FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Faith Essentials

“REST FROM YOUR LABOR”

Adding to the bliss is the rest we’ll experience in heaven . Since the Fall, man has had to obtain food by the sweat of his brow. (Genesis 3:19). I believe this curse extends and applies, in general, to survival/making a living. Everywhere I go, I see people burning candles at both ends. Family, career, and community responsibilities are smothering us. Church can exhaust us if we’re not careful. I know many people who’ve literally worn themselves out by taking care of others. Heaven provides relief from such toil. In the midst of one of John’s visions, a voice said, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘so that they my rest from their labors’” (Revelation 14:13, emphasis added). This is not to say that saints will spend eternity lounging on clouds, in a constant state of retirement and inactivity. There will be lots to “do” in heaven. Fortunately, we won’t wear ourselves out in the process. Finally, heaven as it currently exists is a temporary place . This might raise a few eyebrows, since we’re used to thinking of heaven as eternal and endless. Yet, as bestselling author Randy Alcorn states and Scripture affirms, “The intermediate Heaven is not our final destination. Though it will be a wonderful place, the intermediate Heaven is not the place we were made for—the place God promises to refashion for us to live in forever.” 4 For the believer, intermediate heaven serves as a stopping over point between death and Christ’s return to the earth. This is called the disembodied state. When we die, our spirits depart our temporal earth suits and go into the presence of the Lord. Before Jesus died on the cross he called out loudly, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Why did He not say, “Father, into your hands I commit my body? The reason is, His body was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb. Three days later He came forth from the

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