From Egypt To The Promised Land

There is much that can be said about each of the places that the Children of Israel stopped on their journey to the Promised Land.  There is something to learn at each stop (maybe I’ll write a book).  Today I want to lay the framework for some ideas that we can tackle in the next few posts.  Here are the topics that I would like to discuss.

1. God lead His people by a cloud in the day and fire at night.  He also spoke to Moses, who relayed the message to the people.
2. The real reason for the Golden Calf incident.
3. The people never went without anything.  They always had what they needed just in time: water from the rock, bitter water turned sweet, manna and quail delivery service and clothes that never wore out.
4. The eleven-day journey from Egypt to Canaan turned into forty years.

Let’s discuss number one today.  This may be the most crucial part of our Christian walk and most of us never get it.  It also may seem like the most difficult and eluding part of our walk, but it was meant to be the most rewarding.  In fact, I believe that this one idea is what we should spend the rest of our lives trying to perfect.  But perfection should not be the highlight.  The process of perfection should be our joy and fulfillment.  What I am talking about today is learning to hear God’s voice.  We should desire to hear Him perfectly, but fulfillment should come from the process of getting to  know Him.  Its time spent with Him that allows us to hear Him more distinctly.

God told His people that He wanted a kingdom of priests (the new testament proclaims that we are that kingdom) and God even wanted to speak directly to the people.  The people told Moses that they did not want God speaking directly to them and that Moses should hear from God and speak to them.  Next, we find one tribe of priests among the Israelites (instead of the whole kingdom of priests) and Moses giving direction from God to the people. And, we also see them to continue being directed by the cloud by day and the fire by night. 

Here is how I imagine them being led.

During the day, they are walking along and suddenly some of the people walk into what seems like a fog.  The further they walk the less they can see and then it gets so thick that they can’t see their hand in front of their face.  Some people get so deep, that before they know it, they can’t get back to clear seeing without someone coming to their rescue.  Someone must guide them back. 

That’s the way most of us live our lives.  We let our circumstances guide us through the day.  If it’s a little cloudy or foggy, we adjust our direction back to where it’s clear.  Then, sometimes we have our head down and we walk a little too far into the cloud and someone must rescue us. 

The night is a more dangerous time and the people probably shouldn’t have been traveling.  But, if they were traveling, the fire was the light to let them see any danger that might be around.  There was also the heat from the fire that should have kept them going in the right direction.  If they got too close to the heat, they would move to where it was cooler.  But if they got too far away from the fire, there would not be enough light to see how to walk or see any danger.  Some of us choose or let circumstances keep us in dark times most of our lives.  We have just enough light to keep us moving along and many times we get too close to the fire.  Some get so close that the fire consumes them, and they never come out.  Then others get lost in the dark and never find their way back. Most use the fire and heat to move them and to correct their course.

God never intended for us or them to live life following the cloud and the fire.  His desire was and is for us to hear his voice directly from Him.  He began with the example of walking and talking with Adam in the garden.  Jesus said that His sheep recognize His voice.  We must take time to listen for His voice, if we ever want to make it to the Promised Land.  I’m not referring to Heaven (See previous posts).

 We are destined to wander the rest of our lives in the wilderness, allowing circumstances to direct our journey, if we don’t.  The wilderness is where we learn to use God’s voice as our GPS in life. 

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life – as we compare our walk in life to the Children of Israel and discover the true Gospel of the Kingdom. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

Many things can be said about the night the Israelites were “driven” out of Egypt. We may go more in-depth at another time about how the Passover Feast was being celebrated at the time of Jesus and what it represented to the Jews. Now, we are instructed to continue this celebration as the Lord’s Supper or Communion. It continues to represent our transition from one life to another. Every time we celebrate, we should remember that we came out of slavery to follow God on this journey. There are many other symbolic elements in the Passover that can be discussed some other time.

One other notable item to remember about that night is the fact that the Jews were instructed to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver, and clothing. The Bible says in Exodus 12.36, “ The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.” They also took “large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.” So, the Jews left Egypt a rich people. These are also items to remember for later discussion.

