AND THEN
WHAT HAPPENED?A
discussion of what happened next in Bible events
Questions we may want to ask
those in Heaven when we all get there
By Steve Van Nattan All
of this discussion is based on my weird imagination, wondering what happened next
after many Bible events. But, I would suspect that you have wondered the same
thing with a few of these events. What I can guarantee you about this discussion
is that, when you go to Heaven, God will allow you to ask the people involved
what happened next. God only hides our sins, not eternal history. In fact, the
detail and color of Bible history is totally in another category from other religious
writings. That is one reason people read the Bible. It is a great book for the
imagination. So, there will be no history from the past, in Heaven, marked "Top
Secret- Do not read without permission." How can I say this so boldly? Watch
this please. 1
John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like
him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Now,
consider this..... we are NOW sons of God. You ladies will not be female in Heaven
because there is NO sexual distinction in Heaven. Why? Because everyone in Heaven
is male by reference. Also, there is no marriage in Heaven according to Jesus,
so there is no procreation in Heaven. Again, there is no sexuality. The fact that
we will all be HE in Heaven has nothing to do with gender. I said all of that
to assure you ladies that you were not left out in Verse 2 above. You shall be
like him as he is. What
is Jesus like? Among all the other wonders about our Savior, he cannot forget
anything but your sin. Jesus knows all things. He even knows what you are thinking
right now. And, even if you are thinking something dumb, he still loves you. Jesus
can love ugly people. Most of us cannot without help from the Holy Spirit. Well
then, that means you will be able to remember things you never saw or knew about
during your lifetime. Why? Simply because Jesus remembers those events in all
of history, and you will be like him. So, you will either know all the answers
to the questions below, or you will be free to learn them from the actors involved.
It may well be that Jesus will expect us to ask the questions of the people involved
so that we don't get bored with Heaven. Jesus showed us, by his own life, and
by his involvement in past history, that he has managed to keep himself quite
busy watching after a lot of dumb humans lest they do themselves in. I know, from
my own life, that I have caused Jesus a few moments of distraction keeping me
alive. So,
what we discuss below will give you a short shopping list of questions you may
want to ask brothers Peter, Paul, Moses, Daniel, and even the late convert Nubuchadnezzar.
I have thought for many years that one of the most exciting things about Heaven,
after seeing my Jesus and talking with him, will be to sit by the River of Life
and shoot the breeze with all of the Bible characters I know from the Bible.....
all without the assistance of Skype, Wikipedia or Google.  1.
Crossing of the Red Sea
Did
anyone put their hand in the water as it stood up like a wall?
I want to see
if Miriam will sing the song of victory she and the ladies sang on the far side
of the Red Sea.
Did some of the Israelites set up haberdashery shops on the
shore of the Red Sea, salvage Egyptian military equipment, and gold medals from
the chests of Egyptian officers, and sell it as "war surplus" to passing
Phoenicians?
2.
Feeding of the five thousand.
What
happened to the left overs?
Imagine the kid coming home with twelve men following
him with baskets of left overs on their heads. Mama
says, "Jered, who are these men?"
"They are the disciples of
Jesus."
"So, what are they carrying in the baskets
"That
is the left-overs from the lunch you made me."
"Jered, I have told
you to stop your lying, son."
Peter says, "Dear lady, your son is
telling the truth, and you need to find some neighbors who can eat all this fish
and bread."
3.
Peter the Apostle
What
did you do with the 153 fish you caught, Peter?
Were you a good Baptist, in
other words, did you tithe the fish?
Did
you ever sit in a chair, or at a table, that was made by Jesus?
Did you actually
kill and eat any of the critters in the sheet that came down from Heaven?
Which
of the menu tasted the best?
It is assumed that when Jesus asked you, "Lovest
thou me," he did so three times because you denied him three times. Is that
true?
To which, Peter will say, "I don't know what you are talking about,
nor does Jesus. If I ever denied him, he has forgotten it, and so have I." 3.
Lazarus- Brother of Martha and Mary
What
did it feel like walking while all wound up in grave clothes?
How did you
cope with a price set on your head because God raised you from the dead?
Did
the Pharisees have a contingency plan to kill Jesus again if he rose from the
grave.... they tried to kill Lazarus? 4.
Jonah
What
did Jonah look like after being spit up by the whale?
There is a story about
a fisherman who was swallowed by a whale in recent history, and then his fellow
fishermen caught the whale, and when they cut it open, the man was still alive.
His skin was bleached white and he was ghastly from the stomach fluids of the
whale. What did Jonah look like walking the streets of Ninevah preaching? Imagine
an evangelist comes to your church and he preaches on the terrors of coming prophetic
events, AND, he is bleached pale with black and blue spots all over him. Would
you be first to the front in the altar call? 5.
Elijah
What
did it feel like to kill all the prophets of Baal?
Did anyone in the crowd
accuse you of being politically incorrect?
