The Gospel

True believers and followers of Jesus love the Bible as the most wonderful book in the world, accepting it as the very words of God. Christians believe that the Bible contains great wisdom of eternal value, revealing the way for us to come into a right relationship with God. As we consider the message of this ancient book we are deeply impressed by God's power, holiness and glory, and we are greatly challenged by his standard of perfection.

As we read God's word we become more aware of our profound imperfection and constant wrong-doings. We recognize our disobedience and confess that we are unholy and guilty in God's sight. Therefore we are in great danger of facing His righteous anger. One thing is for certain, that we must all face God in the end.

However God is delaying that final great day of judgement having great patience and love for the people of his creation. The end is coming, and many Christians sense that it is quite near. But God is delaying that final day. He is delaying the end so that he may show many people greater mercies and kindness, and so that his truth and wisdom may first be proclaimed throughout the world.

God's truth is that his son, Jesus can save us from his coming wrath.

God graciously invites all people to come in prayer, to approach him in good faith, through Jesus. By coming to know God through Jesus we may be rescued, and have his fierce anger turned away on that final day of judgement. Although we are guilty we may freely receive God's forgiveness. Even today we may know his help and salvation, and receive the joy and hope of eternal life.

God graciously invites us, and his kind invitation is exactly what we need. Without his help we would be cut of from God, forever lost in spiritual darkness and eventually facing complete destruction. This is because God is perfect, holy and glorious, and we are the very opposite.

We are naturally disobedient, trapped in sin, and therefore even from birth we are weak and helpless in our corruption and completely unable to attain a perfect holiness that would suitably match that of God's. We would be destined to clash terribly with our creator, but God is very kind and gracious.

God's son, Jesus opens the way for all who believe in him to come to God. If we come it must be with a humble attitude of repentance, but we may now come and enter into a new relationship with God. He offers a good and joyful relationship with freedom from sin, and eventually to attain a beautiful holiness that reflects the very holiness of God.

Christians recognize the huge problems caused by our disobedience, terrible consequences that we cannot escape, but through faith we come to know Jesus as our Savior. He provides the forgiveness that we need. He rescues all who respond to the call and come trusting him. By having faith in Jesus and accepting his kind invitation we receive undeserved blessings from God given to us freely as a gift, purely as a gracious act of kindness from God.

God made promises in ancient times that are revealed to us in the Bible, speaking of his great salvation and many wonderful blessings to come. Now those good things promised in ancient times are available to us through Jesus. This good news is called, “the gospel”. This gospel news is more wonderful than words can describe. It speaks of the truly amazing rescue from sin and death that God provides through Jesus.

God is perfect. His standard is perfection and our problem is that we consistently fall far short. We were helpless and without Jesus we have no way of putting things right between us and God. We would be totally cut off from God because of our sin, and condemned to face total destruction on judgement day, but God has kindly intervened by sending us his Son on a rescue mission.

God sent Jesus to redeem a people for himself. He paid the price, and it was expensive, for our debt was huge. But God has paid the price. It cost God his very own son. He gave us Jesus, his one and only perfect son to be a sacrifice, to die as a criminal on a cross on our behalf. Jesus died to pay the price for our sin and to save us from God's coming wrath.

Jesus was fully obedient to his father. He was completely righteous and sinless, and he died as the perfect sacrifice in which he was able to bear all our sinful wrong-doings, and take the punishment that we deserve.

By his own blood Jesus has made peace available between God and man. He died to make full amends, to remove all our wrongs and failures so that in the end all things may eventually be put right. Those who accept the perfect righteousness that Jesus makes available can only accept it as a loving act of divine rescue. It is thanks to God's amazing grace, mercy and undeserved kindness.

Many people face an important decision today, and the time for making this decision is limited. Jesus is going to return and when he does it will be too late to respond, and those who refused or delayed coming to God will miss out. But those who choose to trust in Jesus will be rewarded when all is revealed on the great and glorious day of the Lord.

This great salvation is currently unseen and primarily spiritual in nature, but we believe that it will soon come in a fully physical form. It will come with great power and glory at the end. So we who believe long for that great day to come and we persevere in the faith. If we remain faithful to God and continue in the faith to the end, he will remain faithful to us and bring us safely through the day of judgement.

We need not fear what is still to come because even death itself will be overcome on that final day when Jesus returns. All people must face God's coming judgement, but God's people will be saved. Jesus will be with us and we will follow him. When Jesus comes he will raise us up into glory, and we will enjoy the perfect blessings of eternal life with our Father in heaven.