As they left Egypt God began to lead them by the cloud in the day and the fire at night. God led them to the Red Sea (the long way around) instead of through Philistine country (the short way and they would have to fight). As the Jews came to the Red Sea, everyone knew this was a place that God would have to intervene, or they would be killed or taken back as slaves. Did God lead them out of Egypt only to let them be captured again? In one of the greatest acts of salvation, God split the water and allowed them to walk across on dry ground and devoured the enemy in the water as they tried to follow. Now the Children of Israel had a place that they could stand (on the other side of the Red Sea) and say that we decided to follow God while still in Egypt, and God miraculously brought us out of slavery and provided a final way of escape through the water. Then, they praised, worshiped and celebrated.

He did the same for us! As the Holy Spirit led, we decided to follow God and leave the slavery of the world. And in one of the greatest acts of salvation, God provided water baptism, so we could go through water and have a place to stand on the other side with assurance that He provided that final escape from slavery. He did not lead us out of the world without a plan of escape. Even if there seems to be a shorter way, there are no shortcuts to salvation. You must go through Jesus and the water. Not one of the Israelites went back to Egypt after crossing the Red Sea. We should not forget to praise and worship God, like the Jews, for the miracle of salvation. We should also remember to celebrate Communion, as Jesus said, in remembrance of Him and salvation that He brought to us.

Now let’s set up the discussion for next time.

The Jews were out of slavery and were being led in the wilderness (desert) by a cloud in the day and fire by night. They were headed to a place that “flowed with milk and honey” and they traveled for three days without finding water. They came out of Egypt rich in gold and silver, but they had no water. They also came rich in livestock and no water. What was God doing? He was leading them. They had plenty of water in Egypt. Next time we will talk about the real reason for the wilderness and how that relates to our journey.

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life – as we compare our walk in life to the Children of Israel and discover the true Gospel of the Kingdom. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

Imagine yourself born in a country as a slave. All you have known your whole life is work as a slave for someone else’s benefit. You’re not able to make choices about your life and you live in constant fear. Your people have been in this condition for hundreds of years. And even though some talk about a way out, it’s hard to believe.

That’s where the children of Israel were in Egypt. They had been slaves for hundreds of years. How could they even imagine a different life. Then all of a sudden, they had a way out of slavery and had to learn how to live a new life and believe the promises of God for a new way of life in the Promised Land. But, they needed time to transform their mind from Egypt’s ways and the slavery mentality. What should have only been a few days journey to the Promised Land, turned into 40 years and only a few of the original Israelites were still living when they finally entered the Promised Land.

It’s the same with us today. We are born in the world’s system of slavery. We learn about a way of escape and we leave the world, follow Jesus, and find ourselves in the wilderness. The wilderness should be a place where we learn about God’s ways, grow in the spirit and finally leave. But, that’s where most of us stay our whole life. Religion teaches that Jesus is going to return one day and get us out of this place (wilderness) or if we die there, we will be resurrected to a better place. Jesus teaches, however, that He came to bring the Kingdom (Promised Land) now. While we have been wondering around the wilderness waiting on Him to get us out, He has been waiting on us to enter the Kingdom.

Where are you in your life’s journey? What lessons should you be learning in order to learn and grow in God? Finally, how do you actually move into the Promised Land and quit just looking in from the outside?

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life – as we compare our walk in life to the Children of Israel and discover the true Gospel of the Kingdom. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

If our Destination/Promised Land is not Heaven, what is it? What are we saved from? What does being saved even mean if it does not mean I’m going to heaven? If the destination is not heaven, then why did Jesus come to earth?

You’ve heard it, just like I have Sunday after Sunday, “Jesus is coming soon, make sure you are ready” and “Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we can go to heaven and miss hell.” That is the gospel to most of us, making sure we are saved and taking as many with us as possible.

What if I told you that Jesus’s message was a little different from that? Well, I’m not going to tell you that, because you might stone me, write me off as a heretic, or just quit reading. I’ll let Jesus tell you what He came to earth to do.

Mark 1:14-15 New International Version (NIV)
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news (“gospel” in KJV)!”

