Note – This location has been
changed and has become the site for several papers that pertain to God’s covenant
with Abraham and how we can obtain the covenant promises. The paper "HE MAY BE RETURNING VERY
SOON" that was in this location, is included in the list of papers
presented here.
Each paper has been written as a
stand alone paper and, therefore, there are many things that have been repeated
from paper to paper.
Following is a list of the papers
presented here in the order presented:
NUMBER AND TITLE OF PAPER:
1. “THE PRIZE”
2. “HEIRS TO THE
3. “WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN”.
4. “WHAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR
THOSE WHO LOVE HIM”.
5. “HE MAY BE RETURNING VERY SOON”
1. - THE
PRIZE
Have you ever won a prize? Everyone has won prizes of various kinds
during their lifetime. Everyone loves to
win prizes. Think of prizes you have won
at one time or another. I can remember
winning a prize for finding one of the prize eggs during our second grade
Easter egg hunt. The teacher gave me a
big bunny with a basket full of candy. I
can still remember the thrill of winning that big (To me it was big) prize.
In later years I looked for bigger
prizes. Working as an engineer I began
to get bonuses when I met and exceeded goals.
Some of those bonuses I considered as big prizes. What a thrill it was to receive more than I
had expected.
When we lived in
It has been several years but you
may have heard about a man from
You may be getting uneasy about
now. You may think that I am pushing
state lotteries and that buy lottery tickets but that is not the case. This lesson is not pushing lotteries and it
is not about the evils of gambling. This
lesson is about winning big time prizes and winning the lottery would be a big
time prize. What would it be like to win
a big time prize like that? Think about
all of the good things you could do with that kind of money.
It can never happen for me. I can’t win a lottery because I do not buy
lottery tickets, but what if I did. What
if I was in the habit of buying just one ticket every drawing, just in case? What if it happened? What if I bought a ticket that ended up
having the winning numbers to a big one?
What would it be like to win that much money? Think about the excitement it would bring
into my life. There are so many good
things that I would do to help the church and others that are in need if I had
that kind of money.
Let us consider another
possibility. What if I bought a ticket
that ended up having the winning numbers but I was careless and lost
or misplaced
the ticket? The odds of something like
that happening are near zero, but what if it should happen. Suppose that I buy a ticket and it was a
winner but I took the ticket home and misplaced it. I stick my ticket behind a note pad on the
side of the refrigerator and forget about it.
The day came for the numbers to be
drawn and the computers say that one ticket was purchased that had the winning
numbers. I have not recorded the numbers
and I can’t find my ticket so I can’t know if I have a winner or not. I can’t know beyond doubt that my ticket is
not the winner but from my experiences I know that the odds are so remote for
it being the winning ticket that it does not bother me. I go about my life and forget about it.
Suppose that many weeks later that
last day for redeeming the winning ticket came and passed and the ticket was
never turned in. I can see what the
newspaper headlines might look like the next morning. I might pick up the paper the next morning
and read something like, “BIG FORTUNE OF 300 MILLION DOLLARS LOST – TICKET
NEVER TURNED IN”.
I begin to worry and think, “what
if?” I start to thinking about my lost
ticket. I tell myself that it could not
have been my ticket. The odds would have
been one in millions. As luck would have
it, as I am writing a note to myself on the note pad on the side of the
refrigerator that lost ticket falls out.
I pick up the ticket and look at the numbers. I compare the numbers to the numbers listed
in the newspaper. All numbers match. This had been the winning ticket.
I would be holding in my hand a
winning ticket for a vast fortune of 300 million dollars, yesterday, and today
it is not worth five cents. Now we might
ask ourselves the question. “What kind
of hell on earth would my life be like if I did something like that”? If I had really believed that ticket could be
a winner, I would have torn that house apart looking for it during the last
days while it was still good. I would
not have rested until I had found that ticket and made sure.
Would I not kick myself and be
tormented for a lifetime if I had been given the free gift of a ticket worth a
vast fortune and I never bothered to put forth the effort necessary to find
that ticket and make sure?
The cost of that ticket was
trivial and the effort to redeem it was the “token” cost required to receive
the prize. Having that fortune mandated
that I put forth the “token” effort to cherish that ticket and compare the
numbers with the winning numbers.
Winning the prize demanded
something from me. I had to follow the
rules and deliver the ticket as required before time ran out. The cost on my part was very nominal when
compared to the prize.
And now, the rest of the story!
You and I have been
given the winning ticket for a big prize.
That prize is worth much more than any earthly jackpot ever won. It is so big that it could never be counted. It is so big that it would make 300 million
dollars look like chicken feed. Everyone
has received that ticket as a free gift.
Someone else paid the price for that ticket. It was paid for in blood. We only need to meet the token cost necessary
to redeem that ticket.
There are some big differences
between this ticket and that lottery ticket.
For one thing, unlike those lottery tickets where the odds of winning
are one in millions, the ticket that we have been given is a sure winner. If we believe that we have a winner, should
we not be careful to take care of it and cherish it and redeem it before the
time expires?
There is another big difference
between our ticket and that lottery ticket.
In the case of that lottery ticket, almost every ticket will be
cherished and examined. In the case of
our guaranteed winner, few people will cherish their ticket. Few people will keep their ticket and redeem
it in time. They will not have had faith
in the gospel message.
They will have refused to believe
the news that they have heard. They just
can’t believe that it could really be true, that their ticket is a winner. They will also refuse to believe the enormity
of the prize. They will not put forth
the effort to fully examine the ticket and to follow the rules as listed in the
rulebook.
How big is this prize? It is greater than any prize ever before
awarded on this earth. It is larger than
all of Solomon’s treasures. Let look at
what Paul said about this prize.
It is beyond description:
1 Corinthians 2
9 but just as it is
written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which
HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE
HIM."
When we think about a
prize like 300 million dollars and then read this we hear God saying there is
no comparison. We have never seen, nor
have we ever heard, nor have we ever imagined in our mind anything that can
compare to what God has prepared for those who love Him. What He has prepared is a home in the kingdom
of heaven. It is the covenant promise of
an everlasting possession that God made to Abraham and to his descendants.
Any of us can become
spiritual descendants of Abraham and heirs to the promise if we are of the
faith of Abraham. We must meet the
conditions of God’s covenant if we are to receive the prize. We just heard Paul tell us the prize has been “PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO
LOVE HIM." The token cost for us to obtain that prize is that we must love
God. Somehow, that equates to belief in
Jesus.
OUR REQUIREMENT IS TO LOVE GOD:
James 1
12 Blessed is a man who
perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the
crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
AND:
James 2
5
Listen,
my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in
faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
Our
token requirement is to love God. That
sounds like an easy requirement to meet.
We love almost everybody so it is easy to love God. Or is it?
What do the scriptures say about that?
How does God know if we really love Him?
What the scriptures say about that:
John 14
15 "If you love Me,
you will keep My commandments.
And:
John 14
23 Jesus answered and
said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will
love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24
"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you
hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
The prize of the kingdom of heaven
is truly free but if we don’t meet our token requirements and show our love
with obedience then we don’t really love Him.
We are truly saved by faith and not works but it must be a faith that believes His word
with obedience (like Abraham). If we
don’t obey Him, then we don’t believe that He means what He says and we don’t really
love God. He will not give us that
treasure if we don’t love Him.
So, how do we show our love for
God and win that prize and what is the prize?
Paul preached it, Paul wrote about it, Paul fought for it and Paul won
it. What was it? It was THE PRIZE. Paul gave up everything to win the
prize. Let’s listen to what Paul wrote
about winning that prize.
Winning the prize:
Philippians 3
7 But whatever things
were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, - - -
12
Not
that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on
so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ
Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do
not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul said that he was reaching forward and pressing on toward the goal for the prize. He said the prize is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He gave everything up so that he could gain Christ.
The treasure is really Christ. If we obtain Christ we obtain the treasure of
the kingdom of heaven. It is a prize so
big that Paul considered everything that he had gained in this life just so much rubbish when compared to
it.
How much was Paul willing to give up for that prize? Paul was a young man with connections in the Jewish religion. He was educated with the best and brightest and he had connections with the Jewish leaders, including the high priest. He was also a Roman citizen so he had privileges that other Jewish leaders did not have. He gave it all up so that he could gain the prize.
Jesus is the real prize because we can only come to the Father and the kingdom of heaven through Him (John 14:6). Will it really cost us everything we own to gain that prize? We said that the cost was only the token cost for us to redeem the ticket.
Jesus tells us that if anyone wishes to follow
Him, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Him (Matthew
16:24). In that chapter He also said
that anyone who wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life
for His sake will find it. He is telling
us that we must give up a life of living for self on this earth and live for
Him if we are to have eternal life in that next world.
He keeps saying the same thing
over and over. He says that if I don’t
give up everything that I own, I can’t be His disciple. If I am not His disciple then I can’t follow
Him to that land and receive the kingdom of heaven. Somehow, it is a free gift but, somehow, it
will also cost us everything. How can
that be true?
There are those in the religious world who will tell us that salvation is a free gift and there is nothing required of us on our behalf except faith. They have it half right. Eternal life is a free gift because Jesus paid the full price on His cross. It is a free gift but I can only obtain that gift if I obey Him and take up my cross and follow Him.
I must have faith in Him
and give my life for Him so that I can obtain the treasures of heaven. We can only obtain that prize if we
compete according to the rules. The
rules can be found in the rule Book and they require that we die with Him (Be crucified with Him).
The
prize will cost us everything but it is all just so much rubbish when compared
to the treasure of knowing Christ and gaining Him. If we gain Him, we gain the kingdom of
heaven. The 300 million dollar lottery
jackpot is like chicken feed as compared to the prize that awaits us. Everything that we have is just a token price
to pay for our ticket.
We heard Paul tell us how that
prize is beyond describing and beyond anything that our mind can imagine. The prize is the treasure of the kingdom of
heaven. It is worth more than all that
we possess.
Jesus tells us about that when He says that the
kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that has been hidden in a field but a man
found it. In order to have that treasure
he went and sold everything that he had and bought that field (Matthew
Jesus
is trying to get our attention. The
treasure of the kingdom of heaven has a value that exceeds the value of everything that we own.
No matter how much we may possess it can’t compare to this
treasure. If we really believe
the scriptures that speak of its existence and how big it is,
we would gladly sell everything in order to obtain it.
We can understand what Jesus is
telling us about the kingdom of heaven when we listen to Him speak in parables. He is revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven in His parables (Matthew, chapter 13). We can begin
to understand when we hear Him give the parable of the unrighteous manager and
then explain it to us.
In Luke, chapter 16, Jesus begins the chapter saying, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” The deposed manager was given time to put together an accounting of his management before he would be removed. Look at what he did after he departed from the Master’s presence.
After he departed the unrighteous manager asked himself what he was to do because he was not strong enough to dig for a living and he was too ashamed to beg. Jesus tells us how he reasoned to himself and decided to change the records for the master’s debtors so that it would show them owing the master much less that they actually owed. He met with the master's debtors to carry out his plan.
