|
 Death
is not the end of us. The real you: your personality,
consciousness etc., survives death, liberated from the
body. Ultimately, when Jesus Christ returns to Earth in
majesty and glory, God wants to give us a new body: one
like Jesus' body after he was raised from the dead. He
could appear and disappear wherever and whenever he
wished. He could pass through solid objects. Yet he was
no spook: his disciples could feel his hands; he made
breakfast for them and ate it with them.
Jesus will return to Earth to right all the wrongs and
injustices in the world; to put an end to evil and
suffering. Then he will set up his Kingdom of
righteousness and peace. Heaven will be on a renewed,
perfect earth.
He died and rose again to make this possible. Because he
cares so much about each one of us, God wants us to
share eternity with him. But we're all imperfect and
really deserve eternal condemnation and exclusion from
the presence of our perfect God. However Jesus, God's
Son, bore that condemnation and exclusion on the cross.
At that point he cried out: "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?"
Jesus' great sacrifice was proved to be effective when,
on the third day after he died, God brought him back to
life (the Resurrection). He now lives a life which can
never be subject to death, suffering, evil, sin or hell.
He wants us to share the same quality of life for all
eternity.
But we can experience much of this life here and now -
life before death! The Bible says we need to receive
Jesus and to commit ourselves to him in faith (John
1:12). It is only then, when his life is in us, that we
can begin to experience this life now and to be sure
that after death we shall experience it for ever.
Many people have found it helpful to say a prayer like
the following:
 Lord
Jesus Christ, I humbly acknowledge that I have sinned
through ignorance, weakness and my own deliberate fault,
and that my sins have separated me from your holy
presence. I know I shall never be good enough for heaven
by my own efforts;
But I now firmly believe that you died on the cross for
my sins, bearing them in your own body and suffering in
my place the condemnation they deserved;
I sincerely repent, turning from my past selfishness. I
am willing to surrender to you as my Lord and Master.
Help me not to be ashamed of you. Give me the power of
the Holy Spirit so that I may show my gratitude to you
in the way I live;
So now I come to you. I believe that for a long time you
have been patiently wanting to enter my life. Come in,
Lord Jesus, and
be my Saviour and my
Lord for ever, granting me eternal life with God the
Father.
Amen. |
Do
We Believe in 3 Gods?