Matthew 4:23 New International Version (NIV)
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news (“gospel” in KJV) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Luke 4:43 New International Version (NIV)
43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news (“gospel” in KJV) of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

Jesus came to proclaim the good news (gospel) of the Kingdom. What is the good news (gospel) of the kingdom? Christianity has shortened it to just preaching the gospel. But if we leave the kingdom part off, we may be missing the whole point.

Jesus prayed “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” Could it be that the gospel of the kingdom has more to do with heaven coming to earth than us going to heaven?
Before you say the Kingdom of God or Heaven is something that happens at some future time, lets look at what else Jesus had to say about the Kingdom.

Luke 17:20-21 New International Version (NIV)
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”[a]

Matthew 12:28 New International Version (NIV)
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

In fact, He says this:

Mark 1:15 New International Version (NIV)
15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news (Gospel)!”

All this time, I thought the Gospel was that Jesus came to save me from sin and take me to heaven one day. The highlight of my life would be the end, when I would go to be with Him forever.

But Jesus said the actual Gospel is that the time has come for the Kingdom of God to come near. The Kingdom of God/Heaven has come to us instead of us waiting to go there. I’m not saying that there is not a future fulfillment of the Kingdom, but the Kingdom is here now.

Jesus told Martha:

John 11:25-26 The Message (MSG)
25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

There He goes again! Jesus said, “You don’t have to wait for the End.” The Gospel is that the Kingdom has come now. Do you believe this Gospel?

If we believe it, what do we do about it? In the same chapter that Jesus prays “Thy Kingdom come” He tells the disciples this:

Matthew 6:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
We must seek the Kingdom and there is only one way to enter it or even see it.
John 3:3-5 New International Version (NIV)
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

As you can see, Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God to us now, not just to get us prepared for a future Kingdom. The good news (gospel) is that the Kingdom is here right now.

In future posts we will discuss the Kingdom and what Jesus and the early disciples said about the Kingdom. Between now and then “Seek the Kingdom” and be “Born again” so you can enter it.

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

What is the rapture and why is it important to discuss in light of our journey and the destination of our journey?

Rapture, in a nutshell, is the idea that all Christians, dead and alive, will be evacuated from the earth to go be with Jesus in Heaven. Of course, there are many different variations of beliefs. Those include: when the rapture will take place, where Christians go and what happens next, and if people left on earth can be saved after the rapture.

Rapture – where does this idea come from?

1 Thes 4 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Luke 17 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.

That seems pretty straight forward, right? Jesus comes back, the dead Christians rise first, and then the rest of us meet in the air and all go off to Heaven to be with the Lord forever.

Then, everyone left behind goes through the worst tribulation that world has ever seen. Sometime after, they are all judged and go burn forever. Sounds like a good book or movie.

Or does the rapture happen during the great tribulation or maybe after? That pre, mid, and post tribulation rapture discussion is one reason I began to study the rapture from a different perspective. Like I always say, many of us were taught to study the bible to prove the point that we already knew was true, not to read it for understanding. So, I began to look at the “rapture” scriptures as if I knew nothing about the rapture.

I was shocked to find out that the rapture doctrine is only about 200 years old. The doctrine is thought to be conceived by John Nelson Darby and picked up by C I Scoffield. Scoffield listed the doctrine in the footnotes of the Scoffield reference bible and the rest is history. The previous 1800 years of church history probably knew nothing of a rapture.

I will save the lengthy discussion of the rapture for my book, so I’ll just make a couple of points about the rapture scriptures above.

1 Thes 4:16-17 – The author of 1 Thes does not say where we go to be with the lord forever. Could it be that He comes back just one time (not one time for the rapture and another for His second coming) and we meet Him in the air and usher Him back to earth to begin His kingdom?

Luke 17:34-35 – If you read all little further, you realize that the ones taken are not the lucky ones.

37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

That’s not the rapture that we are familiar with.

The church has used the fear of a secret getaway and forever burning in hell to scare many people to God. That may be fine if all you are trying to do is see how many you can get to say a prayer and profess they are following Jesus. The number of professing Christians in the world has increased exponentially over the last century. If the goal is making sure people don’t miss the rapture and do miss hell, we should be getting closer than ever of reaching the world with that goal.

