God alone knows the destiny of those who have loved themselves more than they love God. They may be left alone to enjoy their selfish personalities forever.

Today we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. It requires constant fighting in order to lay hold on eternal life, to always choose to follow that restricted pathway. When Jesus appears we shall be raised into the radiant Presence of the Source of all Life. Then we shall be given that for which we have prepared ourselves.

Imagine what it will be like to be always filled with the Presence of Christ, with energy, with power. Pain, tiredness, sickness, and death then will be things of the past. We shall be eternally alive in the Glory of God.

The Christians who spend their lives embracing the things of the world will find, in the Day of Christ, that they have embraced death. They will reap what they have sown. They have chosen death and they will be given death. The salvation that we are to receive at the return of the Lord is the consequence of our deeds in the present world. The Scripture is clear on this point.

Every human being, as well as every angel, will exist forever either in or out of the Presence of God. Our goal as Christians is to live forever in the Presence and Glory of our Creator.

To be filled with love, joy, peace, and every other desirable attitude, trait, and emotion.

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. (Isaiah 61:7)

Being filled with joy forever is our instinctive concept of "Heaven." Going to Heaven to live forever is the traditional goal of the Christian preaching and teaching of salvation. Some aspects have been added, such as the idea of a splendid mansion. "Heaven" in our thinking is a place of love, joy, peace, and everything else that is desirable.

There has been no need for God to further refine our thinking, because it is true that the righteous will inherit a "heaven" of love, joy, and peace that will endure forever. After our sojourn in the present world, the thought of living in love, joy, and peace forever strains our credulity. But we Christians know one day such joy will be our never-ending portion.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Now God desires that we understand the goal of salvation is not to go to the spirit Paradise to live forever. Our home is the earth. Mankind was created on the earth and mankind will inherit the earth forever. The nations and the farthest reaches of the earth are the inheritance of Christ and of those who are co-heirs with Him.

The sixty-first chapter of the Book of Isaiah tells us of the time when the inhabitants of Zion will be built into "trees of righteousness." Then they will repair what was destroyed during the terrible tribulation that soon is to come.

The righteous will inherit the earth, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

To be continued.