Going and Returning - September 7, 2010

Good Tuesday morning! Back to school for the kids and back to work for most of us. We go to work and return; or we go to the grocery store and return; but we leave with the assumption that we will return to our houses at some point. What if you had the option of going to Heaven and returning? I don't think we would be able to return once we arrived at the pearly gates, and if someone made us go back it would be not quite the worst news we could get, but it certainly wouldn't be great. Today, the Bible verse tells us that going to Heaven and returning is not an option for any of us, and then it says a little more too.

"No one has ever gone to Heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from Heaven." John 3:13

Jesus tells us that even among the great names of the past, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and Moses, none of them have gone to Heaven and returned. However, we did have a visitor who came down from Heaven once. Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man. We have here a visitor from another place that isn't of this universe! All that looking at the skies and searching the stars and many have missed the extra-terrestrial visitor. Of course, few even then believed that; today doubt is rampant in the world. Many of us don't believe that any other peoples exist in the heavens, much less Heaven. What do we have to do to believe the Jesus came down from Heaven? Choose to believe in Him!

Once we choose to believe in Jesus, then statements such as, "The Son of Man has come down from Heaven." don't surprise us and in fact seem perfectly suited to our Lord. This verse is another of those that are filled with wonder and the glory of God, but we read through it because of the verses following. Think about it for a bit, the Son of Man has come down from Heaven. Why would anyone do that for us? Why would anyone do that at all? There must be something worth the price of coming down from Heaven, and there must be some great purpose for Jesus to do so. It's coming! Verses 14, 15, 16, and 17 will arrive this week. The Good News of Jesus Christ!

Have a great week, and sorry that the holiday weekend is over.

Bucky