contact@the-afterparty.nl

contact@the-afterparty.nl

Going deep

 
There are many important topics regarding God and his after party, and there's a lot to say about it. Here we will go deeper into these subjects with more detailed explanations. Of course even now we cannot cover everything, but this can help to get a basis. It will be wise to also keep/get in touch with a local church to learn more so that your faith can grow. Check 'move on' for more information.

 
God
God is the creator of all life, that's what the Bible declares, which is one of the ways that God uses to reveal himself to mankind. So for all providence in life, yes even life itself, we should thank God and honor him. Heaven and earth are the works of his hands, when God was finished it was a beautiful and perfect place to live. Now we also see brokenness caused by the sin of mankind, but even for that God comes with a solution. He will create a new heaven and earth that will always stay good. He wants us to be with him there in the afterlife, where his after party will start and take no end.

Now if God really exists and that he rightfully made these claims, then we must understand that we cannot understand God. Of course we can get to know him better, via Jesus for example, but we can never fully grasp him. He is bigger, smarter, wiser, stronger, mightier then we can ever imagine. God is pure and the same goes for all of his characteristics, his love, righteousness, goodness, holiness and so on, are all 100 percent. He is eternal and unchangeable. There is only one God, the God from the Bible (read Isaiah 45 verse 5) the God of Israel! It's not that God loves them more, his love is unconditional and equal towards all people! But he chose Israel to work and live with him in a covenant to put his rescue plan for all mankind into motion, and Israel (by the person of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) responded positively to his call. God never surpasses our own free will, which is a gift that he gave to us and that he respects as no other.

Well God is one, but he exists out of three persons, behold they are not three gods, they are three persons that together are God. They form a holy, pure and unmatched divine trinity. This is one of the things that can be hard to understand for us. You can compare it with a human that exists of a spirit, a soul and a body, you need all three to have a living human. The Godhead exists of God the Father, God the Son who is also known as Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

God wants to have a (good) relationship with us, that's the reason why he created us. A true relationship where love and commitment is coming from both sides. Even when we messed up because of our unfaithfulness, his love never ceased. And via Jesus he created an opportunity for us to get back to him and be saved and restored. But just as with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we must decide for ourselves what we want to do with God's peace offering. Do we accept his invitation or don't we? Because our free will is the only thing that God cannot change because else it wouldn't be a free will. God is looking for a personal positive response to his love. We can learn to know him via creation, the Bible, and foremost via his Son Jesus. God offers us grace, and the only thing he asks is our faith and because of that our commitment and devotion to his plans and will.
 

Bible
The Bible is usually seen as an old book, and that's correct, but it is much more than that. Actually the Bible exists out of 66 books, there are multiple authors with very different backgrounds and yet it's all a union. It's written down in 1600 years time, from roughly 1500 before Christ to 100 years after. And although old it's still surprisingly actual and relevant now as when it was written.
 
This is a miracle, that also shows that the Bible is inspired by God. Through this he makes himself known to us in a way that we can understand. It got answers to the biggest questions in life, like: Where is life coming from? Why do we live? Is there a purpose or goal in life? etc. It contains a lot of history, but also important lessons for life. God's will is revealed in it, so that we can get to know him better and to live a life that is meaningful. It holds information for now and even in the future. Large events that are happening right now were already announced and written down ages ago. And the principles that are shared are true and useful throughout the centuries.
 
How can we know if the content is still reliable and that no mistakes are made or that the scriptures have been altered? Well the same way as all ancient literature should be examined, by studying text history. All the originals of ancient classical works, like the "Iliad", the "Gallic wars", or works from Aristotle or Thucydides, don't exist anymore. We only have small amounts of copies and between the oldest available copies and the original are periods of hundreds and sometimes even more than 1000 years of time. Still no historical would ever deny the classical and true nature of those scriptures. But what to say of the Biblical scriptures then? Because compared to the other old works the scientific evidence is mind blowing. Not only are there far more copies found (over 5000), the time gap between the original and oldest found copy is barely 50 years. The Bible passes all tests with flying colors, also tests about the internal and external evidence that determines the credibility of it's content. (When you're interested in figures, check out this link).
 
