Seated IN Heaven

This site has been created to give you an understanding of the Person who created us, served us, saved us, loves us, and is returning soon for us. The categories on the right will give you a good understanding of who He is.

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What is the good news? Well, before I can give you good news, I need to tell you the bad news. The good news just doesn't seem as good if I don't give you the bad news first. Ok...so what's the bad news then?

The Bad News

To understand the bad news, we need to go back to the beginning of man. When God created man, there was a relationship between man and God. The Bible says that they walked together in the Garden. They were friends. Adam would spend time in fellowship with God every day along with his wife Eve. Most people know the story, but just in case you don't, here is what happened. Eve, the first woman, was enticed by the devil to disobey God's only rule. God had told Adam and Eve not to eat one fruit in the Garden. The fruit was placed their by God so that man would have the choice to be able to obey him or not. Unfortunately both Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit.

What did their disobedience cause? When they ate the fruit, they suddenly knew what sin was. They suddenly did not feel right walking with God in the Garden. They lost their relationship with God, because they had disobeyed Him. Since this time, man has had a separation from God. Sin entered into the world and all men have since then lived in disobedience to God. That is our problem, that is the bad news. We have been born in a world as a sinner. We have been born with a tendency to disobey God. This is seen in a person from the time they are born. Children disobey their parents, and parents must discipline their children for them to learn not to disobey. We see this in every walk of life. People are naturally disobedient. It is our nature. Some people are less sinful than other people in the worlds standards, but we have all sinned and fall short of the perfection of God.

Two Responses

At this point you may be saying to yourself one of two things. 1) "I'm not that bad. I'm better than most" or 2) "How can God expect us to be perfect? I don't like a God that demands perfection." These are good responses to this dilemma, however, let me explain a few more things before you come to these conclusions.

In answer to the response that you're not as bad as the rest, let me ask you this. Have you ever lied? Even just a "white" lie. Have you ever taken anything that's not yours? Even a pen from work or school. Have you ever looked at someone with lust. Jesus said that you're an adulterer. Have you ever felt hate towards someone? Jesus says that you're a murderer. I'm not saying that in the world's courts, you would go to jail for these things, but in God's court, He would find you guilty. Even one sin makes you a sinner and there is no way to make up for the bad things you do by doing more good things. There is no way for you to have a relationship with God on your own merit now that you have sinned. So what do you do? I'll tell you in a second.

In answer to the second response that you don't like a God that expects us to be perfect, let me ask you this. Would you expect a court in our country to let you go just because you've done some good things too? I wouldn't expect that. Let me ask you this also. Would you want to live in a heaven that wasn't perfect? I wouldn't. I can't even imagine myself in heaven. I would just make it worse for everyone there. I know I have problems just like every other person in the world. So what do we do? How can someone go to heaven? How can someone have a relationship with God?

The Good News

The Good News is that God has made a way. It's not by being better people, it's not by gaining more knowledge, although these are good things. It is by believing in God that we can have a relationship with Him once more. God came as the man, Jesus, and lived a perfect life. In a sacrifice for us, Jesus gave His own body over to be crucified. He showed His love toward us by dieing in our place. He took our sins upon Him. By believing in God's covering of our sins in Jesus, we can have a relationship with Him. God has asked us not to continue trusting in our own good works or knowledge, but to trust in Him. To trust in His provision for our sin. This is the gospel. This is the good news. God has made right what man made wrong in the beginning. We just need to believe in His sacrifice for us on the cross. It's that easy.

Once we trust in Jesus, He begins to change our lives. It doesn't go the other way around. Changed lives follow a belief in Jesus. Isn't that exciting. The problems in our lives from sin can be cured just by trusting in God. He directs us to start reading His word, the Bible. God directs us to start building our fellowship with Him by prayer.

There is coming soon a day when this world will end. It is coming very soon. The Bible teaches this also. We don't know the day or hour, but we know it is coming soon. At the end, God will judge the world of sin. Those who put their trust in Jesus will be saved from this judgment since Christ already took the penalty or judgment of their sin upon Him. Those who have not put their trust in Jesus will receive the due penalty of their sin, which is spiritual death also known as separation from God forever.

A Real Relationship with God

If you want to have a relationship with God forever, it's as easy as asking. God will help you in each step you take. Just tell Him that you need His forgiveness for sin, that you need Jesus. God will forgive your sins and bring you back into a relationship with Him. It may be a while until you walk with God in heaven, but He will be close to you even now. The Bible says that God's spirit endwells the heart of every believer. Trust in Him today. Beware of false doctrine. Verify any supposed doctrine by checking the related biblical verses and ensuring that you are not reading something into the message. Look for the return of our Savior, and spend time reading the Bible. Join a bible study that is focused on teaching God's word and start praying. He is amazing and does answer prayers. God Bless.

Zechariah wrote this book during a time when the Jewish people were discouraged. They had returned to Israel after 70 years of captivity in Babylon with great expectations, but the building of the temple had been stopped by the King of Medio Persia and the neighboring lands. Zehariah was commissioned by God to prophecy to the people about God's plan for the nation in the immediate future and in the last days.

God used numerous visions to show Zechariah his plan.

The second shortest book in the old testament, Haggai is best understood when read with Chapters 1-6 of Ezra and all of Zechariah. Haggai was written in around 520 BC just 15 years after the Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. In 536 BC, the Jews were allowed to return by the Persian king Cyrus. The next king in line was convinced by the local non-Jewish people in Israel that he should stop the building. From that time, approximately 525 BC to the time of Haggai's prophecies, the Jews had stopped building. They were instead working diligently on their own homes and forsaking the work of building God's house, the Temple of God.

