THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #4 – From Here to Eternity, From Earth to Glory

This is Part 4 in a series on THE SONSHIP MESSAGE that is hidden in the Holy Bible.

 The Secret of the Mystery of Christ- SONSHIP

The apostle Paul said ‘I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ Php3:14. He wrote ‘According to the eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord’ Ep3:11. Paul prayed ‘The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..’ Ep1:18. From these verses, what was Paul talking about, and what did he want to convey to us? The answer is SONSHIP!

SONSHIP is the answer to these questions. God’s desire is to have many sons and daughters like Jesus Christ so that He can give them ‘the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’. SONSHIP is ‘the eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord’. SONSHIP is ‘the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ that Paul spoke of. Jesus said ‘For many are called, but few are chosen’ Mt22:14. Many called to what, but few chosen for what? The answer is SONSHIP– to be a son or daughter like Jesus Christ 1Jn3:2, to be conformed to and to be changed into His image Ro8:29, 2Co3:18; to fulfill God’s desire ‘to bring many sons unto Glory’ Heb2:10.

THE SONSHIP MESSAGE is the most preeminent but hidden message in the New Testament. God chose Paul to be the person to unveil ‘the mystery of Christ’ Ep3:4, and to reveal of a forthcoming great inheritance in Christ! Paul wrote ‘Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began’ Ro16:25.

Man’s Earthly Pursuits- Vanity, All Is Vanity

In his old age, King Solomon, the richest and wisest man that ever lived had this to say about life ‘Vanity of vanities.. all is vanity’ Ecc12:18. Solomon had the most gold and silver ever, 700 wives and 300 concubines, and everything a man could earthly desire. His kingdom was grander than any on earth. By today’s standards, he would be considered a ‘trillionaire’. Though he was considered very wise with godly wisdom 1Kings4:29, Solomon eventually rejected God and became an idolater like his many wives. He provoked God to anger, which later brought forth the division and downfall of his great kingdom and people 1Kings11:1-13. It is also debatable whether Solomon is now in heaven or in hell? All is vanity! Our earthly passions and pursuits are all vanity. Only by seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness will we profit in this life and the life hereafter Mt6:33. Our purpose on earth is to learn of, and to follow God. If we reject God, All is vanity!

How one lives and what one does in his relatively short time on earth will determine his status in all eternity. Jesus said ‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’ Mt16:26. All is vanity! These are important but rhetorical questions. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. But God has much more for those who love Him Mt22:37. The apostle Paul revealed ‘..Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him’ 1Co2:9. Peter said God has begotten us in Jesus Christ to an inheritance ‘with joy unspeakable and full of glory’ 1Pe1:3,8.

What Happened in the Garden of Eden Actually Began Eons Ago With Lucifer in Heaven

Before the 1^st fall of Adam in the Garden, there was a great fall of Lucifer and his followers in heaven. It is described in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, and Revelation 12. Lucifer, the anointed cherub Ez28:14 desired to supplant what God had for Jesus Christ and for us. Lucifer convinced 1/3 of the angels to join him in rebellion against God Re12:3. Lucifer wanted to fulfill his 5 ‘I wills’ namely, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High’ Is14:13-14. 

But Lucifer, aka Satan, was subsequently defeated and cast down to earth Ez28:17,18, Lk10:18. There is a distinct relationship between what Lucifer wanted and what God planned to give to His sons and daughters. Lucifer wanted the glory that God had reserved for them. Since God is Holy, it was intolerable for Lucifer to remain in heaven. Thus, Lucifer and his rebellious angels were cast down to earth Re12:3. Here we see that sin first originated in heaven. Untold years later God jumpstarted his SONSHIP plan for man when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, and where the serpent Satan and the forbidden tree were also there.