Because God inspired people to write the Bible it's also referred to as "God's Word" or "the Word". It teaches about God, mankind, principles, this current life, the future and many more things. You can get to know God (better) by studying the Word, we especially recommend to read the four gospels in the New Testament, that are centered around the life and person of Jesus. Who is the perfect image of God the Father.
 
The Bible is very interesting, and it holds answers to everything that can happen to us in life. However, it's not necessarily easy to understand especially when you've just came to faith. Well you are not alone, there are many Christians and it would be wise to contact and meet with them via the (local) church. Because one of the functions of the church is to equip the followers of Christ and to help new believers to grow in their faith. If we can we are willing to help you find a good church nearby.
 

God the Father
Everything that is good comes from God and there is a lot to be thankful for. God the Father is one person from the Godhead. Actually it's quite difficult to say what's the difference between the three persons of the trinity. Their character is the same, their will, mind and goals, they play different roles, but because of this strong unity they seem to act like one: or just as God.

Now the Son, Jesus, honors the Father, and the Spirit honors the Father and the Son. Therefore the Fathers seems to hold the highest place, but with God it does not really seem to matter who is more important or who serves who. There is a perfect harmony and balance between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the respect and honoring is likewise. But you can say that everything is submitted to the Father and in that sense he is the highest authority.

God is spirit and people that want to seek him and honor him must do this in spirit and in truth. So sincere and with everything that's in them, without faith and love it's impossible to please him. Those things are also the keys of God's being, and he is looking for a match with each and every one of us.
 

Creation
God created the earth, the heavens and all the life that exists finds it's source in him. The world, the universe, nature and all living beings, in short creation are proof that God exists. Via creation we can find God because he is the creator. The earth is rich of life, from beautiful flowers and plants to the impressive wildlife, and from awesome landscapes to the colorful sea life. All conditions are just right! Enough warmth and light from the sun, the presence (and distance) of the moon, water and oxygen, the presence and strength of the magnetic field, gravity, the rotation speed and the angle of this lovely planet are all in place. There is no way that this is caused by evolution where things develop slowly and gradually. Because for life to exist all conditions need to be there at once, and we only named just a few of these conditions. David put it into words in Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God…
 
Surely you will agree that there are a lot of beautiful things to experience in life. And maybe you are willing to admit that there is indeed much evidence that point in the direction of intelligent design, a creative and all powerful being who put things into motion. God. But then a frequently asked question comes to mind: If God exists, then why is there so much misery, suffering, evil, sadness etc.? It's a good and fair question as long as you are really interested in the answer, because the Bible has it.
 
The last thing, the crown or masterpiece to God's creation is mankind. In Genesis 1 verse 26-28, we can see that we are created after his image. We are no gods, but in a way we look like him, we are self-conscious, have the ability to design and create things, we can do research and examine things, and we have a free will. God appointed mankind to rule the earth and all other living beings like the animals, birds and sea life. He equipped us and made us the head of his creation. The free will is a very special gift, it adds value to everything that we do or don't do. God gave us the directions to live a good life in this perfect world he created. And because of our good relationship with God we were able to keep his command(s). But we also had and have the freedom to don't listen to God and disobey him. And that's exactly what happened, and after the first man and woman sinned, all others followed in their rebellious footsteps against God.
 
This opened the door for evil to come in, and now we no longer see a perfect world but a world that is full of brokenness. On both global and local scale we see misbehave, awful and horrible things happening and sometimes we even contributed to some. This all happened because sin made us unclean and led to a separation with God who is 100 percent pure and good, causing a spiritual death. Because no longer we had a relationship with God who is the source of all life and goodness. But there is also good news, God has a plan for our salvation, to start over with a new heaven and earth. In God's presence in his kingdom where we will get a new life without any bad things.
 

Mankind
Mankind is the crown to God's creation, he placed them at the top to rule and take care of the world and life that is there. God created us to have a relationship with us, based on mutual love and trust. This is true for every individual, God loves you and wants to live with you in perfect harmony. In order to have such a relationship, he had to create us with a own free will.
 
This brought certain risks with it, because this enabled humans to do good things but also to do wrong and bad things. Without a free will there could never be a relationship, then we would act like robots. So God created us with the possibility to make our own decisions, regardless of the consequences, and he gave us a perfect and wonderful world to live in. We were persuaded to disobey God, which the Bible calls 'sin', causing all bad things to happen and we now live a broken life in a broken world.
 
