Super Bowl LIX will be played in New Orleans this Sunday to determine the best team in the NFL. Nearly 83,000 people will attend and over 100 million are expected to watch worldwide. I’ve never been to a Super Bowl, and I doubt I’ll ever get to one with tickets starting at over $7,000 a pop.
Public athletic events are nothing new and several years ago archaeologists found an ancient ticket in Jerusalem. This ticket differs from modern ones as it was carved from bone and inscribed with the Greek words for “Wing Seat No. 10.” Although historians mention both a theatre and a hippodrome in Jerusalem, their exact locations have never been determined.
The discovery of this boney ticket is intriguing. Was this a season ticket or did it provide a one-time admission? How much did it cost? What particular athletic contest or performance was it for? Who sat in Wing Seat 10 and what snacks did they enjoy?
As I imagined some possibilities, I was struck by a reality that spans millennia. Just as no ticketless individual was admitted to the Jerusalem event 2000 years ago, no person will enter Caesars Superdome without a ticket either. It won’t matter who you are or who you know, no ticket means no admittance.
Nearly every athletic, musical, theatrical, or other event today requires a ticket, and no one enters without one. Heaven is the same. Although there is room for all and God wants all to come, the Bible tells us that no one will be admitted without a ticket. And the required payment is not in dollars or bones, but in blood.
Heaven is a holy place because its Owner is holy. No one contaminated with sin can enter just as no one carrying a weapon will enter the Louisiana stadium. Hebrews 9:28 tells us that to remove our sin, blood is required. Thankfully, Jesus has purchased tickets for us with His own blood. They’re free to us but it cost Him His life.
There are enough tickets for all, but to receive one we have to accept the gift Jesus died to provide. We each must admit that because of our sin we don’t deserve a ticket and trust that Jesus sacrificed His life to buy us one. As we receive His forgiveness and turn from our sin, God’s Ticket Master spits out not a boney ticket, but a bloodstained one.
Thankfully, no one can steal our ticket, and the Giver has a record of all who have accepted one. Furthermore, all seating around the throne will be fantastic with a full view of God’s glory and providing plenty of room for us to worship and praise Him.
As we watch Super Bowl LIX, let’s be certain we have accepted God’s ticket, for heaven will last so much longer and be so much more enjoyable than any earthly sporting event. And if we have received our ticket, let’s tell others how to get theirs!
George Bowers CBC Exec. Board
