Three Eternal Destinies? THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF MAN AND THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
David
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The people of the nations must struggle to live according to the voice
of their conscience. Yahshua spoke about them in Matthew 6:31-32
saying,
Do not be anxious then, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What
shall we drink?" or "With what shall we clothe ourselves?" For
all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things.
He was not condemning the Gentiles for their anxiety. Isn't it normal
that people would be concerned about how to get those necessary things
for themselves and their families? They have no choice but to consume
themselves with getting what they need. The issue for them is how they
go about it, not the fact that they do.
However, Yahshua was speaking to those who wanted to follow Him. They
were those who heard the "voice of the Son of God." [12] To them He
said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." [13]
They were called to a higher dimension of righteousness than those
locked in the struggle of working for what they need to live. They were
called to His righteousness, to partake of it by trusting and obeying
Him. It was a new dimension of righteousness that would cause those who
followed Him to escape the chains of self-life and actually attain to
bearing the fruit of His kingdom.
Such was the life recorded in the early chapters of Acts.[14] The life
of serving one another to meet each other's needs rather than one's
own expresses His righteousness. This love between them was the sign
that they belonged to Him.[15] After all isn't that why He died?
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this:
that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for
all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for
Him who for their sake died and was raised... For our sake He made Him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15,21)
Those who have become His righteousness are His holy people, who will
rule together with Messiah eternally over those who did not abandon the
natural righteousness of their conscience.[16] For all eternity, God
will dwell in His holy ones, who are His temple, and through them He
will dwell with men[17] - the restored men and women who were raised
from the first death to stand in the Last Judgment and were not found
worthy of the second death.[18] Redeemed Man (having the righteousness
of God) will rule over Restored Man (having the righteousness of man),
and those who hated all righteousness will have their part in the lake
of fire, which is the second death.[19] These are the Three Eternal
Destinies of Man.[20]
[*] See What's in a Name
[1] 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
[2] Conscience (con-science) means to know together with; co-knowledge.
[3] Ephesians 2:12
[4] Romans 1:18
[5] It is worth noting that Paul was quoting from this passage in
Romans 3:10, showing that "There is none righteous" is not speaking
generally of mankind, but of those fools who live as if there is no
God, and therefore no judgment.
[6] This is not the Lamb's Book of Life in Revelation 21:27
[7] Those who are dead in their trespasses, as Ephesians 2:1 says.
[8] Matthew 10:40
[9] Revelation 21:24,26; 22:2
[10] Revelation 21:8
[11] Proverbs 16:2
[12] John 5:24-25
[13] Matthew 6:33
[14] Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35
[15] John 13:34-35
[16] John 5:29; Revelation 5:9-10
[17] Revelation 21:3
[18] Revelation 20:12-15
[19] Revelation 21:8
[20] For more on this topic, please visit www.twelvetribes.org/3ED/
(excerpted from "Three Eternal Destinies" found at
http://www.TheLitmusTest.org