Living On The Other Side

November 18th, 2018 § 0

One of the earliest symbols found in the ancient ruins of the homes and meeting places of the first century Christians was an anchor. It was the old style anchor that ships used during that time to hold a ship steady in the midst of storms to avoid being pushed violently against a rocky shore or just to hold a ship steady in calm seas to rest in one place for awhile. The symbol of an anchor was everywhere among the followers of Jesus when the church was young.

The writer to the Hebrews wrote: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.” (Hebrews 6:19) The hope that the writer is referring to is Jesus Himself and more specifically “the hope” is speaking of the fact that God not only promised to no longer count our sins against us again because of the offering of Jesus on our behalf for all our sins but God also swore with an oath that He would never count our sins against us again because of Jesus. Those are the two unchangeable things the writer had previously referred to in this passage. God’s promise and God’s oath to back up that promise. Those are the two unchangeable things. Since it is impossible for God to lie, the writer says, then these two things are unchangeable. This amazing proclamation by God is to give the believer strong encouragement and great hope, especially when the believer sins and finds himself in the age old battle between flesh and spirit. Now in Christ we can go boldly “beyond the veil” to the throne of grace and find mercy and help in time of need for all our needs.

Jesus, and the reality that His death has taken away our sins forever before God, is the hope and anchor that can see us through anything because in that reality is the truth of our union with God by the Spirit. The crowning achievement of Jesus for all of mankind was the removal of all sin forever and the joining of man to God by the gift of the Spirit. God has always yearned to have man with Him and Himself with man. For God to be with man is the eternal purpose of all that is, and was and is to come. When Jesus uttered those few words on the cross to the thief next to him He was speaking forth the eternal purpose of the heart of God: “This day you will be with Me.”

The apostle Paul wrote that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Christ in us and we in Christ are the words of union. A person need only believe to enter into this new covenant and amazing reality. The unbeliever is alienated from the life of God and darkened in their understanding of God’s love and goodness but if they would only believe on Jesus then they too would be joined to God and rest secure with an anchor not of this world.

This anchor, which is Jesus and Him crucified, literally takes us beyond the veil even while we live on this earth. Just before His death and resurrection, Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us that where He was we could be also that we might be where He is. Contrary to most of the teachings in the church today on this subject, Jesus was not referring to His second coming in this passage, which is now over two thousand years later. Jesus specifically said that He was going away to prepare this place for us and then return in “a little while.” He said the world would rejoice at his leaving and that His disciples would be sad but that in “a little while” they would see Him again and the joy they would have no man would ever be able to take away. The “little while” was three days and three nights. He came back in three days and three nights having prepared the place for them that they might always be where He is.

The apostle Paul said that believers are now seated with Christ in heavenly places in the place He prepared for us. That place is in Himself. We believers have now become the living stones of the true temple that was raised in three days, just as He promised. We believers have become the habitation of God by the Spirit and the Father and the Son have made their abode within us by the Spirit. We are now from above and no longer from below having been born of the Spirit through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have this anchor that allows us to go beyond the veil directly to the throne of grace. Jesus is coming back to earth physically and visibly for sure but we need not wait until then to enjoy His work whereby He prepared a place for us in Himself that we might be where He is now. Jesus said when He returns, “Will I find faith on the earth?”

Jesus said that He was the Door and that His sheep would be able to go in and out and find pasture from another world even as they walk in this world. This is now the reality for all believers. He is with us always, even unto the end of the world. To live with this understanding allows us to live on the other side of the trouble in this world. Jesus said that in this world we would have trouble but He said to be of good cheer because He had overcome this world and opened a Door that no man would ever be able to shut. In Jesus we believers can literally live in His world, in Heaven, as we walk this earth. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven would come not like men think. It would come within man by the gift of the Spirit. The believer now can experience another reality within even though the reality without is full of chaos, trouble, pain and suffering. We have an anchor that holds us steady beyond the veil in another world. His world of peace and joy. His peace and His joy. His realm of light and love.

Awake believer and Christ shall give you light! We can know these things by the Spirit and rest in the middle of our battles knowing that Jesus Himself is with us and we are with Him beyond the veil and if Jesus is with you and for you, like He is, then hope can never die.

James Barron

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