For one debtor that owed the master a hundred measures
of oil the unrighteous manager told him to write fifty. He reduced the debt of each debtor in like
manner. He reasoned that by doing that
they would be indebted to him and they would welcome him into their homes after
he had been removed from his position as manager.
Jesus tells us how that servant was praised
because of his shrewdness. He then tells us that the sons of this age are
shrewder with their own kind than are the sons of light.
Wow, what is that saying? How can we give away the Master’s property to protect our future and be praised?
We can begin to understand it when we continue reading and hear Jesus tell us that we should make friends by means of the wealth of unrighteousness so that they (Those who will have been given the Master's possessions) will receive us into eternal dwellings some day.
He says that if we have not been faithful in using unrighteous wealth,
who will entrust true riches to us and if we have not been faithful in the use
of that which belongs to someone else who will give us what is our own?
We need to get the message. If Jesus is our master, the things of this world that we have control of are not our own, they belong to the Master. We are His managers on this earth and we will answer for our management of His possessions.
We can be like the unrighteous manager had been and squander the Master's possessions on ourselves or we can come to our senses and realize that we will be losing our position as manager shortly and be generous and share the Master's wealth with others.
We will soon be called to give an accounting of
what we have done with the Master’s possessions. For those few who hear
the Master's message and come to realize that we are only temporary managers of the
Master’s possessions and we will not be allowed to continue in our manager’s
position (It will end when we die), we will come to our senses and stop
spending it all on ourselves and be generous with His possessions when it comes
to others. We must especially be
generous to the Master’s debtors.
The Master knows
that we have needs that must be taken care of but we should not be
squandering His possessions on ourselves.
We must especially be generous to the Master’s debtors.
Who might the Master’s debtors be? Would
it not be those who owe Him because they have been redeemed by the
Master? Are they not those who made the choice to allow Him to pay their
debt for sin so they can become born again as His brothers?
We must especially take care of the poor saints
among the Master's debtors. We must care for the hungry and clothe those
who are naked. If we will do that with the Master's possessions we will
have our own possessions some day. We will also have those same debtors
welcome us in their mansions in glory after our work here on earth is done.
It sounds like His debtors will be dwelling in
mansions there in that heavenly home. If we have been faithful managers
and have used the Master’s possessions for their benefit and have done good
deeds for them we will be there also. We will have been faithful in what
is not our own.
God so loved the world that He gave His Son to
die on the cross for us. We heard Jesus tell us take up our
cross and follow Him. John tells us that is what love is. Love means to carry a cross for others.
He tells us that, “We know love by this,
that He laid down His life for us;
Our token payment for the prize of
the kingdom of heaven is to follow Jesus and love the brethren like He loved
them. Remember, He said that is the new commandment
(John
Remember
what Jesus will say to those before Him in judgment? He will tell those on the right how they are
blessed because of the works of love that they had done for Him. He will tell them that to the extent they did them to one of His brothers they did them to Him (Matthew 25:40).
We are
saved by the kind of faith that believes what the word says. The word is telling us that we must give it
all to Jesus. We do that when we give it
to His brothers. He will allow us to
take care of ourselves and our families but if we want to obtain the prize of
the kingdom of heaven and be welcomed into mansions of glory we need to be sure
to use the Master’s possessions to take care of the brothers of Jesus.
God has given us the promise of an inheritance that is beyond comprehension. We hold the winning ticket in our hand. We need to take care of that ticket or we will lose the prize. What an awful torment it would be if we lose the prize.
Think again about what kind
of earthly hell would my life be like if I missed out on a 300 million dollar
jackpot because I refused to go to the trouble to keep up with my ticket and
meet the token requirement necessary to claim the prize? How much bigger would be the living hell if
we missed out on the real treasure?
Those who fail to redeem their
ticket will be tormented for that mistake throughout all eternity. We dare not let it happen because the thought
of that treasure having slipped away will burn in our hearts and minds forever. I don’t know what other fires of torment God
may have in store for those who lose their inheritance but that fire alone will
be torment beyond measure.
The scriptures tell us how the unfaithful servant will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). I wonder how dark that darkness will be.
If we find ourselves in that darkness, will we be able to see a faint
glow in the distance? If I should end up
there, will I forever look through the darkness toward that city of light,
knowing that a mansion was there, that had been mine, but I lost it because I
refused to believe what God had been telling me and I refused to follow the
rules and redeem my ticket?
The rules demand that I take up my
cross and follow Jesus. Crosses hurt but
only for a short while. As the Psalmist
tells us, ‘Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His
holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalms
30:4-5)
Do we believe the promises of God? Are we following the rules of faith to claim that prize or do we just pretend to believe? If we really believe that we have a winner, we will treasure our ticket and we will make sure that we meet the requirements necessary to claim our prize. What joy it will be to claim that prize that makes 300 million dollars seem like a drop in the bucket. DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS PRIZE.
Johnny Rogers
Rev.
2. - HEIRS TO THE
The promise of eternal life in the kingdom of
heaven is the covenant promise that God made to Abraham. God told him
that the covenant was an everlasting covenant with him and His descendants
after him and God promised that He would give to Abraham and to his descendants
the
The word, “everlasting” means the true promise
was never for a place on this earth. It also means having a different
life. One must have eternal life if he is to have something as an
everlasting possession. There are no everlasting earthly lands, so God’s
true promise was not for an earthly land but for a heavenly land. The
true promise was always for eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom.
We know that was the true promise because God
keeps His promises and Abraham never received any part of that earthly
We can hear the Hebrew writer
tell us about that. He refers to Abraham being called to that
land and said that, by faith, Abraham lived in that land of promise
as if he was in a foreign land and he dwelled there with Isaac and Jacob,
fellow heirs to the promise, "for he was looking for the city which has
foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)
Abraham knew that God’s true promise was a
heavenly promise. It was the promise of that city built by God. It
is the same city that John describes in Revelation, chapter 21. John sees
a new heaven and a new earth and a New Jerusalem that will be coming down out
of heaven from God. The true promise was always for eternal life in the
kingdom of heaven in that heavenly
When we read what John wrote about that city
we hear the Lord speak through him and tell us that it will be a place where
there will be no tears or crying or no longer any death. He says "Behold, the
tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be
His people, and God Himself will be among them”.
Regarding the heirs, He speaks through John and
tells us that "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will
be his God and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21:7) Abraham’s descendants
must overcome to become heirs to that place. We must overcome this world
if we are to inherit that new world.
Our goal is to become heirs to the kingdom of heaven in God’s city. We will become heirs to that city of gold if we overcome but, in the meantime, the kingdom of heaven has come to this earth.
Jesus spoke of that when He began His ministry and preached that
man should repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand. (Matthew
4:17) Later He will refer to the kingdom and tell His disciples that
there were some standing there that would not taste of death until they saw the
kingdom of God (Luke 9:27).
The
When the Pharisees asked Jesus when the
kingdom of God was coming, Luke records, “He answered them and said, "The
kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say,
`Look, here it is!' or, `There it is!' For behold, the
How can the
When Jesus said those words He alone possessed
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was dwelling within the body of
Christ at that moment and He was casting out those demons by the Spirit of
God. The
The Spirit is speaking through the inspired
writers to tell us about the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. God has provided a way for man to become
reconciled to Him in the kingdom of heaven.
He is doing it through Christ and His perfect sacrifice. His sacrifice can make true believers perfect
and fit for becoming a dwelling place for the Spirit of God.
Paul is telling us about that when he tells the Colossian church how it is through Christ that the Father has reconciled all things to Himself by having made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).
He says that “He has now reconciled you in His
fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless
and beyond reproach-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established
and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have
heard”.
Paul also tells us how he had become a minister
to carry out the preaching of the word of God, “that is, the mystery
which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been
manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.”
When Paul speaks of how we have been reconciled
to God through the body of Christ He is speaking of our becoming a part of the
body of Christ, the church. He told the church at
Colossi that He (Christ) is head of the body, the church, and that He is the
Firstborn from the dead and He has the first place in everything (Colossians
1:18).
In the next chapter Paul will continue to speak
of the mystery of Christ. He wants us to come to understand and have the
knowledge of God's mystery, that is, “Christ Himself”. The
mystery of the kingdom of heaven is the mystery of Christ. God is
reconciling us to Himself through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and His
resurrection from the dead.
The Spirit of God was dwelling within the body
of Christ on earth while He was serving here and after He offered His perfect
sacrifice to redeem us from sin His resurrected body became the church on
earth. God’s Spirit dwells in His holy
temple and the body of Christ, the church, is His temple.
Jesus once spoke of a sign and said, "Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) The
Jews thought He was speaking of that earthly temple but John tells us that
Jesus was actually speaking of the temple of His body. God is Spirit (John
Christ was beginning to reveal the mystery of
the kingdom of heaven and it would be found in the body of Christ, God’s holy
temple. The body of Christ was God’s
true holy temple when He was on earth preaching the good news of the kingdom of
heaven but His resurrected body would provide the way for man to become
reconciled to God. That is what He was telling us when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
The Jews destroyed God’s holy temple when
Christ died on the cross. Christ,
however, would resurrect that house of God on the third day. On that
Sunday morning the Spirit of God returned to His holy temple. God’s holy
temple had been raised up to become the new covenant house of God.
Only after Christ had offered His perfect
sacrifice to redeem man from sin could man be made perfect and be allowed to
enter into God’s holy temple. It could not happen, however, until His body had
been resurrected from the dead on that third day.
His resurrected body is now found in the church
and God’s Spirit dwells in all who have become a part of that holy
temple. We must be in that house to have His Spirit dwell in us. If
we have His Spirit within us then the
The
Paul said that the true promise was only to
Christ when he wrote, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He
does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to
one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.” (Galatians 3:16)
Christ was the only true descendant of promise
because He was the only descendant of Abraham who would ever meet God’s
covenant conditions for perfection. No one can have eternal life with God
unless they are perfect. God foresaw Christ as being the only perfect
descendant when He made that promise to Abraham.
If the promise was only meant for Christ what
was the LORD really telling Abraham? He
was telling Abraham that he had to be made perfect to receive the promises
(Genesis 17:1). He would have to live by
faith for the blood of Christ to be applied to him and give him credit for
righteousness so that he could become a part of the body of Christ.
God foresaw him doing that and God gave him
credit for righteousness before it happened.
He would not receive the promises until after Christ made His sacrifice,
however. Only then could he become a
part of the body of Christ.
The Hebrew writer tells us about that when he
spoke of those ancient faithful ones and said they had all gained approval
through faith but they did not receive what had been promised, “because God had provided something better for us, so that
apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews
11:40) He says that by one sacrifice Christ has perfected for all time those
that have been sanctified (Hebrews
The greatest of the faithful never received
what had been promised because they were not perfect. They can only be
made perfect with us and our covenant promise of perfection in Jesus
Christ. We must be given His perfection and His righteousness. That
can only happen by faith.
