Good Morning Church! Do You Know The Difference Between Eternal Life And Heaven?
It is a question I had never considered until I watched the movie, The Perfect Stranger, based on the best selling book by David Gregory.
The book supposes what it would be like to sit and have dinner with JESUS.
The story features a woman that not only doesn’t believe in GOD, but finds the Christians in her neighborhood annoying with their constant invitations to dinners, community events and worship.
When she receives an invitation to join JESUS CHRIST for dinner, she believes it is actually her husband’s idea of a practical joke, and decides to accept the invitation.
She is surprised to find a stranger waiting for her.
HE says HIS name is JESUS and proceeds to tell her everything about her life, much in the same manner as CHRIST did with the Samaritan woman at the well. (John 4)
Throughout the evening she becomes more and more intrigued and is eventually convinced that the MAN sitting with her is the SON OF GOD.
At one point in the conversation, she asks CHRIST to explain the difference between eternal life and heaven.
HIS explanation is beautiful, HE said,
“GOD is the source of your physical life and your spiritual life and both have to be sustained.”
“HE designed your physical life to need food, air and water. If your take those things away your physical life ends.”
“HE created your spiritual life to be joined with HIM and just as your physical life will end without air, food and water, your spiritual life ends without HIM.”
Eternal life is not something that begins when you die.
It begins when you are joined with HIM through CHRIST.
“And Heaven”, HE added simply, “Heaven is the place where I AM.”
As I thought about HIS answer, it reminded me of a time in my life, when just like the woman in the story, I viewed heaven and eternity much the same way she did.
I’m not sure when I began to see it differently, but I do remember the freedom I felt the moment I finally began to understand, freedom from death, meant freedom from death forever!
That is not to say, that I don’t still experience human anxiety. Especially, when health or safety concerns, arise for myself or those I love the most.
But, there is a difference in the way you live when you truly understand, and most importantly believe, that when CHRIST says HE conquered death HE did.
I also believe that part of my peace and perspective, is because I now see, that what we have waiting for us, when we pass from this life to the next, is so close we can almost touch it!
Over the last 20+ years I have studied everything I can find regarding the evidence of GOD.
For many years I struggled with my faith in GOD. I hoped everything I had been taught my entire life was real, but I had so many doubts.
To quiet my concerns I began to ask questions, hard questions, about everything related to belief in GOD, JESUS CHRIST, why we do Church the way we do, and study this book called The Bible.
I have written a lot about the many different aspects of that journey, but one I have never really dealt with, is the heavenly realm, and what I believe is happening just beyond the veil.
In Ephesians 6:12 when Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, he spoke about the battle in the heavenly realm.
At the stoning of Stephen, in Acts 7:56 scriptures records Stephen saying, “I see the heavens opened, and the SON OF MAN standing on the right hand of GOD.”
In 2 Kings 6:16, when the prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the enemy, Elisha prayed for GOD to open his servant’s eyes, to see that those with them, outnumbered those against them.
In 2 Samuel 5:24, GOD told King David, to listen for marching in the trees, as a signal, to know that HE had gone out in front of them to defeat the Philistine Army.
In Hebrews 12:1, we are told that we are surrounded by a crowd of witnesses.
In Luke 2:13, Angels filled the sky to announce the birth of JESUS.
At CHRIST’S baptism, we read in Mathew 3:16–17, that when CHRIST came up out of the water, the heavens opened and the SPIRIT OF GOD ascended like a dove, and the voice of GOD said, “This is my SON, who I love. In HIM I am well pleased.”
In Acts 1:9–12, Luke records that CHRIST was taken up into heaven in front of witnesses.
And Saul of Tarsus, was blinded by a bright light from heaven, and heard the voice of CHRIST on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9)
Even today we hear stories that give us a glimpse behind the veil.
At my home congregation, a story has circulated about one of our long time members. He was in the hospital visiting with friends, and he said he could see angels outside his window, he said, “Look! There are angels out there, and they were trying to get in.” He died later that day.
A friend of mine recalls an encounter she had as she prayed. She was undergoing intense cancer treatments. One afternoon as she knelt crying and praying, she turned around and saw JESUS! She said, “He was there kneeling and praying with her.”
There is a story Billy Graham wrote about in his book, Angels. It is about a report of sightings, believed to be angels, assisting in an air battle during World War II.
And one of the most powerful accounts of what happens just beyond the veil, is shared by Steve Saint in the epilogue of his book, The End of the Spear.
Steve’s father, Nate, was one of 5 missionaries killed by the tribesmen of the Waodani tribe in Ecuador in the 50’s.
The tribe had been completely isolated and lived under a very brutal code of violence.
The missionaries had been accepted during their initial visits.
But, one day as they landed their plane, the tribesmen came out of the jungle, with spears drawn, and killed the men before they had time to escape.
The families of the men killed returned to America, with the exception of Elizabeth Elliot, who’s husband had been one of the missionaries killed, and Rachel Saint, Nate’s sister.
Years later, when Steve returned to join his aunt, he became friends with Mincay, one of the tribesman that had killed his father and the other missionaries.
The two eventually became like family, and began sharing their story of redemption around the world.
It was during that time they also became friends with Steven Curtis Chapman, and he wrote a song dedicated to the memory of the missionaries that lost their lives.
As their relationship grew, Steven Curtis Chapman, along with his two sons, went with Steven Saint and Mincay to visit the Waodani Tribe in Ecuador.
They were there to work on some music and video projects together.
As they sat one day, talking and listening to some music Steven had written, Mincay excitedly told them, that the music he was hearing, was the same as what they heard the day they killed the missionaries, and saw the foreigners in the sky above the trees. Foreigners, is the word the tribe uses for anyone they don’t recognize, or have any familiarity with.
Mincay, a man who had spent his entire life in the jungle of Ecuador, said that he and his tribesmen, saw people in the sky and heard music that had not yet been written, on the day they killed the missionaries.
His story was verified by the other tribesmen that were there, and those who know the Waodani well have no doubt of their truthfulness. They have no point of reference to create such a story, and no reason to. They were simply sharing a testimony of what they witnessed as they looked into the sky that day, and saw Angels, just beyond the veil.
Throughout scripture, throughout life, we see the veil lifted again and again, showing us just how close we are to it all!
How close we are to those in the heavenly realm, battling on our behalf, protecting us, encouraging us, and standing by, to one day pull back the veil and welcome us home!
GOD Bless!
LaVern Vivio
January 28, 2018
