The amount of silence was extremely unusual. Occassional mummering could be heard – mummering of disbelief. Even though many knew what would unfold, seeing it in reality was brutally difficult. The Father had turned His eyes. The Son was dead. Satan looked victorious. Yet the team broadcasting the event in heaven continued the coverage. It seemed almost inhumane, or in this case, ungodly. Who actually wanted to dwell on this loss?

On and on. Words and more words. Critique and analysis. But eventually, the citizens of heaven saw something that no one on earth did. The dead-and-buried Jesus twitched. The broadcast team kept showing replays. Not too long later, more movement was detected. The murmuring grew into whispers and the whispers into a dull roar. Was Jesus really on the move?

Some people were reminded of games they’d seen broadcast on earth. Countless sporting events had been watched by the citizens of heaven. Was this the Ultimate come-from-behind victory in the making? As the excitement of the announcers increased, neighbors called neighbors. The frenzy was building. And then the call came. The announcer himself said it best.

“Ladies and gentlemen – all saints in heaven, what we’ve seen here has been the most miraculous development of all eternity. We’ve seen Jesus showing signs of life after being as dead as anyone can be. And — wait a minute, Oh, Father, am I seeing this right!? The burial cloth is unraveling!! And, perhaps the firm grip of death.” It was at this point that pandemonium began breaking loose. “HE’S UP! HE’S UP! JESUS IS UP! And He is healed! He’s healed! He’s alive!!! No bruises, no blood, no weariness!!! HE’S UP!!! He’s defeated death! He’s alive!!”

Were it not for the new bodies, the saints had been given, the noise level in heaven would have been deafening. The streets heaved with the stampede of people. The trees shook in the wind of the yelling. The laughter and cheering seemed to infuse euphoria into the citizens.

Nothing like it had ever been seen. This was not a mere game; it was death. And it had been defeated. Like a coach who is praised after the victory, the Father was showered with the holy Gatorade of the saints – praise to His greatness.

Games on earth wow us. We go nuts when our team pulls off the upset. And we are rightly filled with euphoria when it happens. But our bodies are limited in the capacity to which they can experience joy on earth. The scale and stakes of life prevailing over death are far greater than any game we’ll ever watch. It makes sense that heaven is a happy place! No come-from-behind victory we ever see on earth will compare to what happened on that day 2,000 years ago. Have you seen it?

It was one of those nights where the moisture in your nose freezes into little icicles. Hardly anyone was on the streets of Demonbreun. One man walking north and one woman walking south was all. The woman’s car had broken down; so had the man’s morals. At quarter to midnight, the man grabbed the woman at gunpoint, kidnapped her, raped her, and then killed her. It was the 12th time he had done such a thing. He was known in the media as Triple D – The Demonbreun Death Dealer.

A policeman heard the woman’s cries before she had breathed her last breath. Giving chase with weapon drawn, the policeman confronted the attacker. The man drew his weapon and aimed at the officer. Three shots shattered the cold night.

When the echoes abated, the officer still had his bearings. He was still alive, though his arm was warm. He’d been shot in the shoulder. The attacker lay lifeless on the ground. As the officer slowly approached the fallen murderer, he could not make out any trace of life in the man. A few moments later there was confirmation of what no law enforcement officer ever desires – he had killed a man. One shot to the head and one to the heart. The man would no longer devastate lives.

Within moments, both the victim of the rape and the rapist himself appeared before God. Without hesitation, God let them both in for an eternity of bliss.

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I wrote this story to illustrate the fact that while God is love, He is also just. The outrage of allowing an unforgiven rapist and murderer into heaven is an abomination to every sense of justice we have.

Perhaps we do not rape or murder like this fictional character, but do we behave in ways that deserve punishment from God? Yes, we all do!

He is perfectly loving and He is perfectly just. How can the two exist together? They seem contradictory. Does He show His love by allowing everyone into heaven while justice goes unserved? Or does He show His justice by condemning everyone to hell and forsake His love toward people? There is no dilemma. The answer is mercy – and that through Jesus! It’s one of the things I give thanks for this Thanksgiving. There’ll be another story tomorrow…

One day a man died and went to meet God.

“Hello,” the Maker said.

“Hello, God,” the man replied, very much nervous.

“Tell me. All the gifts I gave you – all the money and abilities. What did you do with them while you lived?”

The man replied, “Well, surely you saw my 1080p HDTV. It only cost me $3,000. It was retailing for $4,000 and…”

God quickly cut the man off. “Should I be impressed by your selfish thriftiness when people all over My world were hungry?”

“Oh, but Lord,” replied the man, “I did care about the world. I had many items in my home from other countries. I supported their economies.”

“No,” the Lord answered, “you supported your continual lust for more possessions. The fact that those items came from other countries is irrelevant and beside the point. Your primary concern was yourself, not others. You put the finest of clothes on your back while others were clotheless. You put premium shingles on your home while others had not even a roof over their heads. You ate the finest of foods while others had nary a morsel for their stomachs. You lived in the lap of luxury while others lived in the pit of poverty.”

“But, Lord,” the man objected, “I cared about them in my heart.”

“You are incorrect. For out of the overflow of a man’s heart does he speak and act. Those feelings you had were promptings from me to do as I wished but you continually ignored me. Your heart was too hard to obey my whispers. You are a wicked man, ever-concerned with amassing more while others could not even conceive of amassing anything. You met every whim of your desires while the needs of others went unmet. You took the responsibility of having much and turned your back on Me. You turned your back on those who could not provide for themselves. You are no better than someone who kicks a lame man. You hid behind your hollow, useless, shameful theology to justify your actions. Selfishness was not the way of my Son. And it is not the way of my true sons and daughters. Your life proved you did not know me. Your once-useful, sophisticated theology has burned up and is absent. You have nothing and no one to defend you. Now you also will know how it feels to be abandoned. I tried speaking to you, but you would not listen.”

“But, Lord, I believed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that sufficient for salvation,” came the man’s reply.

“You believed as the demons do,” answered God. “You come to me saying, ‘Lord, Lord’ yet you never knew me. You were never saved from your sin. You mimicked what you thought a saved soul would do. You were never compelled from your soul to do anything I commanded. You were only compelled to fulfill every selfish desire you had. You wicked and lazy man. I came to you over and over again in your life and you ignored me. The punishment you receive is just and it is right.”

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“Please give me a reason to live
Please give me a reason to breathe
…I want to be ready.”
(Shawn McDonald – Reason / I Want to be Ready)