We can become sons of God with Christ, the
Firstborn Son, if we accept the conditions of His sacrifice. If we have
true faith in Him, we will receive His righteousness. He became the
Firstborn Son of God and He was the Firstborn among many brethren (Romans
God gave Christ to mankind to be our covenant
(Isaiah 49:8). Our covenant is perfect because He was perfect. We
can receive the promises through the perfect covenant. We must believe God’s
covenant promise. We must believe in Christ Jesus to receive the kingdom
of heaven. He was the Word from the beginning (John, chapter 1) so we
must believe the Word.
Our covenant promise is eternal life in the
kingdom of heaven. Our covenant requirement is the requirement to obey
the gospel of Christ Jesus but we also heard John say how it will be those who
overcome that will become sons of God and heirs to that city.
So, how do we who are under the new covenant meet our covenant requirement to obey that gospel and overcome? We can see it when we look at what is required of us to become sons of God because only God’s sons are the heirs to the promise.
How do we become sons of God and
does that also include females? Remember, under the old covenant, only
sons of
If Christ is the covenant and the Firstborn Son
of God, how do we meet the covenant conditions to become sons of God and heirs with
Him? Paul tells us about that when he writes, “For you are all sons of
God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27)
He continues by saying that there is neither
male nor female for we are all one in Christ and if we belong to Christ then we
are descendants of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.
We asked a question previously; if only the
sons of God are heirs to the
We become sons of God by faith
in Christ Jesus when we meet God’s covenant conditions by obeying the gospel
and becoming clothed with Christ in baptism. If we have been clothed with
Christ our body will have become His body.
Only those that belong to Christ are
descendants of Abraham and heirs to the promise. They will have become
sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus because they will have believed Christ and
obeyed the gospel. For those who meet
His covenant conditions and become clothed with Christ in baptism, they will
receive the promise of the Spirit of God. Those who have His Spirit are children
of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven.
What about the faithful of old who lived and died before the cross? We saw how they are made perfect with us but they never obeyed the gospel because it had not come to earth.
Remember they were justified
by faith just as we are justified by faith.
They believed and obeyed the word of God that they heard and the Word
was Christ. That is why Abraham believed
and obeyed God’s requirement of circumcision of the flesh and he obeyed on the
day that he heard it.
After God gave Abraham the everlasting covenant
promise He told him that the everlasting covenant requirement for him and for
his descendants was circumcision of the flesh (Genesis
We must meet the everlasting covenant condition
and become spiritually circumcised in the flesh. True circumcision,
however, is circumcision of the heart (Romans
We must hear Paul tell us “and in Him you were
also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the
body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in
baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working
of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:11-12)
We must overcome our love for this world and
make the commitment to repent of living for our worldly flesh and make the
decision to circumcise away that old body so we can be reborn (Born again) with
a body that belongs to Christ. We will
have been raised up as a part of the
Only sons of God are the true heirs to the
kingdom of heaven. They will live with God in that city of gold because
they will have a heart that believes God’s word and has circumcised away the
old body of flesh and buried if with Christ in baptism.
The kingdom of God would come with power in the
first century but Jesus also told His apostles that they would receive power
when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they would be His witnesses in
Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even to the remote parts of the earth (Acts
1:8).
It happened on the Day of Pentecost when the
Spirit came upon the apostles and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began speaking in tongues. The Jews who were nearby heard it happening
and they came together bewildered because they were each one hearing the words
spoken by the apostles in their own language.
Peter told them that it was all happening just
as had been spoken by the prophet Joel that in the last days God would pour
forth His Spirit on all mankind. Later Peter will tell them how they had
crucified the Christ but God had raised Him up and He had been exalted to the
right hand of God and had received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit He had poured out what they were seeing and hearing (Acts 2:33).
The kingdom of heaven had come in power when
the apostles received the Holy Spirit. They had received the covenant
promise of the kingdom of heaven when they received the Spirit of God.
We will become sons of God and heirs to
the promise when we obey the gospel.
Peter tells us how when those Jews who believed his gospel message asked
what they should do. Peter told them, "- -Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for
you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God
will call to Himself." (Acts
Peter was making known to them the mystery that
had been hidden in past generations but was then being revealed. The mystery of the kingdom of heaven is the
mystery of Christ. The Father is calling
everyone who will believe and obey the gospel to Himself through Jesus
Christ. They will receive the promise of
the Spirit by having been made a part of the body of Christ, the place where
God’s Spirit dwells.
They will have been reconciled to God through
Christ by having obeyed the Great Commission. Jesus told
His disciples to go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation
and "He
who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has
disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark
We will have been born again of water and
Spirit when our sins have been washed away in the sea of baptism. We will
have received the gift of the Spirit and become sons of God and a part of the
Only those who have the Spirit of God are sons
of God and heirs to the promises. Paul said that we are in the Spirit “if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does
not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:9)
The mystery of the kingdom of heaven is the
mystery of Christ. The Spirit of God in His sons is the Spirit of
Christ in God’s sons. Paul says that if we do not have His Spirit we
don’t belong to Him. We must belong to Christ and have His Spirit within
us to become heirs to the kingdom. If we have the Spirit of Christ
within us we have the kingdom within us.
As we continue reading in chapter 8, of
Romans, we hear Paul say, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)
Our mortal bodies will become resurrected immortal
bodies if we have the Spirit of God in us while we are living on this earth.
If His Spirit is in us then we are children of God and Paul says, “The Spirit Himself
testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs
also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him
so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans
8:16-17)
Only God’s sons possess the Spirit of Christ
within them. Paul says that “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6) He said those words just a few verses after
telling them that they were sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for they
had clothed themselves with Christ by having been baptized into Him.
The church is the bride of Christ. In Ephesians, chapter 5, Paul speaks of
husbands loving their wives like Christ loved the church and he refers to the church
as “her”. The relationship between a man and his wife is like the
relationship between Christ and the church. Paul tells us this reference
to Christ and the church is a great mystery. It is the mystery of the
kingdom of heaven.
We can see it when we read what John records
about that New Jerusalem to come (Revelation, chapter 21). He tells us
how he saw that holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God
and it was made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. That church is
His bride and it will be that
A little later he will again make reference to
that city being the bride of Christ. He said that an angel told him to
come and he would show John the bride, the wife of the Lamb. He
was carried away in the Spirit to a great high mountain where he was shown that
holy city coming down out of heaven having the glory of God. John was shown the bride of the Lamb when he
was shown that city.
Remember, the church is the new covenant
The outer room of God’s true temple is the body
of Christ on earth and Christ, Himself, was that body when He was serving on
earth. He was also the true spiritual High Priest as He served here and
as He was offering His sacrifice for our sins.
After He redeemed the faithful at the cross, He entered through the veil
(His body is also the veil – Hebrews
He
had established the outer room holy place as the place of His sacrifice and He
raised it up as the new covenant holy place that has become the
Some day Christ will return back through the veil
and He will bring those who make up the outer room into the inner room, the
true Holy of Holies, which is that heavenly city to come.
In that new world to come, there will no
longer be an outer room. There will only be the inner room Holy of
Holies, the home of God. That city will be God’s everlasting temple
dwelling place and those who will have been brought there will be the ones who
will have overcome this world.
We must overcome this world if we are to reign
with God in the next world. We will have become one with the Father and
with the Firstborn Son and we will reign in glory in the kingdom of heaven
forever and ever.
Johnny Rogers
3. – “WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN”
What does it mean when scripture says that we must be “born again”?
Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again
he cannot see the
When
Nicodemus questioned what being born again meant, Jesus told him, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into
the
Jesus gave the answer to Nicodemus but what
was He really saying? Being born again means to be born of water and the
Spirit but what does that mean? Somehow it gives us access to the
Peter spoke of our being born again and said
that God has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to obtain an imperishable inheritance that is reserved in
heaven for us (1 Peter 1:3). A little later he will again mention our being
born again and say we are not born again of seed which is perishable but
imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
We have been born again through the resurrection
of Christ from the dead but we have also been born again of imperishable Seed
and that Seed is the living Word of God. How are we born again of the
Word, which is also imperishable Seed, and also born again through the
resurrection of Christ from the dead?
Remember what we heard previously.
Christ was the Word of God that became flesh on earth and dwelt among us (John
1:1-14). He is the Holy Seed that is the enduring Word of God that was
planted to be raised up to bear fruit to God. We are born again through
Christ’s resurrection from the dead because He was the Word that was the Seed
that was planted to be raised up to bear fruit to God.
When Peter said that we have been born again
through the resurrection of Christ from the dead he was saying the same
thing that Christ was saying when He said, "The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)
The time had come for Christ to die on the
cross but He is speaking of His death, burial and resurrection because He is
speaking of the Seed dieing so that it can be raised up to bear fruit.
Christ died to redeem man from sin but if He had not been resurrected then we
could not be born again as children of God. He was glorified by His
death, burial and resurrection.
We are born again as fruit to God and as
children of God after we receive Christ. We must receive the Word to
receive Him and be born again as children of God through Him. Remember,
John tells us that His own did not receive Him but as many as received Him, to
them He gives the right to become children of God (John
Only those who receive Jesus (The Word) have
the right to be born again as children of God. That sounds like what
happened on the day of Pentecost when scripture says that those who received
the word were baptized and were added to their number (Acts
They had heard and received the word that
Peter and the apostles had preached to them and asked what they should do?
Peter told them to, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts
Peter was preaching the good news of the
kingdom of heaven. It is the good news of the promise of God’s Spirit
that will be given to the born again sons of God, those who are heirs to the
kingdom of heaven. For those who received the word and obeyed it and were
baptized for the remission of their sins and they had become born again of the
Spirit of God and God added them to the church.
When God added them to the church, they were
added to Christ’s body and they became a part of God’s holy temple. God’s
Spirit dwells in His Holy temple.
Jesus was speaking through Peter and He was
revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. As Paul said, the
mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians
Speaking of how we are born again through
Christ’s resurrection from the dead Paul tells us about that in 1
Corinthians, chapter 15. He begins by telling us about how the gospel
message includes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He tells
that church how they had received that gospel and they were saved by it, if
they held fast to that word, unless they had believed in vain.
There were some in that church, however, who
did not believe in the resurrection. Paul told them, “Now if Christ is
preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead?”
He proceeds to tell them that if there is no
resurrection of the dead then Christ was not raised from the dead and if He was
not raised then their faith was in vain. He then tells them that if
Christ was not raised their faith was worthless and they were still in their
sins and everyone who had fallen asleep in Christ had perished.
That is why the gospel message includes the
resurrection of Christ. Without His resurrection, there would be no good
news of eternal life. When Jesus said that the time had come for the Son
of Man to be glorified and then He spoke of seed falling to the ground to die
so that it can bear much fruit, He was including His resurrection.
Jesus was glorified by His death, His burial
and His resurrection because they were all required for Him to bear fruit to
God. We can be born again through His resurrection because He was
resurrected.
He is bearing fruit to God by having redeemed
man with His blood and having become the Firstborn from the dead. We also
will be raised up from the dead when that last day comes but, in the meantime,
we have the right to become born again children of God in this life when we
receive the word into our hearts and let it change our lives.
If we are to have eternal life we must lose
this earthly life. When we truly realize that God’s promise is not of
this life or for the things of this world but for life eternal in that home with
God it will cause us to make the decision to die to the old life and become
born again. We can then start living for
eternal life in that world to come.
