality of all of our lives - our tendency to compare to other points in time and thinking things would be different.
When we meet in Heaven
Israelites (Old Testament period) -
Yes, we saw God move in powerful ways over the years. But life was hard in those days. We knew God only as the great "I am". We knew him as Adonay or YHWH or even Elohim. We saw his hand bring us out of Egypt, provide a cloud for us to follow, and bread from heaven to eat. We had a faint idea that He would save us but didn't understand what it fully meant. Overtime, we learned what God expected of us from our fathers- Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and then the prophets foretold us that a savior would come. We knew we were a nation set a part to be holy. If only we had known of Jesus by name, we never would have struggled and tested God so often. We tried to follow a law that never saved us. We trusted in God's promises though that a savior would come. We did not know His name, so we studied the law, watched for signs, and waited. For years and years we waited. If only........
New Testament Jewish/Gentile Christians -
Oh man, it was impossible not to be impacted by who Jesus was! So many had known him personally and they had that precious memory. Many more of us had never known him or understood him while he walked the earth but we heard the stories over and over of who he declared himself to be, how he lived, how he died, and most amazing - how he rose again! We had the Holy Spirit within us teaching and equipping us to do good works as well. But it was hard- we didn't have the Bible as you later Christians had it. We had the Torah but that only led to confusion and trouble for the Gentile Christians. Surely if we would have had the opportunity to study Paul's letters and the rest of the New Testament it would have been easier to follow Christ. Surely if we would have had years of church history to study and understand we would have better understood the human condition. If only we would have had what you.......
Modern day 20th century Christians
Oh man, the Bible is such an amazing gift from our Lord to us. We used it to study, to pray, seek understanding, and we grew in our understanding of who Christ was/is within the beautiful words of that book. We taught one another how to live and we listened to hundreds of sermons and ready many books based off of the teachings of the Bible. We read the in depth works of classic theologians. Some spent years earning a degree in the study of various Christian principles. The Holy Spirit didn't seem as active as we read about in the book of Acts but He was certainly with us - moving and teaching us. It wasn't the same as seeing God first hand part the red sea, or to have seen Jesus himself wow. If ONLY! If only we had seen Him in person, then things would have been different! Or even to have experienced God parting the red sea...surely we would have been different. We knew the end was coming based off our understanding of the Bible but over 2,000 years had past - complacency was always a struggle.
God's reply to all of us -
You each had a role to play. Where you found yourself in time and place was not the important fact. You each had to make a choice with the knowledge you had, experiences you had, and the Spirit's leading. It was never all about you but it was about revealing my glory in the grandest story told over all time. My grace is more than enough to cover over all of your sins and errors. You each chose to trust in my Son, Jesus and thus, my plan of redemption was brought about. There are no "if onlys" when I am the author and finisher of the story.
So, since we are still living, I think this is the moral of the story -
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. - Ecclesiastes 12:13
Yes, we saw God move in powerful ways over the years. But life was hard in those days. We knew God only as the great "I am". We knew him as Adonay or YHWH or even Elohim. We saw his hand bring us out of Egypt, provide a cloud for us to follow, and bread from heaven to eat. We had a faint idea that He would save us but didn't understand what it fully meant. Overtime, we learned what God expected of us from our fathers- Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and then the prophets foretold us that a savior would come. We knew we were a nation set a part to be holy. If only we had known of Jesus by name, we never would have struggled and tested God so often. We tried to follow a law that never saved us. We trusted in God's promises though that a savior would come. We did not know His name, so we studied the law, watched for signs, and waited. For years and years we waited. If only........
New Testament Jewish/Gentile Christians -
Oh man, it was impossible not to be impacted by who Jesus was! So many had known him personally and they had that precious memory. Many more of us had never known him or understood him while he walked the earth but we heard the stories over and over of who he declared himself to be, how he lived, how he died, and most amazing - how he rose again! We had the Holy Spirit within us teaching and equipping us to do good works as well. But it was hard- we didn't have the Bible as you later Christians had it. We had the Torah but that only led to confusion and trouble for the Gentile Christians. Surely if we would have had the opportunity to study Paul's letters and the rest of the New Testament it would have been easier to follow Christ. Surely if we would have had years of church history to study and understand we would have better understood the human condition. If only we would have had what you.......
Modern day 20th century Christians
Oh man, the Bible is such an amazing gift from our Lord to us. We used it to study, to pray, seek understanding, and we grew in our understanding of who Christ was/is within the beautiful words of that book. We taught one another how to live and we listened to hundreds of sermons and ready many books based off of the teachings of the Bible. We read the in depth works of classic theologians. Some spent years earning a degree in the study of various Christian principles. The Holy Spirit didn't seem as active as we read about in the book of Acts but He was certainly with us - moving and teaching us. It wasn't the same as seeing God first hand part the red sea, or to have seen Jesus himself wow. If ONLY! If only we had seen Him in person, then things would have been different! Or even to have experienced God parting the red sea...surely we would have been different. We knew the end was coming based off our understanding of the Bible but over 2,000 years had past - complacency was always a struggle.
God's reply to all of us -
You each had a role to play. Where you found yourself in time and place was not the important fact. You each had to make a choice with the knowledge you had, experiences you had, and the Spirit's leading. It was never all about you but it was about revealing my glory in the grandest story told over all time. My grace is more than enough to cover over all of your sins and errors. You each chose to trust in my Son, Jesus and thus, my plan of redemption was brought about. There are no "if onlys" when I am the author and finisher of the story.
So, since we are still living, I think this is the moral of the story -
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. - Ecclesiastes 12:13
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