How Certain Are You?

The majority of Christians have been taught, and therefore believe, that those who have not made a decision for Christ in this life will forever be excluded from the presence of the Lord.
Regular readers of this BLOG will know that I not only disagree with this conclusion but with the theology in the reasoning that produces it.

So I won't go over old ground again in this post ... BUT ... I have some questions for those who believe that conclusion, or a similar version of it.

How confident are you in your conclusion?

How certain are you ...

that the steadfast love of the Lord does cease at some point?
that God's mercies do come to an end?
that God's love does finally fail?

How certain are you ...

that God will not make all things new?
that everyone will not be made alive in Christ?
that God will not unite all things under Christ eventually?
that God will not reconcile all things to himself?

How certain are you ...

that Jesus does not seek and save all who are lost?
that Jesus did not destroy the works of the devil?
that Jesus is not the Saviour of the whole world?
that Jesus did not take away the sin of the world?
that every knee will not bow before Jesus?

I'll pause there to allow some breathing space to gather your thoughts rather than keep asking awkward questions. But you can take a peek below the line if you need some help forming your answers.

Blessings, Barry

BTW, if you have some awkward questions for me I am happy for you to ask them in the Comments section below.

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The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
[Lamentations 3 :  22 ESV]

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
[1 Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8  NIV]
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And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
[Revelation 21 : 5  ESV]

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
[1 Corinthians 15 ; 22  ESV]

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
[Ephesians 1 : 8 - 10  NIV]

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
[Colossians 1 : 19 - 20  NIV]
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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
[Luke 19 : 10  NIV]

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
[1 John 3 : 8  ESV]

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
[1 John 2 : 2  NIV]

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
[John 1 : 29  GNB]

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[Philippians 2 : 9 - 11  NIV]

Not Home: On Assignment

Here's another snippet from my essay research. (see previous post)

Although most of my study time centres on the Bible, I do keep a watch on domestic and international politics.
One of my interests is following how ambassadors represent their country's interests while they are abroad.
I appreciate they have to be careful/diplomatic in the way they speak, but they are never distracted from promoting their home country's policies, programs and interests - they are appointed to be faithful emissaries.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have a similar role.
But let's clarify the setting before we discuss that role.

Even though we are currently living here on earth, this earth is not our home - our citizenship is elsewhere.

For our citizenship is in the heavens, from where we also await a Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ—
[Phillipians 3 : 20  LSV]

Those in the Body of Christ are with Christ where He is in heaven.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
[Ephesians 2 : 6  NIV]

Spiritually, our citizenship is with Christ in the heavens.
We are not earthly beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience.

So what are we doing down here? What is our role?
We have been chosen as Christ's ambassadors, representing the kingdom (government) of our home country (the heavens) on the earth.

We are therefore ambassadors for Messiah, as though God were making His appeal through us.
[2 Corinthians 5 : 20  TLV]

And what appeal is that?
Now that God has reconciled the world to himself through Christ, and is no longer counting people's sins against them, He is appealing for everyone to be reconciled to Him.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
[2 Corinthians 5 : 18 - 20  NIV]

So we are not at home: we're on assignment, making God's appeal for personal reconciliation to God on His behalf.
And when our assignment is completed we will "return" home.

Blessings, Barry

Do Christians Go To Heaven When They Die?

There is often vigorous debate about where Christians go when they die.
I am currently writing an essay on this topic, which may well become a chapter in a future book, so I thought I would share a brief excerpt with you here.

Most Christians believe they go to heaven to be with Jesus the moment they die, although I'm not sure many of them could verify that position from the Scriptures.

Quite a few Bible Scholars use Old Testament passages to show that everyone (including Christians) go to the grave, where they sleep unaware of anything, until the rapture or the second coming of Jesus (depending on the eschatology timetable they subscribe to).

To me, having received eternal life (Greek - life of the Age) MUST make a difference between the immediate destination after death of those who are followers of Christ and those who are still un-reconciled to God.
And Paul hints at this in various places .....

But I find an interesting hint in Paul's description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:14.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God WILL BRING WITH JESUS THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP IN HIM. [NIV]

Jesus can only bring with him those who are already with him when he is about to come.
These are they who have been separated from their bodies at death - their souls/spirits going to be with Jesus in heaven and their bodies remaining on earth to be buried or cremated.

When Jesus comes, he brings these departed souls/spirits with him, raises their bodies, and re-unites their body, soul and spirit. Being "complete" again, as are the living saints waiting for this event, Jesus gathers both the departed and the living to be together with him in the air.

He then transforms the bodies of all those being raptured into their resurrection bodies, as 1 Corinthians 15 tells us. These bodies, we are told in several places, will bear the divine image of Jesus.

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
[1 Corinthians 15 : 49  NIV]

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son
[Romans 8 : 29  NIV]

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
[1 John 3 : 2  NIV]

I wonder if Peter, James and John were given a preview of what this body would be like when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain.
After they had seen this, Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after He was resurrected. (Matt 17 : 1 - 9)
Why?
My guess: because Jesus' mission was to introduce Jews to their anticipated, earthly Messianic Kingdom, and himself as their Messiah, they would not understand anything about a transfigured, heavenly body until He had led the way into that realm on resurrection morning.

However, I have digressed.
The point of this excerpt is to demonstrate that St.Paul gives a clue that those in the Body of Christ were in heaven with Christ before the Rapture, and therefore must have been previously, spiritually translated to heaven on the occasion of their earthly death.

Blessings, Barry