When we hear the word and obey the gospel we will have been born again
of the Spirit of God. We will have been
born again by the Word of God because Jesus said that it is the Spirit that
gives life and He said that the words He spoke are Spirit and they are life
(John 6:63). Those who have received His word and believe
Him will obey the gospel and become born again of water and Spirit.
The seed must die before it can be reborn into
a plant that is designed to bear fruit. It is not reborn as another seed; it has
become born again as another being that must grow to maturity before it can
bear fruit. In the case of a born again child of God, we are born again
into a different being so that we can be fruitful in God’s kingdom.
When John tells us that for all who receive
Christ, to them God has given the right to become His children, is John telling
us that not everyone who receives Him will be God’s child when the end
comes? Do we only have the right to become God’s child? Can we hear Jesus saying that in the parable
of
the sower (Luke, chapter 8)?
In that parable, the seed is the word of God
(Luke
With regard to Christ speaking God’s word to
the world, Matthew records that He only spoke to the crowds in parables
(Matthew 13:34). We see Him, however,
explaining His parables to His disciples in private. We need to hear Jesus explain His parables to
His disciples.
Remember, God has given those who will receive
Christ the right to become children of God.
Christ is the Word that became flesh.
We must receive the Word if we are to receive Jesus. That parable is telling us that many will
receive the Word with Joy and will become born again into that new being but
because they have no firm root they will fall away.
The seed that fell among thorns “these are the ones who
have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches
and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” The seed by the road
are those who hear the word but they never truly believe because the Devil has
taken the word away from their heart.
For the seed in the good soil Jesus said that
they were the ones who hear the word in an honest and good heart and they hold
it fast and bear fruit, "with perseverance".
When a seed falls into the earth and dies it
is reborn into a different being as a plant that has been designed to mature
and bear fruit. It will have become a living body like a stalk of wheat comes
to life from a wheat seed. It will have been born again into a different being
but that being must grow to maturity before it can bear fruit.
We need to hear Jesus when He explains His
parables to His disciples. He is telling
His disciples that some will receive the word and be born again but they will
not remain faithful and grow to maturity and they will fall away. The seed in the good ground are those who
have good hearts and they will receive the word and will persevere and bear
fruit.
Bearing fruit requires perseverance. As Paul told those Corinthians when he repeated the gospel that he had preached to them, he said they were saved by it if they held it fast, unless they had believed in vain.
Believing in vain means to believe the gospel message
but not hold fast to what had been believed. It is like a plant that has
no firm root. As the Hebrew writer says, “For we have become
partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until
the end” (Hebrews
We must hold fast to bear fruit. We must
not allow ourselves to be overcome by the things of this world.
We must overcome this world if we are to become heirs of God in the new
world. We can only overcome this world if we hold fast to the things that
we have heard and received.
Those who have been born again have been born
with a new body that was created to bear fruit to God. Their reason
for being is to bear fruit because Jesus said, that the Father is
glorified when we bear much fruit and so prove to be His disciple (John
15:8).
Born again disciples prove their discipleship
by bearing fruit. Those who never bear fruit will be cut off. Jesus
said that every branch in Him that does not bear fruit, He takes away (John 15:2). He
is speaking of branches that are “in Him” meaning they are a part of His body
(John 15:5). That would include those
who have been born again but who have failed to bear fruit to God.
God has given us the right to become His
children if we receive Christ but we must persevere and bear fruit and so prove
to be His disciples or we will be cut off.
Those who are in Christ’s image and bear fruit have proven to be
His disciples.
His disciples are the true sons of God.
Paul tells us God’s sons are those who are being led by the Spirit. He
says, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God.” (Romans 8:14) He says that we are heirs of God
and fellow heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him so that we may also be
glorified with Him.
We will be heirs with Him if we suffer with
Him. For those who persevere and mature and bear fruit, they have been
foreknown by God and “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many
brethren” (Romans
The covenant promise is the
Christ’s body is the church (Colossians
It happened on that third day when Jesus came
forth from the tomb. God’s Spirit was not present in Christ’s dead body
in the tomb until it returned on the third day. On that Sunday morning
the Spirit of God reentered His temple when Christ was raised from the
dead. He had been raised up to bear fruit to God. God resurrected
Christ’s body from the dead as the Firstborn from the dead and He has promised
to do the same for His other sons.
When Jesus came forth from the tomb, God’s
house of glory became available for those who had been born again as God’s
children. All of God’s sons will come forth from the dead to dwell with
Him forever in His temple in heaven. In the meantime, when we obey the gospel
our bodies on earth have become a part of Christ’s body, the church, and God’s
Spirit is dwelling with our spirit in that body.
We are hearing Jesus tell us about the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. The mystery of the kingdom of heaven is the mystery of Christ (Colossians 2:2-3). It is the mystery of Christ because it is only through His resurrected body that we have obtained a way to heaven. The mystery is how God is reconciling man to Himself through Christ.
Paul
spoke of his ministry and said that if anyone is in Christ, “he is a new creature”
and that God has “reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians
Regarding his ministry, we read where Paul
spoke of Christ and how Christ is the head of the body, the church, and He is
the Firstborn from the dead (Colossians
He tells them how they had been alienated by
their evil deeds but “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through
death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond
reproach-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and
steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have
heard”.
We have become reconciled to God through
Christ because it is through the blood of His cross that we can now be
presented before Him holy and blameless if we continue steadfast in the faith. Christ’s body was resurrected to become
the temple where the Spirit of God dwells in all who have obeyed the
gospel of His death, burial and resurrection with their death, burial and
resurrection.
Paul is also speaking of that when he says, “Or
do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have
been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through
baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans
6:3-4)
In the next verses Paul tells us “For if we
have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we
shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our
old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done
away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin”.
The words, “if we have become united with Him
in the likeness of His death” are translated as “if we have been planted
together in the likeness of His death” in the KJV because the Greek appears
to be saying that.
He is the Seed that was planted and was resurrected
to bear fruit. We must obey the gospel of His death, burial and
resurrection and be planted with Him before we can be raised up with Him.
We will have been raised up with Christ as born again sons of God. That
includes both male and female, all who have become one with Him.
They will have been “born again” as sons of
God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven because they will have received Jesus
and obeyed the gospel and continued in the faith firmly established and
steadfast. They will have been born again as children of God and
they will have matured to bear fruit to God.
We can only be brought into God’s holy temple
by being baptized into Christ. We previously heard Paul tell us how we
become sons of God when we become clothed with Christ in baptism. Our
resurrected body will have become reborn as Christ’s body and God’s temple when
we become clothed with Him.
It now becomes clearer what Jesus was telling
Nicodemus when He told him that unless one is born of water and the Spirit he
cannot enter the
Remember, He was resurrected as the Firstborn
from the dead and He is the Firstborn among many brethren. We can only
become God’s sons if we have put to death that old body of flesh and planted it
with Christ.
We will have received the word and put to death
our old body of sin so that our new body could be born again of water and
the Spirit. We will have received the gift of the Spirit when we are born
of water and the Spirit. In other words, God’s Spirit which is dwelling
in the
We cannot be born again unless the old
firstborn body of sin has been put to death and buried (Planted) with Christ in
baptism. We will have been baptized into His death so that we can be
spiritually resurrected into His body. We will have obeyed the gospel and
we will be raised up as born again with Christ, having been born again of the
Spirit.
Remember, speaking of being born again, Jesus
told Nicodemus that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. We are born of flesh when we come into this
world. Our firstborn body was born of the flesh of this world.
That firstborn body of flesh must die
spiritually if we are to be born again of the Spirit to become heirs to the
God has given us the right to become His
children if we will receive His word. Jesus is telling us about that in
the parable of the sower. He is speaking that parable to the crowds but
He is only explaining it to His disciples (Mark
We need to hear Jesus explain His parables to
His disciples because He told His disciples, "To you it has been
granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in
parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT
UNDERSTAND.” (Luke 8:10) His disciples will hear Jesus explain His
parables.
If Jesus only speaks to the crowds in parables
but His Great Commission is to be preached to all creation, is He speaking to
the crowds in a parable when the gospel message is preached?
When He speaks through Paul and says that if
we have been planted together with Him in the likeness of His death we will
also be in the likeness of His resurrection, is He not speaking an earthly
likeness of the spiritual telling us what is required for us to become born
again sons of God? Is He telling us that we must believe and obey
Him and do the earthly likeness and He will do the spiritual?
Jesus is revealing the mysteries of the
We have seen how the new covenant
Paul spoke of God's temple and said, “Do you not know that
you are a
Later he writes, “Or do you not know that
your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Those who have put to death the old firstborn
body of flesh so that they could be born again no longer belong to the old
self. We belong to God because we have been purchased by His blood to
become a part of His temple on earth. God’s true temple is found in the
body of Christ which is now the church. God’s Spirit dwells in that holy
place. It dwells in the fleshly bodies of those who have been born
again.
The bodies of true believers have God’s Spirit
dwelling in them and that makes them God’s dwelling place but it also makes
them His children. God’s Spirit dwells in His children.
Peter is telling us to keep that dwelling
place holy when he writes, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to
the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who
called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is
written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter
1:14-16)
God will destroy anyone who destroys His house
but He also will not look kindly on anyone who would defile His house. We
can see that when we look back at the old covenant earthly house of God that
was a mere copy. Death was the penalty for anyone who defiled that old
covenant house in any way.
If death was the penalty for anyone who would
fail to show respect and honor for a house that was a mere copy what will
become of those who defile God’s true house?
We must respect all people but above all else
we must respect His holy dwelling place. We are God’s dwelling place and
we must keep God’s dwelling place holy because He is holy. We must not
defile or destroy God’s temple in our own body and we must not defile the
temple body of any brother or sister in Christ. They are God’s holy
place.
Dare that we should do anything to harm or
defile God’s holy temple because God will judge anyone who would do
that.
We must be holy because He is holy. We
must keep the house where His Spirit dwells holy by allowing the Spirit to lead
us. Paul tells that we are under obligation not to live according to the
flesh because if we are living according to the flesh we will die but if we are
living by the Spirit we will be putting to death the deeds of the body and we
will live (Romans 8:12-13).
He says that the ones who the sons of God are
those that are being led by the Spirit of God. He is speaking to the
brethren. He is telling the brethren that they are sons of God if they
are being led by the Spirit of God but if they are living according to the
flesh they will die. They will die because the Spirit of God will not continue
to dwell in an unholy place.
They will die because only those who possess
the Spirit of God possess eternal life and if the Spirit departs the body then
life departs from the body. As Paul said "The first MAN,
Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life giving spirit.”
(1
Corinthians 15:45)
Only sons of God are heirs to the kingdom of
heaven. We are children of God and heirs with Christ if we suffer with
Him so that we can be glorified with Him. We will suffer with Him because
most of the people of this world hate born again Christians.
Regardless, we must obey Him and carry our
cross and suffer with Him if we are to be glorified with Him. We will be
glorified with Him as born again children of God when we are fruitful.
