Are You Ready To Cross Over?
“And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.” (Joshua 3:3-4)
Today’s Morsel: When I was in the army as an infantry soldier, part of our training was to be ready at a certain time to cross the line of departure. In other words, there was a set time and a line that we must cross so that you did not get killed by friendly fire. One of the things we learned was that once we departed a site, our enemies would soon come in and seek to obtain any information or intelligence that they could find that they may be able to use against us. And so, we would preprogram artillery fire on that site for a set time after our departure. And if we did not get off that location at the appropriate time, we could suffer the consequences.
The children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and now it was time for them to cross over to the other side. Joshua had told them that they had not passed that way before and so they should keep their eyes on the Ark. He gave them a set time that they must be ready to go. No delays. Our final home is heaven. And we know that there is going to come a day that we must cross over. So the question is, are you ready? Scripture says that the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas as he brought them out from the jail, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” (Acts 16:30-33). When Peter had preached to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2,: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:37-41) In both accounts, the question is asked what they shall do, or what must I do to be saved? We see that according to scripture the first act is for one to believe on Jesus Christ, as neither is there salvation in any other (Acts 4:12). Next, we must repent of our sins (Matthew 4:17). Third, we must be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38, 10:48). And fourth, we must be filled with God’s Spirit (Romans 8:9). Are you ready to cross over to the other side where you will live with Jesus forever and ever?“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11)
Sing: The captain of the vessel, he’s calling get onboard, the destinations heaven, upon those crystal shores, there we’ll see our blessed Savior, and our loved ones who have gone before, and we will sing and shout for eternity, thank God we’re going home.
I’m going home with Jesus, in the twinkling of an eye, I’ve made my reservation for my mansion in the sky. I may not know the moment, and I may not know the day, but I know that I’ll be leaving, when He calls His church away.
Thought For Today: “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
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