The Savior or the swine?

An interesting thought occurred to me tonight as I was reading through the Gospel of Mark.  In my reading there was a huge story that jumped out at me.  I was able to read all the way through Mark 4, but when I got to Mark 5, the chapter stuck out at me big time.  There were a lot of amazing things that happened between Mark 4 and 5.  As I read through the story of Jesus casting out the demons out of the man of the Gadarenes, I was struck by what the messenger told the people.  Let's take a look at what was said:  "And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. (Mark 5:16,17 KJV).  

The first thing that we notice about the message is that it is two-fold.  The first part is the wonderful victory of Jesus, and the second part of the story is about the loss of swine.  What never ceases to amaze me is how these men actually told Jesus to leave.  Why is this?  They were eclipsed by the swine in their mind.  They chose the swine rather than the Savior.  How about us?  Do we choose the swine over the Precious Savior?  Let us not get discouraged by thinking about what we will have to give up when we follow Jesus, let's just make it a point to follow Him no matter what the cost may be and spend time simply enjoying the reality of His Blessings. I like how the story continues:  

"¹⁸ And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.

¹⁹ Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

²⁰ And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel." (Mark 5:18-20 KJV)

The Stairway to Heaven

Have you ever had a dream where you had the ability to walk up to heaven? I did last night.  I dreamed that there was a stairway that led all the way up to heaven.  To get to the stairway, I had to go up some old stairs in an old building. When I tried to explain to my friends how to go up the stairway, they didn't believe me.  "The stairway was simply a legend" they said. "We've never seen it, so how can it be"  When I tried to show the stairway to others some eagerly wanted to go, but others stayed on the ground outside the building and went back to business and everyday life as usual. I had found this stairway numerous times before and always would get so far up, but then start heading back down.  Finally I came to a point where I was determined to make it all the way to the top of the stairs, but then someone said I needed to go help others so I was transported to the desert to help people.  After a while I found the stairway again, and this time I was going to go up it no matter what the cost!  I can remember going up the stairway and as I did I noticed that it looked no different than any other stairway at the bottom until I started to climb several flights of stairs.  Finally I came to an area where the stairs turned to transparent glass.  The stairs led up to a huge circular glass room high above the earth with a transparent glass floor.  There was music going on in the room and people were praising God.  I won't forget the words to a song that I heard. "Draw me close to you, never let me go.  I lay it all down again, to hear You say that I'm Your friend.  You are my desire, no one else will do, cause no one else could take your place.  To feel the warmth of your embrace.  Help me find a way, bring me back to You. Bring me back to You. Your all I want, Your all I've ever needed, You're all I want!  Help me know You are near.  They were worship songs, and as I  was praising God, and as I did I heard an accuser say "You can't sing that song, you aren't perfect.  Your life is full of sin.  You don't have a right to sing that song."  However, I quickly ignored his voice and continued to praise God because of who He is and because He had paid the price for my sin!  Just then the stairway continued upward, and this time there was a bright golden light coming down the stairs.  I wanted to go up higher, but as I started to continue ascending the glass stairs I woke up!  Of course this is simply a dream and nothing more than that, but it does bring an interesting thought to my head:  how close is heaven.  There are a couple of Bible texts that I would like to talk about that come to mind when thinking about this dream.




The first one is Matthew 17:1-3
"1 ^*xgAnd after six days Jesus took with him^*xhPeter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was ^*xitransfigured before them, and^*xjhis face shone like the sun, and ^*xkhis clothes became white as light.  3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him." (ESV)

Why is Jesus doing this, you ask?  The disciples have had in their head that Jesus is setting up an earthly kingdom, but Jesus was not coming to rule, He was coming to save us from our sins.  In order for the disciples to know His mission, and to put their faith in Him, He allowed this to happen. 
This was one of those "heavenly" experiences for the disciples, and it is for us as well!



So many times in life I find that I don't really realize or appreciate who Jesus really is!  Peter James and John saw before who Jesus is.  Interestingly enough this was all to assure them of His mission to save them, and impress upon them the necessity of the cross.  They, however were thinking about the temporal, and didn't get it until after He was raised back to life.

There is a living way to heaven.  A stairway!  What does Jesus say in John? 
  
"1  ^*xd“Let not your hearts be troubled.^*xeBelieve in God;^*n1 believe also in me.   2  In^*xfmy Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that ^*xgI go to prepare a place for you?   3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you ^*xhto myself, that ^*xiwhere I am you may be also.   4  And you know the way to where I am going.”^*n1   5 ^*xjThomas said to him, “Lord, ^*xkwe do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  6 Jesus said to him, “I am ^*xlthe way, and ^*xmthe truth, and ^*xnthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me. "