I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about having a
vision. This was not in a dream. It was during my talk with Jesus. As I was
talking to Him, in my mind as I most often do, I felt as though Jesus and the
Holy Spirit just got up and left my presence without saying a word. To help you
understand the feeling I had; imagine yourself in front of a group of people
talking to them and without a word, they all just stand up and leave. It took
me some time to digest what had just happened. How could Jesus do that, just
get up and leave me and not tell me why or say anything at all? I knew that
there was no use in talking any longer because there was no one there. The next
thing I felt was me standing in a completely desolate lonely place. To give you
an idea of this place, imagine a place that’s totally void of everything except
for what looked like sand to stand on and light for vision (to see that there
was nothing.) There was absolutely nothing of God’s creation, not even God was
there. I was totally alone. I wanted to cry out to Him but knew there was no
use. I started thinking about the Bible saying that hell was everlasting and I
thought, “Oh my God, is this the place I will go when I die?”
It took me a while to get past the initial shock of the
moment. I first tried to reason things out; was this real or some sort of
figment of my imagination? I had no answer. Then I thought, “Can I talk to God
now;” Just moments ago I didn’t feel I could; can I now? I slowly started
talking to God. I asked many questions; was this real; what does it mean; is
this where I will end up, forever? So, so many questions. Even though I wasn’t
getting any answers and it frightened me to think of going to a place like that for
eternity, I still felt God listening and a kind of peace about it. I noticed a
change in my talks with God. My talks with Jesus before seemed close
by, as two friends would talk. Now they seem farther off as though I’m now talking
to Father God.
Sense that day, I’ve asked Father God questions about many things
that I don’t believe I would have even thought to ask before my vision: Can one
loose his salvation; what is hell; what is salvation; what did Jesus do for me;
who are God’s children; are those who God chooses the only ones who go to
heaven and the rest go to hell, what happens to those who’s hearts are hardened
by God; what is heaven, do we go to heaven or do we go to the new earth when
He creates the new heaven and earth? I’m sure I’ve not named all my questions
but you can see how these questions stemmed from having that vision.
My beliefs have changed since that day, little by little,
and they are still being molded as Father God answers my questions.
I believe we are all God’s children. We are made by Him; He
owns us; we all are His; we will all return to Him once our oneness is complete
through Jesus and peace is restored. I believe the chosen or elect who God
gives the power to become the children of God are a different kind of God’s
children. They are the ones to show the rest of us, Almighty God, the Great I AM; they
are the true priests; the lights unto the world; the ones who have their true
nature revealed to them and know their need for a savior and a Lord and have
entered a marriage agreement with Jesus to teach them the way and help them
stay the course; they are the first fruits.
No one has seen Father God. We see evidence that He exists through
His creation; but because our eyes haven’t seen Him, we create gods for
ourselves; gods who we give credit to for our well being.
In the Old Testament, the people's gods were in some sort of an idol form
with a name. They worshiped these man-made things for the purpose to have many
children, to have success in battles, to have good crops, to get rain, to cure
their sicknesses, to put curses on people they didn’t like, and so on.
God wanted to show them that these man-made things weren’t
gods at all. They were just something they could see but other than just take
up space they did nothing more. So, to show them this, He chose the Israelites.
Were the Israelites special? Well, in some ways they were; after all He chose
them. He had to choose someone to show the world that He is the One True God,
so He picked the Israelites. Because He chose them and because they would go
through much suffering throughout the ages, He gives them special privileges
and rewards. The same holds true to those He’s chosen since His Son came into
the world. They too will receive special privileges and rewards because of the
sufferings they experience, just like Christ did. But in both cases, it was the
only way to show us Himself.
Today, we don’t usually have idles anymore but we still have
our man-made gods. Now they are in the form of our wealth, our good jobs, our
beauty, our health, our smarts, our good education, or whatever. They become
our gods when we depend on them for our well being and believe that they come from our own power. Through God’s elect
or chosen of today, hopefully we will come to see that all of what we thought
was important to us is meaningless; and we come to know that it all comes
from God’s good will to us.
I believe hell is grief, sorrow, remorse, regret, and shame,
for unreconciled sin. There are so many references in the Bible talking about
shame that to me sounds like what hell is. Instead of listing them all, here is
a link:
We are all called to repentance and believing. Repenting
means to take ownership of sins committed; be truly sorry for doing them,
asking God to forgive you and to help you to sin no more. God knows our hearts. He
knows if I am really sorry for all my sins or if I’m holding something back
because I’m not ready to give it up to Christ. I believe that Christ Jesus bore
our grief and sorrow: He took our punishment. But, it is only for the sins we
truly regret doing. If I don’t regret a sin enough to repent of it, there is
nothing about that sin for Christ to bear; I have no sorrow, at the moment, so
Christ doesn’t need to take it away or pay for it. Jesus doesn’t really take
away the sin; He takes away the grief and sorrow; He takes our punishment.
Isaiah 53:4-6
New International Version (NIV)
4 Surely
he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced
for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep,
have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has
laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Exodus 33:19
New International Version (NIV)
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of
you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord,
in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion.
I’ve wondered a lot about this verse; what is the difference
between mercy and compassion. I couldn’t see a difference until this morning.
In His Son, Christ Jesus, God gives us both compassion and mercy. In His
compassion for us, He sent His Son into the world to take our punishment. His
mercy comes through our repenting. Let me explain this in another way. Say, you
are a parent with two children of completely different personalities. You know
them very well. You tell them both that they are not to do something and what
the punishment will be if they do. With one, you know that when he does
something wrong and is sorry for it; he means he is truly sorry and won’t do it
again. So, you show him mercy and not punish him even though he deserved to be.
Now your other child is a different story. You know that with him, even if he
says he’s sorry and won’t do it again that he will, so you punish him. We, as a
parent might want to give up on that child but I believe God never does. Think
about it, He is the Creator. He knows what best to do.
What does the Bible say about our Lord Jesus Christ?
Isaiah 9:6
New International Version (NIV)
6 For to
us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Now about when God hardens someone’s heart as He did with Pharaoh.
It seemed to me that it was mean of God to do that, but I think I understand now
the why. In every case, God did this to show that God was the cause. There was
no way to explain it away to any other reason except that God and only God was
the one who did it. So what happens to that person? Well, I came across an
interesting passage.
Isaiah 40:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 See,
the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
The word recompense means:
a: to give
something to by way of compensation (as for a service rendered or damage
incurred)
b: to pay for
The scripture verse says “his recompense.” I believe that
God will compensate that person somehow for hardening his heart. You can even
find this in His laws. For example:
Exodus 21:26
New International Version (NIV)
26 “An owner who
hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go
free to compensate for the eye.
