seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus started this "first" and "last" in Heaven discussion yesterday. It seems to be about reward. Yesterday, when the rich man came to see him, Jesus explained how hard it would be for a rich man to give up everything he has and join Jesus. Here's a review....Matthew 19:28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
The eleven left will have their own thrones. I'm not sure Judas will make it there.... but if he does he will have a throne but the eleven who didn't turn Jesus over to the authorities may squawk.I've heard it said, it's not fair "I have lived my whole life devoted to Jesus.... I have never watched an x rated movie and demon alcohol has never passed my lips and I have been in church with my tithe and my time every time the church doors were open, or a deacon called my name.... and someone who just arrived gets the same Salvation I have been working for, for 70 years!!!!"
It's Heaven! Who can be jealous or mad in Heaven? I mean besides God.... or Jesus.... who else?
Yesterday, local TV station, showed some videos the telescope sent back from space. What seemed to be a galaxy looked like a rainbow-colored orb with a deep ocean blue center. There was noise coming from the orb... and it sounded like a male choir tuning up or singing in that catholic temple kind of way. I wondered if that might be something John was allowed to see. The great secret... the one John was told "don't write this down".... might have been a space telescope that showed John what Heaven looks like. Then I learned it's not a new galaxy... it's a black hole.
Nothing makes perfect sense about life or heaven right now. There's still something we don't know about Heaven. There's still something John was forbidden to release to the public. No one will find out what it is before the rest of us do. All God's Children will arrive in Heaven just as ignorant as the first child to see it. We'll all learn that secret at the same time... even though some will be there first... they have to wait until the last of us get there.
All I know... or I think I know.... is that no one will be squawking in Heaven for long.... after all it's Heaven!
