Every person faces an eternal destiny. When we study the word of God, it is seen to be a fact. One of these, heaven or hell, will be our place of eternal destiny when this life is over.
God prepared hell for the devil and his angels but sinful man will find himself there if he does not obey God (Matthew 25:41). God has also prepared heaven: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3).
God made man a free moral agent: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
It is a choice man has to make — it is not made by God or any other being. It is left up to man. God does not make someone follow him if that person chooses not to do so.
God provided the only sacrifice for sins, Christ. Under the Law of Moses and in the Patriarchal Age, was commanded to offer sacrifices for his sin. There was a day of atonement where an animal was sacrificed for the sins of the people, but the blood of all those animals could not take away sin.
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1–4).
He has provided all that pertains to life and godliness (John 3:16; Hebrews 10:10; 2 Peter 1:3). It is up to us as individuals to either obey God or reject him.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” (Hebrews 5:8-9).
When heaven and hell are compared, it is unbelievable that some live such lives of sin. Heaven is described as a place of rest, no sorrow or crying — a place of joy, living with Christ throughout all eternity (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 21:4; Matthew 25:23; John 14:13).
Knowing the things men suffer in life, and the glories of heaven that await, who would not want to go to heaven? Hell is pictured a place of weeping, with no rest, everlasting fire, without Christ, and a place of anguish (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 14:11; Matthew 25:30, John 8:21). Who would actively seek this place as an eternal home?
God’s plan of salvation as told in the New Testament is: hear, Romans 10:17; believe, Hebrews 11:6; repent, Acts 17:30; confess, Romans 10:9,10; baptism, Acts 2:38; and living a faithful life, Revelation 2:10.
Their obedience or disobedience to God’s word will settle one’s destiny. So who determines where we will spend eternity? The choice is ours.
What are your choices for etertnity?
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