The Destiny of the Sons of God- From Here to Eternity, From Earth to Glory

When God created Adam and Eve, He knew that they would fall into sin and not only that, that He would have to give His life to die for our sins. This was the 1^st fall of mankind. Then 1300 years later during the days of Noah, the 2^nd fall of mankind occurred when God destroyed the earth and all its inhabitants with a great flood for gross corruption and violence, except for Noah and his family. After another 700 years passed around 2000 BC, God then chose Abraham to be the lineage whereby He would one day reveal Himself. God then came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ as a Jew 2000 years ago. A 3^rd fall of mankind is coming soon as the apostle Peter prophesied when the earth will be destroyed by fire 2Pe3:10-12. This paper is about our existence on earth and about those God had predestined to become sons and daughters like Jesus Christ, who will be in this SONSHIP company- ‘from Here to Eternity, from Earth to Glory’.

Apostasy in Today’s Churches- God’s Sifting Out Process of the Sons of God

Satan has a great role in sifting out the sons and daughters for God. An example is when Peter and the disciples strove among themselves on who would be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus said ‘..Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat’ Lk21:31. Before Jesus began his ministry, the Spirit took him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When Satan desired Jesus to worship him, Jesus said ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and only Him shall thou serve’ Mt4:10. Here we see that Satan was used to test Jesus, and that he also serves God in the ‘sifting out process’ of the sons of God. Satan does this through false teachers causing many believers to be deceived or misguided by lack of or false teachings in the churches today. Peter said ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour’ 1Pe5:8.

God uses Satan who works through many false teachers and prophets to cull out those who are not holy and humble, from those who really love God and His Word! In this former group are those enriching themselves through preaching the Gospel; the compromisers of the Word who do not accept the whole counsel of God Ac20:27; the ‘in name only Christians’, those not born-again pew warmers, apathetic, slumbering Christians, and all hypocrites. Though God is raising up His sons and daughters from all over the world today, sadly, there will not be a significant number in this group because there will be a great falling away to occur 2Th2:3.

The Gospel of Sufferings- God Uses Persecutions and Tribulations to Prove His Sons and Daughters

Though no one wants to suffer, the Bible has much to say about sufferings for Christ sake! Paul wrote ‘My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.. that we might be partakers of his holiness’ Heb12:6,7,10. God chastens us to prove us, whether we will follow Him or not! God wants us to be a holy people.

Paul said ‘Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ 2Ti3:12, and ‘..if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together’ Ro8:17. Jesus said ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake’ Mt5:10,11. Luke wrote ‘.. we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God’ Ac14:22. Jesus prophesied ‘Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake’ Mt24:9; ‘And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved’ Mt10:22. This is certainly coming to pass in the endtimes that we are living in. Great persecution is coming in all the world!

Today, many Christians in Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa are being arrested or killed, their homes and churches burned down for their faith in Jesus Christ. This is also happening in Indonesia, China, N. Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. to a lesser degree. Great persecution, tribulations, and sufferings will also come  to  America. This is now gradually occurring, as the actions of our Federal and state gov’ts have declined greatly- spiritually and morally over the years.

In America for the past 50 years, the moral laws given by God in the Bible have been replaced by human laws, trumped by men who have placed themselves higher than God: Prayer and the Bible removed from public schools in 1963; abortion of unborn babies legalized and over 50 million killed since 1973; sodomy no longer a crime throughout America since 2003; the US Supreme Court recently declared DOMA, marriage between one man and one woman unconstitutional, thereby legalizing same-sex marriages on June 26, 2013. Interestingly, this date contains 3 sixes: June=6, 26 has one 6, and 2+0+1+3=6. Re13:17-18 state the Mark of the Beast is 666. Since it is illegal to oppose these laws, Christians in America are now being greatly marginalized, and will be hated and persecuted for their stand, even as Jesus foretold 2000 years ago!

THE  SONSHIP MESSAGE- The New Testament Reveals Our Great Inheritance to Come

The New Testament is the last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, a legal document made effective by the blood of Jesus through his death upon the cross 2000 years ago. Jesus said ‘This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many’ Mk14:24. Jesus ‘is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions.. they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator’ Heb9:15,16. The New Testament reveals that one day, as sons and daughters of God we will receive a great inheritance from Him. As we progress through our brief lives, from here to Eternity, our objective should be to receive our full inheritance from God.

