Sept 2 - Psalm 88:10-11

Do you show your wonders to the dead?

Do their spirits rise up and praise you?

Is your love declared in the grave,

your faithfulness in Destruction?

Psalm 88:10-11

Have you ever read a good detective novel?

I used to like the old Ellery Queen's. Two hundred pages into the novel would be a mostly blank page. Just as the reader was allowed to see the flash of understanding in the detective's eyes, the author would insert a mostly blank page with something like these words, "Reader, you have now been given every clue you will need to figure out this mystery. Don't turn the page until you think you have the answer."

Mysteries! 

Heaven and hell is one of them. We have glimpses of the afterlife from scripture ... but isn't it still a little mysterious?

The people of Israel did not have a well-developed understanding of heaven and hell. In fact, by the time of Jesus, one minority sect -- the Sadducees -- didn't believe in the after-life at all. (That's why they were "sad, you see." There was no eternal hope.)

Bu not having yet a well-developed understanding of the after-life does not mean that humans were gradually "inventing" religion. (Though some scholars surely teach this.) What it means is that God was gradually revealing the truths of his kingdom. 

We know this to be true because Jesus was God's fullest revelation of himself. Israel had been a people for two thousand of years. And they'd been given glimpses of God and the Messiah every step along the way. But all these pieces of revelation didn't make sense until the Messiah came. 

It was like a good mystery novel. The night before Christmas -- the literal hours before Jesus was born -- the author of creation could have inserted a mostly blank page with something like these words, "People of God, you have now been given every clue you will need to figure out the wonder of the Messiah and my fullest revelation. Don't turn the page until you think you have the answer!"

In a mystery novel, the detective gathers every suspect in a room and explains the mystery, including all the rabbit trails that almost took him down the wrong road toward accusing an innocent bystander. 

Once Jesus was born, isn't powerful to look back over the whole Old Testament and see all the powerful ways that God pointed to the coming of his son? and all the rabbit-trails that still keep people from understanding?

The mystery of heaven and hell is like that too. God gave glimpses in the Old Testament (we'll examine one in just a moment). We got clearer glimpses through the testimony of Jesus. The book of Revelation refines this understanding more. But one day, when we stand face-to-face before the throne in faith, I suspect we'll be looking back at all the clues, and saying, "Why didn't I see?"

In Christ's Love,

a guy who sees a clue in this verse

... when linked to another clue in Jesus' story

about the rich man and Lazarus

Do you remember this story? A rich man had his reward on earth, and chose pride and callousness instead of God and grace. He wound up in hell -- a hot and thirsty place. Lazarus, a poor man, had seemingly no blessings on earth, and yet by placing his life in the hands of God he wound up in heaven. 

There's more to the story -- including the main point of humans needing to listen to the prophets, especially the prophet who will come back from the dead (Jesus). But for the moment, let's stick with the picture Jesus paints of heaven and hell.

The rich man was tormented ... and sorry. And he knew clearly his mistakes, he saw clearly the blessings of the faithful like Lazarus, and he wanted to warn his brothers on earth to not take his same selfish path. In other words, even in hell, he was aware. He was aware of heaven, he was aware of hell, he was aware of earth. 

Isn't that what today's verses ponder: [O Lord,] do you show your wonders to the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you? Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in destruction?

Psalm 88 was not God's fullest revelation ... but it was a hint of a explanation. Heaven (and hell) will not be a place of impersonal energy. It will be a place of personal awareness. You will still be you. And you will be aware of heaven, you will be aware of earth, and you will see God face-to-face!