“These in white robes–who are they and where did they come from?… These are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:13-14).
“How did you get here?”
The fellow across the table from me was making polite conversation, I suppose. We were taking a break in a deacon-training event I was leading at a church in an Alabama town, nearly 300 miles from home.
“I drove,” I said, and thought, “How did he think I got here? There is no airport within two hours. The train comes nowhere near here. Did he think I took the Greyhound? Or hitchhiked?”
Later, I decided he was asking the route by which I had traveled, there being four or five highways I could have taken.
“How did you get here?”
It occurs to me that when you and I get to Heaven, and begin meeting people right and left, finding out about their backgrounds and listening to their stories, no one will ask us this question. To ask how we got there would imply there are different ways to that place the Bible calls “The Father’s House.”
Let your mind dwell on that for a minute….
“I came by this religion.” “I got here by being really good.” “I imitated Jesus…or Mother Teresa…or my grandmother.” “I fasted and prayed and flagellated myself.” “I lived in the desert on a diet of ants and bugs to bring my body under subjection.” “I was sincere.” “My good works outweighed the bad.”
None of that foolishness.