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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The New Covenant, #4
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (II Peter 1:4—NIV)
Scholars have sought to keep the human separate from the Divine, intending for this separation to show devoutness and reverence for God. But the very essence of the Kingdom of God is the uniting of the Divine with the human. In fact, this is the meaning of eternal life. Eternal life is the Life of God, the Life by which Jesus Christ lives. Until the dust of the ground is touched with God's Life we remain an animal creation.
In so many instances the New Testament declares that if we continue to live in the flesh we will perish, or experience corruption or destruction. The idea seems to be that if at some point we do not receive the eternal life that is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, and (this is of extreme importance for Evangelical people to understand) if we do not lay hold on this eternal life, sowing to it each day, turning aside from the appetites and drives of the flesh and soul, we will face some form of corruption or destruction in the Day of the Lord.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16—NIV)
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8—NIV)
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Hebrews 10:39—NIV)
"Shall not perish." "Will reap destruction." "Are destroyed."
These expressions very well may refer to Hell and the Lake of Fire. But it is best to let the Bible speak for itself and not add our assumptions and deductions to it.
We know there is a Hell, for the rich man was in it. We know there is a Lake of Fire prepared for Satan and his angels and everyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into it. These facts are not to be altered in any manner whatever.
But it seems to me that in the biblical expressions we have set forth above there is more of a sowing and reaping involved; more cause and effect. I would venture to say that the explanation is found in what takes place in the Day of Resurrection.
If we have sown to the Spirit of God, laying hold on eternal life as Paul exhorted Timothy, then, in the Day of Christ, our fleshly body will be raised and filled with that very Life of God we have cultivated so faithfully during our pilgrimage on the earth.
But if we as an unbeliever or a Christian, have not sown to the Spirit of God, have not laid hold on eternal life, have not turned away from the appetites and drives of the flesh and cultivated the Spirit of God in our inner nature, then, in the Day of the Lord, our mortal body will be raised from the dead (all shall be raised!) but not filled with the Life of God.
To be continued.