I Believe

July 8, 2026

            It was a terrible time…a time of blood and hatred…a time of great persecution and torture.  The Roman Emperor Nero was on a rampage…demanding the public to worship him as god…torturing and maiming those who refused.  Then the fire broke out…the year was 64 A.D….Nero used the fire of Rome as an excuse to build a grand palace, “the gold house,” but Nero also needed to find a scapegoat for the fire…and he found his scapegoat in the Christians.

            Over the next several years, Christians were tortured, burned at the stake, torn apart.  Peter and Paul both lost their lives to Nero’s brutal rampage.  Christians fled underground…afraid for their lives, their families.  Where was hope?  Where was God?

            Then a letter began circulating…a letter from a prophet named John.  John had escaped death but was exiled for his Christian witness, to a small island named Patmos.

            The letter brought hope…Christians read it by candlelight…in the catacombs under the city…the words were read aloud to those who could not read…the message was passed on…group to group…person to person…there was HOPE.

            The letter spoke of a subtle adversary who worked through culture, government and false religion, all the while seeking to erode biblical faith and the eternal kingdom it represented.  This adversary was represented on earth by a beast…this beast’s name was Nero.   

            But there was more…Nero…as well as the adversary, the dragon…Satan, himself…would not have the last word. 

            The letter stated that there was more to life that just what could be seen.  There was a heavenly realm…a heavenly realm seen and described by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel…a heavenly realm where the armies of heaven were preparing to fight and defeat the beast…The letter spoke of a vision…a vision of this army and the battle that ensues…John’s words rang out in the catacombs…”Before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  And on his head are many crowns.  His name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him.  He will rule with an iron scepter.  He treads the winepress.  On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

            The families huddled in the dark, listening to John’s letter being read, sat up a little straighter…felt warmth…something small beginning to kindle inside of them…hope…yes, hope.

            The letter spoke of the beast’s defeat…his being thrown into a fiery lake…the dragon, himself…being bound for a thousand years and then destroyed…

Then…wow…the most beautiful picture of “a new heaven and a new earth.”  God had given John a vision of heaven…unlike no other ever heard…John’s words strengthened the believers as they saw what awaited them…”I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them.”  Then God spoke…God has spoken directly to John, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life…He who overcomes will inherit all this…” 

John’s letter went on to describe the heavenly place all who persevered would inherit…all who kept the faith…a city made of precious stones through which flowed the river of life…a city which needed no light for God Himself was the light…a city which held the tree of life and with it the opportunity to return to the garden from which Adam & Eve so long ago had been exiled.

            Hope.  All you could hear in the catacombs were gasps of breath, sweet “Amens,” and an occasional whimper of joy…and then the catacombs…the place piled with bones of the dead came alive as families began to lift their voices in song, praising God and giving thanks.

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There is a country song I like called “Believe” by Brooks & Dunn. The narrator speaks of Old Man Wrigley, who lived down the street and whom the singer came to know as a young boy. The boy discovers that Old Man Wrigley had served in the Navy and had lost both his wife and baby. Yet, despite his deep losses, he was able to keep moving forward because of his faith in the “words written in red” in the Bible.

Old Man Wrigley tells the young boy, “I raise my hands, bow my head... I’m findin’ more and more truth in the words written in red... They tell me that there’s more to life than just what I can see.” He shares with the young boy that he is convinced—he believes—that he will one day see his wife and son again. He believes there is more to this life than what we can see with our eyes.

Early Christians came to understand this truth. ”There is more to life than just what [you and I] can see.”

Paul writes in I Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV), “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

In the Science-Fiction movie, The Matrix, the character Neo has his eyes opened to the fact that the world he knows is a computer-generated illusion. Neo meets Morpheus who opens his eyes to the truth.  Their interaction is so telling...and so biblical.

Morpheus tells Neo, “I imagine that right now you’re feeling a bit like Alice.  Tumbling down the rabbit hole?  You’re here because you know something.  What you know, you can’t explain.  But you feel it.  You felt it your entire life.  That there’s something wrong with the world.  You don’t know what it is, but it’s there.  Like a splinter in your mind...”

There is something more to this life than just getting up, going to work, going to church, going to sleep, and doing it all over. Haven’t we all felt that? 

Morpheus offers Neo the chance to leave the computer-generated world for the real, for the truth. He places before Neo a red and a blue pill.

Morpheus speaks, “You take the blue pill and the story ends.  You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.  You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

Isn’t that what God offers us? 

We can accept His Son and begin to see that there is more to this life than what we see. There is so much more.  There is a God who loves us, who fights for us, and one day we can cross over, through the veil, and step on the shores of eternity.  We accept the relationship Christ offers us and God begins to show us how deep His love goes, begins to open our eyes to the truth.

Or we can decide to not accept His Son. We can go back to our everyday, waking, working, paying taxes, watching television lives, believing whatever we want to believe.

If we choose Christ, our eyes are open to the fact that there is a world beyond our sight. There is a God who loves us. And we come to understand that one day we will take the final step down the “rabbit hole,” and “see everything with perfect clarity.” 

Until then, like Old Man Wriggly, as Christians we know this is not all there is, and we rest in the hope of what is to come. 

This is what so many have done throughout history. It is this understanding of the heavenly realm that exists just beyond our senses that gives us hope. The writer of Hebrews gives a beautiful history of the men and women of the faith, from Abraham, through Moses, to David and the prophets, to the many who were martyred for their faith:

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them

afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were

strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For those who say such things declare plainly

that they seek a homeland.  And truly if they had called to mind that country from

which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But now

they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.  Therefore God is not ashamed to

be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

- Hebrews 11: 13-16 (NKJV)

They understood, as Vance Havner said, “If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world.” 

