The Gift Of Eternal Life-

...it's more stupendous than you could imagine!!!

This is the Fifth post from Chapter 9 of Friends With God: Life After Death, in which we are exploring what God tells us about the various things that may happen to us when we die.

What Is Eternal Life All About?

In the previous posts we have seen that scripture talks about two resurrections, and two deaths, but the second death does not affect those who are in the first resurrection, and have their names written in the "Book of Life”.

To be written in the Book of Life means that you will have the blessing of Eternal life as the Children of God. This is so amazing, that when writing about it I felt the need to put an exclamation mark at the end of each sentence, and sometimes more than one!!! However, I decided that to do that would be a bit tedious, for both me and you, so I decided that you can print it out and add as many as you like!!!

In this post we will examine what God promises to those who believe in him and love him with their whole heart, mind and soul- which Jesus said was the foundation of the law:

A lawyer asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

The reward for loving God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves is to be granted the gift of eternal life as Sons of God:

See how very much our heavenly Father loves us,
for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!
But the people who belong to this world don't know God,
so they don't understand that we are his children.
Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children,
and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns.
But we do know that when he comes, we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.” (1John 3:1-2 New Living Translation)

The reward of the saved is immortality, like unto what God now has. We who are mortal now, yet also begotten children of God, are to be changed to be immortal children of God.

The incredible thing is that God is not only giving us immortality, which he alone now has, but he is also making us members of his family.

And in the same way that a child is equal to his parents, in all except age and experience, what is revealed is that we also will be equal to God in a similar way.

The Father and the Son will always have pre-eminence, but we shall be members of their family.

This is a staggering revelation, for we will not simply be strumming on harps and floating on clouds, but we will have the same nature as God: to be equal with God in the same way children are equal to their parents - this is the stupendous gift that God is promising to us.

He is promising us that we will be in a family relationship with Him for eternity.

• Could any gift be of greater magnitude?!

Human Understanding About God’s Plan Is Restricted

Yet some people consider that to claim we shall be equal with God is sacrilegious. However, as John said, “the people who belong to this world don't know God, so they don't understand that we are his children. (1John 3:1-2)

Similarly, Paul tells us:

We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can't understand us at all.
How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking?
Who can give him counsel?"
But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
(1Cor 2:16)

We now, today, have the very mind of Christ in us, and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are made, even now, into his children. Yet, and this is very important, we can also lose our relationship as his Children, if we reject or neglect this great calling to receive this gift, for in order to be blessed with this gift we must follow what Jesus taught, no matter what the consequences, to the end of our mortal lives.

Unfortunately, many professing Christians don’t even realize what it is that God is offering to us, and what they may also be taking for granted, or throwing away. Yet, this is also what Christ predicted (as discussed in this previous post) when he said:

For many are called, but few (have) chosen. (Matt 22:14)

When we realize that sonship with him is what God is offering, it seems too huge to comprehend, as indeed it is:

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
(1Cor 2:9-10)

The Inheritance For The Children Of God

As his family what will we be doing? The Bible tells us very plainly what inheritance we will receive as Children of God:

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
(Gal 4:7)

What then is our inheritance that we are to be given as heirs of God?

For the promise that he would be the heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Rom 4:13) Which is a bit more plainly stated in the New Living Translation:

It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole Earth to Abraham
and his descendants was not based on obedience to God's law,
but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.
(Rom 4:13)

God has promised to give the whole Earth to Abraham’s descendants, if they have the same faith that Abraham had.

We, when immortal, shall rule the Earth. This is the first blessing that God gives us upon becoming immortal members of the God family.

Talk about religion being for megalomaniacs!

Yet God does not promise eternal life to megalomaniacs:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. (Matt 5:5)

We must follow the meek example of Jesus, if we are to inherit the Earth:

Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt 11:28-30)

For the meek to inherit the Earth is what God planned since the foundation of the world when we were made in the image of God- as we are told in the beginning of God’s book. (Gen 1:27)

The purpose of being made in his image is to become his immortal sons that are to inherit the entire world- as we are told at the end of God’s book:

And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
(Rev 21:6-7)

Who Does Not Want Eternal Life?

The corollary of the meek inheriting the Earth, is that the proud will definitely not be in the eternal kingdom of God. Those who don’t want this inheritance of all things, and to be the very Sons of God, are destroyed in the lake of fire, as discussed in this previous post.

But what sort of person could not want this greatest of all inheritance!? God tells us:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
(Rev 21:8)

It seems that there will be some people who would choose to live this cowardly, unbelieving way of death, instead of living the courageous and loving way of eternal life. For in this life, to live the way of life is not easy:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt 7:13-14)

What therefore does God want us to do now in order to find this narrow gate?

Living The Life Of Love Now

While there are only a few that find the way to eternal life, does Jesus mean by this statement that it is hard to find eternal life during this life only, or in the next life also? It is not clear from the context, exactly what he does mean.

