What Must I Do to Get Eternal Life?
It is an age old question. A question that has plagued the minds and psyches of the sons of humanity for as long as we have walked this planet. Ancient alchemists laboured long and hard to try and produce the elusive "elixir of life". Others have spent huge fortunes in a futile search for the mythical "Fountain of Youth". Humongous amounts in money, gold and precious stones, as well as long periods of time have been squandered in a ceaseless bid to attain "perpetual youth". Still others have erected grandiose temples, cathedrals, mosques, pagodas, pyramids, monasteries, etc, in an all-out effort to secure the Hereafter. In some cultures, priceless funerary treasures have been deposited inside elaborate tombs, pyramids and mausoleums; the burial goods interred in a bid to insure the departed notables a comfortable life in the Beyond. Some cultures even buried many a royal servant with a dead ruler, so that they can continue serving the king in the next world! Such is mankind's all-consuming preoccupation with the Beyond that the Preacher penned these words: "...He has SET ETERNITY IN THE HEARTS OF MEN..." (Ecclesiastes 3:12). In this brief piece, we attempt a limited, fleeting glimpse at what the Scriptures have to say on this profound subject.
In John 17:3, Yahshua stated: "...And this is ETERNAL LIFE, that they might know thee the only true Elohim, and Yahshua Ha-Maschiakh, whom you have sent..." (John 17:3, full caps added). Indeed, Adonai is the ultimate Source of all life, and so we can attain the same ONLY by seeking to KNOW Him and his Son, Yahshua Messiah. But then, what does it entail or mean to "know God"? Is he perched on some lofty mountain top so that we will all eventually get to him regardless of the many routes (read religions) we might use to ascend the mountain?
The spiritual luminaries and sacerdotal castes of today's myriad religions almost always insist that theirs is the only sure way to - Heaven, Paradise, Nirvana, Shangri-La, Firdaus, Eternal Bliss, etc. Obviously, these claims and affirmations cannot all be true. Where in then, lies the truth? Are we not safest confining ourselves to, and abiding by the tenet set forth in Romans 4:3: "Let God be true, and every man a liar"? In other words: What does the Bible actually teach?
In 1John 2:3-4, we read: "...we know that we have come to KNOW HIM, if we OBEY his commandments. The man who says 'I know Him' but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him..." So there it is! But there is more. Talking to his disciples, Yahshua said: "...whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and REVEAL myself to him." (John 14:21). Consequently, having thus shown himself to such a one, can the Saviour later find ocassion to deny such a person before the Father? (cf Matthew 7:21-23). Most likely, not.
This sublime truth (the revelation of the Father and the Son via the Commandments) is further made manifest in John 14:23. Yahshua further elaborated: "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come and make our ABODE WITH HIM."
It thus becomes clear that the Ten Commandments are at the heart of a very intimate spiritual interaction between a loving Creator and his highest earthly creation - human beings. This is the husband-wife relationship intimated at throughout Elohim's interactions with the nation Israel. Wrote Moshe all those thousands of years ago: "Hear, O Israel: Ha-Shem our Elohim, Ha-Shem is one. Love Ha-Shem your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength...These Commandments that I am giving you today are to be upon your hearts..." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). It is the position reiterated in answering a teacher of the Law who had asked The Teacher which commandment was the greatest (cf Mark 12:28-31). The Second Greatest Commandment, Yahshua added, was like the first: "...love your neighbour as you love yourself." So we see here that in loving God, a human being is obligated to keep the first four commandments that govern relations between Adonai and Man. Additionally, Man is also charged with the keeping of the last six commandments that regulate his relations with fellow man: - honouring parents, avoiding bloodshed, not committing adultery, avoiding theft, etc.
This is the ultimate Constitution of the Universe. It is the Marriage Certificate signed between the God of Israel and the Israelites at Mt Sinai (cf Exodus 19).
If only human beings could begin to understand and obey this Supreme Law! Then perhaps the Gates of Life would so easily swing open. "...And now, O Israel, what does Ha-Shem your Elohim ask of you...but to fear Ha-Shem your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve Ha-Shem your Adonai with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe Ha-Shem's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?! (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).
Israel is the sacred Bride that followed the divine Bridegroom out of the land of Egypt in Moshe's day. Elohim nostalgically recalled those halcyon days: "...I remember the days of your youth...how as a BRIDE you followed me through the desert..." (Jeremiah 2:2, capitals mine). This recollection comes long after Israel had fallen into spiritual adultery (cf Hosea 1:2) and had forgotten the covenant signed by blood at Mt Sinai. Continues Jeremiah: "...because they broke my covenant, though I was a HUSBAND to them..." (Jeremiah 31:32, emphasis mine). You see, the breaking of the Ten Commandments (especially the first two) had led to a very strained relationship between Israel and the Almighty Father. Before Elohim, Israel was open to the charge of forsaking the first love: "You have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel, ...you have not brought fragrant calamus to me..." (Isaiah 43:22-24). Instead of a very close relationship in which the souls of Israel were closely bound up with their Maker - as was testified of old man Jacob in relation to his last born Benjamin (cf Genesis 44:30), Israel had strayed quite far from the ideal.