Praise be to God.

As sinners God now invites us to come to him through Jesus, and to approach with a humble attitude of repentance, and a willingness to turn away from sin. We respond by coming to God in prayer, confessing our faults and asking for his forgiveness. If we do so we may put our trust in Jesus and approach God with confidence. By faith we receive complete forgiveness and God's blessings of eternal life.

There is no other way to approach God but with humility and in repentance. If you feel unable to approach God in a suitable manner just understand that it is not actually you but Jesus who God deals with. Jesus is our priest, our great high priest, and he is very gracious, patient, merciful and kind. He faced God himself on our behalf, bearing our sin and enduring God's wrath so that we may be forgiven.

Jesus invites us to come not as good people, but rather as we are, as sinners. He invites guilty people and the sick to come to him for forgiveness, and to be made well. He cures us of sin so that all may be well with our souls.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that if you try harder you can achieve God's acceptance. When we understand God's holiness and recognise our sinfulness we can only beg God and cry out to him in prayer for his salvation. And the only thing that we actually need to do to receive his salvation is to trust him by putting our faith in Jesus. The first step is to simply ask for God's forgiveness, and then we believe in the power of God's sacrifice.

God sacrificed his Son for us, to meet our great need for forgiveness and his perfect righteousness is available to all who ask. However it is only available as a free gift. Salvation is by faith alone. We cannot earn it and could never deserve it. Our salvation is completely a work of God achieved by Jesus through his sacrificial death on the cross, and confirmed when he rose from the dead, victorious.

Jesus' resurrection is proof that his rescue mission was a success. After three days in the tomb Jesus rose from the grave, and appeared to many people. Their testimonies are recorded and the historical veracity of the Scriptures bears up to the greatest scrutiny.

Jesus' resurrection was prophesied to occur many centuries before he came and these prophecies are preserved in documents found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, documents that were hidden nearly two centuries prior to Jesus' crucifixion. There is plenty of trustworthy evidence that God has safely guarded his word from corruption and that the Bible is completely reliable and true.

The truth is that those who call out to God humbly, confessing their great need and asking God for his forgiveness receive complete forgiveness through Jesus. His forgiveness is a gift paid for by his blood at the cross.

It is a spiritual washing. We are cleansed, made perfectly clean on the inside, and purified within the soul. It comes thanks to God's deep love and amazing grace through Jesus.

God's sacrifice for mankind is an awesome, mysterious and glorious concept, and one that deserves much time and attention. By the power of his sacrifice, if we continue in faith, we will not be destroyed. When the end comes we will receive eternal life in the most full and physical way.
 

The Coming Perfection

It is an amazing thing that we, who are currently still sinners will one day be able to stand in the presence of our perfect and holy God, and receive his eternal blessing. It is only possible by the blood of God's perfect Son, Jesus.

Only Jesus can pay the debts that we owe for the sins that we have committed. Jesus' blood is so powerful that by simply asking, believing and entrusting our lives to God, he washes us completely clean and makes us thoroughly pure. He makes us so perfectly pure and holy that we may stand before God on judgement day, and go free.

There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We can't achieve our own goodness, or our own righteousness. We can't negotiate our own peace deal with God. We can only accept his righteousness in the way that he chooses. God's righteousness is only available to us through trusting in Jesus. There is no other way.

John 14v5-6
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

By putting our faith in Jesus we are blessed to receive his perfect record in place of our broken one. By believing in him we are set free from the guilt of all our shameful behavior, and every sin we ever committed. It is nailed to the cross and dealt with by Jesus. Therefore, in the end, instead of facing death and punishment, we will receive eternal life with perfect freedom from sin, enjoying great blessing, glory and honor.

Already, even today we experience a taste of this freedom as the power of God in our lives gives us a new mind with the ability to say no to sin. So we begin to transform our lives today. We have God's power and can now put off our old disobedient ways. So we begin a new walk, and set new goals. We are now free to run in a new race contending for the gospel of Jesus, and to live new lives growing in joyful obedience to God.

As we get to know Jesus more deeply, learning to always trust him, we grow in love and appreciation of God's kindness for washing us clean and removing our sin. Our freedom from sin grows as we put faith into action, learning obedience and growing in spiritual maturity and holiness. We continue to grow in our understanding of God's divine sacrifice, the power of his blood at the cross, and his undeserved love and righteousness. We rejoice in being set free from the power of sin and death.