But what is unmistakeable is that God expects us to live a life of loving our neighbour and loving God. (Mark 12:29-31) What this means is spelt out in great detail by Jesus:

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 one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the king will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 'for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 'I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You drink? 'When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 'Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?' And the king will answer and say to them,

'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Then he will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 'for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; 'I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then he will answer them, saying, '

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment (of eternal death), but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt 25: 31-46)

This “eternal punishment” is not eternal punishing, as many preachers claim happens in Hell, but is in fact to not exist at all, as was explained in the previous posts in this series.

Eternal punishment is a punishment that is authorised by God, and so cannot be thwarted. Just as eternal fire destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, yet they are not still burning today. Yet nobody could put the fire out before it had achieved God’s purpose of complete destruction. It did not mean that the fire would never stop burning. Similarly, eternal punishment means that the Eternal God’s determination to destroy someone forever is not able to be opposed.

God Will Test Our Resolve To Obey Him

While God expects us to live throughout our entire life in a way that demonstrates kindness and love to our neighbour and to God, this is not all that God expects of us.

We are not going to be given eternal life without first being tested by God to see if we are capable of using eternal life, and to really value it, and to trust in him, and to have faith in him totally. Part of that test will be testing us by having false leaders in the Church, as explained in this previous post.

The 11^th chapter of the book of Hebrews provides some insights into the many different forms of endurance that God has put others through to test their faith. Similar trials may also be required of us as we walk the way of life in this evil world:

Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented -- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the Earth. (Heb 11: 35-37)

Given all this difficulty promised to us, it is perhaps no wonder that not many have chosen to follow God through the narrow gate!

Yet, such warnings are given to test us, and see if we have the courage and resolve to start and continue on the walk of eternal life.

However, we are also told not to worry, for God is always with us in any trial, and importantly he has promised that we will be able to endure any trial that he gives us, even unto death:

But remember that the temptations (trials and difficulties) that come into your life are no different from those which others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation (trials and difficulties) from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted (tested), he will show you a way out, so that you will not give in to it.” (1Cor 10:13)

Not only will God not test us beyond what we can handle, but Peter tells us that we should rejoice in our trials with exceeding joy!:

Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial which is to try you, as though a strange thing happened to you, but rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, so that when His glory shall be revealed (at his return to Earth), you may be glad also with exceeding joy. (1Peter 4:12-13)

We are to rejoice now as we have this promise of exceeding joy put before us, and it is this faith and trust in God which enables us to rejoice in our trials. This is the same Joy that Christ looked forward to, which helped him endure the horrific trial of the crucifixion, as discussed in this previous post.

• We therefore follow him in all things; in his walk on the path of life, in his persecutions, and in his resurrection to eternal life, and to also sit with him as joint heirs of the entire Earth!

When Christ returns to Earth his reward for us will be with him, which is the gift of eternal life as God the Father’s Children. At the resurrection he will give to us an incorruptible existence, in the family of God:

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is. (Rev 22:12)

The Trial Of False Teachers

One of the major tests we will be given is the necessity for us to test our teachers, to see if what they are teaching is totally true, or has some error in it. The reason God allows false teachers to be in the church was discussed in detail in this previous post.

The previous posts in this series also show that we don’t go to Heaven or Hell when we die. They have explained that when we die our physical body starts to go back to dust, while our spirit, or soul, is retained by God in some kind of state akin to sleep.

Why therefore do Christians, and some Jews also, believe that the dead are in Heaven or Hell? The simple answer is that is what they have been taught from their teachers. It is a teaching that has been handed down and accepted without scrutiny over hundreds of years. It is continual repetition over a great period of time that has given this false doctrine some semblance of credibility.

Having been taught this false doctrine, people then read the scripture with this assumption about Heaven and Hell, which then distorts their perspective as to what the scriptures actually say.

Yet, if you read the actual words of scripture you will never find the basic statement that we do actually go to Heaven or Hell when we die. Such assumptions make us liable to deception from false teachers, which is a warning that is given throughout scripture:

And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many will come in My name, saying (teaching people that) I am Christ, and will deceive many.
(Matt 24:4-5)

Many will claim that they are teaching the way of Christ, when they say Jesus is Christ, but they will actually deceive many people.

How is this possible? Those who hear them will not have taken seriously the directive to prove all things and hold fast to that what is good. (1Thes 5:21)

We always need to test all the assumptions we have about what scripture tells us, and hold fast only to that which is supported by scripture.

We are warned many times not to add to, or subtract from, scripture. We all need to develop a base of knowledge upon which we build our understanding. If, however, we build on an unstable foundation then it will all come crashing down:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

(Matt 7:21-27)

The words of scripture are what we must build our faith on. Anything that disagrees with God’s Words must be rejected. This task of determining what is true and what is not is what God has given us as our own personal responsibility. No minister can tell you what to believe, you must trust God to guide you in understanding his word.

In the next and final post in this series we will examine some of the tricky questions that people have used regarding a few well known scriptures that seem to indicate that we go to heaven or hell when we die.