Remember, we heard Jesus say that the Father is glorified when we bear much
fruit and so prove to be His disciples (John 15:8).
Regarding the requirement that our old
firstborn body of sin to be put to death before we can become born again
children of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven, it was all foretold in the
old Hebrew salvation story. Their covenant promise was for that earthly
That is why God sent Moses to bring His people
out of slavery to lead them to their land. He brought them out with signs
and wonders. That old story was brought about as an earthly copy of how
God sent Jesus to this earth to bring His spiritual people out of slavery to
sin and lead them to their spiritual land. He did it with signs and
wonders just as Moses led
We were in bondage to sin just as they were in
earthly bondage in
Jesus is leading us out of slavery to sin with
signs and wonders but it can only happen after our old firstborn body of sin
has been put to death. That old body had been our slave master. Our
old firstborn slave master must die before we can be set free. God, however,
had to redeem us first. God’s Firstborn had to die to redeem us from
sin. He has set us free but only after our firstborn slave master has
died will we be allowed to go free.
Only after the death and resurrection of the
temple body of God’s Firstborn Son could we be set free from slavery to
sin. Only then could our old firstborn body of sin be put to death with
Him so that we could be set free from slavery to that body of sin.
After that body has been put to death, then,
we can be raised up as born again sons of God and become the dwelling place for
God’s Spirit. We have been born again through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead.
That old firstborn body belonged to this
world. Our born again body has its citizenship in that city of
If we have been raised up with Christ as sons
of God, we will have been born again of water and the Spirit. We will
have been born of water and the Spirit but if we are not being led by the
Spirit we will not bear fruit and the old copy tells us that we will fall and
die in our wilderness and we will not receive our land. We need to
believe God’s promises. We must believe God’s promise if we are to
receive His land of promise.
Johnny Rogers
Revised
4. - "WHAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM”.
In his first letter to the church at
When we read from God’s inspired word, the
Spirit is speaking to us. He is telling us about God’s love for man and
what He has done to redeem us from sin and bring us to Him. The Spirit is
also telling us something about what God has prepared for those who will
believe in Him and love Him.
Jesus was telling the apostles about what He
will be preparing for them when He said, "Do not let your heart be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many
dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare
a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Jesus tells them that He is going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. He then says that they know the way where He is going. Thomas responds and says they do not know the way. Jesus tells him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
A few verses later He tells them,
"If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will
come to him and make Our abode with him.” (Verse 23)
Look carefully at what He says about that eternal home. He is going to prepare a place for them and He tells them that they know the way where He is going. He also tells them that He is the way and that we must go through Him if we are to get there. We must follow Him and go through Him.
We heard Paul say that it has been
prepared for those who love God. We heard Jesus say that those who love
Him will keep His word and obey Him. If we do that, the Father will love
us and we will be allowed to live with the Father and Son in that home of
God.
The Father loves those who love His Son and
who show their love by obedience to the word of God spoken through the
Son. The Father will love them and He will come with Christ and they will
make their abode with them in that home of glory. Paul spoke of all that
God has prepared for those who love Him and said it is an awesome place.
There are many dwelling places in God’s house. They are in the same house where Jesus now lives. Jesus has prepared them for those who love Him but who also have faith in Him.
If we really believe
in Him, we will believe His promises about that place He has prepared for us
and we will show our belief by how we live our lives on this earth. We
will follow Him.
The promises are only made to those who love God. Remember, the greatest commandment is the commandment to love God. We can hear Jesus tell us about that in Matthew, chapter 22. A lawyer had asked Him what the great commandment of the Law was (Verse 36).
Jesus responded, “You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.' This is [the] first and great commandment. And [the] second
[is] like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
The commandment to love God with all our being
is above every other commandment. The commandment to love our neighbor as
we love ourselves is the number two commandment. It was true under the
Law of Moses and it is true under the New Testament Law of Christ. All of
God’s promises to man are contingent on obedience to those two
commandments.
The Spirit is speaking to us through the inspired scriptures to tell us what God
has prepared for those who love Him. What He has prepared for us cannot
be described in the words of man.
If we choose to love Him and follow Jesus He will cause our life on this earth to happen in a
way that will bring about good for us. Paul tells us about that
in his letter to the Romans. He writes, “And we know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Again, he is speaking of what is to come to those who love God. Good things are coming. When he said those words, Paul was not talking about great blessings of this earth being given to those who love God because he never received great earthly things.
He was speaking of the glory to come with Jesus and that home with God. God has prepared a
place for those who love Him and the only way to get there is to go through
Jesus. If we choose to believe in and follow Jesus, He will lead us home
and He will be making things happen for us in this life so as to help us to get
there.
God
is working in our lives to make us into sons of God, in Christ’s image, if we
choose to keep the Great Commandment and love Him. That means we must
keep His commandments.
Anyone who professes to love God but refuses
to keep His word is not living the truth. Remember, He is the way, the
truth and the life and He tells us that they way home to the Father is by
following Him with obedience. Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh
(John 1:1-2 and 14) and we must love God’s Word. When we show our love
for God’s Word by following it, we will receive those things that He has
promised.
The word of God demands that we “do” what God’s word says (James 1:25). What are we
supposed to be doing?
We are justified by faith but love is greater
than faith (1 Corinthians
Remember, He spoke of the day when all nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them to the left and to the right as a shepherd would separate the sheep from the goats, with the sheep on the right and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:31-33).
He will place the
righteous on the right and He will tell them how they are blessed of the
Father because of the deeds of love that they had done for Him. He tells them how they gave Him food when He
was hungry and something to drink when He was thirsty, etc.
Jesus is speaking of Judgment Day and how He
will judge those before Him based on the works of love that they will have done
for Him. When those on the right question having done those works of love
for Him, He will tell them that they did those things for Him when they did
them for one of His brothers. We must
receive the word and do what it says.
He will bless those on
the right for their works of love and He will condemn those on the left because
they will not have done those works of love. Those on the left hand side
will not have fulfilled the law of God because they will not have loved
Christ’s brothers.
The law of God requires us to obey the gospel. It is the gospel of God’s love for mankind, shown in the gift of His Son. God showed His love on the cross of Christ. We are commanded to obey that gospel of love and love others, especially the brothers of Christ.
If we don’t love the brethren, then we are
dead. If we truly love them, then we have passed out of death and into
life. True love, however, does works of love for the ones who are loved.
True love is shown in deed and truth, with works of
love.
That is what John was saying when he said that "we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.” In the original scripture, the Greek
word for, “ought” is the word “opheilo”. Strongs Definitions tells us it
means to “be in debt for”. We “ought” to obey the gospel of love
and pay our debt of love to the brethren and love them with deeds of
love.
Paul tells us to, “Owe nothing to anyone
except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the
law”
(Romans 13:8). It is two verses later where we read, “Love does no wrong to a
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” We must obey
the gospel by obeying the Royal law of love and laying down our lives for the
brethren.
When we obey that law and lay down our life
for the brethren, we will be following the pathway that Jesus trod and He will
lead us to that home of God. Remember, He tells us to take up our cross
and follow Him, daily (Luke
He knows whether
or not we are following Him and if He sees us on that cross marked pathway, He
has a place for us there. It will be a place in the Son, a place of glory
beyond our wildest dreams. As Paul said, it has not entered our mind; all
that God has prepared for those who love Him.
There is no way for us to be able to comprehend what that place will be like but the Spirit has revealed some of what is to come in scripture. John is telling us about that in Revelations, chapters 21 and 22.
John is describing in earthly terms what is to come in that spiritual home. With that in mind, we must understand that what is to come will likely look somewhat different from what we may picture in our minds.
It is like listening to Jesus speaking in parables. We
may not be able to get a clear picture of that city in our mind but whatever it
will be like will surpass anything that we have ever envisioned. For
those who get there, they will shout for joy when they see it.
Speaking of that city and its light, John tells us how that city will have no need of a sun or moon for light because God’s glory will be its light (Revelation 21:23). He says that, “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”
He also
tells us, “they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and
nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever
come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of
life.” The nations will walk by the light of that city.
In the next chapter (Revelation, chapter 22) John is shown the river of life coming from the throne of God and the tree of life on each side of that river. It will be a tree bearing twelve kinds of fruit during the twelve months of the year.
John says, “and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations.” John continues, “And there will no
longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the
light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign
forever and ever.”
He speaks of those who will be allowed to
enter that city and says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that
they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into
the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons
and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices
lying.”
We just read where those who have washed their robes will have a right to enter the gates of that city but then he says that outside will be the dogs and sorcerers and immoral people and murders etc.
They are the same ones that He said will be cast into the lake of
fire, in Revelation 21:8. If they will be outside the city but they will
be in the lake of fire, then it sounds like hell will be located on the new
earth, outside the city of
The scripture that we just read does say that
those who have washed their robes will be allowed to enter through the gates of
that city. That would seem to imply that there will be others outside
that city who will not be allowed to enter.
Remember, we previously heard John speak of the nations walking by the light of that city and of the glory and honor of the nations being brought into that city. If there will be nations on the new earth, will those nations have come from the nations of this earth?
Are
those nations different from the saints, the ones who will have overcome and
become heirs of God? The saints who overcome will be living in that city
of
We said that Isaiah may confirm what John
seemed to be saying about how those condemned to the lake of fire, would be
outside that city of
He ends chapter 66 with the words, "For just as the
new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,"
declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure. And
it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind
will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD. Then they will go
forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For
their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be
an abhorrence to all mankind."
Speaking of the new heavens and new earth,
which the LORD had created, enduring before Him, He says that their offspring
and their name will also endure. That new heavens and new earth will
endure forever. On the new earth,“All mankind” will come and bow
down before Him and then they will go forth (That would be going forth from
that New Jerusalem) and see the dead bodies of those who had transgressed
against the LORD. They will see the damned burning in unquenchable
fire.
If all of mankind from that new earth (That would likely be living mankind, not the dead) will come to that city and worship the LORD and then depart and go back out into the new earth and see dead bodies as they are burning in fire, they will be walking through that lake of fire. He is speaking of everlasting fire being out there and that is hell.
It sounds like hell fire will be located outside the city of
Hell fire will be out there but all mankind
will also be dwelling out there. It sounds like the nations of that new
earth will be coming to that city to worship. It sounds like there will
be living mankind out in the nations outside the gates, living among the
dead. God’s sons, those who have overcome, will not be coming to that
city to worship before the LORD. They will be living there in that city
as sons of God.
The LORD is speaking through Isaiah, telling
us the same thing that John told us when he wrote of those rejected ones who
will be outside that city (Revelation, chapter 22). Outside that city
will be the immoral and murderers and idolaters and liars. Those are the
same ones that he said in chapter 21 would be in the lake of fire.
Remember what John said about the glory and
honor of the nations being brought to that city. There will be nations
out there with glory and honor. If there will be living mankind dwelling
among the dead outside that city, will hell on that new earth only be hell to
the damned but not to those living in the nations out there?
