IS IT ALL ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL?

 

Is it all just about Heaven or Hell?

Is it all just about

Right vs wrong?

Light vs darkness?

Do vs don’t?

Truth vs lies?

Blessings vs punishment?

or is it

Life vs Death?

If I were to ask you, as a Christian or as someone who believes in God, “what is the destination of a person at the end of their life”, what would you say?

Then, if I were to ask you “how you are to arrive at your desired result and what does the Bible teach about how to reach that conclusion”, what would you say?

A most popular answer about a person’s ultimate destination is Heaven or Hell, and many would suggest that you get there by what you believe or how you live your life.

Many Christians will tell you that they cannot ‘earn’ their way to heaven, but it is by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus that they are forgiven their sins and will spend eternity in heaven with God.

Some will say it is based on how you live your life and what you do that gets you into heaven or sent to hell.

There are some professing Christians who believe that it is a combination of faith and works that will get them to heaven.

Either way, I believe that a vast majority of believers, either consciously or subconsciously, hold to the idea that it is the rights and wrongs, the dos and don’ts, the truths and lies that they commit in their lives that reveal a person’s true beliefs and those beliefs will determine their ultimate destination – no matter what they say publicly.

The Bible says the primary destination, the primary end is not heaven or hell or right or wrong, light versus darkness, dos versus don’ts, truth versus lies or blessings versus punishments. What the Bible speaks to is the matter of Life versus Death. All the rest, the rights or wrongs, light versus darkness, dos versus don’ts, truth versus lies or blessings versus punishments, are guideposts, (instructions), along the way to either LIFE or DEATH.

Like in the case of Job, who was blameless, upright, fearing God and turned away from evil, the entire debacle was about LIFE and DEATH. Even his wife snarled that Job should “curse God and die“!  But God instructed Satan “Behold, he, (Job), is in your power, only spare his life.”

In the end, Job repented and chose life, and God restored Job. “After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.“

A believer should be keenly aware of and focused on how to live their life, because how you live your life does, in fact, reveal what you believe, and what you believe (whether Jesus is the only way to the Father and into the kingdom of God) will determine your ultimate end.

Before we go further, let me ask you, have you ever tried or are you now trying to break a habit, whether it was, (or is), a habit of thought or a physical dependency? Do you remember how hard it was, or still is? It seems like the more you try the more difficult it becomes. The more you have tried the more you have repeated the habit?

It was, (or is), because you were unwittingly giving power to the thing you hate by dwelling on it. So, what can you do?

That said, I am compelled also to say that if you are keeping a list of things you should or should not do in order to be set free and to get into heaven, you are left in an impossible situation. You just cannot keep up with the escalating intersections of the things on your list, and focusing on the problem just won’t cure it. (Just ask any Jewish person who has tried keeping all 613 laws or commandments of the Torah which include “positive commandments”, to perform an act, and “negative commandments”, to abstain from an act. It will drive a person insane. People haven’t even successfully kept just 10 commandments!)

Even though the Apostle Paul had been set free from the weight of the law through faith in Christ, he labored with the maddening conflict that exists between the ‘doing and the not doing’ of certain things!

Listen to his words as recorded in Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:14-24).

Even the Apostle Paul confessed that the struggle is just not in ‘doing or not doing, but the struggle is between life and death. Paul joyfully proclaims, however, that “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1).

(It is easy enough to imagine that this is just about semantics. But it is much greater than just the meaning of words.)

So, what is the point here? The point is about our attitude and motivation to live.

Paul said that trying to keep up with doing the numerous laws you have set for yourself will imprison you. It is the practice of setting your mind on the laws of the flesh, which lead to death!

“For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” (see Romans 8:5–6).

It is when your motivation is to live, that your focus shifts from keeping up appearances or keeping a list of dos and don’ts, to living to please God and caring more about others than just being right or wrong, or nicer and better according to your religious traditions.

(Think about it this way: If for some reason you had to make an unavoidable emergency crossing of an eight lane, busy interstate – on foot. You should not concentrate on a stylish stride or how good you look dodging in and out of traffic or how many video hits you might get. You should be focused on staying alive by avoiding oncoming cars and not getting yourself killed and not causing others to be injured by your attempt to cross a busy interstate. You should focus on staying alive. Your focus is on living and it is almost as if you know instinctively what to do. It’s all about attitude, motive and inspiration.)

Please read these following verses and see what God says on this matter of Life and Death.

Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I have placed before you today life and goodness, and death and evil, in that I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Then, after the coming of Jesus and the New Covenant:

Matthew 7:13–14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Matthew 25: 41–46, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 3:36, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

John 6: 52, “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 10:7, “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

YOU SEE – IT’S ALL ABOUT LIFE or DEATH.

Jesus never said, “I have come that you may have rules and rules more abundant”. Nor did He say, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal rules to live by”. He said you will have LIFE and ETERNAL LIFE!

If repetition indicates importance, then focusing on LIFE in Christ must be pretty important because there are around 135 references to LIFE in the New Testament using the word zóé, life, (physical and spiritual). All life (2222 /zōḗ), throughout the universe, is derived, i.e., it always only comes from and is sustained by God’s self-existent life. The Lord intimately shares His gift of life with people, creating each in His image which gives all the capacity to know His eternal life.

(Please forgive this aside, but this is so difficult for me to explain and even more difficult to understand. Probably because I have been so lousy doing it, myself. It can be even harder to accept if, like most Christians, you have unwittingly spent your Christian life learning to just ‘follow the rules of do and don’t’.)

On one hand we say we have been set free from our worldly and fleshly desires. But on the other hand, we continue to bow and serve at the altars of performance, competition, ego, pride and self, as we accumulate the admiration and respect of others and justify hoarding these treasures under the guise of keeping of God’s laws. But, we secretly find our thrill in life accumulating and serving ourselves, first.

Then, when rust and moths and decay erode these treasures or thieves break in and steal them, as they surely will, we will discover that no amount of performance has been adequate. In the end, we discover that where our treasure has been is where our heart was, also – and we die!

The key is to set your mind on the things that bring life, and you will begin to avoid those things that bring death. Bring every thought into subjection and obedience to the Word of God. Serve God and find the thrills of life through serving Him and others.

Then we can rejoice with Paul as he thankfully proclaimed that there is therefore now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Focus on the SPIRIT and LIFE!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS: And what do we do with those lists? The dos and don’ts? Use them as your guideposts along your way. They can be useful and they are helpful, but they are not the answer. Jesus and His Life is the answer. Don’t make excuses in the hard times – Just do what Jesus would do!