12/02/13

Life and death

Acts 5:6 - And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.


Today's message talks of life and death; let us understand this.

We have heard of people spending their life time in solitude in nature or in close places to find the meaning and purpose of life. But even after long penance and persistence they all failed to understand life.

All must have heard or read about the great gathering of humanity in India at Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela where a record 30 million people gathered to bath in the Ganga River. People think it is for the forgiveness of sins, but according to their belief that does not require them to come on this 'auspicious days' that comes once in 12 years. The main purpose they come to dip in the river on these days is to get freedom from the cycle of rebirth. They believe depending on their Karma (deeds) they are reborn in various forms of life like plants, animals or humans and keep getting born for long number of times. People do not think or reason this through science, with world statistics, therefore fall prey to such foolish thinking. The same with Islam, Muhammad too had a village or small world thinking therefore also had crazy thoughts of life (even the parts that he copied from the Bible was corrupted information).

When God made man death was non-existent in the life of man. Man could live eternally not because he was like God who has eternal life within Himself but because man had access to the Tree of Life. People have a wrong understanding of the Tree of Life. By eating of the fruit of the Tree of Life does not give a person eternal life but gives a person renewed life - a recharge of life. Adam had access to the Tree of Life before Eve was made, so also did both before they sinned. They both had no restriction to eat of this Tree but yet they never did, for they never needed to eat. To have eternal life one needs access to the Tree of Life so that when or life starts to perish we can eat of it and live, that is why God removed access of sinful man from the Tree of Life. Jesus came to give us eternal life by making us Sons of God and thus letting us again have access to Heaven and the Tree of Life which is in Heaven (Paradise).

Death came in the life of man due to sin and curse of God on man; due to the increase of sin the natural life of man reduced to a fraction of his spirit life and the spirit man was condemned to a prison called Hell where he would suffer for sins he commits in his natural life. These sins become ever burning coals or ever living worms that cause great pain. This spirit man suffers in this prison till his spirit life which is in thousands of years.

Jesus by His death and resurrection broke this curse of Hell such that anyone who believes in Him is saved from this prison. Irrespective of how good or bad one is, the person is saved from Hell because of his or her faith in Christ. It also does not mean the person goes to Heaven.

To go to Heaven man needs the 2 Fruits of the Holy Spirit - Righteousness and Truth. Truth is what we (collectively as a body) receive from Holy Spirit -The Spirit of Truth. On Judgment Day all those who died believing and are asleep will wake up or resurrect (and those still alive in the end days will be transformed), all will be judged by the Word of God (with the Son of Man sitting on the Throne of Judgment). All those found abiding by the Word (what was revealed to them) will collectively be covered by the Righteousness of the Son (symbolized as the Blood of Christ) and thus get access to Heaven and the Tree of Life (in Heaven we also receive the Fruit of Holiness from the Father).

Those who believed in Jesus Christ and rejected His Word will not go to prison Hell but to the Lake of Fire / Sulphur. Here they do not suffer for their sins but suffer for rejecting the Son. This suffering is even worse than of those who did not believe. The suffering is the same for all irrespective of the bad or good deeds one has done.

So we see our natural life in other words is like sitting in an examination hall. Where none can pass by themselves for all need the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to pass. Exiting the hall early or late does not matter nor does matter how much we have written. What matters is what we have written in our paper (quality not quantity) and how we exit the hall, believing or not believing. It is better to have little or no good written but exiting believing than to have lots of good written but exiting not believing.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, we do not pray for a long life in this world far from You. A day with You is better than a thousand days far from You. Lord we pray when we sleep we sleep believing in You and our hearts close to You and your Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Mark 16:16 - He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.

John 3:11-21
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 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.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 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.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 1:12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Romans 8:14 - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Romans 8:19 - For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Matthew 7:19-23
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Ephesians 5:9 - (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness [holiness] and righteousness and truth;)

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)