Josimar Salum
I received this question from a brilliant 16-year-old who I met because of God's unusual direction. I will proceed to answer the question with broad revelations in Scripture. The answer has become a treatise, and anyone who can read to the end will have been strongly challenged in his concepts of matters such as the fall of man, sin, eternity, how to receive Christ, the likeness of God, good and evil, the first couple, eternal life, eternal damnation, and more.
Here's the question: “If those who have truly accepted Jesus will be eternal when they eat from the tree of life, how will people who go to hell spend eternity there if they have to eat from the tree of life to be eternal, and what of those in the lake of fire, who did not eat from the tree of life? ”
GOD'S CHALLENGE.
We are challenged by the Holy Spirit these days to read and study the Scriptures as if it were the first time doing so. If every time we go inquiring about the Bible based on some random concept we run the risk of not finding the correct answer. This is difficult, I know, but we cannot infer from Scripture what we wish to know. It is the Scriptures that need to teach what we need to know, not what we want.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: THE PREDICTED BOX OF PROTESTANTS AND EVANGELICALS.
That said, every teaching we usually receive in churches is systematized. It is the result of a systematization school of Scripture perpetrated by theological seminaries and schools.
All denominations arose from some spiritual experience or a new interpretation of Scripture.
The Baptist Church of Brazil, for example, was divided over a new experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit. Some pastors have had an experience with the Holy Spirit, among them my mentor Professor Wilson Régis and pastors José Rego do Nascimento and Eneas Tognini, among others.
Among many carnal meetings and some even diabolical - attested to me by some of those present at these meetings - came the National Baptist Convention, which denomination granted me religious ordination to the pastoral ministry on June 6, 1991, by the request of Pastor Raul Lima Neto and the previous leader of the Order of Baptist Ministers of Minas Gerais the late joyful Rev. Lucimar Mendes.
What is this systematization or systematic theology? The Bible is interpreted in parts, cataloged by subject. Bibliology - concerning the Scriptures, Christology - doctrine of Christ, Pneumatology, doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Soteriology, regarding salvation as if one could separate salvation from Christ; Hamartiology - doctrine of sin and many others.
Pastors are trained to think like this in a box with several compartments. In fact, all theological training is based on theological systematization accompanied by studies of the most diverse theological and philosophical currents. You study, for example, a hot subject like predestination and end up having to take a stand. Instead of teaching the Bible verses from what the Bible teaches about the election and perseverance of the saints, they much rather resurrect Calvin or invoke him to teach his lesson along with Arminius to fight the same endless battle for hundreds of years.
THE BELIEFS AND CONFESSIONS OF FAITH.
In addition to these, there are the centenary creeds that were defined at different times in various councils of the Christian religion that guide Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, which we have traditionally recited. Although expressing truths of Scripture they have become as authoritative as Scripture. They have become unquestionable stones, and anyone who refuses to bow is called heretical.
I want to be known by my brothers for my relationship with Christ, not necessarily for the resemblance of our creeds. I want to be recognized in the capacity of my personal witness (character, integrity, and blameless deeds), in other words, for my fruits. No wonder today's accreditation often goes far beyond this biblical measure.
Confession of faith or creed is a reducing process of Scripture. Every time I affirm a belief in a confession I make it a dogma.
And there are those, especially the neo-Pentecostals who have ignored all tradition and follow what their leaders call biblical interpretation, while refusing to follow even the basic laws of common sense and language. There is a barbarity of teachings and beliefs that are in fact paganism in the worst of versions.
Nobody admits it, but that's how it works. Evangelicals criticize holy Catholic traditions, but they also have their holy evangelical traditions that equally invalidate the Scriptures.
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” Mark 7: 6-8
It seems to me that Jesus has an aversion for theological reasonings:
“Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Matthew 22: 29-32
I am not, though it seems, generalizing, I am merely drawing attention to a common fact and a widespread practice of crystallizing the beliefs, dogmas, and practices of some Christian group at the level of their consideration for Scripture as having the same authority. There is not. Nor are the Scriptures the final authority. Religions need documents to make it exist. The sole authority is Christ and the Bible only testifies of him. Following Jesus even with a crowd is not religion.
Do you even wish to know Christ?
Why am I writing this? Because if you want to know Christ you will not know him from the gospel tradition, you will not know him from established theological foundations, you will not know him based on your parents' experiences, alluding to the experiences others have had with you. If you wish to know Christ, you will not know Him through the dynamics of your congregation's worship, even if at one time or another there is a revelation on Christ's part that is manifested in Truth in the collective meetings.
