Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
| Media #1151 |  |
 |
Good morning, Bereans. We began last week looking at the subject of the afterlife.
I said that the Bible has very little to say about the afterlife or heaven, so most of what we believe about it is merely speculation. So, let's start this morning looking at Deuteronomy.
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God"—the word "secret" here is the Hebrew word sâthar which means "to hide (by covering), literally or figuratively: - be absent, keep close, conceal." There are spiritual things that are hidden that we will never completely understand in this life. The sad thing is that most people just stop here and forget the rest of the verse which says, "but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Believers, we are to know what has been revealed. So, let's try to see what has been revealed about the afterlife.
I said last week that I think that the earthly realm is a mirror image of the heavenly realm. Meaning I don't think we will be sitting around on a cloud in white robes playing harps. I think we will be living lives; I think there will be government, I think we will be doing things, working, serving Yahweh.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Genesis 2:15 ESV
In Genesis we learn that the first man, Adam, was created by God and brought into Eden, the cosmic mountain, the Temple, the dwelling place of Yahweh, the place where Yahweh holds council. How long was it after Adam was created that he was brought into the Garden? We have no timeline in the Scriptures, but the Book of Jubilees says:
And after Adam had completed forty days in the land where he had been created, we brought him into the Garden of Eden… Jubilees 3:9
The forty here is interesting. The Book of Jubilees, a pseudepigrapha work, sometimes called the "Lesser Genesis," was written in the 2nd century BC and records an account of the biblical history of the world from the creation to Moses.
The verbs in this passage are "work and keep" (in the Hebrew, abad and shamar, respectively). Both are active verbs. Abad means "to work (in any sense); by impaction to serve, till; to enslave." Shamar means "to safeguard, preserve, care for, and protect." Even in the perfect world as God made it, work was necessary for man's good. The ideal world is not one of idleness and frolic but rather one of serious activity and service. God had created a world which included work needing to be done; He created man with a mission to do that work.
We looked last week at Matthew 22:23-33 where Yeshua affirms the fact of the afterlife. He talks about the resurrection and that Yahweh is the God of the living. Then in verse 30 he says,
For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Matthew 22:30 ESV
One thing that this verse tells us about the afterlife/heaven is that there will be NO MARRIAGE! When the physical stops, marriage stops.
As little as this verse tells us about the afterlife, it tells us more than any other verse that I am aware of. Yeshua said, "When they [those who died under the Old Covenant age—this age] rise from the dead [which happened in A.D. 70], they don't marry, but are like angels in heaven.
"Like angels in heaven"—the word "like" is a comparative adverb that draws a similar but not exact comparison. The term "angel" is derived from the Hebrew word, malak, which means "messenger." Strong says that Malak is "from an unused root meaning to dispatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God." In general, in texts where an "angel" appears, the task is to convey the message or do something on behalf of Yahweh.
There are 213 uses of the Hebrew word malak in the Tanakh and its Aramaic equivalent appears twice. The NASB translates 105 of them as "angel" and the rest as "messenger." So, in the NASB, malak is more often translated as "messenger" than as "angel." It is translated as "angel" when it is seen as a divine messenger and as "messenger" when it is considered as a human messenger.
In the New Testament, "angel" is from the Greek word angelos which is found 176 times in the NASB. The vast majority of times (171) it is translated angel and only five times as messenger. Since the focus of the text is on the message, the messenger is rarely described in detail. Thus, the divine emissary may or may not be some sort of supernatural being. This must be determined by the context.
There are some within Preterism who believe and teach that there are no demons or supernatural beings called angels. They see all references to angels as speaking of men who are human messengers of God. So, they are in a sense like the Sadducees.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. Acts 23:8 ESV
Now this verse is not saying or implying that the Sadducess don't believe in human messengers. It states that they don't believe in supernatural beings called, "angels." I would think that what we talked about last week would clearly refute this view.
For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Matthew 22:30 ESV
Is this saying that believers in the afterlife will be like messengers? No, Yeshua is saying that we will be like the gods. We saw last week that Daniel also says that believers in the afterlife will be like angels. In 12:3, he uses astral language to speak of resurrected believers as stars or deities. We also saw that Yahweh said to Abram, "So shall your offspring be"(referring to the stars). The common belief of the Second Temple Period was that in the resurrection, believers would be like the gods. And they believed that the gods had spiritual bodies. This is theosis, "the deification of man." We are to be like the divine host, part of Yahweh's celestial family.
