Boarding Pass
When looking at a favorite old Bible Story, where do you begin to make it more relevant for todays understanding, maybe we should just let JB Phillips make for us this recommendation, “What can I say the Kingdom of God is like”? {Luke 13:20}. When we look at the stories Jesus told us, of the ‘Wise and Foolish Virgins,’ or as it is commonly known as, ‘The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids,’ we usually miss so many of the delicate and intriguing concepts, as the setting is so foreign to us, as we do not live that way anymore, but, “What can I say the Kingdom of God is like”? Inspiration prompted this consideration, Let us consider an airplane trip, Passport in hand, Boarding Pass, all approved, so you step up to the call at the Boarding Gate, and down the Air Bridge, so in you go, find your seat, settle in, buckle up, and let the trip begin.
Now we all have a ‘Passport,’ and that is normally according to our actual nation of ‘Birth,’ but what then is it, is it Earthly, unto Sin and Death, or is it Heavenly unto Salvation and Eternal Life? John 1:1-5 JB Phillips “At the beginning God expressed himself. That personal expression, that word, which was with God, and was God, and he existed with God from the beginning. All creation took place through him, and none took place without him. In him appeared life and this life was the light of mankind. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.” So if you are born on Planet Earth, then you are one off ‘God’s Kids,’ but wait, there is more, John 8:42-44 JB Phillips “If God were really your Father,” replied Jesus, “you would have loved me. For I came from God, and I am here. I did not come of my own accord—he sent me, and I am here. Why do you not understand my words? It is because you cannot hear what I am really saying. Your father is the devil, and what you are wanting to do is what your father longs to do.” Shock Horror, there are some people who have gone, “Over to the Dark Side,” and now have a new Passport, an Fleshly-Earthly one, and have forfeited their Heavenly one.
Let the Story Begin, but with an Airport Concept. Romans 6:19 [JB Phillips] “I use everyday illustrations because human nature grasps truth more readily that way” Luke 13:18 [JB Phillips] “What is the Kingdom of God like? What illustration can I use to make it plain to you?” Now when you closely examine all the Parables Jesus ever told, they sort of look at the same situation, but from a different angle, the same difference, saved – lost, wise – foolish, sheep – goats, wheat – tares, boarding the flight, – refused entry and flight. The fire storm was heading right towards town, it was a wall of fire, there is no way of escape, but to quickly fly away, but then the fires are so close, that now there is only one flight leaving, the very last and the only flight, all rush to the airport, the wise book in, passport – check, boarding pass in hand, check, and then straight through to the boarding gate. But the foolish are not so, for they just rush to the boarding gate, but when it comes time to show your passport and boarding pass, they come up short, wrong passport but with no boarding pass, locked out, right passport with no boarding pass, still locked out. But while they quickly rushed back down stairs to ‘check in,’ to received their boarding pass. But as they rushed back upstairs to the boarding gates, there through the window they clearly saw their plane, the only plane, the last plane, steeply lifting up into the sky, with the undercarriage folding away, and the doors closing over them, the plane gracefully lifting up into the clear sky, but turn around, and the wall of fire and death is racing towards them, imminent death, the door to safety they scorned, or treasured lightly, has closed. Matthew 25:10-13 [JB Phillips Adapted] “But while they were gone off to collect their valid boarding pass, the boarding was completed, and those with a valid passport and a valid boarding pass, were safely on board, and the door was shut behind them. Later on, the rest of the travellers came back waving their valid boarding passes and said, “Oh, please, sir, open the door for us!” But he replied, “I tell you I don’t know you!” So be on alert – for you do not know the day or the time.” And the door was shut, and the plane taxied out onto the runway, the engines spooled up to full power, the plane race down the runway and lifted off into the clear blue skies, leaving the Lost, abandoned behind to their doom, Romans 6:23 [JB Phillips] “Sin pays its servants: for the wage is death. But God gives to those who serve him: His free gift, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And that is a ‘Free Ticket,’ to Heaven, with Eternity and a real life in Christ Jesus our Lord spread out before them.
But for those left behind, then there is only this choice, Matthew 10:27 “But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Psalm 1:4 “The ungodly [are] not so: but [are] like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” From a combine harvester understanding, chaff or small bits, are referred to as “MOG,” and if too much of this gets into your clean grain, you ruin your sample, and the value of the crop plumets, all straw and chaff and MOG is to go through the machine, out the back through the straw choppers, and it is now dust to be spread over the earth. Also, any cracked grain, undersized grains, weed seeds, these also all pass over the sieves, and the wind blows them up and out the back of the combine “like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Here is something for us to consider, Justification is our “Ticket to Heaven,” or our permission slip, our relationship with Heaven, are we aligning with Sin or aligning with Salvation, Heaven or Hell, or in essence, it is “Our Passport,” that is the evidence of who our Father really is, God or Satan, born of sin, or ‘Re-Born’ of a Heavenly parentage, John 3:5-8 [JB Phillips] “I assure you,” said Jesus, “that unless a man is born from water and from spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit: you must not be surprised that I told you that all of you must be born again. The wind blows where it likes, you can hear the sound of it but you have no idea where it comes from and where it goes. Nor can you tell how a man is born by the wind of the Spirit.” A New-Birth gives us a Heavenly Passport, but this is “Justification,” but we also need “Boarding Pass,” and this is “Sanctification,” which is our fitment for Heaven, ‘Sanctification is the work, not of a day, or of a year, but of a lifetime.’
Quote; “Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ.” {FLB 117} Quote; “A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them for heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy place. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven is voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the part of God” {DD 16} Quote; “What does the Lord require of His blood-bought heritage? — The sanctification of the whole being, — purity like the purity of Christ, perfect conformity to the will of God . . . Into the holy city there can enter nothing that defileth, or maketh a lie. {Sons and Daughters of God 349} Quote; “Justification means the saving of a soul from perdition, that he may obtain sanctification, and through sanctification, the life of heaven. Justification means that the conscience, purged from dead works, is placed where it can receive the blessings of sanctification {7BC 908} Quote; “Day by day, and hour by hour, there must be a vigorous process of self-denial and of sanctification going on within; and then the outward works will testify that Jesus is abiding in the heart by faith. Sanctification does not close the avenues of the soul to knowledge, but it comes to expand the mind, and to inspire it to search for truth, as for hidden treasure; and the knowledge of God’s will, advances the work of sanctification. There is a heaven, and O, how earnestly we should strive to reach it. {MYP 428} Quote; “The sinner cannot depend upon his own good works as a means of justification. He must come to the point where he will renounce all his sin, and embrace one degree of light after another as it shines upon his pathway. He simply grasps by faith the free and ample provision made in the blood of Christ. He believes the promises of God, which through Christ are made unto him sanctification and righteousness and redemption. And if he follows Jesus, he will walk humbly in the light, rejoicing in the light and diffusing that light to others. Being justified by faith, he carries cheerfulness with him in his obedience in all his life. Peace with God is the result of what Christ is to him. The souls who are in subordination to God, who honour Him, and are doers of His Word, will receive divine enlightenment. In the precious Word of God there is purity and loftiness as well as beauty that, unless assisted by God, the highest powers of man cannot attain to. {6BC 1071} Then do you have a valid and ‘Heavenly Passport,’ as well as a valid ‘Boarding Pass?’