Of course, once the prophets of
Baal were all dead, I suspect no one complained if they were passed over and allowed
to live because they were not Baal priests. 6.
Joshua
What kind
of dust storm was created by the walls of Jericho falling?
Did you get to
watch old man Caleb take that mountain?
Was the mountain what we now call
the Golan Heights?
GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN 7.
Philip
What
did that limo chariot of the high official eunuch of Ethiopia look like?
What
did it feel like to be grabbed by God and returned home after your visit with
the Eunuch in the desert of Sinai? 8.
Moses
Here are questions
I want to ask Moses.....
Tell me more about the virtual storm on Mount Sinai
caused by the glory of God and how you felt?
I would like to hear a list of
the wicked customs of Egypt that were being trashed by the law of God in Leviticus.
How
did you keep in touch with your big sister Miriam after your mother had to give
you up, and after the princess took you away to the palace?
What official assignments
did the Pharaoh give you when you reached maturity?
Many Baptist preachers
claim you believed in the Blood of Jesus when you made sacrifices..... is that
possible?
When you left the camp and went up to the mountain, did you know
you were going to die? 9.
Joseph
When the Ismaeilites
bought you from your brothers, how did they treat you as they carried you to Egypt?
Tell
me your feelings when your brothers came to Egypt for food?
How did Benjamin
act when you gave him a double portion of food?
Did Pharaoh give you a classy
chariot for your personal use?
Is your photo up on the wall of any of the pyramids? 10.
Jesus
What happened
to your Daddy, Joseph? (Jesus may not remember that if sin was involved, so I
may never know.)
Did you really know you were dying for me personally while
you were on the Cross?
Have I thanked you enough for saving me from Hell and
death?
Who was standing between me and the mailbox that I nearly hit in Michigan,
you or the angel Michael?
Was my wife, when she was a kid in missionary boarding
school, really on the hit list for death by the terrorist Mau Mau?
Is it true,
like the Jewish tourist guides claim, that there is an olive tree still living
in Israel that you played in as a boy?
Is it fun to see your people surprised
by the things you do to take care of them?
Is it OK in Heaven for the angels
to cheer and shout when there is victory in our lives? 11.
My guardian angel
I
will have many questions for my guardian angel.....
What was the scariest moment
you ever had watching over me?
Did you help the old 1938 Plymouth slide into
the grader ditch slowly so that we would not get hurt on the muddy road in Oklahoma?
When
we passed the big Cadillac in the night on Donnar Pass in a snow storm, and the
oncoming Cadillac slid out of control, was it Jesus' idea to just let our bumper
tap the Caddilac bumper as we passed, or was that your idea?
My Dad nearly
lost control of the car because of the emotion of it. He told the family that
only an angel could arrange that. No race car driver would dare try that trick.
Tell
me a few things you saved me from that I never knew about?
Did I wear you out
when I was a kid wandering in the mountain highlands in Kenya?
When I scared
a leopard while it was sharpening its claws, how did you convince it to run away
instead of attack me? 12.
John the Apostle
What
did the people say when you were released from exile on Patmos Island and you
got back to the church at Ephesus?
Did anyone think you were going mad?
The
early church fathers reported that you went to the hills to try to convince a
backsidden church member to repent and return to fellowship. The man had become
a very vicious bandit and outlaw, and the church begged you to not go. The man
saw you and at once began to weep, and he returned to again serve the Lord. The
story was told by an early Church father. Is that story true?
It is reported
that your last words were, "My little children, love one another." Is
that true? 13.
My Mom
Do you remember the time, as a child, when you lived
in San Antonio when your father was stationed at Kelly Field Air Force base?
Tell
me about the prayer meetings the youth at Emmanuel Mennonite Church had.
 How
did you feel when I was on Art Linkletter's (left) House Party while I was in
Third Grade?
Tell me the story again of the time you were alone in Africa with
no door on the house and the lions were roaring outside.
Did Jesus say you
could have your famous coffee call here in Heaven? I heard many stories there
of real missionary men doing manly things.
When you had a miscarriage, and
I came home for vacation from boarding school, I wanted to find you a present.
All I could find in the African shop was a tube of toothpaste. I felt like a fool
giving you that, but you raved about it and hugged me anyway. Do you remember
that?
When you stood on the pier and watched the lake steamer move out to
steam away with me on it going back to school, I know you cried. Dad said so.
How did you deal with that?
Is my little brother, who became a sodomite and
cursed God, here in Heaven? I know he professed faith in Jesus when he was little. 14.
My Dad
What was the
time in my life with you that made you feel the most proud of me?
I think it
will be when I turned on, for the first time, the short-wave radio I made from
scratch, and I got the astronaut John Glenn in the satellite, and the ground control
in Zanzibar were telling him his vital statistics that were being recorded at
Cape Canaveral. You had to tell everyone about it.
