2011-12-09
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to write about how God is the One Who determines the terms of our covenant relationship with Him, and not man. We also saw how Christ is the Mediator in our relationship with Him and the Father, how He brings us peace and reconciliation, through His Atonement and our faith in Him, in our covenant relationship with the Father. Part of that is the death to our human independence and a new dependence on the Lord-something we should welcome, because it leads to eternal life.
Until Christ comes in to our lives, we are simply existing. Our sinful nature is leading us on a one-way path to spiritual death and destruction. In a recent adult Sunday school class on heaven and hell, we learned that people who die without faith in the Lord Jesus, the Mediator, Who opens the way for us to be in a covenant relationship with Him, first go to a kind of holding place, called Hades. Later, after the second coming of Christ and His final judgment, these people go to hell [also known as Gehenna]. This is the state of constant conscious torment from which there is no escape for eternity–Biblically referred to as “the lake of fire and brimstone.” [See LK 16: 16-24; REV 20: 13-14]. Once a person accepts Christ as his personal Savior, the picture of his fate is very different. After his physical death, he goes to a different holding place, called Paradise, just as the criminal who repented on the cross next to Christ’s did in LK 23: 42-43. “ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.’” Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.’” Once the last judgment is rendered by Christ, then the inhabitants of paradise will go to heaven, also known Biblically as “the New Heaven and the New Earth.” [See 2 PET 3: 13; REV 21: 1, 5].
In our sin-filled pre-faith existence, we were the center of our existence. We relied on ourselves or other people with no thought to the Creator or the Lord Jesus. We were haughty and full of ourselves. Greed, materialism, drunkenness, drugs, and any manner of sins ruled our lives. Love was not a consideration. We wanted it all and thought we could provide it for ourselves. We were on that one-way path to destruction and either didn’t know it or didn’t care. Is it any wonder there are so many warnings from God in His word about all these sins? God, Who created us in His own image [GN 1: 27], Who knows He can make us “new creations” in union with His Son [2 COR 5: 17] is being horribly disappointed by those who reject Christ in His hope that we would return eventually to His side in heaven [EPH 1: 4-5]. He is having no pleasure in these truculent, stubborn human creations! But then, we must understand that before the earth was even created, He had a plan to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to be reared as a Jew, to serve a 3-year ministry, to be mocked/scourged/disrespected and rejected, to be cruelly crucified taking the world’s sin with Him to the cross, to die separated [albeit temporarily from the Father], to go to paradise, and to be resurrected to heaven. [See 1 PET 1: 20-21; MT 1: 18, 23; LK 2: 21-24, 29-32; LK 22: 63-23:16; LK 23: 26-38; LK 23: 44-46; LK 24: 2; AC1: 8-9]. Having lived this way myself in my past, and now experiencing what life with Christ is like in a covenant relationship, there is no comparison. I want the life I have now! The only way we who believe can help the Holy Spirit reduce the number of rejecters is to obey the Great Commission of MT 28: 19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
For those people who obey and understand JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the life, and the truth. No one goes to the Father except by Me,” Christ’s pivotal words about the need to have faith and repent, they will begin a life of dependence on the Lord. This is no dependence due to weakness; instead it is a dependence of strength and wisdom. Further we are told, in MK 8: 35, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it.” If this verse confuses us, we must come to understand that those, who fear physical death, worry about how old a person is chronologically, and work to find a way to preserve themselves, have missed the mark-have failed to yield over their independence to the Lord Jesus. They are still so seemingly self-reliant that they reject that “hard road which leads from a narrow gate” to eternal life [MT 7: 13-14]. On the other hand, those who enter in to a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus travel along that hard road, getting His help whenever it is needed despite how difficult the way is, they will find true and lasting happiness. 1 PET 5: 9-10, “Be firm in your faith and resist him [the devil], because you know your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Who calls you to share His eternal glory in union with Christ, will Himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we are faced with the question, do we want to keep our lives and lose our souls, or do we want to lose our lives to the Lord and the Gospel, and keep our souls for eternity? Yes, Dearest Abba, it is a matter of our faith and willingness to let Your Holy Spirit be in leadership of our lives. Of all the questions we can ask, this one is the most important. That is because our answer will determine our fate. Our answer is not just to repent of our sins and say “yes” to believing in the Son. It is also a matter of how we live after making that assertion in a covenant relationship. The latter is determined not on our terms but on the Father’s. How willing are we each to obey Christ’s teaching and that of the prophets and apostles? Only each individual can answer that question, and it must be answered with openness and truth. We are reminded that truth is found in the word of God. “It is living and active. Sharper than a two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” HE 4: 12. Furthermore, we must understand what we find in HE 4: 13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him in Who we must give account.” Those who live righteously and in a covenant relationship that is marked with dependence on Him have nothing about which to worry. Their spirits are calm and at peace. Those who insist on human independence can’t have that kind of solace. They will constantly need to be concerned, or else they are clueless. Either way, there is no way to eternal life at the Father’s side in heaven in His perfect time and way for them. They are on their way to Gehenna. Lord, today we offer You our praise and thanks for the wisdom You give us through Your word and prayer. We pray for the souls of those now lost, in the hope that before their physical deaths, they will find Your Son. Our prayers are said in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am led to write about some issues associated with the truths of MK 8: 35, including some sharing of my own personal experience. I live with the possibility that I will never see my family again, except for one brother and his family who have accepted Christ. That is because my other genetic relatives are traditionally Jewish for the most part; the remaining ones have either gone with Buddhism or are secular. But the rest of that story is for next week. For now, we who believe should feel a certain pressure to share [witness] to unbelievers around them. It’s not always easy to do this, but it is obeying the Great Commission. Should we force our beliefs on another not interested in them? Of course not! However, we can ask them some questions to jump-start them thinking. Some such questions are: Have you ever thought about what will happen to you after your death? What do you think is the best way to live righteously in God’s sight? Have you ever noticed how at peace believers in Christ are, even in times of adversity? The questions we should ask depend on the individual (s) we are addressing. It helps to establish a relationship with that person before witnessing, so that we can know try to meet where their needs are. Can we witness? You bet we can, especially if we get good at looking for the openings God provides with practice! And as for those who obey the Lord, PS 107: 43, give us an idea what happens for them. “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” And what an amazing Lord we have! Eternal praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With you Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15