Anyone who is burning in that lake of fire
will be dead. The dead will not be counted among the living. All
mankind out in that new earth will come to worship before God but the dead will
not come there. They will be dead and God is not the God of the dead, He
is the God of the living (Mark
If the lake of fire will be located outside
that heavenly city, but there will also be nations living out there, will hell
fire be a spiritual fire and not a literal fire as we know it? Will hell
fire be like a spiritual fire to the damned but not to the living?
Regardless, the damned will be dead and they will be out in a dark world.
Are there scriptures that speak of spiritual
fires and of someone burning in that fire? What about Jesus and the
cross? Jesus is the Lamb of God and He was the perfect burnt offering and
sin offering provided by God for the spiritual
The law for the burnt offerings was that the
burnt offering shall remain on the hearth of the altar all night and the fire
was to be kept burning on it (Leviticus 6:9). A few verses later Moses
writes that the fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar and it was
not to go out (Leviticus
The altar fire was to be kept continually
burning and not allowed to go out. Every morning the priest was to
lay out the burnt offering on the wood that was on the altar of burnt offering
and burn it until it was reduced to ashes. They were only doing a copy
and shadow of the heavenly (Hebrews 8:5). Jesus is the true Lamb of God
that was offered on the altar of the cross. The fire finally went out
when He died.
Jesus was the true burnt offering for
spiritual
That old Law only had a shadow of what was to come. It required sacrifices for sins but those sacrifices never could remove sins because the Law required unblemished sacrifices.
Remember,
scripture says that, "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or
a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to
the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 17:1) They had no sacrifices that could
meet those conditions. Since man was cast out of the garden there have
been no unblemished animal sacrifices.
Only the sacrifice that Jesus made met the conditions
of perfection and only His sacrifice can remove sins. He burned,
spiritually, on the altar of the cross as our burnt offering and our sin
offering. Jesus was all of those offerings. That included their sin
offerings and especially that special sin offering where blood was taken into
the holy place and sprinkled before the inner veil.
The New Testament Hebrew writer tells how the
old special sin offering for God’s people foretold Jesus and the cross.
He writes, “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the
holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the
camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His
own blood, suffered outside the gate.” (Hebrews 13:11-12)
When the whole congregation of God’s people
sinned, a bull was to be brought before the doorway of the tent of meeting and
slain before the LORD. The high priest was to take some of the blood into
the outer room of the temple and sprinkle it before the inner veil that led to
the Holy of Holies. The body of that animal was to be taken outside the
camp and burned.
That offering foretold the cross to come. Because the bodies of those old sin offerings were to be burned outside the camp, therefore Jesus also suffered there.
Jesus suffered
outside the gate of that earthly city because the old earthly copy said He
would suffer there. Just as that old sacrifice was burned in literal
flames outside the city, Jesus, therefore, burned in spiritual flames out
there. The earthly copy said it would happen, therefore, it
happened. That old sin offering was useless and detestable as a sin
offering but it was not useless for what it represented. It foretold our
sacrifice burning outside the gate.
Jesus has become the true Lamb of God who was
sacrificed outside that old earthly city in the spiritual fires on the altar of
the cross. Everyone who accepts His sacrifice and follows Him will,
therefore, dwell with God in that city of
It appears that everyone who rejects the
offering that He made in spiritual fire outside that old earthly city will
dwell in flames outside that spiritual city. They will have rejected His
offering so they must make their own offering. Their offering will never
be perfect so it will last forever. Remember, that old altar fire was
never to go out.
Jesus is not the only priest and Son of God who must carry a cross on this earth. All Christians are spiritual priests and sons of God and we have all been commanded to take up our cross and follow Him. Does that not mean we must suffer with Him?
Remember, Paul says that we are children of God
and we are fellow heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him so that we may be
glorified with Him (Romans
Crosses are
meant for suffering. Those who carry their cross and follow Jesus will offer
their own spiritual sacrifices. Does our requirement to carry our cross
and follow Him mean we must suffer in spiritual fire on this earth?
In 1 Peter, chapter 1, Peter spoke of their
inheritance reserved in heaven and how they could rejoice in it. He
spoke of their trials and said they could rejoice, “even though now for a
little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that
the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable,
even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
It sounds like, just
as gold is tested by earthly fire, their faith was being tested as if by
fire. Peter said it was to prove their faith.
Peter again spoke of their testing, saying, “Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing,
as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you
share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the
revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” (1 Peter
4:12-13)
They were being tested by their fiery ordeal just like Abraham was tested by his fiery ordeal when he was called to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. The same thing is true with Jesus when He was called to offer His sacrifice on the altar.
Scripture says “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)
He had just mentioned how Jesus had been
crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering of death He was crowned
with glory and honor so that He might taste death for everyone. Jesus was tempted to pass up partaking of
that cup (The cross) but He overcame that temptation. He was glorified
because He was willing to suffer and we, also, will be glorified if we follow
Him and suffer with Him.
Peter said that, to the degree that we share
His sufferings, we should rejoice. When we are faced with the fiery
ordeals that come to us, our faith is being tested. When we overcome our
fears and accept those fiery ordeals, we are sharing in the sufferings of
Christ. Just as He suffered His fiery ordeal, we must suffer our fiery
ordeal.
We read Revelation, chapter 21 where the
Lord describes a new heavens and new earth and that city to come and said
that those who overcome will inherit these things. Earlier (In
chapter 2), He tells us that he who overcomes and keeps His deeds until the end
He will give authority over the nations, “AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF
IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have
received authority from My Father” (Verse 27).
For those who overcome this world and
faithfully follow Jesus until the end of life on this earth, they will be given
authority over the nations and they will rule over them with a rod of iron in that
next life. What nations could that be except the nations of that new earth
that John described in chapter 21? We did read in that chapter where the
kings of the earth will bring their glory into that city.
If God’s sons, those who have overcome, will
reign over the earth, then there must be someone on the new earth to reign
over. Who would that be? Would that not be the nations of the new
earth? Who are those people? Remember, the damned will be outside
that city.
Will there be others outside that city
also? If the kings of the earth will bring their glory into that city
but, as we read earlier, only those who have washed their robes will have a
right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates, then it appears that
the ones who overcome will be the kings of the earth. Would that not be
God’s sons? God’s sons will reign as kings over the earth but they may
also be reigning over lesser kings who live out in the nations on the new
earth.
When John wrote about those who will be cast
into the lake of fire, he records that it will be those who are the cowardly
and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars. Regarding the unbelievers, many of them are
otherwise good people, who are not immoral and are not liars. Many of
them do good deeds for others. Will they not burn like some others
because they will have loved their neighbor?
Jesus once spoke of those who do good deeds
for His disciples and He said, "For whoever gives you a cup of water to
drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will
not lose his reward.” (Mark
Remember, the scriptures repeatedly speak of
how He will judge those before Him based on their deeds. John records
seeing judgment where the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them, “and they were judged,
every one of them according to their deeds.” (Revelation 20:13)
Will some of the dead who will appear before
Christ in judgment have been unbelievers on this earth but will have been
people who did good deeds for the saints? Will they be rewarded for their
good deeds? Will they be separated from the city of
If that is so, they will have been rewarded for their good deeds and not for
their faithful service. Is there anything in the scriptures about some
who will be justified by what they will have done, rather than by their
faith?
Paul may be saying that in Romans, chapter 2, where he wrote of those Gentiles who did not have the Law but who will be judged based on having the Law of God written in their hearts.
He said, “it is not the hearers of the Law who are
just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified”. He spoke of the
Gentiles who did not have the Law and how some will do “instinctively” what the
Law requires and they will be a law to themselves.
He is speaking of Gentiles who do not have the
Law but who do what the Law requires. He is speaking in terms of the Law
of Moses but he is also speaking to Christians about some Gentiles being
justified by having done “instinctively” what God’s Law
requires. They will do it by instinct, not because they were
commanded to do so. Would they be doing what the Law requires by loving
others?
Remember what the true law of God is.
Jesus gave the two greatest commandments, the first being to love God and
the second being to love our neighbor and then He said that on these two
commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:40).
Above all else, that is the Law that we must do. Unbelievers do not obey
the first commandment because they do not obey God. Some, however, do
obey the second commandment. Will they be rewarded for what they will have
done?
It sounds like Jesus will judge them based on
their law, the law of their heart. It sounds like He will judge people
who do not have the law of God, based on what is in their hearts and if they
did what the Law requires, they will have glory and honor and
peace (verse 10).
We know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and He loves those who love others with works of love. Remember, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Will some be justified by having fulfilled the second commandment law by having loved their neighbor?
It sounds like some may be justified by their works of love and
not by their faith. If so, they will not have been made perfect by
Christ’s blood, because only believers have been made perfect by His
blood. Anyone who has not been made perfect by His blood would not likely
be allowed to dwell with our perfect God.
Notice, he does not say that they will be
heirs to the kingdom of heaven or to that city of
Remember, John wrote of that city of
We saw previously where the damned (Those who
are described as being in the lake of fire) will be outside that city and will
never be allowed to enter through its gates. If so, they will have been
cut off from God because God will be dwelling in that city. Will they dwell
out in a dark world, separated from the city of light? Remember, there
will be no sun or moon for light on the new earth. The only light
mentioned is the light of the glory of God in that city.
If that new earth will have no sun or moon for
light and the only light will be the light of the glory of God in that city of
Speaking of those who overcome, ruling over the nations, will they rule over some who will have peace and honor but others who will be serving as low level slaves? Will the spiritual hell to come be the requirement to live forever in slavery in that world to come? Would they be required to work forever and never have rest for their souls?
Remember, God’s people will find rest for their souls. Could
there be a worse hell than for those who had valued freedom in this life being
required to toil forever in slavery? Isaiah may be telling us of some who
will be slaves.
We read what Isaiah said about that new earth and all mankind coming to bow down before the LORD and then going forth and looking at the damned in their fire (Isaiah, chapter 66). Earlier, in chapter 61, he spoke of “the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn” (Verse 2).
It appears that Isaiah is speaking of what is to come when God’s people will dwell in their city of righteousness and the nations will dwell outside that city. Isaiah speaks of those nations and says, “Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers. But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.” (Isaiah 61:5-6)
Remember, John recorded in Revelation, chapter 21, about how the kings of the
earth will bring the glory and honor of the nations into that city.
Isaiah said more about that new earth in chapter 60. Near the end of chapter 60, Isaiah speaks of what is to come and says "Your sun will no longer set, Nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be over. "Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.”
The only land that will be possessed forever is that
heavenly land. That is also the only place where all of God’s people will
be righteous and where their days of mourning will be over.
In that chapter Isaiah also tells how, "Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will minister to you;” (Isaiah 60:10) He says that "Your gates will be open continually; They will not be closed day or night, So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, With their kings led in procession.”
A few verses
later he records God saying how "The sons of those who afflicted you will
come bowing to you, And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the
soles of your feet; And they will call you the city of the LORD, The Zion of
the Holy One of Israel.”
Those things never happened in any great
degree to the Israelites of this earth and it will never happen to them
because a
Remember, Abraham lived in
that earthly Canaan with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the promise but they
lives there as if aliens in a foreign land because Abraham was not looking for
that earthly land, he was looking for a city built by God (Hebrews
11:10).
