God Takes His Beloved Ones

God is our Father. God poured His love upon us, and to His love there is an absolute standard, which is Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. When Jesus was baptized and came out of the water, God said, “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I’m well pleased!” God loves only Jesus. We are now receiving God’s love because we have united with Jesus through baptism.

It is with the love He has for His only begotten Son that God loves those who are in His Son. This is as Jesus said, “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (Jn 17:26). The love God has for us isn’t any different to His love for His only begotten Son.

Those who receive God’s love neither blame nor resent God in any given situation. Even at the sudden passing of a loved one for example, they still don’t doubt the love of God. The Lord loved His disciples to the very end (Jn 13:1), and yet one of the disciples passed away in his twenties. In this way it is possible for the beloved ones of the Lord to face an early death that is beyond comprehension for others. The times or seasons is under the Father’s authority (Acts 1:7). There is no one, neither the angels in Heaven nor the Son, who knows the day or hour that God will take us (Mart 13:32).

It is the Lord’s will to take His beloved ones to be with Him where He is (Jn 14:3). Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” The reason the Lord sent us the Holy Spirit is so that He may take us to be where He is in the end. Hence to have received the Holy Spirit means we received the confirmation that the Lord will take us.

When God takes the soul of a saint, those whose hope is in Heaven should be able to recognize that as God’s love for that saint, for there is nothing worse than if our souls are not taken by God. What are demons? Aren’t they the ones who were not taken by God? It is not just anybody that will be taken by the Lord. Though two criminals hung on either side of Jesus, it was only to one of them that the Lord said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Even between a husband and wife, one may be taken and the other left behind (Matt 24:40-41). In order to be taken by God, we must receive His love.

During summer, when cicadas sing most actively, the exuvia (abandoned exoskeleton) of cicadas are often found on the bark of trees, left by the cicada after molting. The exoskeleton retains the shape of the nymph’s eyes and limbs, so that it appears as though the cicada nymph is clinging to the tree bark, although it is just an empty shell. This reminds us of the body of a person from which his spirit and soul has departed.

The Lord is presently preparing our places in Heaven. He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn 14:1-3). He will later return and take all the saints who are on the earth. However, some will depart this world before His return, and that time will vary for each person. Those that receive God’s love must acknowledge that it is God who takes them from this world.

God Will Demand Our Souls Back

When God takes our soul, He is actually claiming it back because our spirit came down from Heaven, unlike our flesh which is from the earth. Those who don’t have hope in Heaven will probably refuse to be taken by God. Such people will be left in the world to ultimately be thrown into the fiery furnace of hell.

The reason God sent His Son was so that we would not go into the fire of hell. Men crucified and killed the Son of God who came to the world, and He was legally, medically and biologically dead. No matter how powerful a person might be, he can do nothing once he is dead, and this was the same for the Son of God. It wasn’t by His own power that He rose again from the dead; God raised Him to life. This is where our hope lies, for God is going to raise us just as He raised Jesus Christ.

We have been made righteous through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Without the merits of Christ’s blood, we have to bear the consequences of our sins and transgressions and be cursed. However since Jesus Christ carried our sins and transgressions, we can boldly assert our righteousness. And as God also acknowledged this, He sent the Holy Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing this.

Though the Holy Spirit is invisible, His descent upon us is real and factual, which is proved by His manifestations. It says in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” In this way, our faith has clear and definite proofs.

Prepare to Win the Crown

Whoever believes that God will claim back and take our souls to Heaven will work even harder to receive greater glory in Heaven. On the contrary, whoever doesn’t have hope in Heaven will endeavor for his or her flesh to obtain happiness on the earth and also to pass that on to their children. However, such wishes parents have for their children often lead to legal battles between children over the share of inheritance.

We don’t know when God will demand our souls back. But one thing for sure is that the Lord will return one day. On that day, the Christians living on the earth will be transformed in a flash to meet the Lord in the air, and there will be a great tribulation on the earth for five months. And during that time, almost all of mankind excluding Israel will perish. After that, we will return to the earth with the Lord and reign as kings for a thousand years, and finally be glorified in Heaven thereafter.

The glory to be received in Heaven will vary from person to person. It is written in 1 Corinthians 15:39-41, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.”

