In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter said God is being patient in bringing his final judgment because he wants everyone to repent and be saved and not perish.
Repenting is turning from evil and turn to what is good to God and we do this by actively renewing our mind to be like Christ.
Jesus also said to repent so not to perish.
Luke 13: 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
I do not know how often church goers think about repenting, but to God it is vital for our salvation not to perish.
I think most church goers assumes that everyone who attends church has a clear understanding of the good news of Jesus which they must repent to and be saved.
When God first became real to me at a Campus Crusades meeting no one clearly explained the gospel of Jesus to me but often hear them quote:
John 3: 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
These words of John are spiritual, given to him by the Holy Spirit. Being spiritual you would not understand it meaning by defining its words from world’s view. Like the words perish, eternal life, save, and condemn.
As a new believer, those who said it must have assumed or did not care that I understood its spiritual meaning. So, when I tried to understand it, it was from a worldly point of view and if I continued to use the world’s view I would have perished.
God’s word teaches that new believer’s spiritual understanding are like a child and they needed to be fed spiritual milk and that is God’s words that are digestible at first. And as they grow in their understanding of God’s word it increases their faith to want more. Then they become disciples of God’s word understanding solid spiritual food and become spiritually mature to understand the truth of Jesus’ gospel and distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5: 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
My initial thought of what eternal life meant was I would never die as the person I was on earth, its seeing heaven as a place to satisfy what I enjoyed in the world or wanted in the world that was not sinful.
I have heard heaven described as a place where all our love ones will be. A place to enjoy every earthly activity, like golfing, surfing, it will be like Disney World or an exotic tropical beach with crystal clear water. Everything that satisfies our worldly flesh.
But Paul and John tell us what eternal life will be.
1 Corinthians 15: 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
In heaven our flesh and blood cannot enter heaven, meaning what our fleshly desires will not follow us, we will be like Jesus. God’s word teaches when Jesus returns our body will transform into a new spiritual body. John tells what it will be like in:
Revelation 21: 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Revelations 22: 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
In heaven God will live with us and we will be his people. There will be no more tears, death, sorrow, or pain because we will have spiritual bodies with the mind of Christ. We will always look upon the face of God and he will give us his name and serve him forever in his light.
Eternal life in God’s kingdom will not have any of our earthly desires. We will have the eternal love Jesus has for his Father.
Which eternal life would you choose to repent to? One to satisfy your flesh or one being in God’s love forever.
To understand the spiritual meaning of eternal life will require the Holy Spirit to tell you if it is true to God.
1 Corinthians 2: 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
The truth of eternal life must speak to your spirit and not your flesh.
When your spirit grows to understand God’s word through the Holy Spirit, God will increase your faith and understanding of his truth.
Matthew 13: 11 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
But to those who do not seek to know the whole knowledge of Jesus, Jesus will remove any understanding of him.
When sharing the gospel message, we need to clearly explain what eternal life is, so those who hear it do not define it with a worldly perspective. Only then they can choose to repent to what is truly God’s eternal life and not one they want in heaven.
Those who want God’s eternal life will repent to what Jesus taught in Luke 14:26-33. To love God more than family first and to die to sin. And to seriously weigh one’s willingness to repent, just like when someone builds a house or goes to battle they must weigh the cost to do it, so we must also weigh the cost to repent by our willingly give up this world to receive eternal life with God.
Be safe in Jesus, Ps. Glenn