Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago, we had a 36 inch popple tree that was beginning to rot inside, and was sure to fall during a strong thunderstorm. As I didn’t want it dropping onto the rabbit hutches, Andrew and I decided to fire up the chainsaw and cut it down for firewood. I remember the wood was so rotten, that when you peeled the bark away, you could almost press your finger into the wood. After 10 minutes of cutting, the huge tree slowly started to tip over, but as it fell, we were all surprised when a huge raccoon jumped from its home, far up on top of the tree.
Later that day as we cut up the tree, I came across five baby raccoons. I didn’t want them to get killed by a predator, so I put some grocery bags on my hands and gently transferred them up by the front door of our home. They were adorable and we placed them in a makeshift nest in a cardboard box outside on the deck to keep them safe. For the next few days, during the middle of the night, one or two of them would disappear. I watched one evening when the raccoon came at dusk for the last one, picking it up by the scruff of its neck, and heading out into the woods, taking it to a brand new nest.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Like that old popple tree, this temporary world and everything in it will eventually be gone. Someday the Lord Jesus is going to return from the sky for His faithful. He will send forth His angels to redeem His saints from off of this Earth, and bring them to a new home, a place that He is creating for His faithful.
John 14:1-3 ¹ Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
That old popple tree provided a home for those little raccoons for a certain period of time, but eventually it started to wax old, just like everything on this earth. God doesn’t want anybody to perish, He wants them to repent of their sins and overcome the carnal nature. Those who do, will be taken to a brand new place that He is preparing for His saints.
Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”
2 Peter 3: 8-13 ⁸ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. ¹¹ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, ¹² Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
With the arrival of this new heavenly home, this world and everything in it will be quickly forgotten.
Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”
Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Any earthly inheritance that one may obtain, is only temporary. Moses turned away from all of the riches and wealth of Egypt because the new kingdom that is coming is eternal.
1 Peter 1:3-4 ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
The elect of God will not be forgotten, because the angels will come to retrieve them from off of the Earth.
Matthew 24:30-31 – And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ¹³ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.”
So again, like our old popple tree that had to be cut down, this world and everything in it will eventually be too. But the children of God do not have to be dismayed. Someday the Lord Jesus will return for His faithful, taking them to a brand new home, a place that He is creating for His faithful.
I think about this every time I remember our…
….. Five Little Raccoons
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
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