Remember what Paul said about those who have been
raised up with Christ. He said that we are to keep seeking the things
above where Christ is seated. We are to
set our minds on things above and not what is on this earth
(Colossians 3:1-2). We are to be like Abraham and set our
minds on that heavenly city.
It sounds like the possibility exists that the
people of the nations of this earth who have been enemies of and who will have
dealt out affliction to the saints while living on this earth may forever serve
the saints as slaves on the new earth.
When Isaiah speaks of those who have afflicted God’s people being required to serve them, it sounds like what Paul told the Thessalonians. Remember when he spoke of their having to endure afflictions from outsiders but how Jesus would come in flaming fire and deal out retribution and pay with affliction those who will have caused their affliction? (2 Thessalonians, chapter 1)
That sounds like what Isaiah was
saying about those who will have afflicted God’s people being required to come
and bow down at the soles of their feet.
We are hearing God tell of a place where His
people will possess the land forever. It will be a place where there will
no longer be a sun or moon for light but the LORD will be their everlasting
light. It is the same place that John spoke of in Revelation, chapters 21
and 22. It sounds like God’s people will be ruling over the nations of
the new earth. Will some kings of this earth serve God’s people there?
If that is true, those nations will be
dwelling on a dark earth because there will be no sun or moon for light on the
new earth. If the only light on the new earth will be God’s glory in that
We read what he said about the new heaven and earth at the end of chapter 66. He begins that chapter by saying, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. "For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. "Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Speaking of
that new earth and darkness, God speaks through Isaiah and tells us that
darkness will cover the earth and its peoples (Isaiah 60:1-2). How does
that connect with what John writes when he spoke of that New Jerusalem and said “The nations will walk by
its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it”?
There will be peoples on the new earth
that will be covered in deep darkness but others walking by the light of that
city. It sounds like some of those people outside the city will dwell
near that city of light and will walk by its light but others will dwell out
there in deep darkness.
Will it be more tolerable for some than for
others? Will some of those who were cruel to God’s people dwell in deep
darkness? Will some others who were good to the saints be blessed to
dwell near the city of light and be allowed to come there to worship?
If that outer darkness is also hell fire, John
tells us that it is the second death (Revelation
John tells us that God is light (1 John
1:5). In 1 John, chapter 2, he tells us that anyone who says
that he is in the Light yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. He also tells us, “The one who loves his
brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the
darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded
his eyes.”
He is telling us about spiritual
darkness. Nearly everything that we read in Revelation and much of what
we read in Isaiah is God speaking to us of spiritual things in symbolic
language. We may be seeing hell fire as spiritual fire and we may be
seeing darkness as spiritual darkness. We may also be seeing spiritual
death.
Based on the wording that John uses, it
appears that many of us (Those professing to be believers) are dwelling in that
darkness at the present time because we don’t love our brother. Since God
is light (1 John 1:5) and He is also love (1 John 4:8), anyone who will be
separated from God in that new world will be separated from love and from
light. Will they forever dwell in a world without love and without
light?
If they have been separated from God they will
also be separated from life because Jesus tells us “I am the way, and the
truth, and the life” (John 14:6). If He is the life and if we have been
forever separated from Him in eternity, we will abide in death forever.
Is that the second death that will be the lake of fire?
We are hearing of a world to come described in spiritual terms. How much of it will be like the things on this earth we can’t be sure of, but it will be an awful world to dwell in for those who have been delegated to the lake of fire. It will become their dwelling place forever.
Will they be forever looking through the darkness of their world
toward that city of light and remember what could have been theirs if only they
had devoted the few short years of this life following Jesus and meeting the
covenant requirements of loving their God and loving their neighbor?
Would it have helped to have at least loved their neighbor?
If we really believe in Jesus, we will hear
Him say, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is
easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) We must hear Jesus
and take up our yoke and follow Him if we are to obtain that everlasting land
of rest. Is the cross that we must carry our yoke?
If we carry our cross and do our works of love in this life, we will find rest in that land of rest. If we take up our cross and follow Him we will find rest for our souls. If we don’t believe Him, our souls may never rest in that land of rest.
We may find ourselves
having worshipped the beast that John writes about in Revelation, chapter
14. For those people who worship the beast, scripture tells us that He
will drink of the wine of the wrath of God.
John wrote of that one, saying, “he will be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever;
they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and
whoever receives the mark of his name." (Revelation
14:10-11)
The Lamb will be dwelling in that city.
The damned will burn outside that city. The smoke of their torment will
ascend forever outside that city. They will have no rest day or night
forever and ever. Will they have no rest because they will be required to
work night and day forever and ever? What an awful hell that would
be.
After speaking of those who will never find
rest John records what the Lord says about the faithful who keep His
commandments obtaining rest from their labors. He writes, “Here is the
perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, `Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord from now on!' " "Yes," says the Spirit,
"so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with
them."
For the dead who die in the Lord, they will
find rest from their labors. For others, they will have no rest for their
souls, day or night, forever. There will be both day and night for
them. Remember, in that city of
It appears that some of those outside that city will be dwelling in day
but others will dwell in dark night. They all may be required to serve in
slavery outside the city of
If some of those living out there in the
nations will be alive and not dead, how could they have eternal life if they
were unbelievers? Remember, eternal life is only found in Jesus.
They will not be in Jesus; how could they have eternal life?
Remember Adam and Eve lost eternal life
because of sin but they could have continued to have it if they had been able
to have access to the tree of life. God did not allow that to happen
because He stationed a cherubim there to guard the way to the tree of life
(Genesis
Scripture
says, “Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one
of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take
also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"— (Genesis 3:22).
Based on the things that John says in
Revelation, chapter 22, those unbelievers outside the city of
Remember, John records the LORD saying, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.”
If He really meant washing their robes
in the blood of the Lamb, no one other than believers do that. Could
there be another washing, one done with works of love?
Even if they are not allowed to eat of the tree of life, it may help them in other ways. Could those leaves be brought to the nations outside the city? Remember what we read previously about the leaves of that tree?
In chapter 22, John recorded, “and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations.” Notice, he said, “nations”, not the perfect sons
of God. God’s perfect sons will be like Jesus. They will have
immortal and imperishable bodies. They will need no healing.
Johnny Rogers
Revised
5. - “HE MAY BE RETURNING VERY SOON
Remember when the apostles asked Jesus about His return (Matthew, chapter 24)? They had pointed out the grand temple buildings on the temple mount. They were obviously impressed with the beauty and grandeur of God’s earthly dwelling place.
Jesus told them
of its coming destruction and how one stone would not be left upon another when
it happened. Jesus was speaking of the destruction to come when the Roman
army would destroy the city and burn it in 70 AD.
The apostles wanted to know when that
event would happen but they also asked about His return (“Tell us, when will
these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end
of the age” – Matthew 24:3).
Jesus gave responses to both of their questions in the verses that followed. It is a little difficult to determine which question He was referring to in the things that He said but one thing stands out with regard to His return. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” and “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming”.
When it happens, it will be
unexpected. No one knows the day or the hour when He will return so we
must be ready at all times.
We will not know the day or the hour of His return beforehand but from what the scriptures say, can we have a general idea? Just as no one knows the day or hour of His return, no one knew the day or the hour that He would come the first time.
It appears that the
Jewish nation of the first century BC had studied the scriptures and they knew
that the time was right for the Messiah to come. They knew about when He
would come, they just did not recognize Him when He came. They expected
an earthly king and He was a spiritual king.
When He comes again, all will see Him
and all will recognize Him. Jesus said of that day, "And then the sign
of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth
will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY
with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30) All of the tribes of
the earth will see Him coming on the clouds of heaven.
We can’t know the day or the hour of
His return but is it possible to get a general idea from what the scriptures
say? Judgment will take place on that last day but what else do the
scriptures say of the future? They tell us that eternal life has been
promised to the faithful. It will come in the heavenly land.
In Hebrews, chapter 3, the Hebrew
writer speaks of the old land of promise as the place of rest and he tells how
that nation could not enter their land and he ties that old story to our
story. He tells how Moses brought that nation out of slavery in
Instead of obtaining
that land of rest, He caused them to fall in the wilderness. He says they
were not able to enter because of unbelief. They did not enter that land
of rest because of unbelief and because of
disobedience.
That old
The Hebrew writer began chapter 4 by saying that we have had good news preached to us just as they had good news preached to them. They were given the good news of their earthly land of rest that lay just beyond the wilderness and we have been given the good news of our spiritual land of rest to come at the end of time.
Both nations had good news preached to them but it did those ancient ones
no good because of their lack of faith. Because they did not believe the
promise and did not follow faithfully, they could not enter His rest.
The writer again ties their story
to our story by saying “For we who have believed enter that rest, just
as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY
REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON
THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS" (Hebrews 4:3-4).
He connects that old story and their land of rest to our story and our land of
rest and he connects it to God resting on the seventh day from all His
works. God resting from all His works happened on the seventh day.
A few verses after speaking of God
resting on the seventh day from all His works, we read, “For if Joshua had given
them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there
remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God". He also said that the one who has entered His rest has himself
also rested from his works, as God did from His.
He is speaking
of another day to come, a new Sabbath day of rest and he is telling us how we
will obtain rest from our works on that day.
Entering that land of rest will be like God resting on the seventh day from all His works. How could that creation week with its seventh day of rest foretell our day of rest to come in the land of rest?
Remember, that old earthly Sabbath Day of rest came the
day after God had finished all His works. God worked for six days and
then He rested on the seventh day. He says that our day of rest will be
like that.
When the writer said that there remains
a Sabbath rest for us and it is another day, he is speaking of a Sabbath rest
in that heavenly land of rest. Our land of rest is the true rest because
it is the day of rest. There will only be one eternal day in that
land. That is the other day the writer spoke of. We need to be
diligent if we want to enter that rest.
It sounds like that future land of rest is the true Sabbath day of rest because it was like God resting from His works on the seventh day. We will also be resting from our works on that day.
If the eternal Sabbath Day to come will be the true Sabbath, there
must be a work week of six days before that day of rest. Remember, that
day of rest is the seventh day. If there is a seventh day of rest, there
must be six days of work. Is God telling us about His new creation
work?
God finished His first creation on day
six when He created man in His image. God created them, male and female
and God blessed them. After God finished His
work, Moses writes, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it
was very good” (Genesis
God had finished working on a creation
that was very good but man’s sin changed that. After Adam sinned God
cursed the ground of the earth, saying, “Cursed is the ground
because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life” (Genesis
God’s creation that had been created good
became cursed because of man’s sin but God had a plan to replace that old
cursed creation with a new creation. Under that new creation man is being
created in the true image of God by having been created in the image of God’s
Son. Paul tells us that we (believers) have been “predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans
If we are being created in the image of
God’s Son, we are being created in the image of God because Paul also says that
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all
creation” (Colossians
In that first creation God created Man
in His image and gave him eternal life on the sixth day. After Adam lost
eternal life, God’s plan included a way to give man back the eternal life that
had been lost. Would the new creation also be completed in six
days? Can we see six days of creation work in the new creation? God
began that new creation work after Adam fell and lost eternal life.
