For a follower of Christ has to make him the centre of their life’s ambition and the kingdom of God their chief aim in life. And if we are to be reborn we must first die to self and selfish desires. It was the Lord himself who said: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he went on to explain that this means that we must be born again “of water and the Spirit” (3:5).īeing born “of water” means that we must be baptised or immersed and being born of “the Spirit” means that we must fully understand what we are doing and believe what God has promised, so that we begin to live in the Spirit Galatians 5:25). To mark the change that has begun to take place in our lives and to identify with the saving work of God in Christ, the Bible explains that we must be baptized if we want to enter the Kingdom of God and start to live with Him, here and now. Once we understand and believe the gospel of salvation we have to make a new start in life: putting an end to our old way of living and starting life as a believer, trying to live according to Bible teaching. What makes the difference, and how do we get to be part of a people who are reborn and who will live with Jesus in the age to come?
Some people will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes and others will sleep forever in the dust of the ground. If you want to study the details, read 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Believers who are still alive at his coming will not have to be raised from the dead, but their nature will still need to be changed – from mortality to immortality – and all of this is carefully explained in the New Testament. That’s precisely what the Bible promises: that, when he comes again, the Lord Jesus Christ will raise from the dead all those who are true members of the family of God and will grant them eternal life in the Kingdom that he will establish at his return. He died so that we might live: and he rose from the dead to show us that the true Christian hope of life after death is resurrection from the dead. There is nothing more important in life than establishing and then developing a relationship with God, and that is now possible because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. But He does promise life after death for some people: for those who have listened to what He has to say, have taken the time to understand it, and who have made those promises their life’s aim. However long you spend searching for it, no such promise exists in God’s Word. Some people think the Bible promises life in heaven when this mortal existence is over but it does not. Some confusion exists about God’s offer to mankind. The inspired writer had much better things to say about men and women like him, who have used their lives wisely and have accepted what God offers: “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me” (49:15). Man who is in honour, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish” (Psalm 49:19,20). The Psalmist said this about people who don’t want to know about God and His offer of salvation: “He shall go to the generation of his fathers they shall never see light.
It’s a grim assessment, but one the Bible makes, so we can rely upon it. Most people do just that and, sad to say, they will end up dead, with no way out of that unconscious state. By nature we are inclined to do our own thing and go our own way through life. It’s a sad fact, but there’s no getting away from it. Binding of isaac all items mod.Not one of us is good enough to get into the Kingdom of God on our own merits.