They knew.  They believed.  They knew there was more to life than what they could see in front of them.

Cassie Bernall knew this. 

Cassie was a student, attending Columbine High School, the day two young men stormed in and killed twelve students and one teacher, wounding 23 others.  At one point, one of the gunmen asked if anyone believed in God. Cassie Bernall hesitated, then answered the call, knowing what had happened to other students the killers had talked to. She answered, "Yes, I believe in God." The gunman asked, "Why," but shot her before she could answer.

Why didn’t this young girl just remain quiet?  She knew that if she spoke up she may be shot.  The answer may be found in a writing Cassie's younger brother, Chris, found the night of her death that she had written the previous Sunday. Cassie wrote:

Now I have given up on everything else -- I have found it to be the only way to

really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to

life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. So,

whatever it takes I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who

are alive from the dead.     

Shortly before the shooting, Cassie talked about death to her mother. Her mother writes, "I don't know how we got on the topic, but Cassie said to me, 'Mom, it would be OK if I died,' she said. ’I'd be in a better place, and you know where I'd be.’”

Like Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, Paul, the apostles, and so many who have died for their faith…like Old Man Wrigley…Cassie knew there is more than this world. There is more than what we can see and feel.

But what about a testimony from someone who has been there. Don Piper was driving fifty miles an hour as he approached an old bridge when an eighteen-wheeler weaved across the center line and hit Piper head-on. 

Piper was declared dead at the scene.  A minister drove up.  He knelt down and prayed over Piper’s body.  At this point Piper had been dead for 90 minutes.  The deathly quiet was broken when the preacher shouted, “The man’s alive!  He’s not dead!  He’s alive!’

Don Piper, after being flat-lined for 90 minutes, had come back.

In his book, 90 Minutes In Heaven, Piper writes:

When I died, I didn’t flow through a long, dark tunnel.  I had no sense of fading

away or of coming back.  I never felt my body being transported into the light.  I

heard no voices calling to me or anything else.  Simultaneous with my last

recollection of seeing the bridge and the rain, a light enveloped me, with a

brilliance beyond earthly comprehension or description.  Only that.  In my next

moment of awareness, I was standing in heaven.

Joy pulsated through me as I looked around, and at that moment I became aware

of a large crowd of people.  They stood in front of a brilliant, ornate gate...As the

crowd rushed toward me, I didn’t see Jesus, but I did see people I had known…

every person was smiling, shouting and praising God…the first person I

recognized was my grandfather.  He looked exactly as I remembered him…A grin

covered his face…His eyes lit up, and he held out his arms…He embraced me,

holding me tightly.  More and more people reached for me and called me by

name.  There were so many of them, and I had never imagined anyone being as

happy as they all were.  Their faces radiated a serenity I had never seen on earth. 

All were full of life and expressed radiant joy.

Piper goes on to talk about several of the people he saw and embraced.  He then writes:

Everything I experienced was like a first-class buffet for the senses.  I had never

felt such powerful embraces or feasted my eyes on such beauty.  Heaven’s light

and texture defy earthly eyes and explanation.  Warm, radiant light engulfed me. 

As I looked around, I could hardly grasp the vivid, dazzling colors.  Every hue and

tone surpassed anything I had ever seen.”

The EMT’s who had pronounced Piper dead immediately began working on him, cutting him from the smashed and broken vehicle. That day began an uncertain and grueling recovery and a story that has been shared with and inspired many. Piper has continued to affirm that his experience was genuine.

The prophet Isaiah declared, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Paul wrote, Philippians 3: 20-21 (NKJV),“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” 

“If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world.” 

This is our hope.  This is our identity.  This is our strength.  We are children of God.  We were created in His image, will be transformed, and will one day stand before Him.  We are loved and valued and important in God’s eyes.

For all those who do not understand this truth…for all who do not have this hope…the injustice, prejudice, poverty, war, heartache…all the things that exist in this fallen world that hurt and cause suffering are overwhelming. These things steal one’s hope, raise one’s anger, fuel one’s frustrations, and destroy one’s life.

Jesus said, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10, MSG). 

Jesus said, “Trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace.  In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties.  But take heart!  I’ve conquered the world” (John 16:33, MSG). 

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you…” (John 15:9, NIV).

John caught a revelation of heaven.

Isaiah stood in the throne room.

Old Man Wrigley felt it.

Cassie Bernall was prepared to go.

Don Piper took a quick tour.

Paul yearned to be there.

And there are thousands of other stories that point to the fact that “there’s more to life than just what [we] can see.”

The Christian band, Building 429 sings,

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

There is an awesome and almighty God fighting on our behalf and preparing a place for us to spend eternity with Him, if only we accept His invitation.

What a hope we have to give the world. What a hope we have been offered. What a hope we are able to carry with us into the grind of each day. You and I, no matter what “side of the tracks” we live, no matter what rocks we have thrown, are loved by our Creator.

Like Old Man Wrigley and all the believers before and since, may our hearts know and our voices sing:

I raise my hands, bow my head…I’m finding more and more truth in the words

written in red…They tell me that there’s more to life than just what I can see…I

can’t quote the book…The chapter or the verse…You know I’m more and more

convinced…the longer I live…this can’t be…this can’t be all there is…I believe…

Oh, I believe.