Eternity Secured.

Tortured.

Cruel mockings.

Scourgings.

Bonds, imprisonments.

Stoned.

Sawn asunder.

Tempted.

Slain with the sword.

Wandering in animal skins.

Destitute.

Afflicted.

Tormented.

Wandering in- deserts, mountains, dens and caves.

These were ALL what men and women of GOD endured!

This was the life, and the end of life they were called to endure.  Yet we DARE to believe that if we have God's favor we should have an easy life, pain and worry free.  We believe we should be kept safe from all evil doers. We believe that our Savior won't allow horrific things to happen to us. We say things like, 'God will take care of me.' And when we say that we are believing that it means bad things will not be allowed to happen to us. We believe we won't end up homeless, that no one will be able to harm us, that others won't torment us or cruelly mock us.

God taking care of us really and truly means that we will be secure in eternal life, not this temporary life.

NOT that God doesn't take care of us and keep us here and now, He can and does. However we HAVE to realize that it is our eternal life that is truly God's plan. Jesus died so we could HAVE access to eternal life, not so we could have an easy going, pain free, worry free, stress free, hunger free, evil  in all its forms free- life. We must trust that NO matter what we are called to endure, from the worst of things we can imagine, to the small annoyances- that  God will NOT allow us to endure anything that would keep us from eternal life in Him as long as we have faith to believe in the Son of God and His sacrifice for us, in His righteousness.

Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

This is truth!

This is reality!

While we cry tears of pain, tears of sadness, tears of frustration and anguish we can do so while still being assured that this all is only temporary to eternity, an eternity that is free from evil and all it's results.  

All those men and women of God did NOT receive the promise given to them. 

They WILL not receive the promise either- not until we are all perfected together.

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

In a moment.

In the twinkling of an eye.

At the LAST TRUMP.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

This is our HOPE. This should be our desire. This must be what we think of ALWAYS not sporadically. Truly this life however long it is for us here and now is a temporary existence. For ALL things- mental, emotional, physical no matter the torture we endure invisibly or visibly it is TEMPORARY to the eternity to come and this was the message our Savior came to give us and sealed it's surety with His death, a blood sacrifice, an atonement.

We may be- Tortured.

We may endure- Cruel mockings.

We may face- Scourgings.

We may feel the weight of -Bonds, imprisonments.

We can be killed by being - Stoned.

We may be- Sawn asunder.

We are often- Tempted.

We may endure being - Slain with the sword.

We might find ourselves - Wandering in animal skins.

We could be- Destitute.

We are constantly - Afflicted.

We know being- Tormented.

We might have to start - Wandering in- deserts, mountains, dens and caves.

Whatever our fate, wherever we fall in the above, whether it is between the cracks in another category altogether, we ALL face eternity- either eternity as nothingness outside of Christ and His love, or eternity with everything in Christ and His love.

Every single man and women of God before us whether it is going all the way back to Abraham and Sarah, on down to the Apostles Peter, John… Paul  and beyond has the same fate as we do.  Abraham sleeps in the grave, David sleeps in the grave, Paul sleeps in his grave.  I'm not saying you're going to go to their graves and find remains- after all this time the remain are but dust returned to dust.  All that made the human beings who existed as Abraham, David, and Paul physically has disappeared. Mentally, emotionally all that made them human is in death's sleep.  The breath of life, the breath that sparked life in them returned to God but that breath was NOT the human being they were- it was not them physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.  We all know that a person can be void of all brain activity yet still breathe with help.  A person can be kept alive this way for a long time.  All that made the person who they were has already begun the long sleep of nothingness. When that breath is taken away fully there is no longer life.

Is it any wonder our Bibles explain death as a sleep?

Deu_31:16  And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt SLEEP WITH THY FATHERS; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

2Sa_7:12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt SLEEP WITH THEY FATHERS, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

1Ki_1:21  Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall SLEEP WITH HIS FATHERS, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.

Why say such things if they aren't true.  We all know sleep is a state of unconsciousness - for the most part dreamless.  Death too is a state of unconsciousness.  All that we are is kept reserved in God. He alone who called the world into being has the power to give back to us our flesh and blood and He will at that last trump.  The human being that Abraham, that David, that Paul once were with flesh and blood will be called forth into existence and that breath given back to God will once more be given to them and they will know consciousness once more- death's sleep will be over for them. 

There will be no fantastical shock of how much has taken place since they last lived because they are immediately called to meet the Lord in the air and to go to heaven with Him.  They are raised to incorruption, to immortality and the receive the PROMISE all at the same time those who are alive receive the promise.

Can't find peace now? Then grasp ahold of the sword and endure all you are called to endure until the promise can be fulfilled! We are not promised peace--

Mat_10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Eph 6:17  ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

All by HIS grace through the SPIRIT, please FATHER in HEAVEN! We would be YOURS!