By our own doing we were cut off from God, and ever since we felt something missing in our lives. No matter what we do or how many times or extreme we do it, or achieve in this life it will never really fulfill us. Still we can enjoy things in life but it never gives true and everlasting satisfaction, we are constantly looking for more or something new. There is like a "God-shaped hole" in our (eternal) souls, that can only be filled by God via a restored relationship with him. Via Jesus (a part of) God became human, to solve the problem that we humans had created. He came to save us and bring us back to the Father, if we are only willing to trust and follow him.
 

Love
We were created to have a good and pure relationship with God. In a relation there are two key elements: love and trust (or faith). Together they form the foundation for all other things. The Bible teaches that it's impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11 verse 6). And the same is true for love, this can be found in 1 Corinthians 13 the famous chapter about love. It makes clear that everything that we do is worthless if it's not motivated by love.
 
Love is a wonderful thing and it's adding irreplaceable value to life. There are different kinds of love, like 'eros' the love between lovers (which tends to be quite selfish) or like a deep friendship or connection 'philia'. But the ultimate form is 'agape', this is an unconditional love that's focused on the other. And the purest form of this love we will find in God the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. God is love, it's one of his characteristics and because he is perfect, his love is perfect. Even if we do wrong things, or when we don't answer his love with our own, God's love remains as strong as always.
 
Of course it's hurting God when we reject him and when he sees that we are suffering because of that. However, he cannot just do something about it like that. He has the power to do it, but he doesn't want that, because in a true relationship both parties should be willing to go for it. Therefore he created us with a free will and he respects our choices. Not only does God wants us to have a good relationship with him, but also with each other. How great is that? To be able to build friendships, getting a husband or wife and start a family. We are equipped with emotions and senses that greatly react to love or the absence of it. Because we decided to don't listen to God, a lot of evil things entered in our lives. Causing al lot of sad things that were never meant to be.
 
In life we will only feel complete when our relationship with God is restored. Without him, our love for others runs dry very quickly. In his love God wants to protect us from all kinds of harm, like a parent that warns a kid so that it won't do anything that can hurt him or her. When you look at the ten commandments in Exodus 20 verse 1-17, and all people would stick to them, the world would be a great place to live. Unfortunately just as the child, we usually see rules or commands as annoying things that prevents us from having fun. We fail to see the heart behind it, we miss the essence. Thankfully Jesus made it very clear to us. In words in Matthew 22 verse 36-39: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' And in deeds when he died at the cross on Calvary, and paid the penalty that we deserved by committing sin. Jesus is the only one that can bring us back to God. Thank God for his love!
 

Free will
God created us after his image and one of the most special things that we received from him is the free will. Which enables us to make our own decisions, we have the possibility to obey or disobey God. This gives us both freedom and personality, but there is also responsibility, because decisions and actions always have consequences.

The great thing about a free will is that our choices and decisions will hold value. We are no robots, we are persons who can live our own lives. It's what makes our lives and relationships real and meaningful. We should be glad with our free will, but also very careful, it would be wise to trust God, our creator, that he knows what's best for us. We are often shortsighted, quite selfish and stubborn, but if we decide to do things our own way then we should not complain about the (negative) results.

It will be better for ourselves as well as for others, when we follow God's plan, because he knows and wants what's best for everyone. And the rules and limitations that he gives are not to frustrate or to shorten us, but to protect and benefit us and others. That's not how the world works where people usually hope to benefit even at the cost of others. God's will is to have goodness, love and peace for everyone. And we will find that if we say 'yes' to him.
 

Sin
Sin is simply being disobedient to God. It can be because you don't do what God asked you to do or that you do something that he asked you to don't do. God is pure and so is his will, he only wants what is good, pleasing and perfect (Romans 12 verse 2). So if we are acting against his will automatically the opposite will happen. That's how brokenness was introduced into God's perfect creation, because we used our free will to act against God's will.