We looked at different accounts in the Bible of angels and we did this because if we are going to be like angels, we want to know all we can about them. We saw that they always appeared in bodily form as men. What is this spirit body of the gods like? We saw that they could be visible or invisible. We saw that they were powerful because they can fight with humans and other angels.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8 ESV
Adam and Eve heard the sound of Yahweh walking. The word heard here is shâma‛ which means "to hear intelligently often with implication of attention." And the word "sound" is from the Hebrew qôl which means "to call aloud; a voice or sound: - + aloud, bleating, crackling, cry (+ out)." This would imply a body. They carried on conversations with Yahweh. He seems to have appeared as a man.
Throughout the Tanakh, we see angels supernaturally helping men.
And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 2 Kings 19:35 ESV
In Chronicles it says, "Yahweh sent an angel" and in Kings it is the "angel of Yahweh." This angel killed 185,000 Assyrian warriors. That's a powerful angel. Now let's look at a couple of texts in Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Daniel 3:28 ESV
Here we have an angel in the midst of the fiery furnace who delivers the three Hebrews. Clearly, angels are used to help humans and have supernatural abilities.
My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm." Daniel 6:22 ESV
This angel gets into a sealed lion's den without breaking the seal and shuts the mouth of the hungry lions. Seems kind of supernatural to me.
Where did the angels come from? Yahweh created them.
"You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. Nehemiah 9:6 ESV
Only living creatures can worship Yahweh. Clearly, the "host of heaven" here refers to created divine beings who reside in the heavens.
Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. Psalms 148:2-5 ESV
It seems that they were all created at once. Which means there are no little angels! The number of angels has not increased since they were originally created.
Can angels die? One commentator writes, "Angels are not subject to death or any form of extinction; therefore, they do not decrease in number." He lists no Scripture; he just makes the statement.
I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince." Psalms 82:6-7 ESV
This is speaking of Yahweh's divine counsel, which are a form of angel. Brenton uses "angels" in his 1851 translation of the Septuagint into English.
Remember the days of old, consider the years for past ages: ask thy father, and he shall relate to thee, thine elders, and they shall tell thee. 8 When the Most High divided the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. DEUTERONOMY 32:7-8
In the Septuagint, the Greek phrase "angelon theou" is translated: "angels of God." This interpretive phrase is found in nearly all the extant Septuagint manuscripts. However, several earlier manuscripts have instead "huion theou," or "sons of God." This is a literal rendering of the Hebrew phrase beney elohim found among the Dead Sea Scroll copies of Deuteronomy 32:8.
The Septuagint translators plainly understood that the "sons of God" (beney elohim) spoken of in Deuteronomy 32:8 and elsewhere were spirit beings ("angels") so they rendered it that way several times (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7) in order to clarify the meaning. And since some of these "sons of God" would die like men, it seems to me that angels can die. Yeshua said,
but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. Luke 20:35-36 ESV
Remember, in the context he is speaking of physically dead people that are spiritually alive. So, the death that he speaks of is referring to any death—they cannot die physically or spiritually. Resurrection brings believers to a state where they can never again experience death, which is to say that we can never be separated from Yahweh. This is true of us now.
How come angels can die but believers can't? Do we need to worry about being kicked out of heaven? No, we'll talk about this more in a minute.
One of the biggest questions people have regards Guardian Angels. Do we have them?
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalms 91:11 ESV
This Psalm is sometimes called "The Soldier's Psalm" because it emphasizes God's protection of people in times of crisis. Verse 11 envisions personally appointed angelic bodyguards for the faithful person. Yahweh's angels will oversee everything and protect the faithful.
Then there is Yeshua's comment in Matthew 18.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10 ESV
The concept of guardian angels for nations as well as individuals pervades Second Temple Literature. The writer of Hebrews, speaking of angels, asked:
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14 ESV
Angels serve the saints. So, maybe we have guardian angels. It's certainly possible.
