In Regards To Heaven

“It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know”

“I and My Father are one."

John 10:30


When I was in high School my dad purchased a membership at a local country club, something he had wanted to do most of his life but had held off doing because of other family commitments he made in raising four kids that quickly drained his discretionary spending. I’ll never forget the first day he invited me to join him at the club to play golf and have lunch. Before going he told me, “It’s not what you know but who you know” to teach me a valuable lesson on how to handle myself while visiting the club that day. All I needed to remember was my dads membership number as his number gave me privileges I could not otherwise enjoy.

The feeling, “I’ve died and gone to heaven” came to mind when I realized I could order anything I wanted off the lunch menu and as much as I wanted. You can’t pay cash or use a credit card to pay for anything. Everything is paid on the members account. As a matter of fact, unless you are a member or a guest of a member you can’t play golf, you can’t enter the locker room, nor can you enjoy any food or beverages from the clubhouse or the snack bars located on the gold course. Without knowing a member personally or being a member yourself, you can do nothing which made the phrase, “It’s not what you know but who you know” make perfect sense to me. Even to become a member someone has to nominate you. As long as I had that number with me the personnel at the country club viewed me and my Dad as one and the same and because I was my fathers son I was able to enjoy the same benefits and privileges my father did.

Taking that phrase a step further, its been well said, “With Regard To Heaven, It’s Not What You Know But Who You Know” and nothing could be more true. Jesus has just told His disciples that He is the only way to heaven. He is the door, the only entrance into the very presence of God. There is no other person who can get you in, no other way capable of granting us access into the presence of the Father. Jesus is the one who grants us access to membership.

As you read through the Gospel accounts the disciples had many questions regarding Jesus credentials as the promised Messiah. Questions Jesus answered confidently and without hesitation by both His words and His actions. In John 14:7-11 Jesus stated plainly, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. You could say the Father and Son share the same membership number of heaven! The apostle John writes in the book bearing his name, John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”  The point is, God the Father is Spirit and no one except the Son has seen Him at any time. Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, so we could see for ourselves what God is like. In Colossians 1:15-19 the apostle Paul writes of Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.”

Jesus, the Son of God enjoys the full blessing of the Father to provide all the membership benefits of heaven to those who believe on Him as Jesus is the only one capable of providing the payment required to purchase our membership. Without Jesus and apart from Him we remain dead in our trespasses and sin proving once again, “with regard to heaven, it’s not what you know, its who you know”. Are you interested in a membership in heaven with full benefits? If so, open your heart to Jesus, receive Him as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life and the experience the forgiveness of your sins and all that comes with new life and being Born Again.

Don’t forget that Jesus offers us a membership that money can’t buy. Our membership in heaven has been purchased by His own blood, with the precious blood of the Lamb of God. Enjoy all the perks that come from being a child of God. We have access to heaven today through prayer, making it possible for us to enjoy all the blessings that flow from His throne. See for yourself, “it’s not what you know but who you know.”  


“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”

Ephesians 1:3


I LOVE YOU!  


 


 

Michael Osthimer

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