In The Morning!

[Steven]

Peace and Blessings,

I pray this finds you Blessed and Prospering in the Peace and Grace of
God!! This is the first "Word Talk" I have done in a very long time but was
compelled to do this one by the hand of God. Many times we find ourselves
saddened when a loved one passes into rest; but I submit to us all that we
remember what the Word says about when we should mourn and when we should
rejoice!

Let us look at John 5:24,25! Here we witness the Words of Jesus Himself
saying, " Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth
on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, Verily, I say unto
you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Then verse 28- 29 say this: " Marvel
not this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;"

The afore mentioned verses are foreshadows what Paul speaks of in I
Thessalonians 4:16-17 when he speaks of that great getting up morning when
Christ will come with a shout!!!  I would encourage us to look more closely at
the same chapter but verse 13 where Paul states: " But I would not have you
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others that have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God
bring with him."

Paul is saying here that those of us who have believed at any point in our
life, that God would raise us in the same way He raised Jesus. You may ask how
do I come up with that from the statement Paul makes? Well because of other
statements made that we often misunderstand, I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." Please understand that John was not speaking or writing to
"sinners" but to believers, we know that we as believers do sometimes "fall
short of the Glory of God."

The final point I want to make in this Word Talk is to clarify what happens
after death; many of us are taught to believe that we go to heaven after we die
but the Bible does not say this at all, but it does speak extensively about two
places one is called Sheol which is mentioned in the Old Testament (Hebrew) and
the other Hades which is talked about in the New Testament (Greek), it is
believed that these places are actually hell but they are not. Simply stated,
Sheol and Hades translate into grave or according Strong's and Easton's Bible
Dictionary/Concordance. When we die we go to the Grave and stay there in our
resting state until Christ decides to wake us!

Please know that in these short paragraphs I have only scratched the
surface in this vast subject but the key points have been discussed, if only
briefly here. I pray that you will not simply take my Word for it, pray and ask
God to illuminate His Word unto you and that He will open the treasures of His
Word and allow us to continue to find nuggets, gems, and precious stones of His
Wisdom.