2023-11-24
Morning Dear Ones,
You may wonder why I should write about the world of darkness, but it is a warning that God gives us to repent, if we are sinning. It’s not my judgment but the one He will make as the end times happen. Last week I wrote about Christ’s crucifixion, and I left you with a lot of questions, which I’ll repeat here. Why did the Father allow His Good Son to endure the penalty for sin that we deserve? Can it be that the Father couldn’t endure what the soldiers et al were doing to His Son? Why was Jesus calling out Elijah’s name before his death on the cross? Why didn’t the Father simply translate [take them up to heaven without physical death] Jesus, as he had done with Enoch and Elijah?
It wouldn’t make sense for God to create a person and not love what He created. However, that left Him vulnerable to be severely disappointed if that creation gave in regularly to the temptations the evil one presents. RO 8: 38-39 tells us “nothing can separate us from the love of God.” We already know that God has emotions and created mankind with them too. Last week, I wrote about Gestas, the “impenitent thief” and Dismas, the “penitent thief”—the two men who were crucified at the same time as the Lord Jesus—with Dismas on his right side and Gestas to his left side. The Father knew that His courageous Son had to descend to Paradise--a part of hell. That was necessary so that the miracle of Christ’s resurrection could have the impact on our lives that it does. By saying to Dismas beforehand, “Truly I say, you will be with Me in Paradise” [LK 23: 43], Christ was already using His right to determine Dismas’ fate. It had been given in DN 7: 13-14—Christ’s right to judge. The other part of hell is what we call spiritual or second death. It is torment! That is what is referred to as the “Lake of Fire and Burning Sulfur” in the book of Revelation 20: 10, for example. “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Jesus knew He would have to go to hell for three days before being resurrected to heaven before we could be made to see the fate that awaits unrepentant sinners and the impact of His resurrection on us.
Courageous obedience is a good way to describe what Christ did for us. He knew He had to go through with the Father’s plans, so that we who repent of our sins could be saved. But as Paul Harvey would have said, “there is more, the rest of the story.” Our loving Father had to have found that any time He was separated from the Son, as He was during those three days, would be painful emotionally for them both. Jesus knew He was doing an important service for mankind in being obedient to the Father. For the Lord was not only enabling those who persist in their belief in the Gospel to gain eternal life with our Triune God, but we were also being forgiven for eternity for our sins and were being justified, i.e. deemed acceptable in God’s sight.
The question about Elijah and John, the Baptist, is a bit more difficult to answer. While these two were not the same person, there were important similarities between them. They both preached repentance when Israel had turned from God in times of rebellion. Their appearance was the same and they fed from the wildlife. MT 17, the same chapter that reveals the Transfiguration, tells us in vs 10-13, “The disciples asked Him [Jesus], “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Ellijah must come first?” Jesus replied, “To be sure Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He was talking to them about John the Baptist.”
PRAYER: O Lord, it is never pleasant to consider the alternative to living righteously in Jesus Christ, but it is necessary. Those who sin serially and reject the teaching of Christ will indeed suffer second death/spiritual death in the lake of fire and burning sulfur. Only our Lord Jesus Christ has been given authority by the Father to make that final judgment. There are two resurrections –that of the just and that of the condemned. We pray that we are given the power to avoid temptation and to be victorious over evil. You alone judge us all on the same standard, the only right and fair way to do it. This judgment is based on our deeds and attitudes during our time on earth [RO 2: 6; 1 PET 1: 17; REV 20: 12]. In Your perfect time and way, You will guide us to the decision we must make concerning belief in the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even traditionally Jewish people will be coming to Christ in time, according to RO 11: 25. We thank and praise You for all You are to us and all You have done. We are grateful that Christ was so obedient to You, Dearest Father, and that because of His obedience, we can be saved, eternally forgiven, and justified. These things we say in His holy/mighty name. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Next week, I’ve been commanded to write about the walk to Emmaus and what happened afterward. The warnings offered this week are actually blessings. They are reminders that God wants to bring as many people to Him as possible. He wants us to study the Scriptures and come to love the hope of the resurrection that they give us [2 TIM 3: 16-17]. Jesus has won the victory over death [1COR 15: 56-58]. When the time comes that I am to write about the book of Revelation, I will do so to share the hope it yields. In the meanwhile, we must remember that nothing can separate us from the love of the One Who created us. He loves us and totally will accept believers in the Lord Jesus. The warmth of His love is so great that He does everything He can to help us gain eternal life in heaven. If you have sinned, I urge you to forgive yourself and accept the love He has for you. A life with the Lord Jesus in it is a life well-lived! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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