Not everything that occurs in "evangelical worship" is divine. There is a mixture of human nature and divine phenomenon. There are things that build and others not so much. There are spiritual and many carnal things.
There will be a preacher who in the anointing of the Spirit will transmit the oracles of God, but there will be another who will only deliver his empty speech.
There will be that little worldly sister who will sing a beautiful song, but without Christ, anyway, you will not know Christ through a collective appeal. You only know Christ personally.
Somewhere, wherever you are, you will meet Him. One by one. And there will be many, many meetings, and the experience of the true Church happens when many who know Jesus personally meet for fellowship anywhere and on Sundays also with hymns, dances, praises, testimonies, teachings, and revelations. When the height of your spiritual feeding is Sunday worship your relationship with Him is nonexistent.
You only know Christ through Christ.
“All things were delivered to me by my Father; No one knows the Son except the Father. and no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. ”Matthew 11:27
You only know Christ through Christ and the Scriptures are the compendium of books that testify of Him.
A lot of people are going to hell right now reading the Bible, studying the Bible and even preaching the Bible. It is that we do not have eternal life in Scripture, but only and exclusively in Christ. “And in no other is salvation, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
“Search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life in them, and they testify of me. And you will not come to me to have life. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, receiving honor from one another and not seeking honor from God alone? ”John 5: 39-40, 42-44
This statement of Jesus is very interesting. That many more easily believe in those who come in their own name. If they don't say it clearly, in practice it is so. Where do so many apostasies, deviations from the faith, and false cults come from? The vast majority of these evangelical cults on Brazilian television are false cults taught by false teachers.
First, they claimed to have eternal life in the Scriptures, but this is impossible. The Scripture is the written Word of God, it is letter that kills. Only the Spirit touches the heart. Without the Holy Spirit the Bible is a book like any other.
Second, to have eternal life only in Jesus. So there is nothing regarding a tree, eating a tree, drinking water of life, eating bread from heaven, being connected to the vine, etc. It is Christ Jesus only! These expressions and hundreds of others point to Christ. The tree is not a tree at all. But Christ is not a tree, but that Tree is Christ. It leads you to Christ. In our logical conception we want everything palpable, examinable. Black in white. But it caters for something quite obvious! The manna that came down from heaven for forty years was a product that fell from heaven, could have been tested in the laboratory, it rotted, but for the Hebrews it was indeed bread that came down.
Heaven, it was Christ.
“And they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, because they drank of the spiritual stone that followed them; and the stone was Christ. ”1 Corinthians 10: 3-4
Was the stone that Moses struck with a stick, even a physical, material stone from which water gushed? Or was it a stone that was a representation or a symbol (this word is just on my own) of Christ? Or was the Stone Christ and not simply fixed, from a geographical location, because the text says the Stone followed them and the Stone was Christ? The delicacy was Christ, the drink was Christ, and the Stone was Christ. That is final.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will never hunger; He who believes in me will never be thirsty. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never reject. For I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of him that sent me. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ”” John 6:35, 37-38, 51
Third, many churches have become in many places environments of flattery, even "politically correct" teasing, of honoring leaders to stay in the spotlight. In such an environment there is no faith. We must glorify Christ and Christ alone!
DON'T COME TO CHRIST WITHOUT GIVING IT THOUGHT
Let us then go to the initial questions.
No one accepts Christ, it is Christ who accepts you. That classic hymn "I come as I am, I come as I am" is not quite like that. Jesus does not accept who comes as He is, we need repentance. It takes conversion.
“Seek the Lord while you may be found, call upon Him while you are near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man his thoughts, and turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him. return to our God, for it is great to forgive. Isaiah 55: 6-7
It is no use coming to Christ as He is without a deep desire for renunciation of your past life and conversion. God does not accept sinners.
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” ”Acts 2: 37-39
And the hymn despite the choir ends very well.
“Yes, I come now, Redeemer; only You, Jesus, are my Lord, oh! come save me in your love, accept a sinner! ”
It is not you who has to accept Jesus, it is He who will accept you.
