Recently I had a dream that someone told me they wanted to know what to do to be ready to die. I proceeded to introduce them to a covenant relationship with The Messiah and offered to plan their baptism. However I was convicted a few days later that this was not the right approach to take.
Why would I endorse someone coming into the kingdom of God/The Almighty just so they could be ready to die. So what purpose would they serve in the kingdom and doesn’t that motive turn the covenant relationship we are supposed to have into just an insurance policy?
Most insurance polices only have death benefits and what this means is that the policy holder does not benefit while alive . The problem with marketing the good news in that way is that it becomes more about life after death than life in the present.
I do not think it was the intention of The Almighty to send His son to die and make a new covenant in order for us to go to heaven and avoid hell as the main objective.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. JOHN 10 V 10
“But these things are everlasting life: ‘They shall know you, for you alone are The God/Almighty of Truth, and Yeshua The Messiah whom you have sent.’ “
John 17 v 3So what is salvation really about
Well I am glad you asked. The Almighty has always desired an intimate relationship with man . He attempted it with Adam but Adam failed Him.
The problem is that He is perfect and set apart and in order for us to be close to Him we also need to be perfect and set apart. If we obey His instructions then that will be automatic but there is satan whose job is to distract and tempt us to disobey. There is also our flesh that has been programmed by demons to disobey through our blood line.
So He sent the messiah who came in the likeness of man in order to set an example for us as well as to die for our sins. So he lived a perfect and set apart life and had an intimate relationship with The Father. Then he died as a sacrifice for our sins so he could become our high priest.
What does a high priest do? He takes the sacrifices from the people for their sins and becomes a mediator on their behalf , so they can be forgiven by The Father and reconciled to Him.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God/ Ahayah; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Isiah 59 v 2You cannot have a close relationship with someone who cannot hear or communicate with you. The Messiah came to fix the broken relationship. He came to help us to stop sinning so we could be close to the Father. Not so that we could be ready to die.
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Salvation and deliverance are used interchangeably, because they both convey the idea that we were captives of sin and the devil and needed to be set free. The messiah’s name Yahshya means Yah’s salvation. We needed to be free so we could choose between The Almighty and the devil. This allows us to have relationship with Him and love Him.
So heavenly minded we may be no earthly good
If we don’t get to know Him now and get close to Him. Why would we want to go to be with someone whom we do not know.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord/ master, Lord/ master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
mathew 7 v 23
The Father wants us to know Him.
He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.
Psalm 103 v 7
He made his way known to Moses because he knew that Moses loved Him and could be trusted. He only made His miracles known to the Israelites because He could not trust them with intimacy.
There are two hebrew words for to know “yada” and “da-at”. Da-at refers to general knowing on a surface level and yada means deep intimate knowledge. Yada produces trust if the person we know is trustworthy.
Today He is looking for those who He can trust, those who want to know Him. Not just those who want His miracles.
Knowing is a mental not physical exercise. Yet in the mind of the Semitic people the focus of a sexual relationship is supposed to be on the mental and emotional.
Love, whether it is racham, ‘ahav or dod all involve a deep knowing of a person. Knowing enough to trust that person with your very life, to trust that person with your most hidden secrets. When you know someone intimately you trust them and bond with them. You will then just naturally love that person. All that remains to express love is the passion to be joined .physically. https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2020/05/hebrew-word-study-to-know/
This was the mission of salvation to reconcile us to The Father.
Now all these things are from God/Ahayah, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ/Mashyach and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
2 Corinthians 5 v 18
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved/delivered by His life.
2 corithians 5 v 20
Relationship is the goal not heaven
If we want to go so we can be with Him like Paul did then that is commendable. But the truth is most of us don’t really want to go anywhere. We are very attached to this world and want to go to heaven so we don’t go to hell.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4 v 7
Our relationship with Him should prepare us for life after death automatically . Everlasting life should begin for us when we come into covenant relationship with The Messiah. Our life on earth should be lived in His kingdom, under His rulership . Kingdoms take care of their citizens and citizens are required to be subject to their kings.
To focus on going to heaven when we die as the message of the kingdom is we believe misguided. It can lead to us ignoring our relationship with The Almighty and trying to use the death of the messiah as a ticket to go to heaven. Totally not even trying to get to know Him.
This turns us into users, who are trying to benefit from someone without planning to reciprocate. No healthy relationship works like that. As we get to know Him we should actually want to please Him and love Him in return.
We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4 v 19
May we love Him and not just try to use Him.