Open the Bible UK Daily

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5 The first distinguishing mark of a gospel-centred church is gospel faith . We want to be about God our Saviour and Jesus Christ our hope—rooted in His truth, growing in His love. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. But some people will be distracted. “Certain persons, by swerv...

I am writing these things to you so that… you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:14-15 Here, Paul tells us what his letter is about. It has been given by God to tell us what He is looking for in the church—what we are to pursue, how we are to behave, and what we are to be about. People tal...

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Knowing that you will one day be raised and given a resurrection body, how should you live in your present body? Recognise that you are wholly owned by Jesus Christ. Christ has the right to determine where you live and what you do. He bought you with His own blood, and over every area of your...

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5 The resurrection body will be imperishable and glorious. How else will it be different from our present bodies? Your body will be powerful: “It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:43). Donald Macleod says that the resurrection body is going to hav...

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 The transformation of the body you have now into the body you will have will be instantaneous. What do we know about this new resurrection body? There will be continui...

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Philippians 3:20-21 The human body is lowly. The human body, at its strongest, is still fragile. Even if you are really fit, and you get hit by a car, you will be in trouble. C. S. L...

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Romans 8:22-24 All religions have some belief in life after death. But the resurrection of the body...

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14 God became a man in Christ Jesus. The body of Jesus was like ours. He grew in strength—from a baby, to a child, to a man—and He knew what it was like to be hungry, thirsty, and weary. The first heresy, the first false teaching that the early church had to contend with, was not the denial that Jesus was God, but the denial that He was man. In that...

The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7 God made the body of Adam from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed the breath of life into this body. So, Adam was the union of a body and a soul. This is the reason that the Bible sometimes speaks about death as an “enemy,” because death...

“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” Revelation 21:6 In the light of what we have been learning about heaven, here are two things to reconsider: First, if you are holding back from full commitment to Jesus: However hard it is for you to come to Christ in repentance, however hard it is...

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2 There will be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30), but we will still be male and female, because that is how God created us and it was good. The gift of marriage was given to point to something greater that God has in store for all who love Him. Marriage, at its best...

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death. Revelation 21:8 Precisely when God is telling us about the new heaven and new earth, He also tells us that He will separate all that is evil from His people and from His cr...

“Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 If these things are passing away, then your eternity in the new heaven and new earth will not be spent doing any of the following three things. 1. You will not spend eternity grieving over your past sins and missed opportunities. We will never forget that we were sinners because...

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 Notice what will be gone, subtracted, taken away in heaven. All these things—death, mourning, and pain—are passing away. You will not find or experience them in the new heaven and new earth. Let’s consider...

“Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5 Life in the new heaven and new earth will not be less than the life you have now. It will be more ! The word “new” can be used in two ways. The first is to say, “I’m moving to a new house.” You are in a different place, and there is no continuity between your old house and your new house. The second is to renovate your house. It is an old house...

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21:1 Satan’s master strategy is to have people think that what lies ahead will be far less than what we have now. He wants you to believe that your life would be less if it were in God’s hands. If you believe that the life you have now is better than the future life you could have in the presence of God, it will be like trying to hold onto sand a...

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” John 17:24 Will we see our believing loved ones in heaven? Yes. But here’s the bigger question: Will Jesus see His believing loved ones in heaven? Yes! When Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, He prayed this prayer: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me wher...

Witness #6 – Paul and the Thessalonians: “What is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?” (1 Thess. 2:19).Witness #7 – The reunion of believing loved ones: “The Lord himself will descend from heaven… And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in th...

Seven witnesses from the Bible point to our knowing one another in heaven, and here are our fourth and fifth witnesses. Witness #4—Moses and Elijah: “Behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him [Jesus]” (Matt. 17:3). When Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, they did not have the resurrection body. Even now, Jesus Christ is the only One in the universe w...

Seven witnesses from the Bible point to our knowing one another in heaven, and here are our second and third witnesses. Witness #2—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11). Notice the clear identity of these men – Abraham is Abraham in heaven, Isaac is Isaac, and Jacob is Jacob. They ret...

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 7:9 The distinct identity of every person in this vast crowd is maintained. They are from every tribe, nation, and language. The distinct individuality of every one of God’s people is preserved. What ma...

“They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.” Revelation 7:15 God will shelter—literally, spread His tent—over His people. Imagine a massive piece of canvas that will be shaped into a tent. He shakes it out so that it falls over all His people, in a way that none of them are outside. It is the most...

Behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10 John sees a vast crowd—in the immediate presence of Jes...

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:9-10 There is a good–better–best pattern to the Christian life. To be in Christ is good . No matter how bad things ge...

They… are like angels in heaven. Mark 12:25 How so? In what ways will we be like the angels in heaven? Angels are spirits without bodies, though they occasionally appeared to people in the Bible with a temporary body. But God has given us life in this world through the union of a body and a soul. And death is the separating of the soul from the body. So, the activity of angels gives us a model for...