Part Six: The Promise:  What God Guarantees Those Who Choose Jesus Christ

 Let’s take a moment and recap the good news and bad news that are at the heart of this six-part blog series. First, the Bible reveals unambiguously that God does not want anyone to enter a Christless eternity—Hell—which will be a place of eternal separation from God and the love, goodness, peace,  joy, and bliss of Heaven. God offers all people the free give of salvation through Jesus Christ and an eternal home in the best of all possible worlds. The apostle Paul assures us, along with other inspired authors of Scripture, that everyone has the opportunity to find God because He is “not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Second, For people who never had the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ, God introduces Himself to the entire human family through His self-disclosures and revelations in and through Creation (see part three).  This can provide the impetus for sincere spiritual seekers to pursue His only path to eternal life revealed in the Bible. People without knowledge of Jesus or access to Scripture, but who respond to this “general revelation”—although we don’t know for sure how God will deal with them—can be assured He will treat them fairly.

Finally, the breathtaking good news is that at the end of this age, Jesus will return to gather His people—those who have accepted and received Him as their Lord and Savior. We will then spend eternity with Him in transformed resurrected bodies along with other believers in the everlasting “new heaven and earth” (Rev. 21:1). It will be a place immeasurably more wonderful than anything you or I can hope for, imagine, or experience in this world. This is the Christian story, and it ends with God’s people “living happily ever after.”

Here’s Why—God’s Promises:

If you decided to believe in and follow Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior (see part five), the Bible says you are born again. That is, you now belong to God’s family (John 3: 3; 1 Pet. 1:23) and empowered by His Spirit to live a life of faith, trust, obedience, peace, joy, and so much more (John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 1:13; 2 Pet. 1: 1-11). The sinful behaviors you did in the past are forgiven, your guilt removed, and you are empowered by God to resist future temptations to sin. As the Apostle Paul promised, you are a “new creation; the old things passed away . . . [and] new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

As a born again follower of Jesus Christ, He promises you will have “eternal life and will not be judged [for sins] but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5: 24).  This means your spiritual journey of discovery has ended. You are guaranteed an eternal home in the new heaven and earth prophesied in both the old and New Testaments (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1)—although, in reality, your eternal life begins the moment you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior (John 5:24; 11:25-26). ©

Next week I’ll begin a new series on “Scientific Evidence for Life after Death.”