Going Home

Ever notice how everyone who dies is said to be “going home?” Well, actually it is ridiculous to be committed to the idea that everyone “goes to heaven.” That is as non-scriptural as anything could possibly be. Regarding the way of eternal life, Jesus pointedly stated, “and few there be that find it" (Mat. 7:14). Now this short article is not intended to cast any dark shadows on anyone’s departed loved ones. I believe hope is a very good thing, and anyone who has departed from this life is out of my jurisdiction and yours anyway, unless God has revealed something to us about their finality. But the truth is, everyone who dies does indeed ‘go home,’ and I would like to simply explain just how that is. For those who have repented from sin and believed on Jesus according to his defining of believing, which is to be baptized with his Spirit; and who continue to be led by his Spirit, ‘home’ is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost" (Jn. 7:37-39; Rom. 8:14; Rom. 14:17). For all who are real with God in this life, by continued honesty, humility, and perseverance in faith; home is staying filled with "joy unspeakable, and full of glory" (I Pet. 1:8). And for those who have truly obtained and continued in "the grace of God that bringeth salvation,” home is to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, [and to] live soberly, righteously, and godly in ths present world" (Tit. 2:11.12). For those who are "called, and chosen, and faithful,” home is keeping “the love of God shed abroad in [their] hearts by the holy Ghost" (Rev. 17:14; Rom. 5:5). Finally [though this could go on much longer] those who are truly at home in Christ in this life, truly believe and practice the commandment which fulfills the royal law, according to James: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Jas. 2:8).

So it only serves to reason that when these kind of people depart from this life, they are going home to Jesus, whom they have served faithfully, and whom they have already been at home with in this life. I like the way Peter said it, when he spoke of the calling and reward of God’s elect: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, WHO ARE KEPT by the power of God through faith UNTO salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Pet. 1:3-5). Well, amen to that. Now the flip side of this coin is every bit as real, and makes every bit as much sense as well. Everyone who does NOT qualify for the terms mentioned above that are familiar to those who truly love God, is at home in a totally different spiritual atmosphere and environment while they are in this life. For those who do not experience the only true deliverance from sin that exists, meaning the holy Ghost baptism with the accompanying sign of speaking in tongues; home is just plainly in sin, with all of the confusion, doubt, fear, turmoil, pride, lusts, strife, etc.; that sin is all about. Jesus is not the home of anyone who is in sin, PERIOD! Jesus is not in sin, and those who abide in him cannot be in sin either (I Jn. 3:6). That’s just a scriptural and spiritual fact, and perfect rationale as well. Those who are “joined to the Lord, are one spirit [with Christ]” (I Cor. 6:17). So it is evident that when someone is joined to the Lord (by the Spirit baptism - I Cor. 12:13), either the person becomes holy or Jesus becomes a sinner; and I think the answer to that is pretty obvious, really. Otherwise they don’t really become ‘one spirit,’ and the scripture is false, which of course it is not.

So anyone who stays in sin does not know what it means to be at home in the Lord. And for all who choose to remain in sin, home is the things that make up the condition of being in sin, some of which we’ve mentioned above. This is why the apostle Paul warned the Galatians, who were slipping back under sin AFTER they had been born again; “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). Jesus nailed this fearsome truth down really tight, saying: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8). Actually, ‘unbelieving’ covers it all, as all other sins of every kind are merely symptoms, or fruit of unbelief. Unbelief truly is anything apart from the traits of the righteous, mentioned in our first paragraph. The simple truth is that sin separates from God - always has, always will. So anyone who is at home in this life being separated from the real presence of God’s divine peace, holiness, and love; is going to an eternal home of separation from God after they die (I Cor. 13:1-3; Heb. 12:14). It really is that simple my friend, and the choice is even simpler if you ask me. And this simplistic and sensible truth brings real meaning to the saying, "Home is where the heart is.” Amen.