“Hey....whatever happened to ‘Ole-So and So’...?” 

 I’m guessing we’ve all asked that question on more than one occasion in the past, have we not? 

 In fact, I would not be surprised if you heard that inquiry made over this past week while getting together and visiting with family and friends whom you have not been with for a while. It’s a common question that comes up when folks gather and riminess about old times. Granted, social media usually is a quick resource to track folks down that you had not thought of recently. A quick ‘search’ on FB or Google usually provides some up to date answers rather quickly. 

 But have you ever wondered if that question will arise some day in heaven? I am inclined to think not for two reasons. (I can’t say that I spend much time thinking about ‘heaven’ and life after here, given I believe I already found ‘eternal life’.) 

 We do tend to think of eternal life as this ‘reward’ that awaits ‘good people’ when they die; but there is this matter of ‘waiting’ until we actually do die before we get to tour this ‘mansion on streets of gold in the great by and by’. Yet, have you ever read where Jesus was praying there in John 17 and He actually tells us what eternal life is – It’s “knowing God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus whom the Father sent to us.” (3) 

 Yeah...read that again if you need to. “This...is eternal life...Knowing Him”. As in...Now. 

 Jesus did not tell us there in John 10:10 that I will give you life some day after you die and we verify that you ‘checked off all the boxes’ based on which church you attended. 

 He said...”I have come that you might Have Life...and it more abundantly.” In other words, you don’t have to wait and ‘hold on till Jesus comes’. You can have it now. Today. And here’s the good news...you don’t need a running start to obtain it. 

 Sadly, too many people today have found themselves in a place of ‘doing their best’ to ‘hold on...hoping...they make it to heaven’. I actually heard an elderly woman who had been ‘in church’ most of her life tell me one time that she was trying her best to make it to heaven, but assured me that if she did not make it, she was going to hell in ‘Jesus’ Name’.” I never knew if she actually believed that or if she was just being funny. 

 There are plenty of others who are ‘holding on’ and praying for a ‘rapture-bus’ to come any day now and get us out of this old stinking, sinful world.’ Again...the focus is on the future, some- ‘far off day’ mindset. Which is why so much of the emphasis in what I believe God has been trying to get through to me, and in turn, share with others, is this idea of abiding in Him -Now. 

 It really is a novel concept...and truth be told...I guess that is why I don’t get overly preoccupied with this idea of ‘going to heaven someday’. When you are abiding in Him on a daily basis...the question needs to be addressed...’where else would you want to be besides with Him?” I mean, what better place is there than to be with Jesus? I think that is where the error comes in with our faulty theology at times. We think of going to ‘be with Jesus’ and yet, does scripture not clearly say that He...and the Father were coming to us and making their abode in us? (John 14:23). Did He not reassure His disciples that He would ‘be with them always’? (Matt. 28:20) Or what about the promise that “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. (Heb. 13:5) 

 When you are abiding in Him...you are ‘in Christ’...or in ‘the ark’. Nothing else really matters, does it? I mean...if the floods come...what does He promise us in Isa. 43:1-5?...or when we pass through the fires...we won’t be burned; why? He’s with us. So it doesn’t really matter when the ‘rapture’ comes...or if it even comes in the manner that people have been expecting it to come for the past two thousand years. Abiding in/with Him is the best place to be. 

 Have you ever gone on a field trip with the school or maybe on some bus tour and you make a lunch stop and have time to visit and shop? There is always that one person that is prone to missing the bus because they got distracted and lost sense of time. You know what I discovered years ago? If you stick close to the bus driver, it is unlikely you will miss the bus. 

 (Pause). (Heb. 2:1) 

 Which takes me back to my original thought of wondering if someday in heaven, we will think about people we knew in this life and wonder what happened to them. I doubt that is likely for this reason alone. Heaven seems to be a place where there will be no sadness or sorrow and all tears will be wiped away. (Rev. 21:4). To remember someone and then realize they are not there...would be a source of great sadness, so I find it unlikely that we would have that awareness. Besides.... there’s a passage in Ecc. that distinguishes the difference between the ‘living and the dead’ and says the ‘dead will be remembered no more’.(9:5) 

 And contrary to popular thought and assumptions....not everyone goes to heaven. On the contrary, if you study the teachings of Jesus...He makes it sound like there won’t be nearly as many as we thought would be there. (Matt. 7:13-14). He then goes on to make the point that ‘many will come in that day’...assuming they had a place at the table and will be shut out...being told that they were not known by God and continued to practice sin. (21-23). It seems to me this ‘knowing God’ is a ‘two-way street’, is it not? We want others to know Jesus, but it’s also important to be ‘known by Him’ as well. (John 10:27; Gal. 4:9). And that was probably on Jesus’s mind when He was praying that we might know what eternal life was...Knowing Him and the Father...which means we are also known by Him. 