Whoever the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never reject. And this is the will of him that sent me, that I lose none of them that he gave me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that whosoever shall look unto the Son, and believe on him, shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ”” John 6:37, 39-40
The Preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom X The Preaching of the Gospel of Salvation
In the preaching of the gospel of salvation which is ordinary preaching, which is not the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, it is said to accept Jesus which means to receive salvation, healing, joy, prosperity, assurance of going to heaven, and so on. without any commitment to the lordship and sovereignty of King Jesus. The emphasis is on what God will give you and not what you have to do to get closer to God.
Basically after Daniel's clear prophecies about the Kingdom of God coming on earth (and there are still people waiting for the millennium) is the first time a projection announces the coming of the Kingdom because the King is among us.
“And in those days John the Baptist appeared preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is come.” Matthew 3: 1-2
“He came to his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God: to them that believe in his name, who were not born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. ”John 1: 11-13
The Jews did not receive Christ as King. Of course they wanted a Savior, someone to cure their sickness, to cast out their demons who in those days was an infestation, but they did not want to submit to the Lordship of Christ, they did not want a King. They understood very well what a King taking a region did. He submitted all by the force of his sovereignty. The immediate consequence was slavery, confiscation of property, wife, sons and daughters in Kingdom service, abdication of all rights. But with Jesus, the surrender of His subjects would be voluntary and not collective, it would be a personal surrender. Here was the marvelous distinction between the kingdoms of this world and the Gospel - good news of joy, which proclaims King Jesus and His Kingdom.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”Isaiah 9: 2-7
This is one of the most fascinating texts to me of Scripture because it speaks exactly of the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. A stone that was cut from heaven and fell to earth and became a Kingdom that will never end.
“You, O king, were seeing, and behold a great statue; This great statue, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you. and his sight was terrible. You see that when a stone was cut without a hand, it struck the statue on its iron and clay feet and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, which became as the chaff of the threshing floor in the summer, and the wind carried them away, and nowhere was found for them; But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. As for what you saw of iron mixed with mud, they will mix with human seed, but they will not bind together, just as iron does not mix with clay. But in the days of these kings the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. and this kingdom shall not pass to another people; he will crush and consume all these kingdoms and be established forever. ”Daniel 2:31, 34-35, 43-44
To submit to King Jesus, they would have to give up their most precious things, their religious life, their rituals, their religious practices, they would have to take their eyes off the devotion in the temple to live for their fellow men on the streets, in their houses, in the squares, in the fields. Life with God would no longer be totally a temple religion, but an ordinary life
in houses and in the streets of neighborly devotion and relationship with God.
When the King comes and the Kingdom of God is here, submission and surrender to the King is unconditional, total, complete and irreversible. Your will surrenders to the King.
Everything you are, own, have, your possessions, your family, your children. You deny yourself, renounce everything, surrender everything, don't look back, you die now for Jesus' sake.
You may never need to die for Christ, but if you sincerely are not willing to die for Christ you are not born again, you are not His disciple.
THE TREE OF LIFE IS JESUS.
The Tree of Life in Genesis is Jesus. The Tree of Life in all Scripture is Jesus.
“And the Lord God brought forth from the earth every tree that is pleasing in sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden.” Genesis 2: 9
“Blessed is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that attains knowledge. It is a tree of life to those who hold it, and blessed are all who hold it. ”Proverbs 3:13, 18
“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches: By whosoever shall overcome, I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Revelation 2: 7
“In the midst of its square and the river's side was the tree of life, which produces twelve fruits, bearing its fruit from month to month, and the leaves of the tree are for the health of the nations.” Revelation 22: 2
"Blessed are they that wash their garments in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter into the city through the gates.” Revelation 22:14
“And if any man take any words out of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his portion of the tree of life and the Holy City, which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:19
Were there two special trees planted in the garden of Eden, the Tree of Life that is Jesus and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
“And the Lord God brought forth from the earth every tree pleasant to the sight good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But you must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; For in the day you eat of it you willl surely die. ”Genesis 2: 9, 17
It seems to me that the Tree of Life was planted in the middle of the Garden and the tree of the science of good and evil was not.
See, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.” Genesis 3: 1-4
"Of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the Garden, God said, you must not eat of it, neither must you touch it." others except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This was the tree somewhere in the Garden that could not eat from it.
“But each one is tempted by his own evil desire (covetousness), being dragged and seduced by it. Then this desire (covetousness), having conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, after it is accomplished, vauses death. ”James 1: 14-15
“The serpent said to the woman,“ Surely they will not die! God knows that the day you eat of it, your eyes will open, and you, as God, will know good and evil. ”” Genesis 3: 4-5
What a lie! They were already like God.
