In the previous posting we examined Philippians 2:5-8 where we learned that before coming to earth as Jesus the carpenter He and the divine Entity Biblically known as God were equal in every way. They were equal in power, knowledge, etc. Both were composed of spirit bodies. The lived in unimaginable splendor in peace and perfect harmony. Their desires became reality at will and instantly. What more could two perfect, immortal, omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (all present) Beings want or need? The answer is–nothing. The lacked nothing, possessed everything and knew that if they wanted anything else it was theirs with a thought. They had it all.

Incredibly, everything they possessed was not enough. They were lacking one thing. They wanted a race of beings that would worship, serve and obey Them simply BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO OUT OF LOVE FOR THEM. They wanted this new race to inhabit the earth which They were about to turn into an incredible paradise, beginning with the Garden of Eden. The responsibility of their final creation would be to take care of earth. We are told in Genesis 1:26-28 that man was to “Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it (make use of it’s natural resources) and have DOMINION (absolute power) over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth,” which included the Serpent–Lucifer–who had been cast down to earth following his rebellion against Them (the Gods). Read The Unknown Power of God’s Very Elect. Key word–Unknown.

God’s (plural–“Elohim”–Gen. 1:1) will was to create two beings like Themselves who would CHOOSE to obey Them of their own free will. The Elohim would call Their God-like beings “man” (Heb.–Adam). Man would reproduce others like themselves, thereby creating a species that would be like the God’s in “form” and “fashion” (physically), and would have the POTENTIAL to be like Them spiritually.

Man would have no choice relative to his physical form and fashion, but would have total choice relative to his spiritual being. Because of man’s ability to choose either to obey or not obey Them, the Word would later come to earth as a man in order to show man not only that he (man) COULD obey Them (the Gods), but that he MUST do so in order to live forever with them in a universal paradise. To emphasize this Truth, They would give Him ministers to tell them what to do, but would also have Their commands recorded and preserved until the end of the age when a new heaven and new earth would be created for those who obeyed Them.

Which brings us to today, those written commands and the part that the Word (Jesus of Nazareth) plays in the lives of those who obey Them. These people will desire to live with Them for eternity in an earthly paradise from which they (obedient man and Jesus) will one day rule the galaxies from their headquarters in what is now called the Holy (Promised) Land. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom. This brings us to the Word of God (Elohim) and the part that Word plays in mankind’s eternal future.

God so loves man that He placed in writing His instructions for WORKING (obeying) his way into His (God’s) kingdom when the time of this earth’s civilizations has come to an end. Those who have strictly followed the Lord’s instructions (commands) will, at some future time, be taken into His kingdom from where they will rule the earth and those upon it. After a thousand years of earthly rule (the millennium) they will become caretakers of the entire universe. Read God’s Very Elect: Caretakers …. Key word Caretakers. The question that must be answered is: WHAT ARE THE WORKS THAT I MUST DO IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD AT THE END OF THIS LIFE?

Herein lies the ultimate problem relative to who makes the cut and who does not. Two forces have produced the rules for making the cut–church parlance, to “get to heaven.” To be Biblically clear, heaven is not an option. No human being has gone or is going to heaven except Jesus Christ, if, that is, we can take Him at His Word (Jn. 3:13). Read Is There Life After Death? Key word–Death. THE PROBLEM lies in the fact that man must choose between the eternal “holy, just and good” Word/Law of God and the many versions of the Word–man’s smorgasbord of “gospels” known as “church doctrine.” God tells us that we will be JUDGED BY EVERY WORD THAT CAME FROM HIS MOUTH (Mat. 4:4/Jn. 12:48–read vss 40-50). “Every Word” actually means “EVERY WORD.” He tells us that not one jot or tittle (like a period or question mark) can be eliminated from His Law until that Law has been fulfilled (fully obeyed) by every human being on earth (Mat. 5:18). Jesus came to earth to magnify the Law and to return it to its honorable place in the life of man (Isa. 42:21). This is the same Law that was supposedly “nailed to the cross” by those who offer a “new and improved interpretation” of God’s Word/Truth (Jn. 17:17).

We will end this series by correcting a deadly interpretation (sin–2 Pet. 1:20) which Satan has inspired Scripture interpreters to concoct. This version is found in the focal passage of this series. In Philippians 2: 12 we find these Spirit-inspired Words: “work out your own salvation ….” The masses have taken those words to mean that we can, as one man told me, “interpret the Bible any way we want to.” The existence of several hundred denominations, faiths, cults, congregations, sects, etc. tells us that man has done exactly that. However, by reading the words that accompany the quote we find Paul supplying a caveat (condition) that limits one’s “working out” of salvation to only one possibility. Paul writes: “As you have ALWAYS OBEYED ….” Obeyed Who? “JESUS CHRIST THE LORD” as he noted in the previous verse. Why only one way? So as to “GLORIFY GOD THE FATHER.” With those Words in mind we are to “work out our own salvation with FEAR AND TREMBLING.” Fear of whom? CHRIST AND HIS FATHER. How do we do that? BY ALIGNING OUR LIVES WITH THEIR WORDS. Billions of salvation seekers have in the past have worked out their own salvations by interpreting the Holy Scriptures so as to light up with their own theology. Nothing has changed. Today, billions are doing the same thing to their peril. The are following in the religious footsteps of Adam and Eve and will achieve the same outcome. Religious man is sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind. L.J.