But Christian life isn't a smooth journey. Often it takes time to overcome old sinful habits, and sometimes we might struggle, and slip back into old ways. But when this happens we must come back to the cross again to ask God's forgiveness. We must continue in repentance, getting back up again, turning away from sin and continuing on in our spiritual walk. We must learn to persevere and to overcome the devil by the power of the cross of Christ.

No Christian continues to live in his or her sin.

1 John 3v5-6
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

1 John 3v8b-9
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

This does not mean that we achieve perfection in this life. Anyone who claims to have completely overcome sin already is a liar. But through Jesus we break the chains of sin and the continuity of our slavery to sin is broken. We break the sin cycle with acts of obedience.

We give our full allegiance to God. If we get caught in sin again we come back to the cross of Christ and pray. Every day we come in prayer to the cross of Christ and continue the spiritual fight. We battle against the devil, and by the power of God through faith in Jesus we break the chains of sin and death and live victorious lives that bring glory to God.

We experience a spiritual transformation that begins in our hearts. Our new passion is evidence that we have spiritually crossed over from death to eternal life. Currently we are far from perfect, but our growing acts of obedience to God are evidence that in Christ we will be victorious and eventually, in the end we will attain his perfection.

Not by our perfection – we have none. Rather it is the perfection of Jesus that is given to us through faith.

When judgement day eventually arrives the spiritual blessings that we already enjoy will become fully physical and eternally glorious. Therefore we long for that great and glorious Day of the Lord. We long for the end to come when Jesus will do as promised and give us the glory and power of his perfect Kingdom. Then we will be perfect as he is perfect, and for this we wait patiently knowing that in Christ we will cross to victory.

At this stage the new life that we receive by faith is primarily a spiritual kind of life within our hearts and minds. It begins as a spiritual birth and as we grow in faith it becomes more outwardly evident in our behavior and testimony. We put to death our old sinful ways and start learning to behave according to the perfect ways of Jesus.

Therefore, as we come to know the grace and mercy of Jesus, with joy and thankfulness we say that we are "born again". Our testimony is that we have become “children” of God and members of his eternal family.

As we meditate on God's word, the Scriptures, we learn about God's perfect plans for us. These plans he reveals in prophecy in terms of his relationship to his children and to his family. We also learn about his plans for us in terms of his place, his holy temple, his city, the heavenly city of Zion, and his nation, the Kingdom of God.

God is planing to glorify his people, and these prophecies about God's place are actually about us.

As God's children we are heirs of his Kingdom. Already we are a kingdom of priests while we care for our spiritual family. We are also prophets while we speak God's truth, and we are kings while we triumph over sin, and we reign in life through Christ. So we are prophets, priests and kings, fulfilling many ancient prophecies.

As believers we are the temple of God. We are Jerusalem, and the very Israel of God. But we don't yet enjoy the physical blessings of these things. We have not yet physically entered into the promised land. We are the fulfillment of so many of the old testament prophecies, but we don't yet fulfill all prophecy, however in Christ we will soon, when he comes.

We belong to God and are the apple of his eye, but currently we sojourn in the wilderness of this world. We have not yet arrived at our destination.

God's kingdom has come though Jesus and is in our hearts, but it has not yet arrived in an outward or physical way. So we long for a day when all prophecy is fulfilled. We long for the day of the Lord.

Death still reigns in our physical bodies, but his kingdom is growing within our hearts. Therefore we want to please God, and to serve him as our heavenly Father and Lord even while we still live in this broken world. We are now citizens of heaven, but still living in a foreign land. However Jesus will soon come to get us when that final day arrives.

While we wait for the glorious day of the Lord when Jesus will come and take us home, God is with us and he helps us. He helps us now by putting his holy Spirit into our hearts for continual guidance and encouragement. The Spirit reminds us of God's words of truth, and he leads us to repentance. He encourages us to trust in Jesus because only by faith in him will we cross over victoriously in the end to be with our Father in heaven.

In this world our spiritual family consists of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are the Church. We are very imperfect but we show grace to each other knowing that the perfection is coming. Jesus is currently in heaven with his Father, and we long for the coming perfection when Satan himself will be destroyed and death will be swallowed up in victory.

Until then Jesus is with us by his Spirit, and he empowers us to continue on in the faith. God's Spirit even shows us what is yet to come, and so we have prophecy.

