PRE-ARRANGED CITIZENSHIP
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. The Priceless Citizenship
Ephesians 2:19
"You are fellow citizens with the saints."
a) In this world, we can gain the right to enter another country and stay there awhile, even though we are not citizens of that country. The permission to enter usually comes in the form of a visa. When we come back to our own country, we have no need of a visa, for we are citizens.
b) Heaven is a country that issues no visas. Nobody may enter that country unless they are citizens. If you do not have citizenship, you cannot come in. Heaven has no tourists, temporary residents, or asylum seekers. Citizens only may enter in.
c) This citizenship has several characteristics. As we meditate upon the nature of our heavenly citizenship, we will look at some of these characteristics.
2. Pre-arranged Citizenship
a) Paul, in Ephesians, emphasises "God's eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). We were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world" to be citizens of heaven (Ephesians 1:4).
b) It has always been God's purpose that every human being should have citizenship in heaven. When Jesus puts the goats on his left hand, that will not be what God wanted. God never chose for anyone to go to hell. We know that, because Jesus clearly says that hell is "prepared for the devil and his angels" not for human beings (Matthew 25:31-34, 41). Those who are sent there, will be sent to a place that was not prepared for them, and will miss out on the place that was. It was pre-arranged that they should be citizens of heaven, but they broke the arrangement. When God tried to restore the arrangement, they chose not to respond.
The End ...
1. The Priceless CitizenshipEphesians 2:19
"You are fellow citizens with the saints."
a) In this world, we can gain the right to enter another country and stay there awhile, even though we are not citizens of that country. The permission to enter usually comes in the form of a visa. When we come back to our own country, we have no need of a visa, for we are citizens.
b) Heaven is a country that issues no visas. Nobody may enter that country unless they are citizens. If you do not have citizenship, you cannot come in. Heaven has no tourists, temporary residents, or asylum seekers. Citizens only may enter in.
c) This citizenship has several characteristics. As we meditate upon the nature of our heavenly citizenship, we will look at some of these characteristics.
2. Pre-arranged Citizenship
a) Paul, in Ephesians, emphasises "God's eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). We were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world" to be citizens of heaven (Ephesians 1:4).
b) It has always been God's purpose that every human being should have citizenship in heaven. When Jesus puts the goats on his left hand, that will not be what God wanted. God never chose for anyone to go to hell. We know that, because Jesus clearly says that hell is "prepared for the devil and his angels" not for human beings (Matthew 25:31-34, 41). Those who are sent there, will be sent to a place that was not prepared for them, and will miss out on the place that was. It was pre-arranged that they should be citizens of heaven, but they broke the arrangement. When God tried to restore the arrangement, they chose not to respond.
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