At the beginning of Haggai's prophecy to began rebuilding the temple, it was actually illegal in the land for the Jews to follow the Lord's command. The previous king, Cambyses had made a decree to stop and the new king Darius had not changed it yet. Haggai's prohecy hit hard to the Jewish people. He explained that they had famine in the land because they did not build the Lord's house. The leaders, Zerubbabel and Jeshua listened to the prophecies and Haggai and began the rebuilding again.

Once the people obeyed God, He opened the door with the king, and the current king, Darius, made a new decree that the building should continue, and even that the non-Jewish people in the land should take their taxes and direct them to the building also. To better understand Haggai, again, I recommend reading the first 6 chapters of Ezra, and I also recommend studing the other prophet that encouraged the Jewish people at the same time as Haggai, the prophet Zechariah.

Other reading that will open your insight into the time era would be Daniel, which occurs just prior to Haggai, and Esther, Nehemiah and the second half of Ezra, which happens just after Haggai.

Ezra covers a long period of time from the declaration of Cyrus for the Jews to return from captivity to their homeland of Israel to rebuild the Temple in 536 B.C. all the way to the declaration of Artaxerxes for the Jews to build the walls of Jerusalem in 440 B.C. Ezra is actually split up into two sections, Chapter 1-6, which detail the rebuilding of the Temple, and Chapter 7-10, which detail the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

The author of the book according to tradition is Ezra. He was in charge of the return of the Jews from Babylon in 460 B.C. He along with Nehemiah returned to build and secure the walls of Jerusalem from intruders. Other books in the Bible that should be read along with Ezra are Esther, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah.

Section 1
The beginning of Ezra is one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible. Cyrus here declares that the Jews may return to rebuild the temple. This was actually prophecied in Isaiah 44 and 45 almost 200 years prior to this. It is likely that Daniel showed Cyrus these writings, which then inspired Cyrus to worship the One and Only God. It is clear from this declaration that Cyrus had a firm belief in the God of the Bible. Almost 50,000 Jews returned at this time to rebuild the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel.

Section 2
The second section of Ezra from Chapters 7-10 occurs about 100 years later. This is the era when Ezra was alive and returned to Jerusalem under the decree of Artaxerxes. There is an interesting tie between Artaxerxes, Esther, and Nehemiah. Esther was the step mom of Artaxerxes. She married Xerxes, Artaxerxes Dad, when he was in power. When you read the book of Esther, you find that she had an amazing life and saved the Jews from destruction. Esther's step-son likely looked up to his step-mom and offered to allow the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city. Nehemiah was the cup-bearer of Artaxerxes and also asked to return to rebuild the walls when he saw that his people were in trouble back in Israel. Ezra had returned with 2,000 Jews to Jerusalem under the decree of Artaxerxes 13 years before. This amazing time shows the wonderful hand of God in restoring the Jews to their homeland.

The main reason people believe in the Bible is because of three reasons:

Historical Accuracy
Worldview Accuracy
Prophetic Accuracy

Historical Accuracy speaks of the accurate portrayal of historical events in the Bible. Archaeologists are finding out almost every day that the Bible is amazingly accurate when speaking of the past.

Worldview Accuracy speaks of the accurate portrayal of mankind and their predicament. Psychologists and others who study man are finding every day that the Bible speaks amazing truths about the nature of man. It also speaks completely accurately about God.

Prophetic Accuracy is what I want to talk about in this article. About 1/3rd of the Bible is predictions about the future. The main predictions are about the first coming of Jesus the Christ and the second coming of Jesus the Christ. The first coming already occured in about 3 A.D. with the birth of Jesus the Christ in Bethlehem. In fact, this birth place was actually a fullfillment of prophecy in Micah 5:2. The second coming is coming soon and will happen after the Great Tribulation on the earth.

If God wanted us to know who He was, how would he tell us? The Bible says, we know that these words are from Him, because He tells of things before they happen. God predicts things in the future so that we can know for sure that the Bible is God's word. That is the simplicity of prophecy. There is no one else in the world that can predict the future.

Now you may be asking, what about Nostredomus or psychics or something like that. There has always since the beginning of time been people who claim to be able to predict the future. The Bible says that unless they are 100% accurate they are not from God. Nostredomus made numerous general predictions using metaphors and allegories. None of his predictions give any specifics that make it impossible to be just a shot in the dark. Psychics generally have relations with the demonic realm, which are fallen angels. These fallen angels can make educated guesses on what may happen in the future since they have been around since the beginning of time, and they can definitely give the psychic information about a persons past making it seem more reliable, but demons can't tell psychics about the future.

There is only One Person that can tell the future. That Person is God. The Bible has over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled in the birth, life, and death of Jesus the Christ. The Bible also has 1,000's of other prophecies about future events that were fulfilled 100's of years later. These prophecies are not just vague, general predictions. These prophecies give specific details that could not possibly be from anyone other than God Himself. Here is a partial list of some of the most amazing prophecies that have been fulfilled:

Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a Donkey prior to His death (Zechariah 9:9)
Cyrus' declaration of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple (Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1)
The Date of Jesus' Death (Daniel 9:25-26)

For an awesome look at fulfilled prophecies in the Bible visit 100 Fulfilled Prophecies.