We cannot know which day will be the day of his return, but we may know quite a lot about what to expect. We may know and understand God's plan for the end of this world when finally he will bring in the new and perfect creation to come, and I pray that God will help us to know. God's plans are awesome, and the time is coming.

Therefore we must set our minds on things above. We must learn to imitate Christ, reflecting his perfect character in our lives and our old fleshly interests must change. Instead of being primarily concerned about ourselves we start caring about God's family, our true spiritual family of believers.

As we continue in the faith and grow in obedience we work to promote the gospel and to help our spiritual brothers and sisters. As we work to transform our lives we are witnesses to the power of God's salvation.

We may often face serious opposition and suffering, but Jesus, the perfect son of God has defeated the devil at the cross and overcome sin and death. Soon he will return in great wrath and anger to destroy what is evil and remove all that is mortal. So we need not fear opposition. We need not fear men.

When Jesus comes he will expose the lies of men and overthrow the proud. He will punish all those who love their earthly comforts and feel secure in their worldly power. He will come to destroy the ungodly and end all opposition. He will remove all that can be corrupted and dissolve the sky and the earth with fire. But he will help those who are patiently waiting for his return. All who love God will rejoice on the day of the Lord.

Jesus is currently in heaven preparing a perfect house for his family, a shining city, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of Zion. He is preparing the promised land, which we call heaven. He has a glorious Kingdom for his people, and Jesus is our perfect King.

We will cross to victory in the end. We will cross from this broken world of sin and suffering into the beautiful Kingdom of God, the wonderful, glorious and physically perfect place in heaven. Our new eternal home will be that promised land, and we long for it, but we must wait patiently to receive his promised blessings.

While we wait, we continue working to strengthen and build up all who are part of this eternal city of God, the heavenly city of Zion. We do this by helping and encouraging each other in our walk with God. With words of truth and acts of love we urge more people to consider the future and become part of God's eternal family.

We speak the truth and spur each other on, knowing that if we continue in Christ faithfully and persevere to the end, we will eventually cross over victoriously from this old broken world to the promised land, to the new creation.

We look forward to seeing God's eternal Kingdom coming in glory and with power. We look forward to the day when Jesus gives us the grand entry into the eternal city of Jerusalem that is above, the heavenly city of Zion.

Praise be to God.

Are You In ?

If you haven't yet come to know Jesus personally, please make it your highest priority. The truth is preserved for us in the Scriptures, and the door is open to us, but we only have limited opportunity. If you feel the need to investigate further, do so, but don't delay. This is an urgent matter that has eternal consequences. When we hear God's call we must respond. We respond to God in prayer with a humble repentant heart.

Prayer is simply talking to God. We don't have to pray out loud. God knows even our most private of thoughts. So call out to Him from your heart. We mustn't waste time trying to hide our problems and faults. Why try and hide them? God knows all!

Can anybody fix their mess and impress God? Its impossible so don't deceive yourself. Just come boldly, as you are, and ask him, "Please, wash me clean and give me a new heart."

God hears the sincere prayers of all who humbly call on him for help. There is no limit to the power of God's forgiveness. Jesus welcomes sinners into his eternal family, washing us clean by his blood. Whoever comes to God knocking and looking for his help, whatever you might have done in the past, God is gracious, merciful and kind. He does not turn away any repentant sinner who wants forgiveness and who is willing to trust in Jesus and wanting to walk with him.

God calls us to come. If we hear God's call and act in obedience, if we respond appropriately, Jesus welcomes us in, making us citizens of his heavenly Kingdom. But we must come to him in faith and also accept him as Lord. We must be willing to trust him for salvation and then also to obey.

Ephesians 2v8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Faith comes from God. Faith is what saves, not obedience. However obedience is outward evidence of genuine faith. Evidence is important because as James says, “Faith without deeds is useless” - James 2v20.

Ephesians 2v10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We must act. We need to respond to Gods call. If we struggle with our hearts desires, or fear that we may not be willing or sincere enough, we must pray all the more. Faith is a gift from God, and he also gives good deeds to those who want to serve, so we must ask God for these good things.

If you can see that you are going the wrong way, if you have wondered far from God, if you fear that you may be lost, shout out to the Lord. Cry out to God for his Salvation. Don't walk on helplessly to destruction. Worse, don't try hiding from God. Pray with even more humility and honesty. Ask God for faith and for help with obedience.