But this inheritance must be earned and is only given as a reward to those that overcome. Re21:7 states ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son’. Jesus said ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth’ Mt5:5. Also ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ Mt25:34, and ‘..behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be’. Jesus cautioned ‘..lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth.. doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through..’ Mt6:19. The apostle Paul spoke of this inheritance to come. Paul said ‘In (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will’ Ep1:11. Paul preached ‘among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ’ Ep3:8. He wanted us to know ‘what is the hope of (God’s) calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints’ Ep1:18.

THE SONSHIP MESSAGE- From Earth To Glory: Our Great Glory to Come

What is the glory of his inheritance that God wants to give to us? It is the same glory that Jesus has with the Father. In Gethsemane, the night before his death on the cross, Jesus prayed ‘..O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was’ Jn17:5. Jesus continued ‘all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them’ Jn17:10. Then Jesus said ‘the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one’ Jn17:22. Jesus desired to give us the divine glory that He has with the Father. Heb1:3 tells that Jesus is ‘the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of God’s person..’. Co1:27 states ‘To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Heb2:10 states ‘For it became (God), for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’.

THE SONSHIP MESSAGE- What Price Glory? 

There is a price to this glory that God wants to give to us. Here are some  things we need to do:  

• We must have knowledge of this glory God wants for us.  Ro3:23 states ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’.
• We must believe that God who has chosen us in Jesus Christ before the world began, will bring this glory to pass in our lives Ep1:4.
• We must have the the baptism with the Holy Ghost Ac1:5,8, which is the promise of the Father that we may be endued with power Lk24:49.
• We must build up our most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost Jude20.
• We must be led by the Spirit of God Ro8:14, so we can cease from our own works and enter into God’s rest Heb4:9,10.
• We must be a follower of Jesus Mt4:19,Mt16:24,19:21.
• We must be sanctified by His Word Jn17:17; sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water by the Word Ep5:26.
• We must be holy as He is holy 1Pe1:16; perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect Mt5:48.
• We must be ‘pure in heart’ Mt5:8 in order to see Jesus when He appears 1Jn3:2.
• We must ‘suffer with (Christ), that we may also be glorified together’ Ro8:17; ‘obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ’ 2Th2:14.  
• We must endure to the end to be saved Mt24:13, and must be found so doing at His return Mt24:46.
• We must be His sons and daughters like Jesus Christ 2Co6:18; sons of glory Heb2:10.
  

Paul wrote ‘For whom (God) did foreknow and he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that (Jesus) might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom (God) did predestinate, them he also called and.. justified, and he also glorified’ Ro8:29,30.

THE SONSHIP MESSAGE- From Here to Eternity, From Earth to Glory; To Be Like Christ 

This SONSHIP MESSAGE needs to be taught to others that it was intended for. God is calling a people unto Himself to receive their inheritance. Those in Christ who love God and His Word will embrace this teaching, and some already know in their hearts that this message was meant for them. To those who take heed to this message it will be as a confirmation for the seed that God has already planted in their hearts some time ago. It will then be their desire to be a part of what God is preparing them to be like Christ, when He ushers in His kingdom on earth. This is THE SONSHIP MESSAGE- From Here to Eternity, From Earth to Glory; to be like Jesus Christ!

The next in the series THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #5- God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus will be published shortly in two weeks! Thank you for following THE SONSHIP MESSAGE series! May God richly bless you unto SONSHIP!

 Please see the other SONSHIP messages.. Thank you! ~Drgold        

• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #1- Life is About God and Not About Us
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #2- What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #3- PAUL’S GOSPEL
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #4- From Here to Eternity
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #5- God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #6- A Postscript To God’s Coming Glory Upon Us
• THE SONSHIP MESSAGE #7- OUR COMING GREAT INHERITANCE