What if that was not Jesus’s goal for coming to earth? What if we were supposed to be powerful on this earth when we are saved, make a difference where we live and make the earth a better place. What if we are not saved to just get by, waiting to escape this God forsaken earth, but were saved to make a difference by living a different life.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you

Of course, we want eternal life with Jesus, but eternal life begins at the new birth. The point that I am trying to make is that I think we have been given a different goal than trying to save people to heaven. In fact, I believe being saved has a much larger definition than having “fire insurance”.

What if Jesus came to give abundant life right here, right now and we have been concentrating on getting out of here and taking as many as we can with us.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

What happened when the Children of Israel got to edge of the Promised Land and didn’t fully believe that was their destination? They wandered around for 40 more years. We, as a church, need to make sure that we have the correct destination (goal) in our GPS. I’m tired of wandering. In the next blog post we will begin to discuss a different destination or goal.

The Children of Israel were looking for the Promised Land and we should be seeking the Kingdom.

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

Today, lets take a break from Egypt to the Promised Land. We will get back to our Journey in a couple of weeks.

I was listening today, with Emily, to a Tom Brady documentary (she loves Tom). I have no idea the religious or spiritual beliefs of Brady, but I can tell you one thing. He was called to be a football quarterback. That has been his life for 30 plus years and he is the best of all time.

Do you have dreams for your life? Are you living what God has called you to live? Has there always been a pull on your life to do something but you thought that because it didn’t involve getting people “saved” it was a second rate calling or not a calling at all?

There are several potential answers to those questions. I can’t begin to tell you what your dreams are or if they are God’s destiny for you. That’s between you and God. Believe it or not, He could be calling you to be a quarterback. There is a way to tell whether the life you are living right now is where God actually wants you.

Take a few minutes right now and look at your circle of influence. How many people are in your circle that you could influence with your talents, money, and time? I mean, how many of those people would be influenced by you? Now ask yourself, how many people are in my circle that I really care enough about to give of my talents, money, and time? There are plenty of people in our circles that struggle with different things, but how many burden us enough to give of ourselves? Many of them we pass each day and pay no attention, or we tell them we are praying and never think about them again.

If we are not giving of ourselves every day, it’s very possible we are somewhere in life where we should not be. God not only wants us to give of ourselves, but he wants to increase our influence and increase our talents, money and time so we have more to give.

Jesus had compassion for the people that had come to hear him teach but had no food. Saving people is not always about making sure they have fire insurance for later. Most times it’s helping them get away from the heat they are experiencing right now. The disciples wanted to send them away. Jesus wanted to expand the disciples’ influence and he asked what they had to give. Someone had a little bread and a few fish. Jesus wants all your talents, money and time so he can bless it, break it and let YOU give it away.

The disciples had no idea how they could help so many people with such a great need and Jesus showed them that if you give it all to me (no matter how small) you can take care of more people than you can even imagine and have more left over than you had in the beginning.

If our burden for people is not larger than we can handle by ourselves because of the number of people or our lack of talent, money or time; we may not be following our true destiny.

You may want to be a doctor, lawyer, school teacher, nurse or farmer. You may even want to be a quarterback. Give everything that you have to Jesus and let him bless it and break it. You will find that you will be “saving” more people that you ever thought possible. The leftovers will be great, too!

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

As we continue to talk about life as a journey, lets finish our discussion about the destination where we will find ourselves if we choose not to follow Jesus. This is the “place” where we end up by default by not choosing the correct destination. I am referring to Hell. See the previous post to get a good introduction to this “place”, along with the different words used in the Hebrew and Greek language when referring to Hell. As discussed before, there are four major views of Hell.

Traditional View – place of fire- people burn and suffer forever.

Matthew 18:8,9 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Matthew 25:46 46 Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Mark 9:42-48 42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 44 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.

II Thes 1:5-10 5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

It sounds straight forward. Stay away from this place of eternal punishment, fire, and destruction. Here are a few of the problems people have with the Traditional view.