 So no, I can’t see a scenario in heaven where we are wondering about what happened to ‘ole so and so’. 

 But I won’t lie...I do think about people I read of in the bible, and wonder...whatever happened to them after their encounter with Jesus. 

 Like that rich, young ruler I mention regularly here. Jesus extended an invitation to Him to ‘forsake all’ and join them. He refused. There was something in his life that he was not willing to let go of despite hearing what Jesus had to offer. (It was eternal life, in case you forgot- Matt. 19:16). We read where he turned, sorrowful and grieved, and walked away. And Jesus did not chase him down and renegotiate the terms with him. I wonder if that young man found another church where a watered down version of the gospel was presented; and given his position and wealth, might have been quickly made a deacon? We simply do not know what happened to him. 

 Or what about those ten lepers who got what they ‘needed’ from Jesus and were healed....then all ran off. But there was that one who stopped... and had a moment of realization...and turned, and came back to Jesus. But what about those other nine...what ever happened to them? (Luke 17:11-19) 

 Then there was the woman caught in adultery, and the man by the pool whom Jesus healed. Both were told by Jesus to ‘go and sin no more’. (John 5:14; 8:11). How did they do? What became of them? Or how about those ‘disciples’ we read about in John 6:66. We are clearly told they were ‘disciples’ and not just part of the crowd eating fishes and loaves of bread. There had to be a level of commitment made to be called a ‘disciple’. And yet...we read about how they “went back and walked with Him no more.” Sure enough, there are plenty of folks today who have been taught that ‘falling from grace’ or ‘losing your salvation’ is not possible and probably believe that those who ‘walked with Him no more’ most likely missed out on the ‘abundant life’ they ‘could have had’...but their ‘spirits were saved’ so in the end, all was well with their souls. 

 I won’t even go there with that one today. 

 But I’ll tell you about the one person I am really curious about. It’s the older brother, we read about in the story of the prodigal son. You know it, I would think? Luke 15:11-32 lays it out for us. I’ll let you read it yourself in case you are unfamiliar with the account. We read how the younger brother had truly distanced himself from his father, even ‘joining himself to another citizen of another country’ (15) and had descended into darkness. He really wandered off the range. And we actually do get to hear ‘whatever happened to him’. 

 He came to his senses. (17) He had an awakening. He saw his sin and how far he had fallen. And he was humbled and broken and contrite. He KNEW...he had messed up and was not anywhere close to where he needed to be...and could be. So he turns and makes his way home. That is what repentance is all about. Seeing, reckoning, and returning. He was a broken man and knew there was only one place where he could be ‘fixed’. So he returned to his father. One of my favorite lines in that story is when the father ‘saw him afar off, he ran to him’. (20). The father never stopped looking for him to return. That one gets me every time. Prior to the young man leaving, he was all about ‘give me’. Upon his return, humbled, he begged his father to ‘make him’.(12,19). And what a reunion that was. I’ve experienced it myself, personally. :- ) 

 But the story does not end there. In fact, from the way I read it, it ends on a somber and sad note. The older brother was not impressed with the reception his young brother had received from their father. You might want to revisit those verses, 25-31. We are told he was ‘angry’. And you know what his anger did? It hindered him...from going...in to the father’s house. Everything that was in the father’s house...joy, happiness, peace, festivity, celebration, reconciliation, ...was inside. And the older brother...refused...to enter. 

 The father even came out to him...and invited him in. He refused. The one who we are told had ‘been apart the whole time’...found himself outside...looking in...unwilling...to come in to the father’s house. How often...do we see this same invitation made...and people just flat out...are unwilling...to come in. It boggles the mind. Please...do not walk away from this study today without looking up Matt. 22:1-3; 23:37; and John 5:40). Three distinct cases where an invitation was made to ‘come to Him’...and folks simply were ‘unwilling’. 

 He's not going to force you to come in. But He will ask you to lay down anything and everything that is contrary to His nature. Don’t be deceived into thinking you can come in any other way. I don’t know about you, but I wonder...whatever became of that older brother. Sure seems he was missing out on a lot of goodness.

(Yes, I'm aware of Paul's statement in Phil. 1:23 where he longs for another day of being absent from this body, but I pray you here what I'm saying in this post today)