If the true Sabbath rest to come will
be the eternal day of rest in the land of rest, is that not our new covenant
promise? When God made His covenant with Abraham, He told Abraham that He
would be God to him and to his descendants and that He would give them the
Having
God’s true promise was to restore eternal life to man in the land of rest in heaven. We can see that clearly when we read scripture that tells how Abraham lived as an alien (With Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs to the same promise) in that earthly land but he was looking for a city built by God (Hebrews 11:9-10).
If scripture says that Abraham was living as an alien
in that earthly land of promise but he was really looking for a city built by
God, then he knew that the real promise was never for an earthly land but for a
heavenly home. The old was just an earthly copy.
God gave Abraham that covenant promise
some two thousand years after Adam lost eternal life (Based on Bible
genealogical records). During that time man became so wicked that God
destroyed the earth in a flood. God was working to restore eternal life
to man and He used the flood to wash away the sinful flesh of that first
creation.
Doing the work necessary to create a
new creation that would set man free from sin and death would cause a
problem. If God is perfect (And He is), He must also be perfect in
righteousness and perfect in justice. Sinful man is not righteous and
justice demands payment for sins. If he is to have eternal life, justice
must be served and man must be made righteous. That is why God became man
and died on the cross.
A covenant is an agreement between two
parties. There are covenant requirements for each party. God gave the
everlasting covenant promise to Abraham but it would require God to keep His
part of the covenant promise. Some two thousand years after God gave the
covenant promise of eternal life to Abraham and to his descendants, God
fulfilled His part of the covenant promise at the cross.
Only a perfect sacrifice could make man perfect for eternal life with God and only God could provide that sacrifice. That was His covenant promise. He provided that perfect sacrifice when Jesus died on the cross.
As Isaiah had foretold, “But He was pierced
through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The
chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are
healed” (Isaiah, chapter 53). Isaiah also writes, “He had done no
violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt
offering”.
It has been nearly two thousand years
since Jesus died on the cross. He died to redeem us from sin and to
fulfill God’s covenant promise a little less than two thousand years ago.
He died about two thousand years after God gave Abraham the covenant promise of
receiving
Are we beginning to see the timing of
God’s new creation work? Eternal life was lost six thousand years
ago. Two thousand years later God made His covenant promise to give man
back the eternal life that he lost. Two thousand years after that God
kept His covenant promise at the cross. It has been nearly two thousand
years from the cross of Jesus until now. Do the nearly six thousand years
of new creation work since man messed up and lost eternal life in the first
creation have any bearing on the time when that day of rest will come?
Remember, there should be six days of
creation work before the seventh day of Sabbath rest. How will God be
working for six days on His new creation work before that Sabbath Day of rest
comes? God began working on His new creation six thousand years ago when
man lost eternal life in that first creation. He has not been working for
six days; He has been working for nearly six thousand years. What is the
connection?
Peter gave the connection when he spoke of the
beginning and of the last days and of God’s timing and His patience. He
wrote, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with
the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter
3:8-9).
When Peter said that one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as
a day with God, he said that after telling how, “mockers will come with
their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the
promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues
just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter
3:3-4) He says,
“- - -it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long
ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water”.
He speaks of the end and says, “But by His word the present
heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men.” He says the creation came, “by the word of God”. Remember, Jesus
is the Word and He is the creator (John 1:1-3).
Jesus
is the one who created it all and He will end it all and pass final
judgment. Of that last day, Peter tells us, “But the day of the Lord
will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the
elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will
be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
Jesus will put an end to His old creation
and burn it. In
the last days it will happen. We are now in the last days.
Unbelievers joke of the promise of His coming as if it were a fairy tale.
They look out at the creation and see thousands of years having passed from the
beginning and nothing has changed with regard to God keeping the promise of His
coming.
Peter says that it is a fact that we need to pay attention to. God is not limited in time. One day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to Him. Mockers can only see thousands of years passing by but it is as if it were only a few days with the Lord.
God is not slow about keeping His promise as some count slowness. He will keep all of His promises, including the promise of His coming. He is not rushing the end because He wants to give everyone plenty of time to come to repentance. God will keep His promise and come but He will also keep His promise of giving back that eternal life and, if we truly repent, He will do that when He creates us in His image.
His wish is that all would come to repentance and become created
in His image but He knows it will not happen for most. What is fact,
however, is that He will come and it will all end in flaming fire. We
need to keep that fact in mind and be ready to give an account for what we have
done during our time on this earth.
If a thousand years are as a day with God, are
six thousand years like six days of creation work? If God’s first creation work took place over
six days, will His new creation work take place over six days that are really
six thousand years to us? Remember, all of His works were finished during
those six days of work and God rested on the seventh day.
We heard the Hebrew writer speak of our
land of rest to come and how it will be like God resting on the seventh day
from all His works. We also heard him speak of that Hebrew nation and say
that Joshua did not give them rest because the scriptures spoke of another "day" after that.
He was speaking of our “day” of rest, the eternal day of rest in that land of rest. It is the true Sabbath rest to come and it will come after God has finished all of His new creation work of creating man in the image of God’s Son.
Will that day come after God’s patience
has ended and man will have been given the opportunity to come to
repentance? The time will have ended for anyone else to repent and be
created in God’s image.
Four thousand years passed between the time when Adam fell and Jesus did His work on the cross to fulfill God’s covenant promise. If that work began after four thousand years had passed, was it like beginning on day five?
If that old creation had God creating
man in His image on the last day of work (Day six), how is it that the new
creation began creating man in God’s image on day five and is continuing into day
six? Can it be seen in God’s patience with man and allowing him more time
to come to repentance so that all will have been given the opportunity of being
created in His image?
In the first creation, man had no choice regarding his being created in God’s image. In the new creation man has been given a choice. Man must choose to keep his part of the covenant and come to repentance before God will keep His promise and create him in His image. God is giving him more time to do that in the new creation.
Are there any other parallels in
scripture where units of time may be showing how God is fulfilling His promise
to man? Can we see it in that old Hebrew salvation story?
When God sent Moses back into Egypt to bring His people out of bondage, Moses went back and gave them the good news of how God was going to free them from their bondage and take them to the Promised Land.
If that old story is a
parallel of our story, then it is telling us about how we are being saved out
of slavery to sin to be brought to our spiritual Promised Land. Let’s
look at how long it took before they received their land and how it may be a
parallel to the time it takes before we will receive our land.
We read what the Hebrew writer said
about how we have had good news preached to us just as they had good news
preached to them. Remember how they were saved out of bondage in
The writer referred us back to what had
happened to that earthly nation and how they had to wander in the wilderness
for forty years before they were allowed to enter their land. They
wandered in that earthly wilderness for forty years until all of the rebels had
died.
If it took forty years of wandering in
their wilderness before they could enter their land, is that saying anything
about the time it will take to finish our wandering before we will be allowed
to enter our land? If a thousand years is as a day and a day is as a
thousand years with God, is a century like a year and a year as a century with
Him? Could four thousand years to us be like forty years to Him?
What happened four thousand years
ago? Remember, about four thousand years ago (Or a little less) God
appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him and promised to give to him
and to his descendants the
We saw where His real promise was for the heavenly
God began leading His spiritual people toward
that heavenly land after He gave the covenant promise to Abraham. Abraham
believed God’s promises and he began following Him toward that land. He
began to look toward that city built by God, even as he lived in that earthly land,
dwelling in tents as if he was an alien there. All of his spiritual
descendants will have his faith and they will follow in his footsteps.
If that earthly nation had to wander in their wilderness for forty years, until all of the rebels had fallen, will we be required to wander in our spiritual wilderness for four thousand years until all of the rebels have fallen?
The rebels will be those who will have
began to follow God toward that land but who will have become disheartened
because of the difficulties of their wilderness travels. They will want
to give up and turn back. We must not give up. We must overcome the
wilderness (Overcome the world) and be faithful until the end.
Abraham and his descendants by faith have been
traveling toward that heavenly land for nearly four thousand years. Will
it take four thousand years for us to get to that land but it will only be like
forty years to God? If that is the case, that day is not far off.
Is it about time for God to call us to
give an answer for how we have come to repentance and kept our everlasting
covenant requirement? Our true covenant requirement is total faith in God
and His promises. If we truly believe His promises, we will obey Him and
follow Jesus.
Remember, of that earthly nation,
Joshua and Caleb were the only ones in God’s army (Of
If God kept His part of the covenant
promise two thousand years after He made that promise to Abraham, will God call
man into account for how he has kept his part of the covenant two thousand
years after that? We can never know the day or the hour but is God
giving us the approximate year when it will happen? Will it be two
thousand years after Jesus died on the cross?
He died on the cross nearly two thousand years ago but no one knows exactly when. We don’t even know for certain the year that He died. If that last day will come two thousand years after the cross, we can only have a general idea of the year because scholars can’t agree on when Jesus died on the cross. Depending on who we listen to, we can get years ranging between 26 and 34 AD. It likely happened about 30 AD.
It appears that
Jesus may come in about twenty years. It does not matter. People
are dying every day and are being lost because they have not repented and
followed Jesus fully. Their time on earth will be over. If they have not met God’s covenant conditions, His patience will have run
out. After that, judgment will come (Hebrews
The old Law said that anyone found working on the Sabbath Day will be cut off. God’s people will not be working on that day because they will have completed their work and entered into their rest. They will be resting from their works of following Christ.
John is telling us about that when he hears a voice
speak of those who die in the Lord, saying, “Yes," says the
Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow
with them” (Revelation 14:13). They will have
remembered to keep the Sabbath Day holy by having completed the work that they
had been created to do before that day comes.
Will they not have done the works of
love that Jesus commanded by giving bread to the hungry and water to the
thirsty, etc? Is He telling us about that when He speaks of judgment and
how those on the left side didn’t do those works of love for His brothers
(Matthew 25:41-46)?
Paul speaks of judgment and says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
In another place he speaks of God’s judgment, saying that He, “WILL RENDER TO EACH
PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS” (Romans 2:6). Remember, the one talent
man did nothing with his talent and he was condemned to outer darkness (Matthew
25:30). If we have done evil or have done nothing, we will be condemned
to outer darkness. We will not have remembered the Sabbath Day to keep it
holy and we will have been cut off from God's people.
If some people will have refused to do
their work to take up their cross and follow Jesus, will they be required to
work on that last day?
Will they be working like
Jesus had to work to create man in His image? Will it be like the work
that He did on the cross? Will they spend an eternity offering their own
sacrifice because they did not accept His sacrifice? If so, they will be
working forever because their work will never be adequate to begin to pay their
debt for sin.
Whenever He comes, it will happen
suddenly and without warning. The only answer is to be prepared. We
must, “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the
appointed time will come” (Mark
Johnny Rogers
Image
of the cross is from FreeFoto.com
Link For
cross - http://www.freefoto.com/preview/05-08-10?ffid=
05-08-10&k=Cross+at+Sunset
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1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org )