Is this the true life?
Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author
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Have you every wondered why the younger we are the more energy we have or the more able we are to handle certain things? Like mortality, or should I say imortality? It seems sad that the older we get the less energy we have or the more brittle our bones become. Also have you noticed that the older you get the more you realize you are not imortal. And what about the aging process, loss of hair, wrinkles, sagging areas, bad hearing, eye sight and memory seems to go as well. All of this has a purpose in God's plan, and when you finish reading this you will understand. First the energy is tied directly to how brittle our bones are. When we are young we fall more while learning to walk, run, ride bikes and so on, so our bones have to be stronger, and if the energy was not there we would not walk, run or even crawl. It is due to the energy we learn to walk and run. If our energy were the same at 90 as 9 we would break more bones and suffer more. That is not all there is to it either. Imagine life at it's best, all the best times in one time. Ok, I lost you there. Most people make higher wages later in life. In our 40's, 50's and 60's we seem to make more money than our 20's or 30's. Now look at when you looked the best that was in your 20's or 30's, right? And when you were the most free was late teens early 20's. How about your marriage? When you first fell in love and it was perfect, for most that was in their 20's with some in their 30's. I think now you are getting the picture. But if not, I will help you. Imagine you are at your physical height, say about 20, look good, in good shape, not as much around the middle, or loss of hair. But imagine you combine this with your time of making money your 40's, 50's and 60's. Now you have funds and look and feel great. Let's add one more thing. Love, you have love, funds, and a young body. Can you see where I am going? The idea is this, if we all hit our height in each area and did not go past that we would never want to leave the earth, we would want to live forever. The idea of the aging process is a process that gets us ready to leave this world for the next. Without it most would try to stay and resent God, and miss the best life possible. Do you think any of us wanted to come out of the womb? If so why did our mothers have to push so hard? Yes, I know it was like trying to get a football through a key hole. But there is more, the baby does not help at all. First of all it may have an idea it needs to leave, mainly because how tight it is getting in the womb. But no matter, it feels safe in the womb and knows the womb, and as far as it knows when it leaves life is over. Everything is ended. You see now how most of us treat the next life. We fear it, we have a hard time believing it is real at all. Yes, we say the right things and we do the right things, but do we really believe there is anything after this life? Now in all honesty take a moment and think about it. I do not care if you are a die hard minister of the Gospel. Take a moment and consider this. Now that you have thought about it, don't you sometimes doubt the next life? Or at the very least think of it as something mystical? I can tell you on authority from one who has been in the next life, "It is real." Not only is it real, but it is the actual life, this is not. Take a moment and let this set in. No, this is not life as it will be, not the real life. This is a step a process like we went through in the womb. We are being born with a mystery. The first mystery is what sex will the baby be (boy or girl). The second mystery is destination (heaven or hell). After we have a body we then choose our destination. That choice is not set in stone for us as was our sex. Well our destination is the same. We are all born into sin and given at birth a chance to avoid hell. Through our life we are formed and become one or the other, lost or saved. No, I do not mean predestination. I know some will think that since our sex is made up and is set at conception. Our salvation is set before birth, it was given to us, it is ours. We are born of sin ( and no I do not mean due to sex, but due to sin in our nature). Our salvation was bought and paid for 2,000 years ago. All we have to do is accept it, right? Well, maybe not, maybe the only thing we can do is reject it. I know this is hard to get at first, but take a moment. If, when Jesus died, He paid the price in full, then it is done. It is here for all, the only real thing we can do is reject. What this means is that through our life Jesus is knocking offering us the way. We can just keep rejecting, and not answer the door. Rev 3: 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. We know that Jesus knew God and did not have to overcome the world as far as faith and belief. So what did He overcome? He overcame sin, allowing sin to take up residency in His life, He overcame the ways of the world. All this is true, but what He overcame the most was, death, Hell, and the grave. What we get from Him is the ability to be over-comers. The word over-comer means to conquer, subdue. Strong's Ref. # 3528 Romanized nikao Pronounced nik-ah'-o from GSN3529; to subdue (literally or figuratively): KJV--conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory. So here it is in a nut shell. As we remember little or nothing about our life in the womb, that does not make it any less real, right? That life was as foreign to this life as this life is to the next. As the 9 months in the womb would seem like a long time in there, out here it is very short as is the next life to this life. We are formed in the body, flesh in the womb to gain right to this world and our salvation. John 3:5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. First we are born of water, and are flesh, that is the womb to this life. Then in this life we are born again of the Spirit and are of the Spirit. So many get so hung up in the water baptism that they miss the baptism of the Spirit. Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Notice in reading the Gospels that not all of the Apostles were baptized of water. If Jesus was why should they not be as well? Jesus had to be; it was how the mantle of John's ministry was passed to Jesus. It was the starting point of Jesus ministry. Yes, you should be baptized with water to show your faith. Water baptism, attending church, singing songs, giving money, none of these save you. You cannot be saved except by the blood of Jesus. Look at comunion. We have that one backwards. We take it as special sacrament at services only, but the word comunion itself tells us something else. Comunion means to be partners, to be intimate with, to fellowship. We are to do all things in remembrance of Jesus, not just when we come together at service. No again I am not coming down on the comunion at service, but it should be more often, and not restrained to a place or a special person to perform it, that was what was going on in the day Jesus came. That was part of what He came to fulfill. He came to bring all of God to all of us, not a part to a few. I Cor10:16. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the comunion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the comunion of the body of Christ? Topics: Lord's Supper Text: (1 Cor. 11:20), called also "the Lord's table" (10:21), "comunion," "cup of blessing" (10:16), and "breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42). In the early Church it was called also "eucharist," or giving of thanks (comp. matt. 26:27), and generally by the Latin Church "mass," a name derived from the formula of dismission, Ite, missa est, i.e., "Go, it is discharged." The account of the institution of this ordinance is given in matt. 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19, 20, and 1 Cor. 11: 24-26. It is not mentioned by John. It was designed: (1.) To comemorate the death of Christ: "This do in remembrance of me." (2.) To signify, seal, and apply to believers all the benefits of the new covenant. In this ordinance Christ ratifies his promises to his people, and they on their part solemnly consecrate themselves to him and to his entire service. (3.) To be a badge of the Christian profession. (4.) To indicate and to promote the comunion of believers with Christ. (5.) To represent the mutual comunion of believers with each other. The elements used to represent Christ's body and blood are bread and wine. The kind of bread, whether leavened or unleavened, is not specified. Christ used unleavened bread simply because it was at that moment on the paschal table. Wine, and no other liquid, is to be used (matt. 26:26-29). Believers "feed" on Christ's body and blood, (1.) not with the mouth in any manner, but (2.) by the soul alone, and (3.) by faith, which is the mouth or hand of the soul. This they do (4.) by the power of the Holy Ghost. This "feeding" on Christ, however, takes place not in the Lord's Supper alone, but whenever faith in him is exercised. This is a permanent ordinance in the Church of Christ, and is to be observed "till he come" again. The main point I wanted to make was that God in His infinite wisdom helped us, and how He did that was by allowing the aging process to take place. Imagine if He had not taken Adam and mankind away from the tree of life just how vile and wicked we would become. Genesis 3:24. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. And remember how wicked they were who did live a longer life any way. Genesis 6:5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Two things happened in this chapter; God set a physical limit on man of 120 years, and also set a spiritual limit of a 120 year lease on the earth. The 120 year lease is based on the year of Jubilee or 50 years. If you multiply 50 by 120 you get 6,000 and that is how long God gave as a lease on this earth. Which means the end of that 6,000 years is anytime between now and when God decides it is up. You see, He gave us grace. A generation (not how long we live) is 40 years in the Bible. When Jesus referred to that, He meant this was the last generation when he addressed the end times. Not our days but His days, and the Apostles wrote that they believed they were in the last days. Why has it been the last days for two thousand years? Why are we still here? Because the last generation was made up of the first 33 years the life of Jesus and the last 7 years was the time of tribulation. Due to God's love for us, He gave us grace, that which we are in right now. You see how many things God has done to bless us and help us, to make sure we have every chance of life eternal and life blessed. He made us energetic and less brittle at our youth so we would learn to walk and run and so on and not break bones every time we fall. Then as we got older He allowed our cycles to get to a point that would prepare us to leave, and not just leave but be ready to leave. As a Baby in the womb gets closer to the end of the nine months, so does its development get to the point where it can go no further in the womb. We are the same, here, waiting on the next life. John 14:1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
As we are formed in the womb, at first not really appearing to be male or female, but in time we form and it becomes evident that we are one or the other.
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