Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV
[19] “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. “
The Lord, through Moses, threw down this challenge to the Israelites on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land. For forty years, they had tasted the faithfulness of God. He had led them, fed them, protected them, and taught them through every adverse circumstance the hostile wilderness could produce to discourage them and send them back to Egypt.
On the strength of their experience of God’s faithfulness and power over the natural world, Moses called the people to make the choice to trust in this God as a permanent way of life before they ever set foot in Canaan. It was their choice either to stay within the boundaries of God’s covenant, that would guide them towards their eternal destiny, or to walk away, choose their own path, and perish in the wilderness of unbelief. Life or death, which one?
Israel’s responses to the tests they faced revealed how fickle their trust in God. When all went well, they trusted Him. When the going got tough, they complained and rebelled. This kind of “faith” would never hold them steady when they crossed into Canaan to face the enemy. They needed a confidence in God that would engage His supernatural favour and power again all the savage forces in the land that were determined to protect their territory. The lives of God’s people, the lives of their descendants, and their new life in the land God promised them depended on this kind of trust.
From Israel’s turbulent history, we know that they continually wavered between belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, prosperity and adversity until their stubborn disobedience cost them their land and for many, their lives.
Israel’s ups and downs in their land are a picture for us of life in this world as citizens of another realm. Just as Israel was surrounded by enemy nations and needed to depend on God for protection and provision, so we are living in a hostile world and need a faith and obedience that will keep us safe and strong to the end of our days. We are not only surrounded by enemies, but also inhabited by an inward adversary, our own “old nature” that is equally determined to destroy us.
The Israelites were under constant pressure to replace their faith in God with the worship of their neighbours’ gods. When they turned to idols, they put themselves in danger of God’s wrath and punishment. When they stayed within the boundaries of the covenant, they enjoyed His protection and blessing.
So we, too, are under constant pressure to substitute God’s will and ways with our own will and ways. Our old, sinful nature demands that we do life “our way”. Our sinful desires relentlessly require satisfaction.
God, in His grace, resurrected our spirits when we were dead because of sin. Before He confronted us with the good news that Jesus paid our debt to free us from the power of sin and death, we were unable to have any communication with God. We were dead to God. However, faith in Jesus and what He did for us brought about a miraculous resurrection of our spirits.
Ephesians 2:1, 4-6 NLT
[1] Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
[4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
God promised that those who have been raised to new life in the Spirit will also be physically raised from the dead when Jesus returns for us to share His eternal reign in resurrection bodies like His.
John called this “the first resurrection”.
Revelation 20:4-6 NLT
[4] “Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. [5] This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) [6] Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.”
Whoever these are who were beheaded for their faith, we are assured that all who believe in Jesus will be raised to life in bodies like the Lord’s resurrection body.
1 Corinthians 15:51, 53-54 NLT
[51] But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!…
[53] For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. [54] Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
The Bible also speaks of a second resurrection. God will also raise the bodies of those who have refused His mercy and chosen to live their own way, following their own sinful desires and appetites. God’s Word does not give these people the possibility of annihilation. They will face wrath just as surely as those who believe will be raised to eternal life.
The first death is physical, separation of body and spirit. The body will return to dust. The spirit will return to God who made us.
The second death is spiritual. Unbelievers will be separated from God and all good forever, consigned to a place of fire and torment. Hell is a real place without God just as heaven is a real place with Him.
God’s justice is perfect since He leaves the choice of our eternal destiny to us. He gives us the option to choose life based on His mercy and His gift of righteousness which Jesus made possible by removing our guilt by His own sacrifice. Our choice carries with it the inevitable outcome of life or death. We choose our path and our destination.
Why would any sane-thinking person choose an eternal destiny in the torment of hell when God offers us eternal bliss in His presence?
Jesus gives us the only possible answer…
John 3:19 NLT
[19] “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”
Those who love their sin more than the hope of eternal life will receive, in the end, what they chose…and no one can blame God for what they get!
On the other hand, those who choose life, who win the war between the flesh and the spirit, will get what they chose and fought to keep…eternal, everlasting life.