The heroes of faith have not yet received the promise,
For eternal life, God does not want us to miss,
He wants us all to enjoy the joy and the bliss,
Of that long-awaited eternal promise.
God is willing that none of us should perish,
We should repent, His commandments we should cherish,
God will wipe away all dirt, leaving behind no blemish,
As some men count slowness, God is not slow concerning His promise.
If you live by faith, you shall have a good report,
If you live by faith, you will drop sin like it’s hot,
If you live by faith, you shall love God a lot,
Living by faith is getting out of the zone of comfort.
Let us live looking forward to the promise that’s ultimate,
Let Jesus in your heart, and with love, your heart will melt,
Faith opens all doors, even the most protected navy gate,
With Jesus as the sailor, we should trust Him to safely navigate.
Hebrews 11:39-40 (KJV) – “39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
The ultimate reward for having faith in God is attaining eternal life and going to heaven.
John 3:16 (KJV) – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God promises various blessings if you believe in Him and obey His commandments (Deuteronomy 28:1-13). Some of the blessings He has already given us and some He will provide us if we obey His commandments. For example, you might have been praying for God to bless you financially, and then He gives you a business idea and a plan for executing it. If you obey and implement that idea, you will get uplifted economically, but if you don’t implement it, you may continue being in the financial state that you are currently in. God may not always give you a business idea, but He may show you how to use your talent so that you can have financial freedom. However, there are many highly talented individuals who have chosen to bury their talents in the ground and have resolved to beg or get into illegal avenues of acquiring money.
You may be praying to God to improve your marital or courting relations. Then He directs you to read a Bible text or a devotional article. He may direct you to read a Christian book like Adventist Home or Letters to Young Lovers, both by Ellen G. White, which can be accessed without paying a penny from http://www.egwwritings.org or the Ellen G. White mobile application. If you obey God’s voice and read them and apply the recommended tips, your relationship will be blessed; if you don’t, it may remain the way it is or worsen since you are doing nothing to improve it.
You might be praying for God to heal you or improve your critical health condition; then He directs you to exercise, get exposed to more air and sunlight and change your diet. He may lead you to read a Christian book like Ministry of Healing, Counsels on Health, or Counsels on Diet and Foods by Ellen G. White. If you apply the content that they possess to the last detail, your health will improve. Some diseases which may seem chronic will leave your body completely once you obey everything that God has told you because God wants you to have perfect health.
Some blessings given by God are by grace and are given to everyone. Some are conditional, and for the conditional ones, you must fulfill that condition before getting those blessings. Some blessings that God will provide us are meant to be enjoyed while we are still alive in this world, while some are meant to be enjoyed in eternity after He has taken us to our glorious home in heaven.
The blessing we receive while on this earth is like an appetizer meant to complement the main meal and whet the appetite before the main course. The blessings we get are like the goals we score in a friendly football, basketball, hockey, rugby, American football, golf, volleyball, or any other game. The goals we achieve in friendly matches or during games meant for practice do not count. It is the ones that we score during a tournament that matters. It is like doing an exam to practice before the main exam.
Therefore, we should not be overindulged in the blessings we receive while on this earth that we miss out on eternal life. A certain pastor once gave this story while preaching at the end of a Camp meeting in Nairobi South Seventh Day Adventist Church one Saturday. He said there was a time when they were invited to a function. Before the main meal was brought, an appetizer was brought. Some took the appetizer like the main meal and ate too much of it that when the main meal was brought, they were not able to absorb it, since their stomachs were full. We should not get so immersed in this world that we miss out on the chance to go to heaven.
Most of the heroes of faith in the Bible died without receiving the promise of eternal life. Some died natural deaths while some were persecuted, like Peter and other disciples of Jesus Christ, except John, who died a natural death, and Judas, who committed suicide. God promised in John 3:16 that whosoever shall believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. The question is, why have they died and they believed in God? Why have they not yet received the promise of eternal life?
The answer lies in Hebrews 11:39-40.
Hebrews 11:39-40 (KJV) – “39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
They have not yet received the ultimate promise because God loves us all and is willing that none of us should perish (2 Peter 3:9). To say this in simpler terms, one reason God has not yet come is that He wants more people to get saved. God hates sin, and it grieves Him, but He has to bear with it so that more people can get saved. God is not looking forward to satisfying Himself. If He were looking forward to pleasing Himself, he would have ended this world immediately after Adam and Eve had sinned.
God is looking after the satisfaction of everyone. He is thinking about the hard-hearted criminal who has received a life sentence in prison. He is thinking about the unborn babies. He is concerned about everyone. Therefore, God is giving us a chance to repent. That is why we think He has delayed His promise of returning a second time. God wants people in this modern age to get saved, like He wanted people in times past to acquire the gift of salvation.
Therefore, the heroes of faith would not receive the ultimate promise before we receive it. We must learn from the heroes of faith and follow their righteous example. We should only replicate the faithful actions they did and shun the evil practices while tightly holding on to God. Like Enoch, we should walk with God all the days of our lives. Unlike Solomon, we should not worship idols and be unequally yoked to unbelievers. Like Solomon, we should ask God for wisdom.
We should trust God to help us overcome the most challenging battles like David. Like Moses, we should trust God to show us the way where there seems to be no way. Like King Josiah, we should reform immediately once we know something is evil. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we should trust in God even in the face of impossibility. The list is long and endless because many great men and women of faith have stories not written in the Bible. Some lived after the Bible was written and compiled.
Isaiah 66:23 (KJV) – “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.”
It will be a glorious event to worship God from Sabbath to Sabbath. Nothing can compare to the joy of daily being in His presence.
“In Heaven, All Is Purity and Peace—Through Christ alone can you make sure of heaven, where all is purity, holiness, peace, and blessedness, where there are glories that mortal lips cannot describe. The nearest we can come to a description of the reward that awaits the overcomer is to say that it is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It will be an eternity of bliss, a blessed eternity, unfolding new glories throughout the ceaseless ages.” – Heaven, Page 138.1, Ellen G. White.
What is our role as Christians while still in this world?
Revelation 22:14 (KJV) – “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Our work is to live by faith and show faith through obedience to God. If we do that, we will get the ultimate promise of eternal life.
GOD LOVES YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU!
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for giving me a chance to live a righteous life. Thank you for not ending this world before I was born. Please help me to obey all your commandments and help me not to miss out on eternal life. In Jesus name, Amen.
Activity
- List the heroes of faith you know of in the Bible and the good actions they did.
- Find out how you can apply their lessons in this modern world.
- How are you preparing for the second coming of Jesus?
Author: Mark Alex
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