I love a good mystery. My favorite mystery writer is Mary Higgins Clark, and I’ve managed to collect all but a few of her entire works. But the greatest mystery ever told is why God chose to redeem mankind through Christ’s death on the cross. This week we’ll explore the mystery of the cross—foolishness to the unsaved but the power of God to those who claim Him as Lord and Savior (I Cor. 1:18).
What the Cross Tells Us About the Future
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
1 Corinthians 15:19
We began the week thinking about the mystery of the cross. If you can explain how the death of one man on one day in history paid the penalty for sin for all mankind for all time, then perhaps you are the world’s greatest sleuth. My compliments!
I’m guessing, however, you’re as mystified as the rest of us. And speaking of trusting God, it is, after all, by faith that we are saved (Rom. 3:28). And even our faith is a gift of God!
We also began the week by asserting that your decision about the cross is the most important one you’ll ever make. Just as Christ promised that He was going to prepare a place for us in His eternal home, He also promised that unbelievers are cursed and will be sent “into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). This is the bad news that precedes the good news.
If you haven’t made the decision to accept Christ’s saving grace as payment for your sin, check out the ZMI Family Ministries Website and read “How to Have Peace with God.” zmiinternational.org
If you have made this decision, I hope to meet you in heaven. I know it’ll be crowded, full of people from every nation and tribe, no matter how long the earth remains. But I’ll find you. Your place has been reserved for you (Jn. 14:1-3). The Book of Revelation describes heaven as a place of no death, mourning, crying, or pain. Everything will be made new (Rev. 21:4-5). What a future awaits us!
If you want to know more about what will happen when Christ returns for us, read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:3. After these verses Paul went on to warn us not to be unprepared for that day. “Let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet …Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:8-11).
I hope you’ve found this week’s Doses encouraging. If so, share them on your Facebook page or with a friend who might need a little assurance right now. Until I see you in heaven,
Preparing for the great day of the Lord,
Betty