A Provisional Heaven

 

 

Could there possibly be

A provisional heaven

Where the physical dead definitely go

If their sins are forgiven?

 

Maybe some paradise

Like as in Abraham’s bosom:

A kind of holding area, if you like,

For deceased Christians?

 

Could it be immediately

On passing away,

Or in another way of expression,

On that very day?

 

What does it truly mean:

The dead in Christ?

Are these really in a physical grave

Or experiencing life?

 

If we are joint-heirs

And seated with Christ,

Isn’t this a very telling reference

To a heavenly life?

 

 

Isn’t any man in Christ

A new creation

Already possessing eternal life

Due to salvation?

 

Yet Christians die

And they do so everyday

So where do they go, I must ask,

Where do they stay?

 

In a provisional home

Maybe annexed to heaven

So that we can rest assuredly

They are already risen?

 

 

Would this in fact be

The first resurrection

To which the Apostle is referring

In the book of Revelation?

 

Where go the dead:

The dead that die in Christ?

Is there a provisional heaven

Where they enjoy life?

 

Ever since the creation

Believers have died!

Have they just rotted in the grave

And no longer survive?

 

 

Or, are they somewhere

In a provisional heaven

Still fully functional and conscious

Of sins forgiven?

 

A provisional heaven

Before the eternal one

When God in Christ will judge all

Before time is gone?

 

I am merely asking

And I am yearning to know,

Do you have any clear evidence

You’d like to show?

 

Stewart Russell © June 22, 2025

 

C O S P

 

 

I am wearing those letters

Right on my forehead,

They say who I am in Christ Jesus

And by whom I am led.

 

Having had an encounter

With Jesus in the past,

I said yes to his gracious offer

And stepped into his class.

 

“Come unto me,” he said,

“And I will give you rest,”

And now I am no longer cursed

But has joined the blessed.

 

Like a lost sheep I was

Doing my own thing,

Caring not for the things godly

Wearing the devil’s ring.

 

Satan had claimed me

By his abundant deceit

But Jesus opened my blind eyes

And I fell at his feet.

 

 

 

He gave to me a title

That is his only to give

Whereupon, once I was dead,

But now I live.

 

The first resurrection

And my gateway to heaven

And he assured this poor sinner

That my sins are forgiven.

 

From that very moment

My initials changed,

A new name was given to me

And letters rearranged.

 

Prior to my conversion

The letters spelt D E A D

But thereafter that encounter,

They are C O S P instead.

 

You must be wondering

What C O S P means,

These letters are given to anyone

When they come clean.

 

Acknowledgement of God

And confession of their sin,

And who in contrite repentance

Invites Jesus in.

 

The very best response

To the Saviour’s invitation

When in that signalled encounter,

He offers us salvation.

 

 

 He is the only Saviour

And his, the only salvation,

Whereupon acceptance of Jesus,

There is redemption.

 

Redeemed, bought back,

“Buying back” one’s own!

Satan no longer has shares in me,

I am Christ’s alone.

 

A new name is now mine

With letters rearranged:

“Called Out, Sealed, Protected”

C O S P is the change.

 

Therein is my witness

Thus, stamped in my heart,

“Called Out, Sealed, Protected”

Never to depart.

 

No longer D E A D

But most assuredly C O S P,

“Called Out, Sealed, Protected”

For all eternity.

 

Stewart Russell © May 20, 2025

 

The First Resurrection

 

 

Revelation 20:5-6

But the rest of the dead lived not again

until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection.

 

Blessed and holy is he

that hath part in the first resurrection:

on such the second death hath no power,

but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,

and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

We are going up,

We are going up,

We are going up in the first resurrection.

We are going up,

We are going up,

We are going up in the first resurrection.

 

Do you recall this old chorus?

How we sang it with gust and fervour!

O, I did too

But now I see a different picture.

 

Then, I saw it as the future

But now, I see it as having passed

When I was wonderfully saved

Having come to Jesus Christ at last.

 

 

Saved from the second death

Over me it has no power,

Resurrected to eternal life in Christ

From that very hour.

 

For they that believe in Jesus Christ

Shall never, ever die,

This is the word of the Lord

And on it we can rely.

 

Jesus was the first fruit

Of the innumerable number that would follow,

That I am therefore one of them

Should not be difficult to swallow.

 

And if you are born-again

Then you too are one of them,

Resurrected to an eternal kingdom

And one of God’s redeemed children.

 

 

And so, the first resurrection

As revealed in the book of Revelation

Are those who have come to salvation

Aka, God’s glorious redemption.

 

That first resurrection is ongoing

Regarding all those of the called,

For every one of them will come to Jesus

As the Gospel is spread abroad.

 

Chosen before the foundation of the world

Elected for God’s kingdom,

Herein is the first resurrection

As the Spirit gathers in God’s children.

 

Blessed is he of the first resurrection

On him death has no power,

The second resurrection is yet to come

And both good and evil await that hour.

 

Stewart Russell © December 6, 2020