Living faith and Christ’s return

There are dead hope and a living hope for waiting for Christ’s return.

People can have works without faith so it’s a dead hope. It’s only when we have a change in our life faith with works of obedience to God becomes living.

Lots of people can study about the tribulation that’s coming but has not purified themselves just as He is pure. God cleanses us and we cleanse ourselves. God cleanses our past life and we cleanse our present life.

Many people forget that God does not do everything, that’s why there are baptism and repentance:

1 John 3:3

“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as He is pure.”

Are you a nominal Christian or born-again?

There is a lot of difference between dead hope and living hope. We only stop purifying ourselves when we reach the standard of Jesus Christ. That’s why the once saved always saved doctrine is false and unbiblical. If you are not doing this daily, then your hope is a dead hope.

Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character.

The provision for our cleansing is the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. We should cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and the spirit and thus perfect holiness in the fear of God. If you see Jesus’ face to face, on that day you will feel the depth of His love for you and how much He suffered to save us from sin.

Many people only think about the physical event of Christ’s suffering but forget the emotional physiological and spiritual aspects He went through. God allowed all of this bringing great suffering to Himself and the heavenly hosts who witnessed this.

Jesus did not simply endure the pain of crucifixion; Jesus endured the wrath of his Father.

Jesus endured the payment for sins he never committed.  That was the greatest suffering on the cross. Without this suffering, your sins could never be permanently separated from you. Temporary moving of the heartstrings like in the film The Passion of Christ goes away, while Christ’s suffering goes far deeper. The entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God.

Suffering is an essential part of the designed universe in which the greatness of the glory of the grace of God can be most fully revealed.

Suffering is an essential part of the fabric of the universe so that the weaving of grace can be seen and marvelled at for what it really is.

The average Christian today does not know what it means to lay hold of eternal life. Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. This means that as believers we are to get to know the Godhead better and better, this is also a picture of marriage, we get to know our wife better and better and build her up daily spiritually.

Throughout Christ’s public ministry, he suffered on numerous occasions. He suffered from temptation, rejection, scorn, ridicule even from those within his close circle of friends. He suffered the sorrow of losing his friend Lazarus. He suffered at the unjust arrest, imprisonment and brutal murder of his cousin, John the Baptist. He suffered betrayal by Judas and denial by the apostle Peter. He had nails, driven in His hands and feet and a crown of thorns shoved on His head.

The biggest thing Jesus did on the cross cried out to the Father ‘My God My God why have you forsaken me.’ That was the only time in His life that He ever called the Father God. He never ever addressed His Father as God. This was the one time He was standing before His Father as a judge as Jesus was bearing sin in His body on the cross. The punishment God gave Him was He was forsaken. Being forsaken is a picture of hell eternally cut off from the Father, hence Jesus physical death for the punishment of our sin is not really true. The punishment for our sin is spiritual death and Jesus saw this fact on the cross. Jesus was forsaken for humanities sin for three hours on the cross yet mankind’s complete separation from God or spiritual death will be for eternity.

Human beings have to have eternity to experience eternal hell, yet because Jesus was God, He can experience hell for one second or three hours.

Many believers when they stand before Christ, will weep with anguish at how casual they took sin in their life.

The blood Jesus shed on the cross goes much deeper. We must all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. Every believer throughout time will stand there and be rewarded or punished for what they did in life.

So, are you in fear of His return?

God will expose the things hidden in darkness like human thoughts, and everything we do that people can’t see. People can be completely impure in their thoughts but outside appear to be the purest individual. The motives of men’s hearts will also be exposed, why you did what you did?

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