• If God is just, does finite sin in eighty plus years on earth justify eternal torture? Is it our place to even try to justify this?
• Does eternal punishment really reflect the nature of God, who came in flesh so that everyone can be saved? Remember, Jesus asked God to forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing. Did God forgive them or was that just a rhetoric statement by Jesus? Does that kind of love reconcile with punishment that never results in anything positive?
• The church has used the fear of Hell to “save” people for years. However, 2 Tim 1:7 says that God has not given us the spirit of fear. How many continue to have a walk with God after being led to God through fear? Not to mention, as discussed in the prior post, more people believe in Hell now than ever before, but fewer people are attending church.

Modified traditional view – Eternal suffering – not actual fire and burning. The state of being eternally separated from God and all that is good. Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus used as a physical example of what happens spiritually when someone dies. This idea is believable because the Bible does not say that we will have a body when we die “lost”.

Universalist View – Hell is temporary and remedial. Eventually, Hell will be empty once everyone decides to follow Jesus.

Romans 5:18 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

1 Corinthians 15:22 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Colossians 1:19-20 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Philippians 2:10,11 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

If every knee will bow and every tongue acknowledge, then…

John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Universalists believe in Hell, but find it hard to get away from the ALLs and EVERYs in the scriptures above. This is not just a modern, “liberal” view. There were some very early church fathers in the 2nd and 3rd centuries that had this belief as well. Don’t we all hope that God’s love is so great that everyone, ultimately, will be saved? Or do you find yourself hoping that some people get what they deserve? Then we must ask ourselves, what do I really deserve?

Which one do you like the best so far?

Annihilationist View – Hell is eternal because, eternally, one will not exist anymore. Yet, one will not suffer forever, because one would cease to exist.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

Hebrews 5:9 he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Annihilationist’s would say that our salvation is eternal, because once we are saved it’s forever. We are not being saved repeatedly for eternity. The same goes for everlasting destruction. Once one is destroyed, it’s forever. One is not destroyed again and again for eternity. Read the following scriptures with the annihilationist view in bold.

2 Peter 2:6 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly – They were all burned up.

Matthew 3:12 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. – The fire is unquenchable, but the chaff is burned up.

Matthew 7:13-19 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction…19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
What happens when the tree is thrown in the fire? It is destroyed forever.

Matthew 10:28 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Being destroyed is eternal.

Romans 6:22-23 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a]Christ Jesus our Lord.- One will either be alive or dead forever.

No matter where you find yourself on this topic, I firmly believe this is one of the major beliefs that shapes our love for God. How we view God’s punishment/forgiveness for sin, ultimately affects whether we perceive Him as a good Father. This is so important because it determines whether we believe in the true destination that He has prepared for us.

1 Cor 2:9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him–

There is a “place” we should be seeking. We can’t believe or understand what God has for us in this place if we don’t have the correct view of God in our minds. However…

Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

Even though eternal judgment is an important idea to build our foundation, we must move beyond it. This is elementary teaching. We must move on to more important things: our true destination. “And God permitting, we will do so.”

But before we go there, let’s discuss one more idea in the next post, the rapture.
Join me next time as we continue to seek the kingdom – From Egypt to the Promised Land

Bill

Please join me in this discussion – FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, A journey from religion to life. Make sure that you never miss a post. Sign up to have my my free blog delivered directly to your email.

HELL – NOT THE DESTINATION OF CHOICE

If life is a journey, we should know where we are headed, right? Well that’s not exactly what we are going to talk about today. Let’s talk first about where we don’t want to go, HELL.

Why should we talk about hell other than it’s the destination that we want to avoid?
1. I like to talk about the tough topics without giving the “Sunday School” answers.
2. Talking about hell gives us a chance to discuss the nature of God. The nature of God, believe it or not, determines how you relate to God and your love for God.

How many people believe in hell in the US? Polls in 1952 show that 58% believed in hell. 1965 – 54% 1981 – 53% 1991 – 60% Awesome, it’s increasing. People must be coming to God! 2000 – 64% By 2008 it’s 73%, almost ¾ of the US population believed in hell. How would that explain the steady decline in church attendance in the US? If we really believed eternal punishment (burning forever and ever) was our destination, don’t you think we would do everything to avoid it? Maybe people don’t think going to church is the answer. Or, maybe, deep down we know that coming to God is much more about relationship with Him and other people. Maybe scaring us to Heaven just doesn’t work.