It's a devastating force, it brought a curse into our world and unto our lives. Humans and animals are now hunting each other, now there is decay, sickness, pain, grief, trouble, misery and other bad things. And life is no longer what it was meant to be, also because of the introduction of death. Nowadays death is so common that we basically got used to it and call it natural, but in fact it is unnatural. It's an enemy that causes a great sense of loss and sadness, especially when our loved ones pass away. Sin is leading to death (Romans 6 verse 23), and besides the physical there is also a spiritual death.

God is all powerful, he is the Almighty, but he is also pure and his holiness and righteousness make it impossible for him to maintain a relationship with others that are not pure, like humans that sinned. So our sin cuts us off from God (Isaiah 59: verse 1-2), and that’s why we miss the full input from God: his life, love, goodness and peace (Romans 3 verse:23-24). In his grace he still reaches out towards us. In Jesus, God himself came to earth to take upon him our sin and pay for it. By taking our place Jesus created a way out for us. Now if we trust on him for our salvation and if we decided to accept him also as our Lord, our boss, we will receive the life that God intended us to have. But we will only experiencing this in full when God's kingdom will be established on the new heaven and earth. Sin spoiled our current party, but God's after party will remain good forever.
 

Spiritual death
Humans are created by God, there was no luck or coincidence into play. First we read in the Bible that God formed our body's from the dust of this earth. In other words all parts exists out of matter that can be found on this planet. Biology will show that this is true, and it's not strange that we find some similarity between other life forms that are made of the same 'ingredients'. Regardless of that we can still clearly see that mankind differs from animals, birds and creatures that live in water. God created man after his own image and gave him authority and power to rule the earth and all life that lives there (Genesis 1 verse 26-28).

After the creation of the human body there was no life in it yet. That only happened after God breathed his life into us (Genesis 2 verse 7), we received a spirit from him. God is the source of all life and he is spirit, by doing so we became human beings, living souls. The spirit is what makes us alive, and the soul is like the connection between our body and spirit. The soul contains our personality, our mind, our thoughts, our emotions, that are fed by and driving the five senses. Those senses, taste, sight, touch, smell, and sound, operate via the body. And of course with our body's we can give our mind and emotions 'hands and feet'.

God wanted us to have a own personality, because he wanted to have a relationship with us. And after finishing his creation, the relationship between humans and God was perfect. Reflected in a perfect world and life, which is logical because we were connected to the source of life and goodness, yes to perfection itself. In order to have a relationship people needed to be equipped with a free will, enabling us to make our own decisions. We can say yes to God but also no, we have this freedom, but the results couldn't be more different. God gave us everything what we ever needed, still we decided to don't listen or to trust him. We chose to be disobedient, this is called sin. And we caused a separation with God.

This separation means that we were no longer connected to the source of everything that's good and pure. A broken relationship with enormous consequences, because evil entered the world. And now we are suffering, there's sickness, hate, pain, loss, sadness and death. But the biggest problem, which is causing the rest to happen, is the spiritual death, being cut off from God. In itself it meant that for all eternity we could not access God, and the influence of his life, love and goodness are fading away. The reason that we do not entirely experience this yet, is because of the grace of God who created such a good and beautiful world. Which is cursed by sin, but the process of decay is gradually.

We could never undo this ourselves, but that's not what God wanted for us. So he came with a rescue plan via his Son Jesus. He came to earth for our salvation, to make things right between people and God. And now in this life we have the chance to accept his help and be saved, or not and be lost forever. Forever and completely separated from God, without experiencing the 'pleasures' of sin, what a horror. Let's be wise and seek and receive Jesus in our lives to get back to God!
 

God the Son - Jesus
God the Son is best known in his human form as Jesus Christ. He is God revealed in the 'flesh' (the human body), and the perfect image of the invisible (spirit) God. Look at his own declaration in John chapter 14 verse 9: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." He demonstrated the heart of the Father (God), as well in words as in deeds.
 
Jesus is both God and human. By looking at Jesus we can see how God is like (as a human), and also what he wants us to be like. Being a Christian, means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus, meaning that you are willing to follow his example. Our will expresses what's in our hearts, and God is looking for people that really love him. We cannot restore our relationship with God ourselves, there is nothing that we can do to deserve his love and goodness and a place in his kingdom. Knowing this God the Son came to solve this problem for us. For the ones that are willing to live and be with him.
 
