Human life is inherently precious. Man was created by God in the image and likeness of God, crowned with glory and honor such that we would know and be known by God, love and be loved by God, enjoy and be enjoyed by God, not as divine equals but as beloved children, trusting in the wisdom and power, the goodness and love of our heavenly Father to make us exceedingly and abundantly happy in Him (Genesis 1:26) (Psalm 8:3-8) (Isaiah 43:7) (Zephaniah 3:17)(Psalm 16:11) .
However, mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, was not content, not satisfied with this glorious position. When offered the opportunity to be like God, determining for themselves good and evil, having the freedom and ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want, accountable to no one, just like God, they jumped at it. (Genesis 3:1-5) (Isaiah 14:13-14) (Daniel 4:35) (Isaiah 46:9-10).
They were unwilling to believe God’s word, His promise that death, being cut off from the glorious life with God for which they were created, would follow their one act of disobedience, which demonstrated their distrust in His goodness and disdain for His love (Genesis 2:16-17) (Psalm 119:68) (Jeremiah 31:3).
And the Bible and human history make it clear that everyone since Adam has believed and acted on this same lie, and are thus subjected to the same consequence, death, being cut off from this glorious life with God for which we were created, helpless in ourselves to do anything about it (Romans 3:23) (Romans 5:12) (John 8:34).
I explained in my previous post that death has three aspects to it, spiritual death, wherein we are born into this world cut off or separated from the life with God for which we were created, and thus subject to the second aspect, physical death, which is being cut off from life in this present world (Isaiah 59:1-2) (Genesis 3:19). At the moment we take our last breath, our soul or spirit man leaves our dead body and we stand before a holy God for judgment, in which we are judged either worthy of restoration to the life with God for which we were created, what the New Testament refers to as eternal life, or worthy only of the second death, confined forever to the lake of fire, a place Jesus referred to as Hell (Hebrews 9:27) (Romans 6:23) (Matthew 10:28).
And it is Jesus whom we will stand before on that day as our judge. (2 Corinthians 5:10) (John 5:22) (Acts 17:31). His judgement of either eternal life with Him in Heaven or the second death will be based on one thing; that one thing being did we or did we not, while on earth, come to love Him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:10) (Luke 10:25-28) (John 14:23).
Now, here you might say, I thought this judgement was based on whether or not I believed in Jesus, and you would be right according to John 3:16, Acts 16:31 and other concurring passages. However, the Bible makes it clear that our believing in Jesus will result in our coming to know and understand Him in such a way that He becomes the desire of our heart and the delight of our soul, the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy – the focus of our eternal worship (Jeremiah 9:23-24) (1 John 4:19) (Revelation 15:1-4). And if He is not, we remain under the judgement of sin (1 Corinthians 16:22).
Many have an intellectual belief in Jesus – in His existence, His divine attributes and works of salvation, believing this would be enough to escape God’s judgement of their sin. However, their heart, their deepest affections are far from Him (Matthew 15:8-9). It is interesting to note that even the devil and His demons “believe in” Jesus (Mark 1:23-24) (James 2:18-19). However, their belief in Jesus does not bring them to love Him nor find delight in obeying Him, but only to fear His judgment. All too many come to Jesus out of fear of Hell alone, looking to Him as their fire insurance, rather than coming to submit their lives to Him as their beloved Savior and Lord (Acts 2:36).
In John 8 we have Jesus in the temple teaching the Jewish people and their religious leaders regarding God’s judgement on sin and their need to believe in Him as their means of escaping that judgement. In John 8:30 we are told that initially many believed in Him, or so it appeared. As he goes on to reveal more clearly their desperate condition and need to hear and believe what He is telling them about Himself, they become increasingly defensive and hostile to His claims on their life as savior.
In John 8:41 they claim having a fatherly relationship with God that would exempt them from His judgement. Jesus disputes this, noting that if they truly knew God relationally as “Father”, they would love Him/Jesus – and they didn’t. And they would prove this moments later as Jesus reveals Himself to them as who He truly is, I AM, their covenant God. At that moment their unbelief is exposed as they respond to this revelation in a murderous rage (John 8:58-59).
One of the most disconcerting and frightening passages I find in the Bible is Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus warns “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Here Jesus is speaking of that dreaded day when we stand before Him for judgement. He notes there will be many who had confessed Him as Lord, who did many mighty and good works in His name – on His behalf, expecting Jesus’ praise and acceptance of them on the basis of their good, even extraordinary works done in His name. And yet Jesus outright rejects them (Matthew 25:41). Why?! Well, a good argument can be made that they were rejected because they were trusting in their works and not Christ’s as the means of their acceptance with God, which is contrary to the Gospel of Grace (Isaiah 64:6) (Romans 3:20-26) (Titus 3:3-7) (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Yet, there is far more to it than that as Jesus in commanding them to depart from Him proclaims, I never knew you, denoting a lack of intimate relationship with Him for which He came into this world to reconcile man to (2 Corinthians 5:18) (Romans 5:9-10).
And we see this relational issue more clearly in 1 Corinthians 8:3, where the Apostle Paul writes, But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. And it becomes most clear when Jesus in John 17:3 reveals exactly what eternal life is, which is to have intimate relationship with God – to know and be known by Him (Galatians 4:8-9).
The remainder of John 17 is primarily Jesus praying to the Father in regard to this relationship, and how Jesus, having done everything necessary to bring it to pass, is deeply and joyfully longing for its consummation (John 17:20-26). How different our life in this world would be if we longed for and pursued this relationship with the same depth of desire, devotion and anticipatory joy as this one who loved us and gave His life to bring us back to God (Galatians 2:20) (1 Peter 3:18).
I encourage you to join me in praying that we will.
Grace and Peace ×