In Philippians 2:3-11, Paul goes into more detail about who Jesus is, and how we should imitate him and why. The “Golden Rule” of treat others as you want to be treated is good, but Paul takes it a step further- treat others as better than yourself, and by doing this you follow Jesus’ example. This is the unconditional love that God gave us through Jesus, and that we are unable to love anyone or consider others better than ourselves without feeling and accepting the unconditional love of God.
Jesus was around at the beginning- the human likeness of God, and everything was made through him and for his glory. Paul says, however, that he gave up his high position and in humility became like one of us. He was born like us, he died a horrible and painful death even though he didn’t have to, and because of this Jesus has been given a name that is above all other names.
And at the name of Jesus, EVERY person will bow down both in heaven, on earth and under the earth. That means everyone, even those who are doomed to eternal punishment. This does not mean that those under eternal punishment will then get a pardon, but at the judgment, they will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Those that have rejected Jesus on this earth while alive will realize too late that they should have bowed during their life. So every person who has ever lived will bow to Jesus one day and openly confess that Jesus is Lord.
Those that have not confessed Jesus is Lord have one chance to get right with God, and it is while they are here on earth and they still have a voice to confess with. In a conversation with Wut (pronounced Woot) one of my Buddhist Thai friends, who has been asking many questions about Jesus and God, I explained about the Judgment and why we need Jesus. I tried to explain that while we are here on earth, we must accept the punishment that Jesus took for us, and confess that Jesus is Lord to be connected with God and live in eternity in heaven. He asked if it was okay to ask forgiveness and accept Jesus at the Judgment. Tough question to answer, but I told him no- we are to confess Jesus is Lord before we face judgment in order to be eternally forgiven. He asked if he could just ask forgiveness on his death bed. That question was answered with a question of “Do you know when you are going to die?” We could be taken any time, and if we have not confessed before we sit before God in judgment, we will remain eternally separated from God.
God has made it easy for us- confess our sins and believe that Christ was raised from the dead because he died for us. We've been given the gift of our sins being paid for in total forgiveness. We can remember what we were, but we celebrate who we are because of Christ and his sacrifice to glorify God and bring us back into connection and community with the Father.
2 comments:
Paul says in Rom. 3:25 that it is past sins that are forgiven.And he also says in Rom. 2:13 "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." Got any idea of which law he is referencing?
Thanks for the comment, and the question really made me think- this is just my answer/opinion- 2Timothy 3:16- "all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." The law that we need to hear and obey is what is written in the Bible. While we are called to obey all of it, there is no way we can. Jesus says "you have heard it said that you should not murder, but I say to you, if you have anger against anyone, you will face judgment." Jesus takes the original Law, and takes it a large step further- physically, we can show that we do not kill anyone, but in our hearts, if we are angry or have hate, we murder. Since scripture is useful to help us lead our lives, we try to follow it- that is our law. We should try to follow it- try not to sin, though it is impossible. We can be made righteous by Jesus only, not because we follow the Law. God's Law is a guide for our lives, so that we can try to live righteous. The one and only law that we can truly follow and obey is to accept Jesus- that he died our death, and that he rose again to show we can live a new life. The ultimate and most deadly sin for our souls is to reject Jesus, and really, that is the easiest sin to commit.
One small question, one giant rambling answer?
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