The biggest mission ever was upon the shoulders of God the Son. As a human he experienced what we people feel and encounter, but without committing a sin (Hebrews 4 verse 15, the high priest is a reference to Jesus). Now the penalty for sin is death, but being without sin Jesus was the only person who was credible to takeover our sins and pay for our debts. Thank God he volunteered to do so, and at Calvary he died on the cross for us. Because he took over our sins he also noticed the consequences, he was cut off from the Father, that's why he cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." But after completing his mission on the third day the Father raised his Son back to life, to live for evermore. This is what's been celebrated at Easter, Jesus victory over sin and death. And in and through Christ we can share in his victory and get back to God.
 
Before Jesus left this earth and his disciples to prepare everything before his second coming, he promised to send the Comforter: the Holy Spirit. Although being God, Jesus was also bound to his body and human form and it's limitations. He could only be at one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit is not bound by the rules of the natural and physical world. And after the reconciling work that Jesus did, the way is open (again) for the Holy Spirit to dwell among us.

back to the top

Faith (Trust)
Faith is a mayor subject in the Bible and plays a huge role in our lives, especially in that of Christians. Because without faith it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11 verse 6), and without faith or trust it's impossible to have a good and true relationship. We are created by God to have a relationship with us, and love and trust are the foundations of it.

God is a spirit so we cannot see him, this requires faith to trust on him and to reach out to live according to his will. Which we can get to know by studying the Bible and by looking at Jesus. We are not perfect and live a broken life, we will fall short, but here God's help comes to our rescue. Jesus provides and did what we could never do: deserve God's mercy. The only thing that he asks in return is our love and trust, our faith. That we believe that he knows and wants what's best for us, making us willing to do his will, so that also others can get to know Jesus and the salvation that he brings.

Another great thing of faith is that it is within reach for everyone. The poor and the rich, men and women, children and adults, and from the illiterate to the highly educated, all can believe in God. You don't need to switch of your mind to be able to believe in God, in fact great scientists on all areas in science are convinced Christians. Science is actually a good way to come to faith, because there we start to understand better how incredible and mind blowing creation and life are. We recommend to watch Lee Strobel's dvd 'The Case for a Creator' you can also use this link to watch it. Via the work that Jesus did and through faith we can get back to God and enter his kingdom after this life.
 

Salvation
All people sinned, and therefore (deserve to) miss all of God's goodness, love and life (Romans 3 verse 23:24). This was a big problem because in order to get all these things, the relation with God needs to be restored. However, God is perfect and pure and he can't have a relationship with someone that isn't pure. And there is nothing that we can do ourselves to get rid off our imperfect state. We were filthy because of our disobedient behavior towards God.
 
One of the most well known Christians is the apostle Paul, who greatly contributed to the content of the New Testament in the Bible. He was extremely devoted to God and the spreading of the gospel of Jesus, and he was willing to give everything. Even this man suffered from the sinful nature of mankind. In Romans chapter 7 verse 13-26 he describes this constant inner battle that takes place. At on one hand he is agreeing that God's will is good and he wants to do it. But on the other hands he does things that are not good. It makes him feel miserable, but then he comes with this mighty proclamation in verse 24-25: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
 
Paul found that there is a way out, it's via Jesus, who rightfully claims that he's the way, the truth, the life and the only way back to the Father (John 14 verse 6). Free willingly God the Son became man, to live a life of perfect submission and worship to God the Father. He fulfilled God's will, by taking over our sin and to pay the price. He experienced the forsakenness from God and he died on the cross at Calvary and got buried. After all this he was raised back to life by the Father. Jesus is given the highest name and place after giving everything for us, who didn't deserved it. He will rule God's kingdom that comes with the new heaven and earth, and reign in peace and righteousness for all eternity.
 
In Romans 8 verse 1, the apostle Paul put it like this: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We can escape God's honest and righteous judgment by putting our faith in Jesus. That's actually what God wants! He wants to see the relationship between him and us restored, everyone can have faith (trust) and together with love this will form the foundation. It's God' great love that can save us and bring us salvation from the spiritual death.
 

