The other day, I saw in a magazine a photo of a really wealthy oil sheik’s property on an oasis in the middle of a very sandy desert as far as the eye could see. The property was all lit up with street lights near dusk, out in the middle of Saudi Arabia somewhere. The sheiks property looked like a Paradise Lost, in the desert, a Shangri La.
The sheik’s land was totally surrounded by a high white brick wall. The property had mature palm trees throughout the 80 to 100 acres of land inside the walls. The home looked like a castle, built more of white bricks than anything else, although it looked very new rather than of the older European castle style. There was an air strip with a couple of jets parked ready for takeoff on a long runway just outside the walls. A large helicopter also sat on the tarmac of the runway.
A long driveway ran through the property to a huge courtyard about the size of a football field, all made of cobblestone. The courtyard was filled with a huge priceless collection of parked rare and expensive automobiles. These automobiles looked brand new, just out of the factory. There were an assortment of priceless Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Jaguars, Mercedes Benz, limousines, and sports cars of all kinds, new and old. There were also about every other new car you could imagine parked in lines. Next to some of the cars were several servants polishing the cars.
The castle had servants everywhere, yard workers and a host of other people working around the castle. Swimming pools also surrounded the castle home.
The wealth of this oil sheik I’m sure was incredible, beyond our wildest imagination, of the knowledge of wealth compared to the most wealthy in America and their worth. I believe that most people in America have no idea what wealth really means in the world today. The wealth of billionaires, or even trillionaires, if there were any, would be staggering at most to the world’s people.
History tells us King Solomon of Israel in the Bible was said to be the wealthiest man in the world at that time. His net worth, according to an internet google search, was 1.1 billion income in gold per year. He was King for 40 years.
Apostle Paul tells us in First Corinthians chapter two verse nine that “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has man ever imagined what God has planned (and prepared) for those who love Him.” WOW! Paul was given a word from the Lord that even the richest, most wealthy person on earth could never see or hear or imagine of what God has planned for those who loved Him.
Paul went on to say, “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11) No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12) And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
“13) When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14) But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15) Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16) For, ‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But, we understand these things for we have the mind of Christ.” (The New Living Translation Bible)
In a nutshell, I would like to encourage everyone reading this word from Paul, as Paul was given revelations of Heaven, many times. He in fact was taken up to Heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:1-7) Paul is encouraging us that God’s plans beyond this world for those who Love Him are out of this world! Unimaginable. Greater than even Solomon had ever experienced. I suppose that Solomon on earth would be like a pauper in Heaven?
Knowing this, no wonder Jesus warns us to not be smitten by the things of the world. Have nothing to do with the lusts and wants of this life Jesus warned us. This life has nothing for us compared to what Heaven holds for those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians believe that Jesus the Christ is the only Savior of the world, who died as a Savior of all who would believe in Him, as an atonement of our sin to our Heavenly Father so that we could spend eternity with Him in this wonderful place Jesus has prepared for us, called the Kingdom of Heaven. And Jesus rose from the dead on the third day to prove to His disciples that what He said was true.
He was the Son of God, He was for all to see and believe in what He had taught for the past 3 years, and that He would die on a cross, rise from the dead after three days, then soon after, go back to Heaven and prepare a place for us and come back later and take us with Him, all who put their trust and faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What more could we ask for? Thanks be to God. He has done everything for us, except make us come to Him. We come to you and worship you in Spirit and in Truth, Lord. Now we pray, come to us Lord Jesus. Come.
Mark Conway is a Christian Evangelist living in Sterling with his wife Maryna. You can reach Mark on their website, Endtimedays.org.
