Truth and Scripture

"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Eccl. 3:18-20). There it is. The plain, inescapable truth. You're going to die. So am I. Oh I know we're living in the end, and it's possible that we could live to see the Lord's coming; but that would be a tougher act than dying, considering the things that will take place before that day arrives (Mat. 24:21,22; Rev. 14:9-13). But in any event this life does not last, and it will not last for any of us. And as the scripture states, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:27,28). So there is going to be a final judgment at which will be present all who have lived on the earth (Rev. 20:11,12). But before that time comes Jesus will return from heaven to earth to save all who have been faithful, and destroy those who have refused his grace. If we are ready to meet the Lord at this coming, whether we are dead or alive, we will be in good shape for the judgment, which is actually a thousand years later (Rev. 20:4-6). Reason being we will become immortal when Christ returns from heaven and as the scripture states, "[Jesus] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Philip. 3:21).

Once we are changed to immortality, we will no longer be tempted with any kind of sin, so our presence at the judgment will be for the purpose of receiving our eternal reward for our faithfulness. So the bottom line is that being aware of the reality of death, and that it could come at any moment; we should always be motivated to keep our hearts righted with God, and filled with his Spirit (Eph. 5:18). If we have been baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost, we have literally "put on Christ," of whom the scripture says, "Now the Lord is that Spirit" (Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 3:17). When we are "joined to the Lord," and thereby become "one spirit" with him, we have the capacity by his holiness and his power to live holy even as he is holy (I Cor. 6:17; I Pet. 1:15). That is very integral because we are told concerning the faithful who will be "caught up" to meet the Lord as he comes, whether dead or alive: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power" (I Thess. 4:16,17; Rev. 20:6). Making us holy like himself is why Jesus came to this world and paid the greatest cost for us that has ever been paid by anybody for anything. Ever. You see, God is holy, and so is his only begotten Son. In fact everyone in heaven is holy, and those in heaven who chose to not remain holy have been cast out of God's presence forever (II Pet. 2:4). No one is going to dwell in the presence of God for eternity if they are a sinner. No one. Again, that is why Jesus came to purchase our redemption, so that we could be, well... redeemed. That means redeemed from sin of course.

A lot of folks who profess faith in Christ also profess that they are still sinners, and that we all are. They are seriously mistaken. Jesus did not die the death he did, and then raise himself from the dead and return to heaven, all so that we could continue in the same condition we were in before he did all of this. I mean, Are you kidding? That would be the most illogical, irrational, and nonsensical thing ever done by anyone in the history of all existence. Neither God or his Son are stupid. And that would be really, really stupid. No my friend, Jesus did what he did to provide something for us that this world has never known, and that is true spiritual rebirth that puts us into the kingdom of God, and into the literal body of Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:5; I Cor. 12:13). If we were all still sinners then the beloved apostle would not have given us the instruction that he gave us, in regard to being prepared for the Lord's second coming: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:2,3). So it is more than evident that the new birth experience that we receive by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, makes us a literal partaker of the holiness of God; and his Spirit gives us power to not have to live after sin any more (Heb. 12:10; II Pet. 1:4; Acts 1:8; Rom. 6:6,12). So in summary of these few scriptural realities let me go back to the beginning where we started. We're going to die. Some people die young, and believers are not exempt.

I just preached at a funeral a few months ago where the woman was like fifty years old, which is young to die. Her mother had received a word from the Lord a few months prior that her daughter was going to be taken, and that she was going to be saved. I don't know why she died. She did have some health issues, but no one realized anything was immediately life-threatening. Nevertheless she died, and many others die even earlier. So that is certain. We don't get to stay here, or we don't have to stay here, which is more the way I see it personally. If we give ourselves wholly to the one who gave himself wholly for us, we will be made immortal at his coming, reign on earth with him a thousand years, and then stop off at the final judgment on our way to an indescribable eternity on 'the new earth' (I Cor. 2:9; Rev. 21;1). If we refuse to give ourselves to Christ who gave himself for us, we simply will not be able or allowed to be a partaker with him, and we will be left dead for the thousand year reign; only to be resurrected unto a horrific eternal damnation that will never end or let up at all (Jn. 5:29; Rom. 8:9; Rev. 4-6,11-15). So I believe that there is much to be thankful for, that Jesus made this way of holiness available to us, and has promised to see us through till the end if we refuse to give up our faith in him (Heb. 10:38,39; Heb. 13:5). There is also much to fear God about, as Solomon duly noted: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:13,14). Sounds like a really easy decision to me. Amen.