Christians / Disciples
Being a Christian doesn't mean that you are better than others. It simply means that you believe in Jesus and in everything that the Bible tells us about him. That he is the Son of God, who became a human that always did the will of God the Father, which enabled him to took over our sin and paid for it with his own life. But also that he rose from the dead, and that he will live for evermore and rule God's kingdom in the new heaven and earth. You see, it's also important what we believe. God's Word is reliable and learns us everything that we need to know about Jesus.

A Christian is a follower or disciple of Jesus Christ. Everyone is invited to accept Jesus as their Lord but also as their Saviour. We want to be with him and therefore we are willing to follow him and do God's will. He set the example that we want to follow as well. When me make this personal decision the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and help us to grow in this process. Except Jesus, no other human being could and can live the perfect life that is required to have a good relationship with God. In his grace God the Son stepped out to deal with this on our behave. Knowing we are imperfect God is only after our hearts, are we willing to be with him and to go for it?

So we are not better, but we are better off, and the difference is that we chose to accept God's peace offering through Jesus. Although by getting to know him better, because of the restored relationship, we learn what's best. And it will help us to live a better life in agreement with the will of God. But it's by the grace of God alone that we will be saved not by earning it!
 

God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, or also called the Holy Ghost, is very important. After Jesus literally sacrificed himself and his victory over sin and death. He became the (only) way back to God, back to life and back to the truth, all this we will find in God the Son (John 14 verse 6). God did his part, he created a way out to a better place and life after this life, but it's up to every individual to decide whether to accept the invitation or not. The Holy Spirit plays a major role here, because he is the only one that can convince us of sin, judgment and righteousness. But even if we are convinced that what the Bible teaches is true, we have the possibility to don't choose to follow God. It will always remain a personal choice. However, God openly demonstrated his abundant love for us, the best thing is to trust God and decide to follow him. It can cost us a lot in this current life, it's not always easy to follow Jesus. He was very clear about that part, but if we follow him and hold on until the end then we will end where he is, in his eternal and wonderful kingdom (John 16 verse 33).
 
For the people that choose to put their faith and trust in God and in his Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit will become a strong and indispensible ally. He will even start to live within the followers of Christ, speaking of a close relationship with God! There are many things that he wants to help us with, he will guide us, teach us about Jesus and the full truth, he will strengthen and comfort us. And he helps us to become more and more like Jesus, that we develop more into his character. The Bible calls this the "fruit of the Spirit" look at the description in Galatians 5 verse 22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
 
So indeed this is a mighty comforter and counselor. And he also assures us that we are now seen as "children of God". His presence in our lives is the evidence that with Jesus we will inherit God's promises like the access to his kingdom, to God's awesome after party! Thank Jesus for sending him to us after his departure from earth. Via the Holy Spirit we have a strong connection with him to be his witnesses, as his church, to all the people on earth. To carry out the message that whoever believes in Jesus will not parish but have eternal life (John 3 verse 16). And until that new life dawns he is with us through the Spirit, like he promised in Matthew 28 verse 20: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
 

Church
The church was founded by Jesus and exists out of all his followers usually called Christians. A Christian is a disciple of Jesus, this means not only talking (or saying that you are) but actually act like Jesus. Christians and the church are not perfect, that's true for everyone, if we were then Jesus didn't need to come. We will not always succeed in living like Jesus, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we will be able to be witnesses of Christ.

The main goal of the church is to bring the good news about Jesus (the gospel) to all people and nations in this world. People can only decide to trust in him when they get to know about him and what he did. It's important to know in who we put our faith and for what. Besides that the church equips followers of Jesus in their faith, by teaching and supporting each other. Bible studies, sermons, and the teachings of Jesus are important tools here. Also the believers pray to God and reach out to people in need. After all the great commandment that Jesus gave was to love God with everything that we have and are and to love each other as we love ourselves (Matthew 22 verse 36-39).

Jesus wants the church to go on with the work that he started on earth. To bring the people back to God and make them disciples of the Lord too. This means spreading the gospel and support the people who reacted positively to God's invitation. Jesus is the head and the church acts like his 'body' to do his will on earth. After all we shouldn't forget, that God appointed mankind to take care of earth. The Holy Spirit will help the church to do so, until Jesus returns to take us with him.
 