Then said God, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them. ”Genesis 1: 26-27 God created man male. God created the female man. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day God created man, in the likeness of God he made him. Male and female he created them, and blessed them, and called his name Adam in the day they were created. ”Genesis 5: 1-2. The man and the woman were called Adam. God did not create Adam and Eve, God created Adam, male and female. The woman received this name afterwards when both of them became self-aware and lost the knowledge of God. They were in God, because they were ONE. When it no longer resembled God, it broke, fragmented, and there was a cosmic shaking that knocked the whole universe off the rails.
“For now we see in a mirror in a riddle; but then we will see face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know as I am also known. ”1 Corinthians 13:12.
The only way to know how we are also known is to see God face to face and lose awareness of oneself. Our whole life has to be absolutely turned to look at Jesus.
“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the affront, and sat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12: 2
THERE IS NO GOSPEL WITHOUT CROSS
There is no Gospel without the Cross. Each of us in Christlikeness will bear the Cross for the joy that is proposed.
Even Adam had to make His decision to follow God. What was at stake was not merely his eternity, one way or another he would be eternal, but what was at stake was his likeness and image of God. Eating from the tree was a catastrophic risk that was felt immediately. He lost his likeness of God and became aware of himself as an independent being from God..
NOTHING WORST: MAN HAS LOST HIS IMAGE AND RESEMBLANCE WITH GOD.
“And the Lord God called Adam, and said unto him, Where are you? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I feared, because I was naked, and hid myself. And God said, Who showed you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? ”Genesis 3: 9-11
The first noticeable consequence is that Adam and the woman hid. Even God wants to know where they were. Didn't God know where they were?
“But your iniquities divide between you and your God, and your sins cover his face from you, that I may not hear you.” Isaiah 59: 2
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3: 6-8
Another myth. God spoke to the couple every day at dusk. No. They had fellowship with God all day long. That day, from that day the days began to actually count because time had come into existence, God came to talk to them and they hid. They have lost the consciousness of God to be aware of themselves. So different from Moses that "I did not know that his face was shining."
"That tree was good to eat (lust of the flesh), and pleasing to the eye (lust of the eyes), and desirable tree to give understanding (pride of life)."
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”1 John 2: 16-17
It was man who gave birth to sin in the world. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death came to all men, because they all sinned.” Romans 5:12
“Then said the Lord God:“ Now man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He should not be allowed to take the fruit of the tree of life and eat it, and live forever. Genesis 3:22
How can God know evil? God created evil.
“That it may be known from the rising of the sun, and from the west that is not beside me; I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things. ”Isaiah 45: 6-7
Angels were not created in the image and likeness of God. Nor any other creature in the whole universe. Only man by his free choice could as God decide his destiny. Without this attribute man would be an animal. An angel makes a decision to rebel against God, there is no forgiveness. Man rebels against God and He offers him a Redeemer.
“...you will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3: 14-15
“And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3: 22-24
I keep thinking about these cherubs guarding the way of the tree of life! What a spectacular sight that tremendous beings kept the path of the tree of life until the Tree of Life decided to incarnate in a cave in the mountains of Bethlehem, became a boy in a happy house, grew up and became a man. The question for that couple, Adam and Eve, was that his name was the Way, the Truth and the Life. And who is Jesus?
“Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you knew me, you would also know my Father; and you know it from now and have seen it. ”John 14: 6-7.
And here we return to the beginning.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
To know good and evil: knowing, distinguishing between good and evil, but no longer the likeness of God. God knows, but does not experience. “No one, being tempted, say, I am tempted of God; because God cannot be tempted by evil and no one tries. ”James 1:13. The man alone knows, but it is impossible not to try. Man wanted to be God and stop being man, so different from God who wanted to be man (Jesus) without ceasing to be God.
The great tragedy of sin is not to be like God. Sin is simply not being like Jesus. There is sin (the tree) and there are sins (the fruits of this tree). Sin is not being like God. Sins are all sinful practices derived from man. Being a man is a sin. Man is sin.
It would be an eternal disaster for man to live forever without being like God again.
The truth of the Gospel is great and splendid: what is God's eternal purpose? God has an eternal purpose that He has never changed toward man.
