Purgatory

 

God gave us many, many wonderful gifts on that Christmas day through the Baby in the manger. But some might ask – such as?

 

Well for starters, to those who receive His gift of Christ Jesus, the Father offers them confidence in His total and unqualified forgiveness of their confessed sins. Along with that confidence, God assures the Christian of eternal life. And then there is the immutable promise that the risen Jesus never, ever leaves us.

 

There are other promises wrapped in Jesus which ought to give the Christian great and unshakeable confidence in this life, but I want to focus now on this one in particular:

 

The faithful follower of Jesus Christ can have absolute and unqualified confidence that his or her death results in the IMMEDIATE transport into the very presence of our Messiah.

 

I will say it again for emphasis: The Christian has every God-given right to be confident that when we take our last breath on earth, our very next breath will be in the presence of our glorious King and Savior.

That certainly was St Paul’s confidence. Listen to what he wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

 

Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-5:8)

I hope you paid close attention to what he wrote. If our ‘house’ is torn down, WE HAVE a building from God. And please note especially the part about being at ‘home in the body’ and absent from the Lord, BUT to be absent from the body means to be AT HOME with the Lord.’

 

Paul gives us not even a hint of a suggestion about a halfway phase between the Christian’s death and finding himself or herself in the Holy presence of God.

 

Not even a hint.

 

Now look also at what he wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” (Philippians 1:21-24)

 

Clearly, St Paul had every expectation that ‘to depart’ his body meant he would immediately be ‘with Christ.’

Listen!  We’ve got to get this if we hope to live a joyful and confident Christian life: Either we believe St Paul or we believe what some theologians tell us about the ‘fires of purgatory.” But it ought to be clear that the idea of purgatory is as foreign to the New Testament as darkness is from light.

 

As darkness is from light.

 

Christian! Please, believe God's word. Please, put your trust in His apostles and prophets. And say it with confidence: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

 

THAT wondrous promise is only PART of what Christmas is all about.