BY JACK WARD
PASTOR, TOMAHAWK MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

2 Corinthians 5:8: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

We are told that when we leave these bodies, we go immediately into the presence of the Lord. As soon as death causes this clay tabernacle to fold up and fall away, the redeemed soul finds itself in the presence of the One Who died to save that soul.

We can speak of golden streets, jasper walls, angelic hosts, pearl gates and foundations of precious stones, but the presence of Jesus Christ is what will make Heaven Heavenly! It will be Him and His glory that will light that city. It was He that died on the cross to make it possible, and His people will see Him in that city on high. They will forever dwell in His presence,

Years ago, men used to sail around the Mediterranean and within the Mediterranean, that great sea. It is called the Mediterranean because the word literally means “the middle of the earth.” Well, they would go to the Straits of Gibraltar every now and then venture out a little way into that open sea, and then come back into the Straits of Gibraltar and back into the Mediterranean.

That great Rock of Gibraltar, rising up there out of the sea, had some caves, and these mariners would go up into these caves and rest and stay for a while. They chiseled on the rocks of Gibraltar these words in Latin: “Ne plus ultra,” which means “there is nothing beyond.” As far as they knew, that was the stepping-off place that was the end of the world. As far as they knew, their world ended with the Rock of Gibraltar.

Then one day a man by the name of Christopher Columbus set sail. Columbus sailed west, came to a brand-new world, discovered the Americas, came back and told people what he had seen.

Well some mariners went back up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar, and they chiseled off the “Ne” and simply left the words “plus ultra.” The inscription, which before had read, “no more beyond,” now simply said, “more beyond.”

I want to tell you, for everyone who has received the Lord Jesus, when you come to the end of the journey, there is more beyond, more than you could ever dream, more than you could ever imagine. 1 Corinthians 2:9: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Watch Pastor Jack’s sermons and more at www.tomahawkmbc.com.