In the beginning God created man, male and female in His likeness. And He created them one as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Great aberration is the man who desires to be a woman and the woman who desires to be a man: they attack God's likeness. This terribly goes against God's eternal purpose, that he created man, male and female, and thus were created in the likeness of God.
“We know that God works in all things for the good of those who love him, of those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom He predestined, He also called; whom he called, he also justified; whom he justified, also “Romans 8: 28-30
What about the tree of the science of good and evil?
“Joseph is a fruit tree, a fruit tree by the side of a fountain, whose branches pass through the wall. ”Genesis 49:22
“It is like a tree planted by flowing waters: It bears fruit at the right time and its leaves do not wither. Everything he does prospers! ”Psalm 1: 3
“I saw a wicked and cruel man blooming like a leafy native tree,” Psalm 37:35
“He will be like a tree planted by the waters and extending its roots to the brook. She will not fear when the heat comes, because her leaves are always green; will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will it fail to bear fruit. ”” Jeremiah 17: 8
“The tree which you saw, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto heaven, and which was seen throughout the earth; it is you, O king, who grew and became strong; your greatness has grown to heaven, and your dominion to the end of the earth. ”Daniel 4:20, 22
“The ax is already laid to the root of the trees, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10
“But beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Thus every good tree bears good fruit, and every bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7: 15-20
He asked: Are those who have truly accepted Jesus everlasting? All men are eternal.
“When they eat from the tree of life…” - all men, women, youth of children are invited by Kingdom evangelists to eat from the Tree of Life.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” John 6: 53-58
In the Kingdom of God there are only beings in His image and likeness and the beings God Himself created to minister to those who will inherit salvation. “To which of the angels have I ever said,“ Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve those who will inherit salvation? ”Hebrews 1: 13-14
It is necessary to be born again. Again I say, it is necessary to be born again.
“What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. No wonder I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it will, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. ”John 3: 6-8
“Thus it is written also: The first man, Adam, was made in living soul; the last Adam, in a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual first but the animal; then the spiritual. The first man of the earth is earthly; the second man, the Lord, is from heaven. What is the ground, such are the lands also; and like the heavenly, so are the heavenly. And just as we brought the image of the earthly, so will we bring the image of the heavenly. And now, I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor corruption inherits incorruption. Here is a mystery to you: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ”1 Corinthians 15: 45-52
Believers like to talk about their eternal destiny. Heaven or hell. Neither heaven nor hell are final destinations. This is a false millennial teaching that has been perpetuated. Hell is not the ultimate destiny of the unfaithful. “But as for the timid, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, and the fornicators, and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and all the liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. ”Revelation 21: 8
And heaven is not the final destination of the saved.
“And 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; and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the 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, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25: 31-34
Jesus never promised heaven, but the eternal life you begin to enjoy as you receive Him as Lord. Jesus never promised a paradise neither in heaven nor
on this earth, but the kingdom.
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth will rise, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The wise will shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that teach righteousness unto many will shine forth as the stars for ever and ever. ”Daniel 12: 2-3
I will conclude with a passage already quoted:
“And he showed me the pure river of the water of life, crystal clear, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of its square and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which produces twelve fruits, bearing its fruit from month to month, and the leaves of the tree are for the health of the nations. And there will never be a curse against anyone; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will serve him. And they will see his face, and on his forehead will be his name. And there will be no more night, and they will not need the lamp, nor the light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light, and they will reign for ever and ever. ”Revelation 22: 1-5
This is the picture. The kingdoms of this world have become of God and His Christ. New heavens and new earth. The New Jerusalem, which is definitely not a literal city, came down from heaven.
“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21: 22-27
This is a timeless description of God and His lamb living in His children forever. If it is only for a place and a distant time in the future how will there be nations to bring you glory and honor?
For the same God and the same people has been experiencing this description as well as now, for it is a manifestation that it has already consumed by the Cross of Calvary and which is only waiting to manifest fully in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The New Jerusalem coming down from heaven is the same New Jerusalem that we have come to.
“For you have not come to the palpable mountain, burning with fire and darkness and darkness and storm, but you have come to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the many thousands of angels, the universal assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and God the Judge of all, and the spirits. of the perfected righteous; and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, who speaks better than that of Abel. ”Hebrews 12:18, 22-24
Who meets the Lord in the air is the New Jerusalem: the saints of all time.
“According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
Saint Vincent Hospital
Worcester, MA
11/24/2019
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