And anyone who thinks they should spend eternity with Jesus, while
other decent people burn in hell, seems pretty self-centered. Maybe you tried to turn people into believers, but they just couldn't wrap their heads around the miracle of Jesus, so unfortunately, eternal damnation
is their destiny.
Everyone gets at least one chance to hear the Gospel...and sadly, not everyone will accept it. With it being "a free gift", with the ONLY
requirement that each person accept this Free Love Gift by believing on
The Lord Jesus Christ, the One that God has sent; the fact that most
reject it likely makes the angels of glory shudder in utter disbelief.
However, I believe that for those who accepted Christ, there will NOT be
any memory or thought of family members, loved ones, friends, who are not
in Heaven, because they chose NOT to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Or, maybe those in Heaven will have more than "the peace that passes all understanding" in that while everyone had the same chance to accept or reject Christ as they did, some chose to accept it, while others chose to reject it. That is an unknown to the believer, until they get to Heaven.
Heaven is a place where there is no sorrow, crying, mourning, pain, or
death. Knowing that a family member, loved one, or friend was in Hell because they chose to reject The Lord, would violate and destroy that joy.
As the song notes "One day, we'll understand it better, by and by".
But, it brings up a conumdrum that "Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die". Death is a prerequisite to eternity, either with God,
or without Him...and eternity is FOREVER.
Sadly, for those who chose to reject The Lord, they will forever have
the memory that they had the chance to accept Christ, and they turned it
down.
King Agrippa, who the Apostle Paul, testified in front of, noted that "you're almost persuading me to become a Christian". But, the word "almost"
is like the joke with the word "close" -- it only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Even though I've known The Lord for nearly 40 years, I still can NOT understand WHY He would even bother with "sinful mankind", because after
He gave our first parents, Adam and Eve, every thing they could have
wanted or needed in The Garden Of Eden, they still "thumbed their noses"
at Him, breaking the one simple rule that He had laid down. He could've
very easily zapped the entire human race at that point, or immediately consigned everyone to eternal damnation in The Lake Of Fire. Even the
Psalmist tells God that "I can not understand why you would even want to
deal with puny man".
One of the poems that The Lord has given me in my over 400 poem Gospel Poetry Collection is entitled "A Hug, A Handshake, and A Cry"...the three things I want when I meet Jesus Christ face to face. I *STILL* don't
understand WHY He did what He did, taking the judgment that was meant
for me, and then accepting such an unworthy vile sinner, such as me.
In truth, God wanted "a family", and before the foundation of the world,
the Divine Plan was that He Himself would bear His Own Righteous Judgment, scourging, and crucifixion, even though He had no sin to pay for. But, He
took upon Himself, in the Person of His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ, God In
The Flesh, the sins of everyone who had or will ever live, plus the Divine Judgment that was meant for us. His Death and Resurrection opened the gates
of Heaven to any and all who would believe upon Him to forgive their sins,
by the shedding of His Precious Blood.
The story of the rich man, and Lazarus the beggar, in The Book Of Luke,
shows the evidence of what happens at death. The rich man "was arrayed
in fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day"...while the beggar
(Lazarus) laid at the gate of the rich man's place, wanting only the
crumbs from the rich man's table...and the dogs came and licked his sores".
One day, both of them died...Lazarus went to Paradise (Abraham's bosom),
and rich man went to Torments (Hell). The rich man called out to Father
Abraham to dip his finger in cool water, to cool the rich man's tongue,
for he was tormented in the flame. Yet, Abraham told him that "in life
you had good things, and Lazarus had nothing. Now, you are in torments,
and he is comforted. There is also a great gulf (chasm) between us, that
we can't cross from one area to another".
As a side note, Hell was originally divided into two compartments.
One was known as Paradise, where those who believed in a coming
Redeemer (Jesus Christ), went upon death...before Christ shed His
Blood on The Cross to pay for mankind's sins, and was resurrected
from the dead. The other was known as Torments, where the wicked dead
were tormented by demons. After Christ's resurrection, He took all the
souls in Paradise (and Paradise itself) to Heaven...and Hell enlarged
itself as a result.
There are probably some in my family who are either still alove, or
who have passed on, who refused God's Free Love Gift. While it causes
regret for me now, once I get to Heaven, that regret and memory will be
forever erased.
I heard one individual say that "he didn't want to become a Christian, because of all of the other hypocrites". Admittedly, there are many of
those out there...but once one accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour, they
will want to live a life pleasing to Him. Yet, I will have to answer
ONLY for what I've done, and for no one else.
However, His Grace is a License To Serve, and NOT a License To Sin;
but we can never repay Jesus Christ for His Sacrifice for us. Every
sin ever done, or yet to be done, has been paid for...because if even
one sin wasn't paid for, Christ will still be in the grave. His
Resurrection is "God's Seal Of Approval" for what Christ did on The
Cross. When Christ died on The Cross, He shouted "Tetelestai", meaning
"It Is Finished" -- ALL sins have been paid for.
And, I still have the sin nature, as everyone else does, and I still
sin every day...because it's the humans "default nature". Yet, 1 John
1:9-10 says that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we
say we have no sin, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us".
God's Free Gift of Salvation, while available to everyone who would
ask, coming to Him in humility and repentance...it expires upon ones
death.
Daryl
... Why's the third hand on the watch called the second hand?
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