Journey Through Eternity

I heard the news that my Aunt Lydia (my mother's eldest sister) already has died yesterday. I felt sad about it then suddenly I got terrified when I realized how time had flown so very fast and my thoughts reminded me about the reality of DEATH as I journey towards eternity future.

When we had started becoming conscious about our surroundings during our childhood years, we also had started knowing lots of people. First, our parents then our brothers and sisters, then our relatives and our grandparents, then our neighbors, then we started getting some childhood friends too, and then finally, we met lots and lots of people as we grew up. As the years went by and as we grew older, we noticed that slowly most of the people we know were dying. Some have died at young age, some have died during the peak of their career, and some have died at good old age. We can also observe how generations are being replaced through the years. During the time of our childhood years, it was the generation of our parents. But as we grow into adults, the generation of our parents starts being replaced by our own generation. And then suddenly, our generation shall be replaced by our children's generation and during this time, our old parents' generation has already been started fading as most of them shall face death in a short period of time. After our parents, it shall be our turn to fade also then eventually we will face death similar to what has happened to our parents and during this time it is already our grandchildren's generation. Whether we admit it or not, it is somehow terrifying that we really have to face DEATH as the word of God tells us...

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" - Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)

"This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead." - Ecclesiastes 9:3 (KJV)

Based on God's word, we can't really avoid physical DEATH and we don't have a control over it as "DEATH is an unavoidable appointment". But, do our life really ends there? If our life ends with our physical death then it does not matter anymore whether we believe in God or not. But God's word already had warned us that after our physical death there is a judgment.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" - Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)

The verse above is telling us the truth that right after our physical death, God will judge us.

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." - Ecclesiastes 12:14 (KJV)

If the judgment of God is at hand right after our physical death, then whatever we do in this present life shall surely has something to do on what could be our next journey after we faced God's judgment. Surely, we will be spending eternity. But are we going to spend eternity with God or not? You might ask, can we really know the answer? Yes, the word of God tells us...

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." - Romans 3:10-12 (KJV)

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" - Romans 3:23 (KJV)

"For the wages of sin is death;..." - Romans 6:23a (KJV)

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." - Revelation 20:11-14 (KJV)

You might ask again, are you saying that all of mankind are bound to hell? Yes, indeed and not just to hell but bound to the "lake of fire" as the word of God described it. This is a brutal truth that most people cannot accept. Many people had embossed the idea in their mind that God is the God of love and He cannot allow people to suffer terminal punishment. This is actually a partly-wrong notion. It is true that God is the God of love but, let us not forget that same God is also the God of judgment. And, God hates SIN so much.

"For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee." - Psalm 5:4

"God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked everyday." - Psalm 7:11

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;" - Romans 1:18 (KJV)

This is the reason why God judge sinners to be condemned for all eternity. And this condemnation is the ETERNAL DEATH or the so-called "second death" which we have already read (from Revelation 20:14).  As we have already seen on dying people that somehow it is very much painful to die.  Can you imagine dying for the rest of eternity?

However....., Thank God we are not hopeless. See how God Himself puts up a plan in saving us from that eternal damnation.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." - John 3:16-17 (KJV)

God is truly the God of love. And because of God's love, God sent us His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to save everyone who believe.  You might wonder how Jesus Christ is able to save us from eternal damnation by dying on the cross. Actually, it's through His blood.  Discussion shall be lengthy if I elaborate it more but below are some facts from God's word...

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." - Hebrews 9:22-26 (KJV)

"...and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." - 1 John 1:7 (KJV)

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" - Colossians 1:14 (KJV)

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." - Romans 5:9

Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we can be saved from the wrath of God which supposedly our ETERNAL DEATH.  And instead of eternal punishment, God has given us ETERNAL LIFE. And this ETERNAL LIFE is in His son, Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." - John 3:16-17 (KJV)

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:23 (KJV)

"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." - 1 John 5:11-13 (KJV)

If ETERNAL DEATH is spending eternity without God in the lake of fire, then on the other hand, ETERNAL LIFE is spending eternity with God in heaven. This life is in Jesus Christ. If we trust and receive Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Saviour then we are also receiving the gift of ETERNAL LIFE. And we only have to believe in this fact.

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." - Acts 16:31 (KJV)

If we don't believe this then we are already on our journey to an eternity without God and that is... ETERNAL DEATH.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." - John 3:18 (KJV)

From Calling to Salvation

It's been a long long time again and it's been over a year since the last time. I hope and I pray that I would become consistent in blogging the truths from God's word this time. Let me greet everyone with this blog...

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" - Romans 10:13-15 (KJV)

Maybe just now, you may have already read the given verses above. You may also have noticed that I have already mentioned these verses in my previous posts. And, this time I would like to dig deeper on what God is telling us whenever we encounter those verses from the Bible.

1) "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." - Romans 10:13 (KJV)

When the Bible says "call upon the name of Lord", it simply means "praying to God". And the whole verse is literally telling us that we should pray for our salvation. Many people pray to God but they are only praying for their own material, or shall we say, earthly needs. Have you tried praying to God for the saving of your soul? The Bible says...

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:" - Isaiah 55:6 (KJV)

"The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." - Psalms 145:18 (KJV)

"As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me." - Psalms 55:16 (KJV)

"For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." - Psalms 86:5-7 (KJV)

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." - Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)

It is God who says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew the great and mighty things, which thou knowest not". You might ask yourself, "It is really that easy to be saved and go to heaven?" It might sound easy but the promise of God is that He will answer our call and He will show us great and mighty things that we didn't know about. To be saved from eternal damnation is a great and mighty thing that God will show us once we call upon him in truth.

2) "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?..." - Romans 10:14a (KJV)

This is always the case when there is none that really seek after God because people always had loved darkness and continuously keep on sinning against God which results to their disbelief. How can we call on God if we don't believe in God? How can we believe in God if we don't even have heard about the truth in God? Because of the sinful nature, people does not actually care about the existence of God nor about what God can do to them.

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." - Romans 3:10-12 (KJV)

"...The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven, upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." - Psalm 53:1-3 (KJV)

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." - John 3:19-20 (KJV)

3) "...and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" - Romans 10:14b-15 (KJV)

Whenever we commit sins, our tendency is to hide ourselves or run away from God until the time comes when we forget about Him and our hearts shall become hardened. Then, we don't believe in God anymore because we only believe in ourselves. And this is what had always been happening since the time of Adam and Eve when they first committed sin against God.

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden." - Genesis 3:8 (KJV)

However, even though we always hide from God and forget Him, God always take the initiative on calling us first before we call on Him. In fact, when Adam and Eve hid themselves when they committed a sin, it is God who have looked for them and called them first.

"And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" - Genesis 3:9 (KJV)

If you read the Bible, you can observe that it is God who always calls first even during the time of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, and so on and so forth. During those early times, God directly calls on people. But as the years went by, God had used prophets to call on people to "foretell" about God's plan of salvation. Nowadays, starting from the time when the New Testament church was established, God is using preachers to "tell forth" about God's plan of salvation. Jesus Christ had commissioned His church to preach the gospel.

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." - Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." - Mark 16:15 (KJV)

Now, as you can observe, there are churches around and there are also preachers. These preachers are being sent forth to all parts of the earth so that people can hear about the gospel. And upon hearing the gospel, it shall be realized that God is the one calling for people first for the saving of their souls through the preaching of His word. When someone shares a gospel, that someone is a preacher-at-hand that God uses to call on whom the gospel is shared with. It is only through the preaching of God's word that people can acquire faith and eventually believe in God.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 (KJV)

So as you can see, before we call on God for salvation, it is God who tells us first...

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." - Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:" - Isaiah 55:6 (KJV)

"The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." - Psalms 145:18 (KJV)

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." - Romans 10:13 (KJV)

So my friend, if you perceive God's calling, please don't fight it. Pray to God for the salvation of your soul and you shall be saved.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." - Romans 10:9-13 (KJV)