On the Doorstep, But Don't Get to Enter-Part 6

Materialism, purpose of life, transit in Hades or "with Christ", and future happenings...these have been touched on in this series of On the Doorstep, but Don't Get to Enter.  These are based on snippets from the book The Eternal Journey by authors Craig R. Lundahl, Ph.D. and Harold A. Widdison, Ph. D. who relate their findings of Near Death Experinces (NDE) that surveyed folks have had over the years.

In Part 4 of this series, we realized that materialism isn't one of life's purposes.  Of course whatever we have we use for the good of our family and those in need.  Money is important but let it serve you, not you serve it.  Part 3 explains about Hades.   In Part 5 we saw some of what is to come in our future; earthquakes and such.  Now we want to see about an extended time of love and peace. 

From the book page 74, we are told,

"Materialism is not one of the purposes of earth life.  On the contrary; it inhibits growth and development.

...according to NDE...prophetic visions, the earth will experience an increasing incidence of upheaval and destruction, both of social and natural natures.  This transitional period will be followed by a new era of human history characterized by love and peace."*1

>  This latter idea of love and peace is what I want to hone in on in this entry; especially that which pertains with peace.  We can experience God's love and peace in our hearts now through salvation through Jesus Christ, God's Son.  

Isaiah 9:6 gives us one of the names of Jesus...

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given...And he will be called...Prince of Peace..."

And then the next verse (vs 7) says,

"Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."

The Prince of Peace who increases peace and of which there will be no end.  Yes, we can have peace here and now as well as into the future.

And why would we be sent this Prince of Peace?  Out of God's love for us.  He wanted to make peace with us and give us peace within us.  So  there we have both love and peace. If you'd like to learn a bit about God's love, take a look at The Love Chapter.  It will show you the type or character of love God has.  He is so good and so great.  He proved his love for us  "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).  The Prince of Peace died in our stead to bring us this peace.  Praise the Lord He's alive again, living for us.

Peace.  We make peace with God when we accept Jesus as Savior.  We no longer have the wrath of God upon us (John 3: 36).  We have accepted Jesus gift of salvation which was Him taking the penalty of our sins in our place.  Death and Hell are for us otherwise.  Thank God for this gift of salvation.  Having made this peace with God, we then have free access to peace in our hearts no matter the situation.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 11:28,

"Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

Again, in  1 Peter 5:7  He said,

"Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you."  

When we obey His simple commands like this, we get rest.  We get peace.  We can have peace beyond all our understanding too.  Did you know that?  He says,

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

Here's a verse I like too, from 2 Thessalonians 3:16,

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with all of you."

What a blessing from God.  Peace in the here and now.  And we can have the peace in our minds that our final destination in the after earth life, will be "with Christ" (Philippians 1:23) in Heaven which will be "far better".  Peace in our minds will develop peace in our hearts and vise versa.  

Isaiah 26:3 comforts us,

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You."

Did ya get that?  Our minds.  Our minds are bombarded with so much distress and unrest just in our day to day life with family, work and health issues.  Yet with our minds fixed on Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we can have "perfect peace" by "trusting in God".  For the follower of Jesus Christ, we have an even greater asset and source of an unending supply of peace as we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.  One of the fruit of the spirit is....peace (Galatians 5:22).  An unlimited fountain of peace for the taking.  Even this talk of peace gives me peace.

The idea of trusting in God...often we may feel that because certain of our life situations haven't changed, we struggle day by day just to barely keep our head above water, so to speak, that we wonder, is God really interested in us?  Does He really want us to have peace?  Hey, does He really love us?!  When we keep trusting that "yes, He does", and keep our minds "steadfast" on Him, God's Word says we will have peace.  This is how our peace and our faith in God can grow.  

I watched a movie recently where a doctor's husband died.  She, a doctor, couldn't prevent him from dying.  She had even asked for God's help and healing.  But her husband died.  She lost her faith in God for a while.  But then another lady who'd experienced hard times told her something like, "Just talk to Him (meaning to God) and then be silent."   When we are silent we may just hear His "still small whisper" (1 Kings 19:12) of love and peace that can multiply in our minds and hearts.

A word of caution.  There are some other disciplines that suggest you empty your mind to seek peace.  BEWARE!!  This kind of thing can take you in a whole different direction.  When the mind is empty it will eventually have to be filled with something.  This is when Satan can take advantage and fill it back with his own thoughts and doubts about the goodness of God and he is well known as the deceiver (Revelation 12:9; John 10:10) and liar (John 8:44).  He or one of his evil demons may come in and possess a person too.  That is why it is very important to "fix our minds on Jesus"; "let your mind be steadfast and trusting on the Lord of peace and the God of peace and the Prince of Peace (Jesus)".

When Jesus reigns in future times; times when the lion and the lamb, wolf and leopard, children, infants and cobras will be at peace with each other (Isaiah 11:1-9), what wondrous times that will be.  Just like the Garden of Eden.  I fancy that. What a peaceful scenario all stemming from His love for us and wanting to commune with us in close relationship. 

I love this picture.

But mostly I look forward to the time when we will live and reign with Jesus (Revelation 20:6; 5:10).  In Revelation 22:1-9 there is even a greater time of peace.  This is "for ever and ever".  This will truly be the perfectly "extended time" of perfect peace in the presence of the Prince of Peace, our Jesus, Savior, and Friend; all initiated by God's love.

                                                           ~ERC  2016~ 


1.  The Eternal Journey; Craig R. Lundahl, Ph.D. and Harold A. Widdison, Ph.D.; copyright 1997; Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 A Time Warner Company; page74.