(Is He now too busy rejoicing for a deserved victory, along with
the inhabitants in heaven.)
Main texts: Acts 9:1-19, especially verses 3-6; Hebrews 4:15;
Revelation 6:9-11
Does God with His massive victory over sin, through His Son
Jesus Christ, now live and only part of in an eternal, infinite
heavenly bubble, eagerly and happily awaiting us to join Him?
Yes & No: There is great rejoicing in heaven for every soul that
joins the great Feast of the Lamb (Luke 15:7) and it is ongoing for
eternity but there is also a divine awareness, intercession
(Hebrews 7:25) and empathetic feeling from the top down (from
God and the saints.) (Revelation 6:9-11)
They are not only rejoicing but feel our persecutions down here
(note the Lord’s rebuke of Saul in Acts 9:3-6.)
We who still live and work in this fallen world remain in all aspects
of life deeply entangled with our personal Lord, not from afar or
with an aloofness but with great empathy: “Saul why are you
persecuting me…” This statement is not just an example of
empathetic symbolism or a statement by the Lord as to how He
remembers how it felt when He was persecuted, rather it is a
“now” reality expressed in the present tense. And it applies also to
our present relationship with Christ. He, in His intercession for us
(Hebrews 7:25) “… is touched by the feelings of our infirmities
(KJV)” or my paraphrase of the NIV version: “for we do not have a
high priest who is unable to empathize (actually feel with us) in
our varied pains and struggles, very much part of this fallen world:
He somehow suffers with us (and so does heaven’s saints,
implied in Revelation 6:9-11.)
And He will act in all our situation in His time and manner. The
risen Lord confronted Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute
the Christians but Jesus, feeling their persecution, confronted and
stopped him. This was part of His intercession for His children
and even for their persecutor.
With His powerful revelatory act, He eased the believer’s
persecution by converting the persecutor.
Again, consider Jesus words to “Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me.” Again, this illustrates how God touched when His
children hurt: He somehow hurts with them and replies in His time
and manner.