Resetting to Heaven’s Dashboard
Waking up in the morning, I reach for my cell phone and the first thought crossing my mind is “I wonder what the latest statistics are?” Anyone alive at this time of a pandemic will know that includes three things: Number of new cases, number of recoveries and number of deaths. Just as we cannot see the Coronavirus with our naked eye, we can see its effects. And just as we cannot physically see the Holy Spirit, we can see the effects of His drawing men, women and children to Jesus and the Father. We can’t see the wind but we see its effects.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
John 3:6-8
Other mornings I reach for my Bible first. And I recall ‘heaven’s dashboard’-“…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents…” (Luke 15:7). There is a party happening in heaven every time somebody responds to God’s gift of salvation:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:16-18
At the time of writing this: “The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances: the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship.” (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he said this:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Greek=ethnos), baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:18-20
This privilege of partnering on a global mission with Jesus (“I am with you always”) is still applicable for followers of Jesus today because “the end of the age” has not yet come. “Anthropologists and ethnographers calculate that there are approximately twenty-four thousand distinguishable people groups among the 220 or so political nations. Why is this important? The word for people groups, ethnos, is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 28…” (The Surge-Churches Catching the Wave of Christ’s Love for the Nations). If you look at websites like Joshua Project (https://joshuaproject.net/) you will gauge how many people groups still need to hear the ‘good news.’ Whilst we are always to be ready for Christ’s return (see Mat. 24:36-44), I believe there is still much to be accomplished before He comes back again, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Mat. 24:14).
John, one of Jesus’ disciples, is shown what’s happening in heaven:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 7:9-12.
So, while I check in on the statistical dashboard of the present pandemic, I’m reminded that there is a ‘different dashboard’ in heaven- “a great multitude that no one could number” and I am reassured that the wind of the Spirit is blowing on the earth at a time like this, moving us towards that glorious day.
With this in mind, starting tomorrow, we are going to be putting two things on our website. One will be stories of God moving in people’s lives and bringing about a transformation of hearts. We recorded two ‘Odyssey Journeys’ so far with 2 of our guys (one will go on our website this week and then the other the following week) and look forward to doing more recordings post the lockdown. And we will be using other stories from across the globe to remind you of ‘heaven’s dashboard.’ Secondly, with Easter fast approaching, we will regularly post articles that show the overwhelming evidence that God has given us to draw us to Himself. These two things will sometimes be part of a post but will also have a separate tag for easy access.