So, Yeshua says that we will be "like angels in heaven" and "equal to angels and are sons of God." And from all we have looked at about angels so far, this sounds pretty good. But then we come to what Peter had to say about angels.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 2 Peter 2:4 ESV
It seems that angels can and did sin. Jude in the parallel text to 2 Peter says:
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—Jude 1:6 ESV
The angels were created perfectly. They were created good. They were just and they were pure. All the angels were created as "ministering spirits" (Hebrews 1:14), and they all dwelt with God in Heaven. There was no sin in them as God created them. They had this as their first estate; that is, their habitation was in Heaven dwelling in the very presence of Yahweh. But they sinned, and they lost their first estate. They lost that habitation, that eternal blessed condition that they would have had with Yahweh had they not sinned.
Adam Clark states, "One thing is certain; the angels who fell must have been in a state of probation, capable of either standing or falling, as Adam was in paradise." That is a very common speculation, but there is no the Scripture to support it.
What are Peter and Jude talking about? What was the sin of these angels? Well, there are basically three views of this. The first view says that this is referring to one unique and special thing that we don't know anything about. That view does not fit the context of Jude.
A second view is that we're dealing with the original fall of Satan and his angels.
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Luke 10:17-18 ESV
What is the problem with this view? At the time of the writing, where were those angels Jude talked about? Jude says, "kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day." Peter says, he "cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment." If this referred to the fall of Satan and his angels, then what is Paul talking about in Ephesians?
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 ESV
In Paul and Jude's day there was a spiritual battle going on with Satan and his demons. And Jude says concerning them: "He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day." "Kept" here is tereo. It is in the perfect tense and means "at a point in time they were kept, and that continues to be their condition." Perfect tense describes the permanence of this keeping.
The word tereo is the same word used earlier in the verse of the angels: "which did not stay." It means "to guard, to keep watch upon, to keep in custody." In other words, God Himself is "guarding and keeping in custody" these angels He threw into TARTARUS. It then says that they are "in eternal bonds under darkness. This literally says "in everlasting imprisonment under the authority of darkness." We see similar language in 2 Peter 2.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 2 Peter 2:4 ESV
"Hell" here is the Greek word tartaroo. Tartaroo was the prison of the ancient Greek deities; it was a place of extreme torment.
Jude says God has reserved them for the "judgment of the Great Day." This refers to the final judgment called "The Great White Throne Judgment" in Revelation 20.
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. Revelation 20:10-11 ESV
Satan and his demons are not "kept in eternal bonds under darkness" at the time of Jude's writing. So, Jude can't be referring to the fall of Satan and his angels. It has to be a very special defection and rebellion among the angels that is recorded in the Tanakh. It had to be something that was so severe that God took the angels that did it and put them in chains; so, whatever they did, they wouldn't do again.
The third view, which I believe is the correct view, is that Jude reflects an ancient Jewish and Christian understanding that identifies these fallen angels as the rebellious "sons of God" in Genesis 6.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4 ESV
Jude's nonchalant reference to these rebellious angels suggests that this was well accepted by his readers. Robert Newman has analyzed the history of interpretation of Genesis 6 to show that the supernatural interpretation of the sons of God as being heavenly angelic beings was virtually unanimous in the ancient world until the first century after Christ. (Robert C. Newman, "The Ancient Exegesis of Genesis 6:2, 4," Grace Theological Journal 5,1 [1984] 13-36.)
The term "sons of God," which is bene elohim in Hebrew, is only found six times in the Hebrew text (twice in Genesis 6, three times in Job, and once in Deuteronomy 32:8). It is always used of divine beings and of never humans.
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Psalms 82:1-2 ESV
I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince." Psalms 82:6-7 ESV
Normally angels wouldn't die, but they sinned, they left heaven and cohabitated with woman and produced hybrid offspring.
From the writings of the Second Temple Period, we see that they believed that the reason that wickedness so permeates the earth was a result of three incidents:
In Genesis we learn that the first man, Adam, was created by God and then brought into Eden, the dwelling place of Yahweh. So, Adam was brought into the garden and, thus, into an intimate relationship with Yahweh and the divine council. Adam and Eve walked in the garden with Yahweh. They dwelt in His presence.