In the Old Testament, the word hell comes from the Hebrew word “sheol” which means a place of the dead. It’s usually not positive or negative. In fact, the afterlife in the Old Testament is not clearly described. Can you think of a time, in the Old Testament, when anyone spoke of trying to make it to heaven or preaching to people to keep them from going to “sheol”?

In the New Testament there are three words used for hell. “Hades” is used several times and “tartarus” is used once. Both are similar to “sheol”, a place of the dead. So, it helps our understanding to know which is being used when we read. Neither of those places seem like a bad place to go. We just don’t want to go today.
“Gehenna” is the most used word translated to hell in the New Testament. It was used 12 times. It’s the word Jesus used the most and it is the most interesting, because it was an actual place. “Gehenna” means the valley of Hinnom which was a garbage dump southwest of Jerusalem. It burned 24/7 and it was a place where criminals were buried (cremated).

It’s good to know when we read the bible what word is being used, because we can get a better picture of what the person is trying to say and how the audience is receiving it.
There are four major views of hell (the eternal destination of non-believers) and each may have some overlap. Here are the views and some bullet points about each.

Traditional View – a place of fire where people will burn and suffer forever as a punishment for not following Jesus.

Modified Traditional View – a place of eternal suffering, not actual fire or burning. Eternally separated from God.

Universalist View – temporary and remedial. Eventually hell will be empty. Everyone will one day decide to follow Jesus and be saved.

Annihilationist View – hell is eternal, but people won’t exist there forever. In fact, those who experience this hell, will ultimately cease to exist. There is suffering, but not forever.

Which one do you like the best so far? Each of these views exist in some form in the church today. We must be very careful of how our view of hell affects our perception of our loving God. When we are lost in the woods or lost driving in a new city, we either don’t know where we are or where we are going or both. When we are saved (not lost anymore) we should know where we came from, where we are going, and how to get there. Remember, Jesus came to save everyone that is lost. But, we must choose whether to accept salvation and then, we need to seek the kingdom (destination

Next time we will discuss each of these views in depth with scripture references. Be prepared wrestle with your own beliefs about hell. It’s ok, God loves for us to dig deep for understanding.

Join me next time as we continue to seek the kingdom – From Egypt to the Promised Land

Bill

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Bad theology, throughout history, has created images of God in the minds of people that has caused them to look for God or a place of/in God that really does not exist. Let’s look at a few examples quickly that we will discuss in depth later.

Not long after the Israelites left Egypt, Moses went to the mountain to talk to God. The Children of Israel grew tired of waiting for Moses and created their own “god” (golden calf) and called it God. They even said this is God, who delivered us from Egypt. That incorrect image of God was created by the incorrect theology (belief system) learned in Egypt. The image of God in our mind is very important when seeking Him and His Kingdom. What we must watch closely is creating an object of worship within our religious system and calling it God, when in fact it is man-made, and God has nothing to do with it. We will never find Him or His kingdom if we are creating other gods (objects of worship) or looking for something that doesn’t exist.
Maybe that is what happened when the Children of Israel were looking at the Promised Land and decided that they would not go. Maybe they were expecting a land in which they could just walk right in without a fight. Maybe they were not expecting giants. Maybe the image that they had in their mind was nothing like what they saw with their eyes. They did not have the faith that God would give them this land. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For our faith to be effective, we must have the right substance to hope for and the correct evidence in our mind. The images that we develop from our religious teachings have a great influence on our faith. Those images are the substance and the evidence needed to have faith to enter the place that God has promised.
These two patterns repeat themselves throughout history. People create and worship gods that don’t exist. Then, they understand through scripture, God has a place prepared and promised to them, but when they are face to face with it they don’t recognize it. If you don’t recognize this pattern, it is called RELIGION.
God has always wanted a relationship with His people. He wanted a kingdom of priests, not clergy and the rest of us. When Jesus appeared on the scene, religion (Judaism) had created a special class of people that heard from God and delivered the message to people. This resulted in religion becoming big business. Worship became the buying and selling of animals, so you could have the right sacrifice. Relationship with God became keeping all the rules, so God would be happy. Finally, the Jewish religious leaders were teaching about a king/savior that would come and physically remove them from the rule of the Roman Empire. The Jews would be a free people again. Sadly, they didn’t recognize God or His kingdom when it was right in front of them.
Does any of this sound familiar to us today? What are we really worshiping when we attend church today? Are we just checking off the boxes of the rules that have been created by our religious leaders? Is our relationship with God just a way of making Him happy with us so that we can physically escape this place one day? Maybe God and His kingdom is right in front of us and we don’t recognize either one, because the images (substance and evidence) that have been burned in our mind for so many years, have created a faith for the wrong kingdom and a wrong God.
That could explain why being a Christian doesn’t affect the way many people live every-day life and why Christians struggle with divorce, drugs, alcohol, fear, and anxiety at the same rate as non-Christians. In many ways, Christianity has become religion just like Judaism, in the time of Jesus.
That’s why, in this journey of life…..
We must know our destination to recognize it when we arrive. We must have the correct image of God and His kingdom to have the faith to cross and inherit our promises when we stand at the very edge.
WE MUST TALK ABOUT HEAVEN, HELL, AND THE RAPTURE!

