Guide to God, part 24/41: Preparing For Death

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Preparing For Death

Ageing And Death: Growing old and feeble is God's design
to provoke us into considering our own mortality, thereby
causing us to realize the futility of the temporal material
world, which further goads us into considering our eternal
destiny. Our eternal destiny is all that matters.

Washing Your Feet: At the conclusion of the Last Supper,
Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and said, "If I do
not wash you, you have no part with Me." [John 13:8] Why
did Jesus do this? Because no man can walk upon the earth
without dust clinging to his feet. Dust symbolizes sin.
Thus, no man can be exposed to evil and not be influenced
by it. Since sin cannot exist in the presence of God, one
must first be cleansed before he can enter into heaven; and
the only cleansing agent is the Word of God. Remember that
Jesus was the Word of God (the Ten Commandments) in flesh.
This is why it is written: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me.'" [John 14:6] It should be noted that
one must be extremely humble in order to permit Jesus to
wash his feet. Thus, pride cannot enter into heaven.

Your First Love: Your first love must be God -- not your
spouse, children, parents, friends, money, power, sex, food,
entertainment, alcohol, drugs, etc. If you love anyone
or anything more than God, you violate the first and
greatest commandment: "You shall have no other gods besides
Me." [Exodus 20:3]

Marrying God: From Rags To Riches: The LORD God has given
each human the opportunity to enter into covenant (marriage)
with Him. When a woman marries a man, she gains his name
and possessions; when a man marries God, he gains His name
and possessions, including all knowledge and all power.
How do I marry God? By making this vow: "LORD God, from
this day forward I will keep Your Ten Commandments so that
I may obtain life eternal in Your presence." A husband is
the provider and protector of his wife; the wife is to be
faithful to her husband. The faithful wife of God keeps His
Ten Commandments. When you marry God, you will not obtain
all His possessions immediately, since the flesh cannot
contain all the things of God; however, you will receive His
Spirit as a down payment. As a wife is permitted to see her
husband in his nakedness, so the wife of God may behold Him
in all His glory: "As for me, I will see Your face in
righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your
likeness." [Psalm 17:15]

The Great Temptation: Satan first tempted Jesus with
desire, vanity, and power (see Matthew 4:1-11). However,
Satan's greatest temptation was love -- Jesus's love for
man. Before His arrest, mock trial, and crucifixion, Jesus
offered this prayer: "O My Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but
as You will." [Matthew 26:39] Why did Jesus make this
request? Was He afraid to face execution? Of course not,
for God is perfect love; and love drives out fear. Jesus
made this request because of His complete love for man. As
a doting mother does not desire to leave her newborn child
in the wilderness, neither did Jesus the Good Shepherd want
to leave His "sheep" in the jungle, where Satan the devil
roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
So, why did Jesus choose to "abandon" man by permitting
Himself to be executed? First, to redeem man from death
and to reconcile him to God through the required payment
of life for life. Second, to prepare a place for His
followers: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
[John 14:2-3] Incidentally, this test of love -- love
for man -- was the same test given to Abraham (see
Genesis 22:1-19 for details). Therefore, if you are to
please God, you must love Him more that anything else;
that is, you must love the Truth above all else, for God
is truth.

The Two Criminals: "And when they had come to the place
called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals,
one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then one
of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying,
'If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.' But the
other, answering, rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not even
fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our
deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said
to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your
kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you,
today you will be with Me in Paradise.'" [Luke 23:33,39-43]
Every word, deed, and circumstance in the life of Jesus
was precisely calculated to enlighten man. Here is the
message of the Two Criminals: We are all criminals, in
that we are all sinners; we are either on the left side of
God or the right side of God, and we respond to God in the
manner of one of the two criminals. The first criminal
blasphemed God, and lost his eternal soul; the second
criminal confessed his sins and asked Jesus for entry into
His kingdom, and he gained life eternal in heaven.

Judas Iscariot: Judas Iscariot is often referred to as
The Great Betrayer. We know that he betrayed Jesus, but
did he lose his soul? I think not. Let us consider the
relevant Scriptures: "And the chief priests and the
scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared
the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot,
who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and
conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might
betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give
him money." [Luke 22:2-5] "Then Judas, His betrayer,
seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and
brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying
innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that to us? You
see to it!' Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the
temple and departed, and went and hanged himself."
[Matthew 27:3-5] As you can see, Satan entered Judas --
and no man has the ability to overrule such a possession;
after Satan carried out his purpose through Judas, he
left him; then Judas became remorseful, confessed his
crime, and administered justice upon himself, thereby
fulfilling the requirements of the law. Therefore, in
my opinion, Judas obtained salvation, however, he lost
his place among the Twelve Disciples, as is evident
by Jesus's choice of Paul as his replacement. It should
be noted that the chief priests did not repent of their
part in the plot, therefore they will receive a greater
condemnation than Judas; the priests did not even arrest
Judas, lest they should implicate themselves. In the
final analysis, this entire bloody drama was orchestrated
by God, that the path to life eternal may be opened to man:
"For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do
whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to
be done." [Acts 4:27-28]

Who Killed Jesus: Here is God's law of death: "The soul
who sins shall die." [Ezekiel 18:4] Since Jesus was the
Ten Commandments in flesh, and there is no sin in the Ten
Commandments, it was impossible for Jesus to sin. If Jesus
did not sin, then He was not worthy of death. Thus, no one
killed Jesus; but Jesus chose to sacrifice Himself in order
to reconcile man to God: "Therefore My Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
command I have received from My Father." [John 10:17-18]
Remember that Jesus was the Word (Ten Commandments) of God
in flesh; and the Ten Commandments was the barrier which
separated man from God. God reconciled man to Himself
through the sacrifice of His Word. Note that this sacrifice
does not invalidate the Ten Commandments, but simply covers
the sins which a man committed before turning to God in
repentance; when a man chooses to serve God, his sins are
forgiven and he is obligated to keep the Ten Commandments
from the time of his decision to the point of his death.

Mankind Absolved: When Jesus was arrested and brought
before Pilate for judgement, Pilate found no fault in Him,
and therefore sought to release Him, not wanting the blood
of an innocent man on his hands, however, there was a
gathering of Jews who insisted that Jesus be crucified,
saying: "His blood be on us and on our children."
[Matthew 27:25] Because of this saying, it has been
suggested that the Jews are forever guilty of the blood of
Jesus: Is this true? Is it possible for a man to bestow
sin upon his children? Of course not. According to God,
each man must bear his own sin: "The soul who sins shall
die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor
the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness
of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness
of the wicked shall be upon himself." [Ezekiel 18:20]
Furthermore, Jesus absolved mankind of His death, saying:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
[Luke 23:34] As an aside, it is an absurd notion to
suggest that man can kill God.

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The above is an excerpt from a currently-available book
which can be purchased at:

www.amazon.com
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www.amazon.ca

Search "Books" for:
TITLE: "The Teenager's Guide to the Awesome God"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN: "1413755003"

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Guide to God, part 24/41: Preparing For Death