May 11, 2025

Heavenly Mothers (11 May 2025)

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3SO THAT IT MAY TURN OUT WELL FOR YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH. NASB

Today we are taking time to honor all the mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers and great-great grandmothers who brought all of us to stand here on the earth to do God’s will.  We thank God for you all and pray that the blessings which are a reward of obeying and honoring you will accrue to all of us living today.  Your role is an honored one from the beginning of human life:  

Genesis 5:2 On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them “mankind” on the day when they were created. NASB

There were destinies which God attached to both the man and the woman.  They, together, were to multiply and produce more people.  In their earthly roles, Adam and Eve were to be mothers and fathers and teachers and trainers, teaching their kids to tend the Garden of Eden and keep procreating after their kind, learning to rule the animal and plant kingdoms in perfect fellowship with God.  After the fall of man, their roles did not change except for being made more difficult in labor, pain, and death. The saving work of Jesus makes this burden much lighter.  As Jesus was made “a little lower than the angels” for a time for the purpose of living a perfect human life and dying as a sacrifice to atone for our sins, woman was made the weaker vessel, a helper to help Adam in his role of having dominion over the Garden of Eden.  

Women will always be women and men always men. Mothers will be females forever, but their state as the “weaker vessel” will not be perpetual.  The Bible does not ever say what “weaker” refers to.  Like Jesus, It is only for a time, for a special purpose.  When we get to heaven we don’t change into omni-people or unisex creatures.  

Matthew 17:1-3 Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. NASB

It is very evident that this glimpse of people who had gone to heaven showed that their genders had not changed.  They were still recognizable as people known then (Moses and Elijah).  Although not named, Mary, Deborah, Sarah, Leah and all other female saints will be recognized as females for eternity.  Does this mean that I will be burping babies, changing diapers and making sandwiches for my husband forever? Certainly not!

Lets’s take a brief look at what heaven is like based upon the testimonies of nearly one in every twenty-five Americans who have had near death experiences (NDE’s).  They report that heaven is a vast, multi-level place, 1500 miles long, wide, and high as the Bible describes.  Each level is full of vast, spectacular healthy cities of unbelievable splendor.  Much of what we are acquainted with in this life (buildings, furniture, streets, plants, water, gardens, birds, fish, animals, etc.) have been reported by people who have been there and were sent back.  None of the earthly decay and disorder we know so well ever appears because those cities are not under the curse God placed upon the earth after the fall. No sin or the effects of sin are ever seen there.

Your role as a mother in heaven will be powerful beyond our comprehension.  As you served by teaching while on earth, so you will serve in changing saints from glory to glory in heaven.  Everyone arriving in heaven is assigned by a personal guardian angel to a place of glory corresponding to what he did with his life while on earth. This will not be frightening; sin was judged at the cross.  Everyone keeps learning in heaven until we attain to the stature of Jesus.  Mothers, most of whom have suffered and labored to raise children, will be used in teaching others how the power and glory of God works. You will perhaps teach others how to rehabilitate the earth during the Millennium or create other planets in millennia to come.  This will be one of the most important ministries as God develops his universe.  

Two books I’d like to recommend concerning NDEs and their descriptions of heaven are:  Finally Home by Allen Claycomb, and Imagine Heaven by John Burke.  Both obtainable on the net.  

So, How about women who never bore children or adopted or were mothers in the classical sense?

Matthew 12:46-50 - While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47Someone said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You.”] 48But Jesus replied to the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” 49And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers! 50For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.” NASB

Jesus said this not to diminish the role of the relationships in the family, but to give a glimpse into how things would be once we are seeing beyond this earthly mist.  God’s order for mankind has always been the family.  He accommodates all the irregularities which have occurred to his natural order due to sin and death (orphans, divorce, sickness, crime, accidents, etc.) In heaven, there is perfect, righteous restoration of a person’s place in a family, extending as far back as it takes until every person is surrounded by a righteous family.  it is interesting that 95%of people encountered in heaven during NDEs were relatives. Only 5% were friends (Kelly study, 2001, University of Virginia). It is clear that women will have a role that is equal in importance to men, perhaps even surpassing them in glory, in the eternal kingdom.  This will probably be because women have assumed an early role in earthly life that is by nature submissive and humble.  It is this character which will initially place them in the highest plains of heaven, ahead of many men who were otherwise less humble.  

Conclusion: Women learn to rely on Jesus much earlier in their lives and, consequently become spiritually stronger than most men earlier.  In my experience, men mature, spiritually, later in life than women. This may be because men have generally greater physical strength than women and rely on that strength to meet life’s demands until they begin to weaken or find limitations. In my own life, my mother’s prayers caused the salvation of my sisters and me and, I believe, my father.  She was a submissive, quiet, unceasing prayer warrior.  I wish to honor her, and all the amazing women God has created in this simple message today.