We must ask God for a willing heart, and to receive his Holy Spirit. Don't delay. This is the time of God's favor. Today he invites us to come to him, so we must come today. Enter while the door is still open. Ask God to wash you by his blood and write your name in heaven.

If you feel discouraged, don't give up. Read or listen to the Bible and hold his words in your mind and write them on your heart. Persevere in prayer and look for ways to put faith into action. Ask for wisdom and look for ways to show obedience to God. Faith grows when we start making real changes in our lives. Persevere and don't look back. Instead, look to Christ who is our perfection.

To be able to pray with confidence we must know God's will. So we must pay attention to God's word so that we may learn his will. God hears our prayers when we know what his will is, and especially when we gather with like minded people to pray together.

Through good fellowship we can help each other by God's Spirit to grow in faith and in assurance of salvation. We help each other grow closer in our walk with God. We meet together for fellowship as members of his eternally blessed family. We encourage each other speaking the truth, pointing to Christ, and in the end he will bring all of his faithful people into his heavenly Kingdom.

Remember, we are a family of believers. We can't do family things very well on our own, so it is important to find some fellow believers. Start studying the Bible and praying with them. The Bible is God's word, the most wonderful book in the world, and prayer is one of the most powerful privileges that God gives.

Lets guard the truth and help each other to do good work among God's people for the Kingdom of God.

This is a Proverb, and it is helpful to know that the fig tree represents the people of God:

Prov 27v17-18
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who guards his master will be honored.

We guard the truth and serve the Lord. We strive to become the people that he calls us to be, bearing fruit for the Kingdom of heaven.

Physically we still need to "cross over" from this broken world to the new and perfect creation, and that will be the greatest crossing ever. At that time he will gather us all from one end of the earth to the other. But until then our journey of faith continues.

We must be ready because we don't know when Jesus will come for us. Life in this world is not certain. If we die we will rest, and then when the end comes Jesus will raise us up, and we will all be changed. On that great day we will cross over with him into glory.

 

Crossing to Victory

The day is coming when we will cross over from this damaged and suffering world into the beautiful new creation, and spiritually this crossing has already begun. When we truly meet Jesus we are changed, or at least we begin a process of change by the power of the Cross of Christ.

We start making important changes to our lives. We put off our selfish desires which lead to sinful behaviour, and we change direction. We cross over from a life that leads to eternal death, to a new life of eternal blessing, a life of faith, love and joyful obedience to God.

This spiritual crossing begins when we are awakened in our hearts to the truth of the gospel of Jesus, and as we respond by coming to Jesus in faith and with repentance to start learning obedience. When we respond well to the gospel of Jesus we cross an eternal victory line. We cross from death to eternal life.

Learning obedience often doesn’t come easily, but we are empowered by the gift of his Holy Spirit which he places in our hearts to motivate and encourage us day by day. So we learn to put to death our sinful nature and to live a new life that brings glory to God.

We begin running a new race. We grab hold of the baton of truth, the word of God as it is revealed through Jesus, in the Bible, and we run with it. By the power of Jesus, and with the help of the Spirit that he puts in our hearts we try not to look back at old sinful habits but instead we focus on our new goal. We embark on a great life long journey of faith, growing to be more and more like Jesus.

If we continue in Christ our eternal destiny is secure, however for now our journey remains in this fallen, difficult world. We have to battle against opposition. We face suffering and painful trials.

In this world we often face testing times and are confronted by our enemy, the devil. We are forced to engage in a painful struggle and must fight against sin and sorrow. But by the strength of God we persevere in the faith, working to overcome all the obstacles to the race that we run, knowing that if we continue in Jesus, our victory is guaranteed.

We think of our salvation as both "now" and "not yet". We have the sure hope of salvation growing in our hearts now, but in our bodies we continue to suffer. Unless Jesus returns first, we are still destined to face a physical death. Therefore while we have life and rejoice in our spirits, in our mortal bodies we know that we have not yet received our promised salvation in full.

The blessings that are promised to us through Jesus have only partially arrived. We receive some of God's blessings now, but others will come later, in the world to come. The blessings that we receive now are unseen, but our future blessings will be outwardly glorious and physical.

Our current blessings from God are primarily spiritual in nature. We now have a righteousness from Christ that comes through faith. We also have God's Spirit in our hearts, who encourages us and confirms that we are loved as God's special people. We have joy in our hearts and a great hope for the life to come. Spiritually we are richly blessed, but physically and emotionally we are keenly aware that our blessings are often lacking.