You know what happens next—man is tempted, and he sins. The Book of Jubilees says that Adam was in the garden for seven years before he sinned. So, what caused man to sin? The text says it was a serpent who tempted Eve, and Revelation 12:9 tells us that the serpent was Satan. They weren't tempted by a snake. I think in Genesis 3 we see one of the sons of God, a watcher, a council member, tempting man so he could get rid of him. God had made man vice-regent with Him, and some of the watchers may not have been too happy about this.
So, what we have in Genesis 3 is a divine being, not an animal. He was a throne room guardian, a saraph, a serpentine being. He was one who was part of the divine council in Eden who decided to deceive humanity in order to get rid of them by getting them removed from Eden and thus from Yahweh's council and family. Why? Why does this divine being want man kicked out of Eden? I think the Scriptures hint at pride or jealousy. The Pseudepigrapha work called, Life of Adam and Eve, elaborates on the motive and role of Satan in the fall of humankind. In chapter 16 it states:
And the Lord God was angry with me [Satan] and banished me and my angels from our glory; and on your account we were expelled from our abodes into this world and hurled to the ground. Straight away we were overcome with grief, since we had been robbed of such great glory. And we were grieved when we saw you in such joy and luxury. And with guile I cheated your wife and through her action caused you to be expelled from your joy and luxury, as I have been driven out of my glory.
So, the divine being, Satan, seems to have been jealous of man, and so got him to sin so Yahweh would kick him out of the cosmic mountain.
To most modern Christians, this event in Genesis 3 is the sole reason that mankind is as evil as they are. But to a Second Temple Hebrew, this was only one of three events that caused man to be so sinful. And to them the event in Genesis 3 was low on the list.
Let me give you a quote from Michael S. Heiser, who is a Bible scholar with a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages. Heiser says:
"Ninety nine percent of Second Temple Judaism believed that the reason wickedness so permeates the earth is not just an extension and is in large part not even linked to what happened with Adam and Eve, but the reason that people are always and universally thoroughly wicked is because of what the Watchers did. Everybody in Paul's circle, everybody in Second Temple Judaism with the exception of four intertestamental references in intertestamental literature, everything says that the reason for the proliferation of evil is the sin of the Watchers, everything?" (Michael S. Heiser, "The Naked Bible Podcast" 2.0, Episode 94)
Before we look at the sin of the Watchers, notice Yahweh's promise after the fall of Adam and Eve.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15 ESV
Eve's seed, a human being, will come and fix what Adam has done. A deliverer will come. It is my understanding that the gods understood this promise of a coming redeemer who would be human, so the gods' next strategic move was an attempt to destroy the human race by genetically corrupting the human line so that it was no longer truly human. We see this in Genesis 6.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4 ESV
The "Sons of God" (also called "Watchers") of verses 2 and 4 are rebellious divine beings from God's heavenly host who appear in the form of masculine human-like creatures. These gods married women of the human race, thus violating the heavenly/earthly division that Yahweh established. The hybrid offspring of this abominable union was the giants called Nephilim. Nephilim were giants with physical superiority, and therefore, they established themselves as men of renown because of their physical power and military might.
Enoch says the flood was sent because of the Watchers. The voluntarily sexual transgressions of the women with the Watchers was a violation of heaven and earth, and it caused humans to share the blame. The wickedness of men was their sexual union with the Watchers.
In summary, we have Satan corrupting man in the Garden, Watchers/Sons of God corrupting the gene pool with hybrid beings, and the Nephilim corrupting and destroying humans in Genesis 6. The Watchers were attempting to corrupt the human bloodline to stop the Messiah from being born.
So, angels can and did sin, and we will be like angels. Will we be able to sin in heaven?
Within the sphere of Preterism there are those who are saying that sin ended in AD 70, and therefore, we do not sin today. Don't you wish? In AD 70, Christ came and put an end to "the sin" and "the death," but only for those who are in Him.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Yeshua. Romans 8:1 ESV
The Greek word that Paul uses here for "condemnation" is katakrima. It is in a passive form in the Greek, therefore, it is not likely to refer to the sentence as an edict from the judge but rather to the punishment. Adam's sin is imputed to all. The condemnation is spiritual death or separation from God. For those who trust Christ, the punishment of Adam's sin, spiritual death, is removed. "The sin" of Adam that brought death is removed in Christ. We are no longer subject to spiritual death. In Christ we have life everlasting.
