Eternal Life OR Eternal Life?

Part 2

Eternal Life – God's Way

After the onset of the Covid pandemic, everyone was urged to get vaccinated in order to not contract Covid-19 and to prevent it from spreading. But as usual, those in authority moved the goalposts and now admit that being vaccinated does nothing to prevent transmission. Instead, the official mantra now proclaims that getting vaccinated only prevents people from getting sicker and possibly dying.

Why would a person continue to place their trust in human beings who have consistently demonstrated that their information and assurances cannot be trusted? Do they lie on purpose or are they simply misinformed and their projections inaccurate? Either way, the result is the same.  Man is fallible and cannot always be trusted.

On the other hand, if not man, whom else can we trust and turn to?

How about God?

Numbers 23

¹⁹ God is not man, that he should lie,
   or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
   Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Psalm 111

7 The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His instructions are trustworthy.

If we can accept the premise that there is a living God, who unlike man, is infallible and trustworthy, what does that portend for us? Since every single person eventually dies, what happens to us after we die? We can either seriously examine this question for ourselves or we can simply dismiss it and go on our merry way. Jesus himself addressed this very issue with a crowd of people who gathered around him.

Luke 12

¹⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.”¹⁶ Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop.¹⁷ He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest!¹⁸ Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods.¹⁹ I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’²¹ This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”

In telling this parable, Jesus' point of emphasis was that our preoccupation with life in this world and the acquisition of material wealth, to the exclusion of what happens to us after we die is sheer folly.  We all know that we can't take our material things with us when we die, but we sometimes set our goals and live our lives as if we do. And when the time comes, when you veer off that final exit of the frenzied freeway of your life, at what destination will you find yourself? That is the germane question that all of us should be asking ourselves.

Fortunately, we don't have to look very far because God has already provided us with the answer.

Perhaps you have heard of the word  "gospel." Essentially, it is a Christian term from the Greek word "euangelion" translated as good tidings; commonly referred to as the good news. So what's so good about it?

The Problem

The message of the gospel is that man is separated from a holy God by his sins and that every single person sins (lying, cheating, envy, lust, greed, etc.)

Romans 3

10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The Consequence

As a result of personal sin, everyone dies.

Romans 6

23a For the wages of sin is death....

The Solution

The good news is that God has provided a way for humankind to be reconciled back to God when Jesus, who is God's son, was crucified on the cross. God offered up his own son – Jesus born of the virgin Mary – as a sacrifice on the cross for the sins of humanity.

Romans 5

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Result

Jesus' blood which was shed on the cross covers over our sins when we repent of those sins and ask God for forgiveness. When one believes that Jesus died for one's personal sins, repents of them, and asks God for forgiveness, forgiveness is granted and one is then reconciled to God.  

1st John 1

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 10

9 If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 5

1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus the Good News for humanity is that we are reconciled to God through believing that Jesus died for our sins, repenting of those sins, and leading a life of obedience to God resulting in a living relationship with God himself.