Title: Truth and Fantasy
Contents
title ; reality and illusion
main text ; Revelation 2:8-11
A certain unbeliever died and went to heaven. When I got there, an angel appeared and spoke to me. “Do you want to go to heaven? or do you want to go to hell?”
Then this man answered, "If you want to give me the privilege of such a choice, please give me a chance to make a decision after seeing heaven and hell once."
So, when I went to heaven and looked around, everyone sat down to read the Bible, sing hymns, and pray meditatively, but for some reason, they seemed a little bored and not interesting.
But when I went to Hell, I saw how many people were getting tired of screaming, shaking their bodies, loosening their heads, and giggling and crying and blowing.
So he came to the angel and said, "I must be hell. Send me to hell." and made a request. So this man went to hell and met Beelzebub, who guards hell. "Hey, welcome to you." It is said that it is time to light the fire so that the fire does not go out in front of the hot furnace.
I couldn't stand how hot it was to stand in front of him, so I went to Beelzebul and protested. "No, it wasn't like this when I first visited Hell, so why is Hell so painful now?"
Then Beelzebub, the king of hell, replied: "Last time, you came with a tourist visa, so you only saw good places. Now that you have a permanent residence permit, you must suffer in a painful place in hell."
Ladies and gentlemen, this illustration is an illustration about the illusion and reality of immigration or study abroad life. In other words, there may be a difference between the reality of simply visiting and looking at scenic spots, and the reality of experiencing and seeing what is happening in this alley and alley with permanent residency.
And there may be a difference between the reality of life of the people here from the outside and the reality of living here in person. If you do not fully understand the reality before coming here to study or immigrate, you may feel embarrassed and frustrated with your life here, and you will easily fall into discouragement and despair.
The same is true when it comes to living your life of faith. You need to properly understand the truth and the illusion. One of the reasons why people who try to believe in God for the first time face a test later, leave the church and give up the Christian life is because they do not understand the reality and the illusion properly.
In Matthew 13, we see this in Jesus' parable.
A fisherman threw a net into the sea and caught fish, and there are good fish and bad fish in the net. This means that not all angels or all devils exist in the church.
In other words, there may be bad people and there may be good people in the church. There may also be tares and chaff, and there may be wheat.
However, in the last days, it is an unavoidable reality that people will have more bad looks than good ones. It is foolish to take a test after experiencing a bad appearance in the future without knowing this reality.
However, it is by no means easy to understand the reality of a person. That's why there is a proverb that says, "You can know the water in ten roads, but you don't know the people in one road".
Especially in the case of young men and women, when choosing a spouse, it is more important to grasp the heart of the heart, that is, the reality, rather than the appearance. However, it can take years, sometimes even decades, to figure out the reality of the heart.
Because when young men and women fall in romantic love or get married and live in the same community as a family, they can blind their eyes from seeing the reality. You can see that the high divorce rate today is due to the fact that the spouses did not know the truth.
And the reality of the human heart is not something that can be put forward like that. The Bible speaks of the reality of the human heart in this way. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and deceitful, who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9).
In other words, no matter how great a person may be in the world, there is no one in this world who can proudly present that person to God. In other words, the reality of human beings is that they are not very beautiful in the sight of God.
Moreover, look at communism that says there is no God. they say “There is no one above people and no one below people. You and I are all friends and comrades. In communism, there are no rich people who extort people by pretending to live a little better. to be."
But where is the reality? There is the dictator Kim Jong-il, who is said to be a comrade in all words, but obviously there is the dictator Kim Jong-il who has absolute power, there is a ruling class such as party cadres and security guard cadres, and there are an absolute number of poor, starving and pitiful people who are the targets of surveillance and abuse.
Last week at the Calgary Church United North Korean defector testimony meeting, a North Korean defector gave this testimony.
“Everyone, just look at the reality of North Korea. There are propaganda churches that they built, but there are no churches like the church in North Korea. The North Korean regime never wants churches to be built. Some South Koreans say, ‘Ah, North Korea. North Korea is also a place where people live, so it will not die of starvation to that extent.' The reality of North Korea right now is so miserable. For the past half century, I don't believe in God and have lived by serving Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il as an idol, so I think the country has become miserable. I hope that the bad government will step down and the North Koreans will believe in Jesus and live like the South.
Ladies and gentlemen, in Revelation chapter 3, the church of Laodicea is mentioned among the seven churches in Asia Minor. That church was a self-confident church that said, "I am rich, I am rich, and I lack nothing."
But the Lord says. “You do not know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, or naked. I urge you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and buy white robes to put on so that you can hide the shame of your nakedness, and buy eye drops to put on your eyes. Let them see.” (Revelation 3:17-18)
In other words, they say they are rich, but in reality they are not rich.
However, in today's text, the reality and illusion of the Smyrna Church among the seven churches in Asia Minor are discussed. 'Smyrna' means 'crushed myrrh'. The Lord speaks to the Smyrna Church.
“I know your affliction and your poverty, in truth you are rich. I also know the slander of those who call themselves Jews, but in reality they are not Jews, but a synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9).
Smyrna Church is a church that has suffered a lot of bitter suffering due to severe persecution. However, because of that, our faith became stronger, and even in difficult circumstances, it was a church that did not give up on faith until the end and was faithful to death.
Outwardly, they seemed to have been abandoned by God, and outwardly they seemed foolish, but to the church in Smyrna, the Lord says: “The truth is, you are rich.”
Gentlemen, no matter how rich a person is, a person who just grabs it and cannot use it for good or good is said to be rich, but in reality, it is worse than the poor.
And no matter how much knowledge of the world they have learned, those who do not know the truth of God, no matter how much they pretend to know, are not people who know the truth. However, those who realize and practice the truth of God, no matter how incapable of learning the world, are knowledgeable in the sight of God.
Those who live without knowing the truth of God are ultimately those who live in vain, and those who live by looking at illusions. What do you do when you have a lot of money? A lot of money won't save you at the end of your life.
Also, no matter how great the world's authority is, when the moment of death approaches, that authority will eventually end as an illusion. So King Solomon, who enjoyed all the riches and glories of the world, confesses this. “Vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, all things are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Gentlemen, those who do not believe in God may say this to us. "Why do you live so foolishly? Where are heaven and hell and where is God?" Don’t live by looking at the illusion for nothing, but live by looking at the reality.”
But we believers say this to unbelievers. "Hello. Do you think that only what you can see is real, and that the invisible God is an illusion?"
But the Bible says. 'What is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal.' (2 Corinthians 4:18) In the eyes of unbelievers, we seem to be chasing after an illusion and seeming foolishness, but after a while, who follows the illusion, who is smart, and who is not? It's knowing who's stupid.
Ladies and gentlemen, too many people follow money thinking that money is the reality that makes them happy, and they follow it knowing that worldly honor or power is the reality that makes them happy forever.
And after a while, he realizes that these are not the realities that lead him to happiness, and he sighs like this. "Ah- I've lived a life in vain!!!"
Ladies and gentlemen, our life is too short to look at the illusion and follow it. Rather, the life of faithfulness to death in order to follow God and the truth, the eternal reality that is invisible to our eyes, is the life of truth, and the life of receiving a crown from heaven.
Although this life seems foolish and chasing after an illusion from the point of view of worldly people, the Lord tells us today. “But the truth is, you are rich.”