Sin is missing the mark, and we all miss the mark. And we always will. Thank Yahweh that we have been given Christ's righteousness. A misunderstanding of what Scripture is saying has caused many believers to doubt and question their salvation. The mistranslation of this verse is case in point.
For one who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:7 ESV
A misunderstanding of this verse can cause a Christian much guilt and doubt. Paul has taught that all who have trusted Christ have died in union with Christ. And now this verse says that the one who died is free from sin. But you still sin? What does this mean? Are you not a Christian after all? No, no, no! This verse is not teaching that Christians are free from sin. Not at all. What Paul says here is that the one who died in Christ is justified from "the" sin. The sin of Adam. The Greek word here translated "set free" is dikaioo and should be translated "justified."
But beyond AD 70, men still sin. Hang on this one—Christians still sin. Most believers think that we will be free from our sinful tendencies in heaven. To support a sin-free state in heaven, Futurists use verses like 1 John 3:2.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ESV
This talks about what took place at the parousia. Believers are like Him, yet we still sin. As a Preterist, what verses would you use to support a sin-free state in heaven? We all seem to assume that heaven will be a sin-free zone, but do the Scriptures support that?
My "AT&T" position is that man's nature is prone to sin. When Yahweh gives us a command, we are prone to break it. Many think that man's sinful nature is a result of Adam's fall. I don't think so. Condemnation came as a result of Adam's sin, but I believe that man was always sinful by nature. If man's sinful nature is a result of the fall, what caused Adam's sinful nature? As a believer in Christ, do you still sin? Let me ask your spouse. Sure, you do. We all do. Some more than others. I think it is part of being human. So, when we get to heaven, I kind of doubt that we will be sin-free. Sin seems innate in humanity. As Preterists we believe that we are in Christ, so what will change when we die?
Let me stress that this is my opinion based on what I see in Scripture. I am open to discuss it. If you can prove me wrong on this, I'd be grateful. Here's what I'm thinking. I think that human nature is sinful, Adam was sinful, Israel was sinful, Christians are sinful so receiving eternal life, the righteousness of Christ, and becoming citizens of the Kingdom, becoming part of the body of Christ hasn't made us sinless. So, I don't see why physical death will make us sinless. I don't think that we undergo a sinectomy at physical death. I don't see that there is another work of Yahweh that we partake of at death. Is there something more that must be done to fit us for heaven? If so, where is it talked about in Scripture?
Adam was under the law of sin and death; when he sinned, he died. We are not under that law:
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Yeshua from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2 ESV
Paul says that the Torah of the Spirit "has set you free"—he is talking of setting slaves free, this is exodus language. Those in Christ are brought out of the Egypt of sin and death and made citizens in the Kingdom of God. We still sin, but death is not the result of our sin because Christ died and paid our sin debt in full.
I think that for Yahweh to make us sinless in heaven would be to remove our volition. I also think that if sin is possible in heaven, then Yahweh will be more honored and glorified when we live holy as opposed to taking away all possibility to sin.
That said, I think that heaven will be very different than life as we know it. We will have a spiritual body that is capable of amazing things. As we leave the physical realm and move into the unhindered presence of Yahweh, I think that we will see sin for what it is, and it will horrify us. We will have no desire to sin in the presence of the glory of Yahweh.
Some angels/sons of God sinned and because of that were thrown out of heaven. Although we may sin in heaven, we will never be thrown out, we have Christ's righteousness, the angels never did. We were given eternal life when we trusted Christ. We are in union with Christ; angels never were. I think that if someone does sin in heaven, he will be disciplined by our heavenly Father or maybe from someone of higher rank than that one who sinned. There are ranks of authority with angels, and I think there will also be with us.
If this view bothers you maybe it's because you are lax in your spiritual discipline and allow yourself to sin way too often. And you are hoping that once you get to heaven, you won't have to worry about it anymore because you won't have the ability to sin. Why not get serious about dealing with your sin now. Why not work on abiding in Christ and being controlled by the Spirit and walking in holiness now? Yahweh calls us to be holy now, because He is holy. What if our status or position in heaven is determined by how we live and what we do here?
| Continue the Series |