Death, The Joy to Come, the meaning of Hope and the nature of Abba God.

I enjoyed the metaphor of seeing a loved one at the airport. That feeling is always evident when I met my wife at the airport after prolonged absence from home especially during my 2 year stint in Australia for my masters degree. I believe the same would happen if Jesus receives me at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. I also believe that Jesus would be even happier than me when we meet.

Recently, I went through something that got me thinking. I got attack of the Kidney stones. To some people, the pain from kidney stones is so painful it is only second to child birth. Since I am not a woman and thus do not have the capacity to give birth, then it is true that we guys would have experience extreme pain in the form of Kidney stone 'invasion'. Of course there is the other extreme pain of a slower and deadly kind: cancer. Both of which would cause one to call out for help to the Lord.

I guess Jeremiah went through something that cause him to react as such and I share his sentiments exactly some point in that process of pain.

Why do I keep on suffering? Why are my wounds incurable? Why won't they heal? Do you intend to disappoint me like a stream that goes dry in the summer?"
(Jeremiah 15:18)

So what am I trying to share here?

Well...in short: death, hope & joy. The pain to me was so extreme that the first thing that I did was to call on the Lord and remind myself through the Isaiah verse on healing

(ASV) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

So what happened next? The pain was not relieved, I have to call an ambulance to get to the hospital. I kept praying, I kept rebuking the devil that he has no right to harm me in Jesus' name, I keep pleading with the Lord to relieve the pain.

But while in the ambulance, that 10 min ride feels like an eternity in hell with that unbearable pain. All of a sudden, a thought came into my mind. "God if it is your Will, bring me home now!" I may never know if that's a desperate cry of relieve or just that I believe that God will receive me into heaven where it is definitely a better place than the pain that I am in.

On reflection, it is a really a little of both. And on deeper reflection I asked myself why I am so ready to go to heaven. I would assume since I am so young, so many things to do, have kids, enjoy some life with family and friends. So normally people would fight, so why didn't I?

Then it occur to me that Jesus is so real in my life that whatever He says about heaven is real as well. I believe that a mansion is waiting for me. I believe that I will get a new body where no such 'nonsense' would happen again. I believe that communion with God will be an extreme joyous experience in heaven.

So there is Hope, the positive expectation of good things to occur, especially when God is so good to me despite my weaknesses. And it is this Hope that allows me to see death as the only obstacle towards the attainment of a better life. But now even death is conquered by Christ! The only way that we would not see death is the Lord comes for us who are alive now on earth and I believe it will be really soon.

By the very fact that I am in extreme pain, it causes me to see something that is so unique to the Hope that we have in Jesus. This Hope will happen despite what will happen to us even in death....because we have this Hope, that's why we have the unspeakable JOY in ALL circumstances. This Joy is not manufactured by us, it is given through the real knowledge of who God is. And this Hope will not disappoint...

This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us.
(Romans 5:5)

Some people would say, "Hey God is testing you through pain. You will learn something out of it." Well, my perspective of God is my Abba in heaven is so good to me that He has sent His son to die for me. So why would such a father bring bad things upon me when He has sacrificed his son. It just does not make sense.

Either God has to be good or He has not decided how to act consistently. Since God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6) so He has to be consistently good all the time, everytime. If that is so, then it is not in God's nature to give pain or even allow pain to happen after Jesus redemptive work on the cross.

How would someone hang unto God through Hope if God is inconsistent in the dealings with His creation, especially the redeemed ones?

Yes I have learnt something about death, the hope to come and the joy that emerges. But I have learn something even more important: it is NOT God who gives me the pain. Why? A loving Father would not punish His children whose sins, in the past, in the present and in the future, are already forgiven. So what is left for us? If it is not punishment then the opposite is true: reward.

And to me that reward of faith will give us the ultimate reward one can have: eternal life (John 3:16). For this very reason, Christ the babe comes from heaven unto earth.

So what happened to Jeremiah after he complained about the pain?

Jeremiah 15:19-21
(19) To this the LORD replied, "If you return, I will take you back, and you will be my servant again. If instead of talking nonsense you proclaim a worthwhile message, you will be my prophet again. The people will come back to you, and you will not need to go to them.
(20) I will make you like a solid bronze wall as far as they are concerned. They will fight against you, but they will not defeat you. I will be with you to protect you and keep you safe.
(21) I will rescue you from the power of wicked and violent people. I, the LORD, have spoken."

So Jeremiah need to go back to God for His protection (v21). What's more now we are perpetually in Christ, so the protection is ever present, guaranteed by God

By the way, God has better plans for me (Jer 29:11) and I got healed very fast (hospitalised 4.30am, OK at 8am). Thank God those stones are not 1 carat diamonds!

It is very interesting that a brush with excruciating pain, gives birth to a fresh revelation of God. I hope that by my sharing, blessings will come forth especially when we again celebrate the birth of Christ and looking forward to the return of Christ.