Beyond the Stars   

Part 1 of 5  

 To fellow Christians. Other friends as well.

   We heard a man say he didn't want to go to heaven. He said it would bore him to sit around the throne worshiping God forever and ever. 

   Or, maybe you're like me, at some time or other, hoping to make it into heaven, content to sit in the back row. 

   Is there a back row in heaven? Is it boring up there?

   To follow along, note the following:

*  In God, there is the Father, the Son and the Spirit, all three equally God. 

*  God, who is love, planned his story before he created the universe.

*  Among symbolism he uses to teach us about himself -- the father-son relationship, adoption, inheritance, wills, covenants, ratification, slavery, freedom, life and death. 

   Let's begin with adoption. In the apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1:4-5, For he (the Father) chose us in him (the Son) before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. 

   An orphan who has been adopted might appreciate this best of all. Paul didn't believe we are holy and blameless, but that the ransom paid by the blood of the Son - who came to earth in our image to offer eternal life in his image - gives the Father just cause to view us as righteous. Pretty cool. 

 Tomorrow: Slavery, inheritance, the Spirit