New heaven and earth
Via the Bible God communicates with us and through this, future events are already announced, like the coming of a new heaven and earth that will replace the current (Revelation 21 verse 1). This new heaven and earth are a perfect place to live and it's the place where God's kingdom will be established. And in contrast to this current world it will remain perfect forever. God himself dwells there, so there won't be room for evil to exist and no bad things will ever happen. A place and life beyond all imagination, it will surpass our best expectations. But not everybody will reach this place to enjoy this glorious and wonderful life with God.
 
This place is meant for everyone, but can only be accessed via a restored relationship with God through Jesus. Salvation has been made possible by the Son of God, now it's up to us to trust him for this and to decide if we want to follow him and be with him. If we've come to faith that the Biblical's testimony about Jesus is true, and positively respond to it, then we will receive access. This is what the Bible calls 'to be born again', and what is needed to enter God's kingdom (John 3 verse 3 and 5). This is the solution to the spiritual death that was caused by the sin of mankind.
 
True life, love, fulfillment and satisfaction we will only find and receive in God through a good relationship. Here on earth we decided to go our own way and the consequences were disastrous. God granted us a free will to have the possibility to have a relationship with us, sadly enough his love was not answered with ours. On the new heaven and earth we can no longer choose to be against God! Which is a very positive thing, so that history won't repeat itself. However we can use our current free will to decide if we want to end up there or without God. It's only here and now that we can make use of God's grace and accept his peace offering.
 
When we accept this after being convinced by the Holy Spirit, this new heaven and earth is our future. We cannot fully understand this yet neither how life will look like. Still when we look at this current world, besides the brokenness, we still see lots of beautiful things and there is much to enjoy. Well the brokenness will be gone, and all good will remain but far better than we are used to. This is the after party that God has planned, we'd better take this second chanche and accept his invitation.
 

God's Kingdom
When Jesus began his ministry on earth, he started to preach that people should repent because the kingdom of God is nigh. God often uses images to explain things to us in a way that we can understand the principles. A kingdom is a place that is ruled by a king (or queen), and his will is law, the inhabitants of that realm must live according to his rules. In return the king usually protects them and take care of provision of important things. This can serve as a weak likeness or image of God's kingdom. As with every earthly example it will always fall short to fully express who God is and how he is like. The perfect image of God is Jesus, his Son, that became human and lived among us.

God is in charge of this kingdom and it's Jesus who will take the throne to rule in peace and justice forever. This kingdom is not a place on this earth, when the new heaven comes it will be established on the new earth. There is a deep meaning in the words of Jesus: "the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4 verse 17). The mission that Jesus was about to fulfill would make it possible for sinful humans to be reconciled with God. The relation with God can be restored and that provides access to him and to the place where he will be, his kingdom. Jesus literally brought it within reach for every single person, through faith in him we can share in the inheritance that the earned (for us).

When we accept God's invitation, by personally accepting Jesus as our Lord and saviour, we have access to his kingdom, but we are not there yet. Because it will come after this current life, though we already received new life that delivered us from the spiritual death. For the remaining part of this life we are supposed to live according to his will. God expects change in our behavior, fruits or results because of the restored relationship with him. Jesus can and only will be our saviour if he is also our boss, our Lord. His followers want to be with him, so it's logical that they are willing to live like him with the power and help of the Holy Spirit. Look at what Jesus has to say about it in Luke 6 verse 46: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" And in Matthew 7 verse 21: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." It's not that we have to earn it, because we can't. That's why Jesus came, but we cannot fool God, he is looking for true followers or disciples. However, when we 'walk' with God and do his will, we and others around us can already experience some of God's kingdom. After all that's the place where God's will is done, out of love for him.

We have to make our mind up now, do we want to be at God's awesome and perfect place? After this life is over it's too late to decide, we decide now how we will spend eternity! God already proved that he loves us and wants what's best for us. Trust him, and hold on to Jesus. It will not always be easy, Christians also experience brokenness and even persecution. Also it means that our way of living must change. Wrong things we must abandon, we need to stick to God' s commands and limits, but eventually we will really find life because now it will have meaning. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit and the church our faith can grow and we can work on our relationship with God. Those things will support us to stay strong and endure also in the difficult times. Until the day comes that we will hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25 verse 21)

back to the top