FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Todd Gaddis

“HE’S PREPARED A PLACE”

Those commended for their faith in Hebrews 11 did not receive fulfillment of God’s promise to them while still alive because He “had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40, emphasis added). That “something better” is heaven , which can first be described as a created place. Focusing on the word “created,” realize that there has never been a time that God wasn’t. He was, is, and always will be. The Word says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This clearly indicates that God was around before heaven ever came into being. Consider, too, the term “place.” Heaven is anything but some mystical mist floating around in the clouds or among the stars. Just hours before His crucifixion, the Lord comforted His disciples by assuring them He was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:2). According to the Bible, special saints had the opportunity to gaze upon a portion of its mystery. Isaiah caught a vision of the Lord encircled by angels while being commissioned into prophetic service (Isaiah 6:1). Stephen saw heaven open and Jesus at the Father’s right hand just moments before his death. John the Revelator viewed and recorded evidence of a literal, observable, tangible location. These and other Scriptures indicate also that heaven is the current home of God, His son Jesus, angels, and all believers who have died up to this point . God is spirit and does not need a specific place to dwell. Yet, we know He’s there because the Word says so. Solomon prayed to God, “Hear in heaven Your dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:30). Not only does God reside there, but Jesus as well. After His death, burial and resurrection, Christ entered “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). Speaking before a group of children, Jesus said , “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My

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