But, it may also be when
I graduated from High School. You never finished High School because you had to
drop out and work to support your widowed mother during the Great Depression.
You later took his GED exam and passed.
Have I ever told you how proud I was
of your fearless way of defending me from the espionage spy who was flying on
the airliner with me? He never came near me on the flight after you got done with
him.  15.
King James of the United Kingdom
Tell me what growing up in
the castle in Edinburgh was like.
When did you confess faith in Jesus Christ?
How
did you deal with your violent Mother Mary and her Catholic obsessions?
How
did the King James Bible change life in England?
How has it been to be in Heaven
for over 400 years and watch all the missionaries using your translation of the
Bible to evangelize the world?
I have heard that you and the Puritan, Dr. Reynolds
were best friends in spite of your doctrinal differences..... What was it about
the man that you liked so much?
16.
A Kikuyu pastor in Kenya
You and your wife were walking to church
one Sunday morning in the 1950s in Kenya. Three Mau Mau terrorists jumped out
of the bushes, and two of them grabbed you baby by the head and feet, and the
third one chopped your baby in half with a machete. You went on to preach your
sermon to the believers that morning. Tell me more about how you did that please.
Tell me about how the African church grew and grew the more they were persecuted. 17.
Me
The devil will
ask me what I was doing on a certain day in my life, hoping to help me recall
some grievous sin I committed. I will tell him I do not remember, Jesus does not
remember, and it is none of Satan's infernal business. And then, Jesus will toss
that old varmint over to the white hot majority to fry in the Lake of Fire for
eternity. 18.
Elizabeth, my wife
Do
you remember when your African nursemaid stopped you from trying to pick up a
pretty snake..... a cobra?
Did I ever tell you how proud I was to let you enter
the restaurant ahead of me, especially wearing the black and red dress you made
for yourself?
When did we have the most fun?
What was the most priceless
thing Jesus did for you?
Did you really like to go camping every summer in
California, or were you just pampering me and the kids?
Did God tell you that
he took you home to Heaven just before the horror of Covid hit? 19.
We will rule and reign with Christ in the Kingdom Age
Revelation
20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such
the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand years.
I do not believe we will
be "Raptured" out of here after the Great Tribulation of the Kingdom
of Messiah. He said, "We are not appointed unto wrath," so the Church
will be taken to Heaven BEFORE the Great Tribulation.
Thus.....
What will
my responsibility be during that thousand years? I shall "be like him, for
we shall see him as he is" when he returns for his Church. So, when we return
to reign in the Kingdom, we will no longer be plagued by our old sin nature. We
will be so like Christ that he will be able to give us responsibilities and be
sure we will not turn lazy, greedy for power, or crooked. It is entirely possible
that some faithful God fearing housewife from Appalachia will be ruling over India
or Russia. Some lowly born again saint living in the slum of Kibera in Kenya will
judge court cases in Brazil or Canada.
Finally, in this context, are we getting
ready for our future responsibilities as we serve Christ in this life?
Will
someone who edits a journal like this one be censoring editorial in some nation
to make sure it does not offend Christ?
There will be no democracy. No one
in the Kingdom will have freedom of speech. Only what glorifies Christ will be
published, and if you don't like that, you should curse God and go to Hell. You
will be very free to scream for water there for all of eternity. 20.
When I arrive in Heaven
Will
there be an angel waiting for me inside the Eastern Gate? Will he say, "It
is sure good to see you here Buddy. I am a bit worn out after over 80 years of
keeping you out of many sorrows. The Lord said I could take a century off by the
River of Life to rest up before my next assignment. You are safe now because no
one has trouble up here." 21.
Questions I will ask You
What
article in this journal helped you the most?
Who is here in Heaven because
you told them about Jesus?
Tell me something you gave up in order to glorify
God, and what did he give you in place of it?
Tell me a couple of stories where
you used the power of the Blood of Jesus to stand down devils or Satan himself. So,
when Satan reminds you of some of the wicked things you have done over the years,
which you have confessed to Christ, tell the devil that Jesus no longer remembers
that, and you refuse to allow Satan to make you guilty for it. You will soon be
unable to remember it also. Now,
when you read your Bible, start making a mental list of questions you would like
to ask the Bible characters with whom you will spend eternity. You are sure to
have the time to ask them, and they will have the time to answer your questions.
I personally have had some of my favorite memories listening to old timers tell
their stories from long ago. Time is not long enough, running back in time that
is, to exhaust the treasure of other saints' memories. What a time we will have
up yonder. Finally,
I emphasize this again, and you can tell your nosey preacher this, based on the
highest authority, the Bible..... No one in Heaven remembers your sin. Your preacher,
family, and friends, AND YOU need to get used to that and live to see the next
victory instead of wondering if you will do it again. Jeremiah
29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts
of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Send
me an email with questions you want to ask when you get to Heaven. SEND
MAIL Send me a question you would like to ask some Bible character when you
get to Heaven.
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