ON THE BEACH SOMEWHERE IN THE TROPICS

          

    He always said that he did not believe in God, heaven or hell but when he died he wanted to go and lay on the beach in some tropical country; those were his favourite places to spend a holiday. 

     After his funeral some friends came together and wondered if he did get his wish.

     They could not know this but his wish had indeed been fulfilled, he was laying on the beach. He did not see anybody else there but they probably were in the hotel having a cool drink.

It was getting warmer so he decided that he could do with something cool himself. He stood up, looked around, no hotel to be seen. It must be a little further down the beach.

It was hot. Don’t see any parasols either. No trees for some shade.

Soon it will be evening and it will cool down.

The evening and the night were not any cooler. He started to dread the heat of the coming day.

    The heat came, it was even hotter than before. No comfort at all.

No shade, nothing to quench his thirst, nobody to be seen, what kind of a place is this?

He looked towards the sea and thought “Why did I not think about this before, I can go in the water and cool off”.

He hurried towards those little ripples of water on the edge of the beach to cool off his feet, he stepped in them, did not feel any cool water had a good look they were all little ridges of sand.

Looked ahead and saw that all this water was a mirage.

Walked up and down the beach for a while, looked up and cursed the God he did not believe in.

Then he heard a voice saying: “Don’t curse God, He only sent you here because you wanted to. It was your choice to reject His offer of reconciliation with Him.”

“Tell me “Voice” what kind of beach is this anyway?”

“This is not just a beach; it is the state of God forsakenness” the Voice answered. It is identical to the being in hell in which you did not believe”.

“How come I am the only one here?”

“There are many more in here but the one is not aware of the presence of the other this is what causes the loneliness.” answered the Voice.

“I have a question for you too” said the Voice, “if you had known about the horror of this place would you have looked for a way to stay out of it?”

“Nobody ever told me that there is a place like this, all I had to do was re-establish the connection with God they said, they never mentioned anything about this place if I did not.”

 “You know now” said the Voice “that this is the worst place someone can be in, that is why nobody likes talking about it. Some did though, however many more should have done so.”

“Tell me Voice, how much longer do I have to be here?”

The Voice pretended not to hear his question.

“Voice, I asked you a question, how much longer?”

“You’ll be here forever!”

“I want to die!” he screamed. “You are dead already” was the answer.

He cursed and cursed and cursed again the God who had granted him his wish and meted out His justice.

He will be cursing God forever.

Reflection on Good Friday and Easter

Passover is a celebration to remember that the Israelites have been taken from slavery into liberty. The blood of the lamb put on the door posts of the Israelite houses indicated that God would pass over those houses and not strike down the firstborn. The application of the blood of the lamb did not refer to forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness for the sins of the nation was not celebrated until the Day of Atonement.The instructions for the celebration of that day are clearly given in the book of Leviticus.

Let’s summarize them. The high priest makes atonement for his sins and the sins of his household so they are ceremonially clean.

To atone for the sins of the nation two goats have been set apart.Although there are two goats, they are one sacrifice. The high priest draws lots to determine which of the goats is “for the Lord” and which one is the “scapegoat”

The one destined for the Lord is sacrificed and its blood applied to, among other places, the cover over the Ark of the Covenant. “… the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)

The high priest puts his hands on the head of the other goat, “the scapegoat”, indicating that the sins of the nation are placed on it; it is led into the desert by someone chosen for this task. God does not want this part of the sacrifice, He rejects it.

Shortly before his arrest Jesus asked his Father three times “to take this cup from Me”. Silence was the answer.

          On Good Friday Jesus is sacrificed.

Jesus sheds his blood so there is forgiveness of sins for mankind.

One of Jesus sayings while hanging on the cross in great agony is: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” this is a consequence of the refusal of his Father to “take this cup away from Him.”

Thus Jesus experiences, like that second goat being led into the desert, the worst fate imaginable, Jesus went to hell, the place of being godforsaken. Jesus chose to be our “scapegoat”; suffering for the sins we have committed and would have been punished for.

A few days later God released Jesus from this godforsaken place as well as from physical death because Jesus Himself was not guilty but “God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

This is our release from slavery of hell into the freedom of Heaven. On this day of Passover God combined it with a Day of Atonement for all mankind.

SINNER, COME HOME!

                              Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.

               Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading?

               Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing.

                 O for the wonderful love He has promised,

                         promised for you and for me.

             Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon.

                         Pardon for you and for me.

In spite of Jesus’ urgent call to come home many do not answer this call.

We observe this because many do not worship Him anymore, do not read His word, do not communicate with Him in prayer, and use His and His Father’s name as swearwords. His rules are not adhered to. Some commit murders, thefts take place all the time. Sexual mores are disregarded 

continually. Prostitution in many forms is practiced. A nearly unlimited amount of pornography is available. Sin in all its forms is rampant.

In spite of all this the song reads:

           “Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon.

                         Pardon for you and for me.”

The only way we can and will receive this pardon is by accepting that Jesus paid our (my) penalty.

If we say that we don’t need it, are not interested in it or will come at a later date we should ask ourselves what the consequences are.

He who is “tenderly calling you” makes you aware of those consequences.

In the 1990’s the expression WWJD (what would Jesus do) was often used.

To find out about the consequences of not answering His call we could use the acronym WDJS (what does Jesus say).

Many of Jesus sayings are recorded in the gospels.

Jesus always invites us to believe that the restoration of our relationship with God will be restored through Him.

Jesus also says that the result of not believing this will be that our

relationship with God is not restored, we are rejected by God

One of the clearest examples is the parable in Luke 16: 16:31named:

“The rich man and Lazarus.” When you read this do not come to the conclusion that the rich man is rejected because of being rich. Listen to Abraham’s advice for the brothers to stay out of that “place of agony.”

Obviously the rich man did not listen to Moses and the prophets.

One more parable Jesus told among the many that are recorded, is the one of the farmer who had sown wheat in a field, an enemy sowed weeds in the same field. At harvest time the weeds were taken out first and burned. (Matthew 13:24-29.) And it’s explanation in the verses 36 to 43.

                Are you part of the wheat or are you a weed? 

Just in case you are one of the ones who have decided to come to God at a later date, I read a bumper sticker that says:

  “Some people want to get their account with God straightened out at the

             eleven’s hour, unfortunately many of them die at 10.30”

Curious about the lyrics of “Sinner, come home!”? you will find them on the internet.