Hi to all my Forum Friends,
In the discussion begun by David titled "Redemptive Suffering" -- our Friend, VP, told us, "On redemptive suffering. I worked hospice/palliative care for a long time. I cannot tell you how often a suffering person (on the brink of death) would proclaim the incredible moment, where they offered and joined their suffering with our Lord. One man, in particular, I will never forget, told me (moments before he died) that he was on the Cross with Jesus, and Jesus was holding his hand. POWERFUL stuff!"
VP, no one can doubt your sincerity, nor the depth of your feelings at that moment when you were with another who was nearing the time he would go into eternity. I have a dear Friend, Harvey, who used to work as a Nursing Supervisor in a hospital -- and has shared with us how he would never fail to slip into the room of comatose patients, to pray for them and their eternal salvation. Harvey had no way of knowing for sure if this person could hear his prayers and his request that he/she invite our Savior in during those last hours -- but, he was doing the ministry God had given him -- and, he could only trust in the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
Yet, there is ONE problem with this man thinking he met Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus is no longer on the cross. Jesus died on the cross to make eternal salvation available to all who, by grace, through faith, will believe and receive this free gift "paid in full" by His precious blood. Then, He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11) in His gloried, divine body -- where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, continually interceding, continually being the Mediator between man and God, for all Christian believers.
So, if this man truly saw himself with Jesus Christ -- it would not be on the cross -- but, in the presence of God the Father in heaven.
Mark 16:19, "So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God."
Colossians 3:1, "Therefore if you (if this hospice patient) have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."
Hebrews 1:3, "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Hebrews 10:11-12, "Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Jesus), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God"
1 Peter 3:21-22, ". . . Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."
Why, after dying on the cross to defeat Satan -- did He ascend into heaven? Because He had accomplished His work on earth and told us, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). His next gift to us was to rise from the grave, resurrect, to defeat death and to give the gift of immortality to all men -- for believers, immortality in the presence of God; for non-believers, immortality in hell.
He died on the cross ONCE, for all (1 Peter 3:18) -- never to experience the cross again.
"Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25).
Hebrews 9:24, "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
What is the promise of Jesus Christ to all believers? That all who believe WILL have eternal life in Christ! (John 6:47)
And, in 1 Timothy 2:5, that HE is our Counsel before God the Father, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:34, "Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
So, recognizing this unfathomable, amazing gift He offers to all people -- what should we be doing?
In Colossians 3:1-2 we are told, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
Who did this man see in his final hours? If he saw a dead man, or any man, hanging on the cross; he was not seeing Jesus Christ. But, if he had looked up -- he would have seen Jesus Christ, in heaven, waiting patiently for him to open the door of his heart and invite Him to come in and be his very personal Lord and Savior (Revelation 3:20). That is the His greatest desire (1 Peter 3:9) -- that all people will open the door of their hearts and invite Him to come in and be their very best Friend, their most intimate Friend.
VP, this was not intended to dash water upon your good works at the hospice. For such is always blessed by God. But, the best thing you could have done for this man, at that time, was to have prayed that, in his final moments, he would have taken his eyes off earthly things, looked into heaven (as did Stephen who, just before his death declared, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" - Acts 7:56) -- and reached for the extended hand of the Savior who was waiting to embrace him.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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