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  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

The Secret Heavenaire


Perhaps you're familiar with the TV show "The Secret Millionaire". In the show, millionaires go undercover in a significantly less wealthy community. They live on a small budget and basically become one of the locals. At the end of a set time, the millionaire will choose a few people and reveal their true identity before giving them a significant sum of money.


Personally, I've never seen the show. I simply re-stated the plot summary from Wikipedia (and yes, I feel dirty about that). But the show itself is not too dissimilar from Jesus' life on earth. Jesus is most certainly "rich", being God and all. Jesus came secretly, revealing Himself only to a select few for the first few decades of His life. He lived the life of a common man, not even receiving an education on the scriptures (which upset the Pharisees when it turned out He knew the scriptures better than them). And, of course, all of this was so that He could give those He lived among some of His riches.


But there are a few significant differences between the Gospel and the Secret Millionaire, the first being the possibility of attaining riches ourselves. Any human being can earn millions. It's not simple, of course, but with effort, skill, and the right conditions, it is possible. But obtaining that which Jesus can give us is literally impossible. It can't be bought with money, dug out of the ground, or grown in a field. It cannot be generated or harnessed, it cannot be gifted, and it certainly cannot be stolen. It doesn't even have the potential to be counterfeited. The only way to obtain anything like what Christ has to offer is through Christ Himself.


Another difference is the fact that while money can be spent, the riches of Christ cannot. You either have eternal life, or you don't. Even if you use it unwisely, which is a distinct possibility, you cannot lose it.


A massive difference between the show and the Gospel is the selection process. In The Secret Millionaire, the millionaire selects a small group of people based on who they think deserves their money. But Jesus isn't so selective. The Gospel is available to all of humanity, and 0 people will be turned away should they choose to accept it. Jesus doesn't even want to turn anyone away, He wants us all saved. Furthermore, it's not about who deserves salvation, because no one deserves salvation. That's kind of the point of salvation.


But the most important difference between the Secret Millionaire and the Gospel is the contestants' relationship to the millionaire. Specifically, they don't have one. The millionaire had little knowledge of them before entering their area, and the prize has nothing to do with the millionaire afterwards. But with Jesus, that's not the case. He did know us before we were even conceived. He "knitted us together in our mother's womb". Each of our days were written in His book before one of them came to be. But what's more is that the prize goes beyond God having intellectual knowledge of us. We get to know God closely, personally, and eternally. While our sin made us enemies of God, the Gospel makes us His children. Our evil thoughts, words, and deeds indebted us to Him, but instead we become His beneficiaries.


Perhaps you've seen the show. Look at the reactions of the prize winners. Taken out of poverty by this person they've known for a week, how much joy must they be feeling? I would imagine there would be a tear or two. Scale that up a few thousand times and you might be able to picture the glory of what we're in for when we reach Heaven.

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