Bill

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I know we were supposed to talk about our destination this time, but I think we need to cover a few things and build a little foundation before we embark on our journey together.

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I want to start with a couple of questions – just how much should we question our conventional beliefs or our conventional teaching, preaching or interpretations of the Bible? Is it ok to question? Where do you draw the line?

Before you say we shouldn’t question, Jacob wrestled with God, Abraham argued with God about Sodom and Gomorrah, and Moses told God to kill him if was going to kill all Israel and start over. I hate it when I ask a difficult question and get the Sunday school answer. One of my favorite teachers always says that you need to run any theology by the graves at Auschwitz, where millions (men, women, and children) were killed by the Germans. Explain that with a simple Sunday school answer.

Just think about it. How did Jesus teach? Parables. Did he ever give a straight answer? What does that say about Him. He wants us to figure it out. He wants us to chew on it. He doesn’t even mind if we get it wrong first. The disciples never got it right. He wants us to the think about it. He wants us to be hungry and to seek Him.

The whole journey of life is about the seeking. Most of my life in church was about coming to get the answer and not to question anything. But the last 15 years has been all about the questions and the wrestling. I won’t say is all been fun, but I feel like that I’m closer to God because I did.

He wants us to dig in and when we really dig in there will be questions. So, we can’t be scared of the hard questions. We can’t be afraid of losing our salvation or our walk with God. He designed us and the Kingdom this way. I believe when we wrestle with God, it’s a sign that we do have faith. There’s nothing wrong with you. When we ask questions, we have the faith that our relationship with God is strong enough to stand against any questions or doubts and its worth fighting for.

For instance, one thing that I know that I believe is that God is love. If I can’t ultimately believe that, I have no hope. So, I know that any question that I have has to come back to God is love, somehow, no matter how twisted the situation is.

When all those bad things happened to Job, he called God the adversary! How many of us have been brave enough to do that? But, in the end God said that Job was his servant and he spoke right, and the others didn’t. What was right about what Job said? Maybe it was that Job was just honest with no fluff or religious rhetoric.

Here is a question for all of us. Do we have the kind of relationship that we can be wrong before God or do we suppress our questions and doubts and put on a performance pretending to know everything?

Maybe you have some questions. Like, God, why do people talk about joy and happiness and I never experience it myself? Or God, why do I feel down or stressed out most the time? Or maybe, why can’t I feel You like other people say they do? What’s wrong with me? Or maybe it’s something like – many people act like God is directing every step of their life and I have no idea which direction I’m going?

I want to say there’s nothing wrong with you. That is the journey. That is life. Those are all things that we need to be wrestling with God. The more we wrestle, the closer we get to Him.
One thing is for certain, I can’t live with the Sunday school answers anymore. This journey that you will take with me, From Egypt to the Promised Land, will be full of hard questions and sometimes no answers. But I promise we will be closer to God. Are you ready to take the trip?

The Destination waits for us.

Bill

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