Yet there are those who will still doubt the veracity of the above argument. And so, like the prophet Isaiah prescribed so long ago, we must bid them: "...ask Ha-Shem your Adonai for a SIGN..." (Isaiah 7:11). The question then, is: is there indeed a divine SIGN that one is walking lock-in-step with the heavenly Father?
Yes there is, for wrote Moshe: "...the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting (read eternal) covenant. It will be a SIGN between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days, Ha-Shem made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested (Exodus 31:16-17). This same Sabbath sign is reiterated in Ezekiel 20:12, 19-20.
But one may ask: Why the Sabbath? Why not something else, say, another Commandment? This is because, of the Ten, the Fourth Commandment is the only one that bears the all- important SEAL of Almighty Elohim. You see, a seal has to have three vital parts:
(a) the Name of the Office Holder;
(b) the Office he holds, and;
(c) the Area of Jurisdiction where the Office holder's authority holds sway. Of the Ten Commandments, only the Sabbath commandment has such distinction. Without keeping the Sabbath, a believer will therefore be without the SEAL/SIGN of Adonai. This is the seal that is "bound upon the disciples" of Adonai (cf Isaiah 8:16). It cannot be found in any of the other Commandments! No wonder then, the unrelenting age-old diabolical warfare against Elohim's holy Sabbath! No wonder then, good people, the Adversary's counterfeit Day of Rest - Sunday, the Mark of the Beast - is Satan's best monument to his deception of earth and its inhabitants (cf Revelation 12:9, and Revelation 13:8)! But I digress.
We read further: "...Do not harm the land, or the sea, or the trees until we have put a SEAL on the foreheads of the servants of our Elohim..."(Revelation 7:3, caps supplied). In other words, the real servants of Adonai are identified by the SIGN and SEAL of the Sabbath on their foreheads!
Isaiah, the Hebrew prophet of old, had this to say: "...to the LAW and to the TESTIMONY, if they do not speak according to this word, they have NO LIGHT of DAWN..." (Isaiah 8:20). In other words, such jesters, charlatans and false prophets as talk about Yahshua (Jesus Christ of Nazareth) but actively ignore and teach others against the Ten Commandments (many so-called Christians); and those that cling to the Torah - but deny that the Messiah ever came (unfortunately many Jews) are in the gross darkness of night (cf Isaiah 60:2). It is yet to dawn for them. How so very sad!
In identifying the True Saints or Assembly of Believers, the writer of the Book of Revelation says: "...this calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints, who obey Elohim's commandments and remain faithful to Yahshua..." (Revelation 14:12). It is this group of True Believers that the devil remains (mostly) at loggerheads with: "... the dragon was wroth with the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, who keep the TEN COMMANDMENTS and hold to the testimony of Yahshua (Revelation 12:17, capitals added).
Of course the woman being described here is a symbol of the True Religion. This Sacred Assembly of Believers is compared to a bride being prepared for her husband (cf Ephesians 5:25-27 and 2Corinthians 11:2).
During the Exodus from Egypt, the Bridegroom had sealed the covenant on Mt Sinai on the THIRD DAY (cf Exodus 19:16). So we also see Yahshua attending a wedding on the THIRD DAY (John 2:1). These two "weddings" are, figuratively speaking, a prophetic harbinger for the ultimate Wedding of the Lamb at the final Day of Time. You see, Yahshua's Second Coming will occur on the THIRD DAY too. Since He departed to Heaven after completion of his ministry, it has been slightly more than two thousand years. Now, according to 2Peter 3:8, before Elohim a DAY is like a THOUSAND YEARS, and a THOUSAND YEARS are like a DAY. This means that Yahshua has been away for two days and is readying himself to come for his wedding on the THIRD DAY (cf Matthew 25:1-10 and Revelation 19:7-10). We are in the twilight part of the second day, and the Third Day is surely dawning soon! But how, as the Bride must we prepare ourselves? In the desert, the Israelites had to: "...WASH THEIR CLOTHES..." as part of the preparations.The modern Congregation is likewise bade (cf Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7-10).
The Bride had best take a leaf out of the Genesis 24 story of Isaac and Rebekah. In the story, Rebekah figuratively represents the True Congregation as a bride. This Aramean damsel worked very hard to water TEN thirsty camels! The TEN camels here represented the Ten Commandments of Elohim. Since a thirsty camel may drink upwards of 200 litres in one watering, Rebekah must have drawn a staggering 2000 litres of water if not more! Certainly no mean feat, huh?!But that was the only way she could qualify to be Isaac's bride according to the arrow prayer that Eliezer had shot into the heavens, once he had reached this distant Mesopotamian well (cf Genesis 24:12-14)! Similarly, the Messiah's bride, the True Assembly of Believers must be willing to put in lots of work in keeping Elohim's Ten Commandments and remaining faithful to Yahshua in order to gain access into the banqueting hall of the Wedding of the Lamb (cf Revelation 19:7-11). Anything short of these stringent requirements might mean missing out on entering the Holy City, New Jerusalem (cf Revelation 22:14, KJV) and denial of the very access to the Tree of Life (cf Revelation 22:19).
May Elohim, the merciful God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have mercy upon and help us as we: "...work out our salvation with reverent fear and trembling..." (cf Philippians 2:12 and Hebrews 12:28-29). Blessings.
JK Changandu
Oloitoktok
28/03/2024
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