Day 5 - Pulling back the Veil
God's Word, expressed to us through the words and works of Jesus, is the most holy and pure of all the words that have ever been spoken or written down; even heaven itself and the great white throne of grace at its centre is not any more holy and pure than the Word of God. It is holy to the same extent - the source and the outcome are of the same quality.
For your life to be holy and pure, it has to go along its way in harmony with the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. A life that is lived in obedience to the will of God seen through the words and works of Jesus is as pure as the Word into which it sinks and has its being. A life like that is pure enough for heaven.
John, the writer of Revelation, saw while being in the Spirit, "… the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city." Rev. 22:1,2
This pure stream flowing through heaven was God's wonderful word of life, with all its restorative properties and benefits for those who bathe in it. It is as holy and pure as its source - the throne of God. Now any earthly life through which this pure stream flows can only be as pure as the throne from which it springs. Psalm 12:6 tells us that "….. the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times."
And Psalm 119:9 asks the question and gives the answer, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word."
Proverbs 30:5 says, "Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
Whenever the veil across our minds is pulled back and our souls are exposed to the Bible's purity, it is then that we understand that the Bible life is the one of the highest quality, the most stainless, most admirable, and the most holy life that can be lived down here on the earth.
This one verse in Scripture sums up our entire life: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13.
Mankind is far from being completely whole, a finished work; he is not as originally intended in the divine blueprint when he does not stick closely to the book of God.
Something is most certainly and always lacking in a life which is not being encouraged down a path of full obedience to every word of God.
The Bible describes a majestic city, the new Jerusalem, the city of heaven. It is a place of pure gold, clear as glass. Its walls are made out of jasper; its foundations being decorated with all manner of precious stones; its twelve gates are made out of pearl; its streets themselves are pure gold.
Unlike anywhere on earth, there is no sin in that city, no pain, no sickness; grief and sorrow are never seen among the inhabitants; all tears have dried away. No one dies. In the middle of the street is the tree of life itself.
Do you not long to live forever and forever in that city of love and light, when all the pains and sicknesses, all the trials and tears of this often tiresome life are over and done with? Would you not wish to spend an age sitting under the healing tree with your feet cooling in the river of life itself?
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14
But we must say this to any traveller on the way to eternity, your entry to the beautiful and brilliant city of God will depend on how you react to God's commandments while you voyage across the turbulent ocean of life. Being obedient to the commandments of God is our whole duty. If we do our whole duty throughout our life, we will rise up and out of the valley and shadow of death, and find heaven's gates opening for us.
The obedient ones among us will be rewarded with our unfading inheritance in that golden city; there is a beautiful mansion in the great house of God, waiting for every single obedient soul.
Is heaven worth a life of obedience to the Word of God to you? It sometimes calls us through thunder and lightening storms of persecution, oceans of trials and tribulations, years of toil and suffering and personal volcanic eruptions of imprisonment, torture, grief and death.
Take a moment and look away into heaven with a strong eye of faith and catch a view of that bright home prepared for you. See the light of the Lamb.
Shall we go on with the trials of life a little while longer? Shall we go on being careful to walk in God's ways, so that this rich inheritance can be ours for always?
Away beyond the shores of time, and outside the kingdoms of this world, is a kingdom called heaven - the place where God has his great white throne. Around it the angels shout, "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Around this throne will stand those of us who have passed through the tribulations and the trials of this lower world and have burst through the gates of death, singing the song of redemption.
I long to join that happy, heavenly throng and wave those palms and wear those white robes and sing those songs beyond the shadowy vale of death.
Well, we can all dream of a home in heaven; we can all hold onto hopes of seeing Jesus and of inheriting a mansion; we can imagine ourselves walking through the blossoming fields of paradise and sitting ourselves down under the tree of life, but all these dreams, hopes and imaginings will never be realised unless we conscientiously stick to the will of God.
Something more than a mere profession of faith is necessary; obedience is the only door into the kingdom of God. Jesus said, "Not every one who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Surely I need my faith to pierce through life's clutter, and leave me standing in awe in front of the beauty and the realities of God, before I can say from the very depths of my soul, "I delight to do your will, O God!"
