2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
For a long time, the body of Christ was so engulfed in the concept of Heaven and hell that we missed out on other important matters. The emphasis on Heaven and hell first brought fear to many and later made others just rebel because they thought they couldn’t do what people were saying they needed to do to make heaven. People told many lies about eternity in the name of preaching to win souls. There are many repercussions of this but one major effect was that many Christians focused on going to Heaven that they neglected life on earth. While all this was going on, the devil was strategically positioning his agents in media, entertainment, politics, education, business, and family. Today, we see the consequences of what the devil has taken years to do in the making of policies to legalize wrong behavior, sexualization in music and movies, and wrong doctrines in the academic syllabus, among many others. And the church is acting shocked and wondering how we got here.
In a time when we celebrate Easter to commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, it’s vital to look at our salvation and its significance from another angle rather than just going to heaven. There is a recent lingo that many people use and it says: Heaven is the goal. It’s not entirely true. Jesus didn’t die so that all we could achieve was make heaven. If that were the goal, then immediately we receive Christ by believing and confessing, we should have died at that moment and been taken to heaven but we were left on earth for more. The opening scripture makes it clear that He died so that we now live for Him. Romans 6:4 also confirms this. It says, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. What does that living for Him entail? 2 Corinthians 5:18 speaks on the ministry of reconciliation and verse 20 calls us ambassadors of Christ. This means a lot of work and responsibility on our part. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You know when Jesus said It is finished, we are the ones to complete what was finished. I was meditating one day and discovered that there is a difference between finished and completed. To finish is to bring something to an end and to complete means to make sure that which is finished has no missing parts thus whole. Jesus died for all but not everyone will benefit from it. We still have to choose what to do with what Jesus finished and that makes it complete. Not that what Jesus did wasn’t enough. It was more than enough but without accepting and believing it, it has no power over us. Philippians 1:6 NKJV says being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; NLT puts it this way: And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Finally finished means it was finished before but we need to finalize that finishing. Other versions say perfect it, bring to completion, and perform it. Look at the AMPC: And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
This is in the present continuous tense which means it’s still in progress and process. So when we are told to work out our salvation, this is what it’s about. It’s the phase where we bring to physical manifestation what was done spiritually. And we can only do that while on earth, not in heaven. This is why heaven is not really the goal. Becoming like Christ is the goal because all the processes we are going through are just to lead us to have God’s character.
Our reward in eternity is going to be based on how much of Christ could be seen in our lives.
This means there is also a difference between receiving Christ’s life and giving your life to Christ. You can receive that new life and be born again but Christ is not seen in you. Christ is seen in you when you now give your life.
Receiving Christ’s life is salvation while giving your life to Christ is discipleship. Jesus can be your Savior but not yet your Lord. You believe He died for you but you don’t trust Him enough to tell you what to do with your life.
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. There would be a new heaven and new earth so if we are going to heaven, will the new earth be empty? So you see many of us have had an assumption of what eternity is. We have modeled everything into going to heaven. Look at these scriptures: Psalm 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. Mankind was given dominion over the earth from the beginning and lost it to the devil but Jesus took back that dominion and we now can have it by our association with Him and so in eternity, there is the inheritance of the earth. Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. So the new earth is going to look like heaven because the Kingdom of God would be established on the earth. That has been God’s plan all along. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Hope you have had a new perspective on eternity. It’s beyond just going to heaven. It’s about becoming like Christ and establishing His Kingdom here on earth. So what you do on earth after receiving Christ counts in eternity.
The Word In Clarity 