Nearly seventy years ago, explorers reached the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth.  Mount Everest sits on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia on the border between Nepal and Tibet. The summit reaches two-thirds into the air of the atmosphere, at about the cruising altitude of jet airliners.  Oxygen levels are very low, temperatures are extremely cold, and weather is unpredictable as well as dangerous.

“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us in Genesis 11 that originally the whole earth was of one language and one speech.  One day people who lived in the plain of Shinar decided to build a city and a tower out of brick and mortar.  They wanted the top of the tower to reach heaven in order to make a name for themselves, and keep from being scattered over the face of the whole earth. 

As they were working on their building project, God Himself came to see what they were doing.  He concluded that there was nothing that they would not attempt to do, so He confounded their language so they could not understand each other’s speech.  This caused them to scatter over the earth and as a result they stopped their building project.  The name of the tower came to be called Babel due to the confounding of their language.

In the Book of Acts, as Jesus was preparing to ascend into heaven, He told His disciples that in the bear future they would receive power from the Holy Spirit.  He told them to wait in Jerusalem for this power, and once they received this power, He wanted them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uppermost part of the earth.  Soon afterwards on the Day of Pentecost, they received the power He promised, but instead of scattering out like He wanted them to do, they stayed in Jerusalem.

As a result, God brought persecution upon them and forced them to scatter to other places.  As they scattered, they took the message of the gospel with them, which is what the Lord intended for them to do in the first place.  If they had only listened, they could have saved themselves a lot of heartache, but they had to learn the hard way.

How often do we fail to do things God’s way, and as a result God has to deal harshly with us?  How much better off would we be if we learned to do things God’s way in the first place?  This is what it means to be heaven bound.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.