We reference from time to time that when we get to heaven there will be no more tears or death and the scripture we draw that truth from is Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Luke 7:11-17 shows a time when Jesus brought back someone from the dead and wiped away the tears in real-time. Luke 7: 11 Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
The young man was dead and they were in the middle of his funeral procession. Jesus saw his mother grieving and his heart "overflowed" with compassion for her. So did He walk away saying "I feel sorry for her?" NO! Jesus reacted as only He can do. Jesus first shouts out "Don't Cry." He then walks over to the coffin and touches it and the pallbearers stop. Then Jesus says "I tell you, get up!" Guess what happened next? Scripture says the dead boy sat up and began to talk! Amid great sorrow and suffering Jesus responded from an overflowing love in his heart and that response raised a dead person to life and then Jesus gave the boy, who was now alive again, back to his mother.
In real-time we believers know of a day that coming when Jesus will once again say, "Get Up" and the dead in Christ will rise and those who know Him will meet Him in the air. In other words, we will be "caught up" or raptured. All of this is God's response with an overflowing heart of love for His creation and Jesus is the one who will take us to the home He has prepared for us. Instead of Jesus giving us back to our mothers, we will be given back to our Heavenly Father with new resurrected bodies for eternity. Praise the Lord!!
No more tears is a reality that is coming and a reality that is here even now because of God's great love for us. God responds to our tears right now and He does that response through the Holy Spirit. If we leave the Holy Spirit's presence out of our lives we miss the comfort, discernment, and yes, the power to live a victorious life amid "the middle." We have the Spirit of Truth with us right now and He is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this in John 15: 26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. If you want to know the truth about the Holy Spirit then read and believe all of the Bible and God will bring you up-to-date in your walk. Jesus also speaks about the Holy Spirit in the following verses in John 14 where He says 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[e] who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know Him because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
God has come through at the request of Jesus and we do have the Holy Spirit Jesus spoke of and we can be led into all truth, if we will just read the truth in God's Word. If you are "of the world" then you will miss the Holy Spirit per verse 17b. But if you know Jesus the Holy Spirit lives in you now. We were dead in our sins and God sent Jesus to die for our sins and Jesus requested and got the Holy Spirit for us to live this life of faith. If Jesus didn't send the Holy Spirit we would have been abandoned like orphans, but He did send the Holy Spirit because we are God's children and He has given us life!
We live in a world of people who cannot see this truth, but our faith relies on it and we must allow the Spirit of Truth to show us the way to live. A huge part of that truth is the message of the Gospel. Paul explains the need to share the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15: 20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.”
When we have a burden for a family member, a work associate, or a friend because they are dead in their sin, Jesus responds through the Holy Spirit and stirs our hearts to share the message of our new birth in Christ. What has happened is the overwhelming love Jesus has is now transferred to us and we move to see those who are dead in their sins touched by the message of Jesus. The Holy Spirit touches them and then they have a choice to rise up and live when the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin. If we are not willing to be moved by a heart of overwhelming love, then we won't approach the dead men walking with the Gospel and the funeral procession goes on. If we are "moved" to action then we will interrupt the funeral and share the powerful message of the Gospel and then offer to them these words "Get Up", which translated in real-time means "believe in Jesus for salvation." When they are born-again they are given back to their Heavenly Father clean and redeemed. Then the only tears that will be shed will be tears of joy and victory as God intended.
The Pilgrimage Continues,
David Warren
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