The glory each person receives after the resurrection is determined by what they had done on earth. For Jesus, He neither built a house nor saved up riches for Himself but instead raised eleven great disciples over the three years of His public ministry. We came to have faith today also because of the work the eleven disciples did. To the disciples whom he had evangelized and taught, Paul said, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” (1 Thess 2:19). We too need to prepare ourselves in order that our souls may win the imperishable crown.

Some people say they are disciple-making but take and teach those who are already doing well in the church to follow them instead. Rather than benefiting the church, such conduct brings an enormous burden on the church. Revelation 2:6 warns, “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” We have to make disciples by preaching the Gospel to unbelievers to rescue their souls, and teach them to observe all the things the Lord commanded

If anyone is without a crown, he will discover in Heaven just how poor and miserable he is. Matthew 25:30 says, “And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The outer darkness here is not referring to hell. Among those who will later go into Heaven, some will not be able to enter the glorious city but be left outside in the darkness, namely those who do not have a crown.

Be Rich In the Eyes of God

If God demands our souls back, we have to depart this world, whenever that might be. If there is anything we stored up for God’s kingdom while we were on earth, that will later become our crown, whereas if our treasures were stored only on earth, the Lord’s words will shame us: ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ (Luke 12:20).

We must be rich toward God. Whether we own a business or work in an office, everything we do should be profitable to the kingdom of God. Whoever endeavors to be rich toward God on earth, will leave nothing behind when they depart this life in the world, and all of his sweat and tears will become His imperishable crown in Heaven.

Whatever vows we make before God must be kept even to our own harm. When God commanded Abraham, ‘Offer your only beloved son as a burnt offering!’ Abraham didn’t hesitate and obeyed God’s word. For Jephthah who made a vow to God saying he would offer as a burnt offering the first person that comes to greet him after he returns from winning the war, he kept his vow and offered up his one and only daughter. No one should ever put God to the test. Consider Ananias and Sapphira and what happened to them soon after the Pentecost when they were filled with grace.

Even now God is doing His work. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible records what God has done and will do. In Genesis chapter 1, we can see that God created the environment for mankind to live in. Then, man fell away from God and continued to sin; finally Jesus Christ came and died, resurrected and was lifted up to Heaven. All these things are written in the Bible, and finally the Bible ends with the confession, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). Waiting for the coming Lord, we must prepare to win the imperishable crown.

Showers fall on a drought-stricken land,
yet in no time the water turns muddy and is washed away.
If only that rainwater had been collected, it could’ve brought much relief to the drought, but what a pity that it’s all washed away so quickly! Like the sudden downpour of rain, people try to cram knowledge into their heads by reading many books, yet nothing sinks in, nothing remains. With books out and lights on all night, cramming before an exam might get them through the test, but the head remains an empty vessel.

Because I too studied this way when I was young, most of the knowledge has escaped me. I write this for the people after me, but are they willing to listen? The spring rain drizzles down for days; it moistens and slowly seeps into the earth. This enriches the soil, allowing the crops to grow well. Just like this spring rain, we could enrich ourselves with much knowledge if we read over and over again.

I can’t help but agree that people who read more are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared to those who do less. What a relief that the risk of developing dementia can be prevented by up to 8-90% just by taking a pen and writing! To write “the acts of my soul” every day or just regularly would not only help our church members prevent dementia but also leave a beautiful and lasting memory in writing.

During my childhood, I was afraid of passing in front of the house of a dementia patient in our town. Back then people used to call her a silly old lady. She smeared her feces on the wall, and the whole town was noisy trying to find her every time she ran out of the house. Modern medicine has certainly come a long way in its development. Nevertheless, the number of people diagnosed with dementia is going up every year. Though the present human life expectancy is said to be a hundred, what if one is diagnosed with dementia? In a world where children refuse to care for their aging parents who are healthy, what happens to the elderly who is ill and even suffering dementia?

For this reason, our spiritual well-being is vitally important. Since everything is ultimately a spiritual matter, a parched and weary soul is at a higher risk of suffering dementia. Everyone should have a lifetime of happiness, and yet it seems to be beyond our control. Our Lord Jesus thus shed His blood for our sins and was scourged for our infirmities so that we now have salvation and healing. And He wants to keep us by the Holy Spirit until the last day; however people are paying no attention.
I need to be filled by the Holy Spirit all the more as that day draws closer. My soul has to be blessed and I must keep writing in order to beat dementia.

  Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
Lord’s Day Worship Column

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Outline and Summary translated by Sarah Nam
Letter translated by Sarah Nam
Interpretations by Sarah Nam

Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee