THE AUTHORITY WHICH DEFINES
ETERNITY
|
Mark 12:26-27
|
Now about the dead rising – have you not read in the Book of Moses, in
the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, "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. You are badly mistaken!'
|
|
Worshipping God must be on His
terms. Without revelation, nobody can understand God's character, or
what pleases Him (Ephesians
5:10). The best they can do is to see the awesome creation
and conclude the Creator will demand an account of our time spent here (Romans
1:20). Jesus wanted to discuss the resurrection: a tutorial
for the disciples who would soon witness it, and a theology lecture to the
Sadducees who thought it could not happen.
Jesus always placed His teaching in
the context of what His hearers already knew: either the world around them
(hence many agricultural or financial parables), or the Old Testament
Scriptures – attributing His authority to Father God and His written
Word. Why had the Sadducees ignored the scriptures? Because they
did not fit into the false theology they had constructed. In other
words, they had invented a wrong teaching which left no room for God's
truth. When Jesus said, "You are badly mistaken" ,
the original word meant 'deceived', 'deluded', 'seduced' or 'wandered away'
from the truth. Every false theology is a seductive deception to
deluded people to wander away from what is right. That is why it is
essential to have God's Word as our authority, or else we will be prey for
false teachers and our hearts will wander (2
Timothy 4:3-4).
Because God is not confined by
time, there is no past or future to Him - He sees both with equal immediacy,
as if everything was happening now. The souls of the dead are also well
known to Him, and He remains their God. The title which God uses for
Himself, "I AM" (in Exodus
3:14), does not just mean that He is present in every age, but
that every age is the present for Him. Not only is that true about the
time span of human history, but also about the whole of eternity. That
is why God is still the God of those who died in faith (Hebrews
11:39-40) . So, God's statement to Moses, about His
continuing relationship with the patriarchs, was Scriptural proof of the
after-life.
Although heaven and hell are rarer
topics for Gospel conversation these days, they are crucial to explain the
eternal nature of God, and the consciousness of life for those who have
died (Luke
12:16-21). As with any journey, our direction will
determine our destiny: but the wise know that it is best for our destination
to shape our direction. It is the greatest mistake to live with no
thought of eternity; and a most selfish negligence, if Christians stay mute
about eternity (Luke
16:19-31).
|
Dear Lord. Thank You for Your intimate knowledge of all people past,
present and future. Forgive me for the times I have fallen for false teaching
and been lured away from following Jesus as He demands. Help me to witness to
what You have taught me about eternity, so that others may be warned and come
to faith in Jesus. In His Name. Amen.
|
|
Thursday, June 6, 2019
ETERNITY DEFINED
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment