There's a mad scramble to prolong physical life. Is there a way to live forever? And are you ready for it?
It's a natural human instinct to do all we can to extend our life-span. The 'high priests' of this 'religion' are the doctors, the medical researchers, the drug companies. Failing a cure in this life, some even have a hope that their preserved body can be 'resurrected' when a cure is found for their health problem.
But the surety is - you are destined to die!
Given that awesome fact of life, is there anything you can do about it? Billions of our fellow humans pin their hope on some form of reincarnation. A return to life, preferably in improved circumstances. The Christian world's hope is that when weighed in the balance they will be judged worthy of 'heaven'. There they will endlessly - do something or other. The alternative doesn't bear thought: to exist for ever in a fiery hell.
But even Bible believing Christians are confused. It's clear in Scripture that a key future event is a resurrection. That is, a return from the grave in a new body. Yet that event has a fixed time - at the return of Jesus - and is still future. So, where are all those millions of Christians who have 'passed on' since the first Christian century? How have they coped without their bodies? Some Christians, given this view, have managed nicely for nearly two thousand years with their disembodied 'soul'!
The notion that at our death we pass to heaven or to hell - or purgatory - is, of course, not in the Christian Bible. But for all mankind there is a life beyond the grave. That's a certainty. And that life involves judgment.
Judgment Day
If you are not a Christian and think it is simple twaddle - you still need to be concerned. For, like it or not you are - after you die - guaranteed a 'court-room trial' when your every thought and action in this life will be judged. The Judge is the all-seeing Jesus the Messiah. For most of mankind, that resurrection to judgment is in the distant future - after the millennial reign of Jesus. For others, that judgment is closer to hand.
It would seem that we are living, right now, in the time just prior to the end of human misrule. Momentous and terrible events loom on the horizon. False religion is about to sweep the world into a cauldron of hate, blood, famine, disease. Billions, literally, will die. But many, Israelite and Gentile, will survive and live on into a new world ruled by Jesus Christ. No - not 'heaven', but a material Kingdom right here on this planet.
The final generation under human rule will live under a despotic and satanically-inspired world ruler. He will seek to obliterate all that is called God, and many Christians especially will be martyred. But Jesus - no longer living up to his false 'meek and mild' image - will intervene by means of a series of human catastrophes and natural disasters. All the world will understand just who he is! Many - Israelites - will be 'hidden' in concentration camps around the world and some will submit to Jesus. An innumerable host from every nation under heaven will also repent and be 'sealed' by God. They - Israelite and Gentile - are 'the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb' (Revelation 7).
But the majority of human survivors will refuse to change, will refuse to repent (ch 16: 9, 11), and will physically come under the worldwide rule of Messiah. That's when they will face the consequences of rejection.
To back-track a little in time. Prior to that time of judgment, Christ will visibly return accompanied by an angelic host. Christians from all ages will be resurrected and will reign with him. Jesus will then 'form his Government' - much of which is detailed in the Scriptures. He will lead the surviving Israelites - both the House of Israel and the House of Judah (Jeremiah 3:18) - together into 'the Land of Promise', Palestine. They will be placed under the leadership of the resurrected King David, with each of the Twelve Apostles having responsibility for one of the Israelite tribes.
Jesus then turns to the judgment. It is described in Matthew 25. Note that the setting is after Jesus returns - that is, after the resurrection of Christians to reign with him, after the marriage supper: "When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them [i.e., individuals] one from another" (vv.31, 32). That throne is here on Earth - in Jerusalem: "At that time Jerusalem shall be called the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it" (Jeremiah 3:17).
Those millions of the final generation - probably this generation - who repented are set aside to 'inherit the Kingdom'. Jesus describes them as 'sheep', whom he will 'shepherd and lead to fountains of living water' (Revelation 7:17). 'Sheep' in Bible parlance refer to God's own people - largely Israel. The prophet Ezekiel amplifies the message of Jesus: " Indeed I myself will search for my sheep [the context is Israel] .... I will bring them out from the peoples [i.e., nations] and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land.... I will feed my flock" (ch 34:11ff.). And significantly, again echoing the words of Jesus in Matthew 25: "Behold I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats" (v.17).
Those who knowingly and willingly fought against him, or who mistreated the people of God in those dark days, will face personal destruction. Jesus says: "In as much as you have done it [i.e., failed to care for] these my brethren [i.e., Christians], you have done it to me". They are self-willed 'goats' and have had opportunity to repent in the awesome days just past.
This righteous judgment is further detailed by the apostle John (Revelation 19:11-21). An example is the Assyrian nation, which the Lord (that is, Jesus) will use to chasten Israel in the days ahead. They will arrogantly set out to destroy Israel and will suffer the consequences (Isaiah 10:12ff.). God says: "For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will my anger in their destruction" (v.25).
Ezekiel furnishes another example, foretelling the judgment of 'Seir', a nation that in the last days oppresses - because of 'an ancient hatred' - God's sheep, Israel (ch 35).
Notice Jesus' teaching to the disciples - that same warning that he amplified in Matthew 25: "...whoever gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:41-42).
Not so 'gentle Jesus'!
All, then, in the close of man's day, who deal roughly with the people of God - whether Christians of all nations or Israelites - will face the wrath and judgment of Jesus the Messiah.
A Way To Live Forever
Given that this generation is almost certainly the last to live under the rule of men, it's not unlikely you will experience the coming time of trouble. Prophecy describes it as the worst in human experience.
Yet the 'everlasting gospel' will be so powerfully - and supernaturally - proclaimed that no human of that generation, of whatever faith or none, will be able to hide. Not from God. Not from Jesus Christ. Not from the claims of the Gospel. You - and all living - will have (and now have) opportunity to positively respond to the Gospel and to embark on the path that leads to living forever. Or, you may choose to resist Jesus and the Gospel - and for ever be wiped out of existence in the ensuing judgment.
Not that your repentance will necessarily bring physical protection from the horrors ahead. But you will at their end pass over into - inherit - the Kingdom ruled over by Jesus and the saints.
The world today scoffs at the predictions of the Scriptures. Yet who can deny we live in perilous times - times that match the Biblical prophecies.
It's time to wake up!
God's Remedy
It's not true that 'there is only the here and now'. For all of us 'it is appointed to mankind once to die, and after that the judgment' (Hebrews 9:27). None of us can escape it. But there's a way to ensure the judgment goes in our favor!
God's remedy - God's only remedy - is through Jesus Christ, by his death on the stake [the 'cross'] and by his resurrection. Only through his sacrificial death can our past be wiped clean and the sentence of death be removed. Only by his resurrection to eternal life can we, too, live forever.
Most of us suspect that death isn't the end. The Bible extends the sure hope that we can indeed live forever. But only as we submit to Jesus Christ and him crucified.
To comment on this article or request more information, please contact James McBride by e-mail at the comment form below.
For PDF or mailed copy, see CGOM. Excerpt from New Horizons Issue 34, July/August 2002. Edited by James McBride of the Churches of God, United Kingdom.
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