Many of our promised blessings are stored up in heaven waiting for the day that we will be brought into the new creation. So while we remain in this world we continue to struggle and suffer. We suffer as we fight to put to death our old sinful natures. If we want to live Godly obedient lives we will also suffer persecution for our faith. In this world we are called to carry the cross and share in the sufferings of Christ.

In this world we continue to suffer, facing death even while we receive new life in Christ. We face hardships, but if we don't give up our final victory is guaranteed. By faith we know that we have the victory in Christ, but our salvation is still a work in progress, not yet received in full.

We are waiting, and longing for the final victory, to reach the final goal, to cross the great chasm of physical death and waiting for Jesus to bring us safely to the other side. Then we will be with God in glory. We long to begin eternity in the promised land of perfect blessing. We long to be in that wonderful place which is called heaven.

Jesus has already shown us that he has defeated death at the cross and has risen from the grave. He has ascended into heaven, and into glory. Jesus has made this great crossing already, so by his Spirit we know that if we remain in Christ we also will cross 2 victory in the end.

Victory - Past Present and Future

True Christians recognize the now and not-yet aspects of our salvation, and thanks to our faith in Jesus we can even describe our battle as already won. We have the victory now, but the battle is still not yet over. So lets now consider again, in a little more detail how our victories are past, present and future:

We have crossed, we are now crossing and in the end we will cross to victory.

Christians have crossed over already, entering into a new victorious life in Christ - spiritually speaking. It happened when we first put our trust in Jesus. When we first believed and came in faith, Jesus welcomed us into his eternal family and gave us his holy Spirit as our comforter and guide. Our journey with God began when we first believed. At that time of conversion our eternal destiny changed, and we crossed over from death to life. At that time we were saved, but our crossing to victory is not yet complete.

We are now crossing (daily) as we continue engaging in the day to day battle of putting to death our sinful, fallen human nature and putting on the character of Jesus. As we engage in the struggle against sin and fight our disobedient fleshly desires we experience a kind of death. We put to death the old corrupted self, and put on the new Christ-like self victoriously.

We can even suffer persecution for our faith and in this way we bear the cross of Christ together with Jesus. We suffer with him and we overcome the enemy by our faith. If we suffer with him now we know that Satan cannot overcome us. As we resolve to persevere faithfully all the way to the end God's Spirit makes us certain that we have the victory, thanks to Jesus, and we will share his glory in the end.

In the end we will cross to victory in the fullest sense, hence the name of this web site: "Cross 2 Victory." Then Jesus will give us the glorious victory in full, physically, spiritually and emotionally. This will happen either after we die and are resurrected, or if we are still living when Jesus returns. Jesus clearly taught that he will come again, and as believers, we long for that glorious day of victory.

On this future aspect of our crossing to victory there is lots of Scripture to consider and lots to wonder about. This aspect of our salvation is looked forward to in prophecy. There are both hopes and fears to deal with as we look to the end, but if we remain faithful to Jesus we need not fear. The world will come to a terrible end, but Jesus's return will be a great day of salvation for us.

The Final Crossing

Our crossing over from sin and death to eternal life is like a birth, and the final crossing even more so. The time of our final crossing, according to Scripture, it will involve a brief struggle. Just as birth is painful, so will be those last moments in this world, and then we will cross over to a perfect life of rest and peace in the eternal Kingdom of God. Before the glories come the sufferings, but after we have endured some birth pains Jesus will deliver us.

When our work here is done, when our daily struggle is over, and as many Christians believe, after one final brief but great cosmic struggle, we will enter into God's promised place of eternal rest. We will enter into God's new creation with great joy and celebration. In that final day our victory will be complete, and it will be a glorious victory that all people will see when Jesus comes for those he loves.

This coming day of victory is what we hope for, and we wait patiently for the great salvation that God has promised and that is waiting to be revealed on the last day.

It is my conviction, and the conviction of many that time is short, and as the final great victory line comes closer the race will become more urgent, and the battle more fierce. But we need not fear because if we remain in Christ he is with us, and he will bring us safely into his Kingdom on the last day.

We know that the victory is ours if we persevere in the faith until the end. We must all make one last great crossing before receiving the full blessings of being in Christ, and only after that will we reign in glory with perfect joy and peace in the eternal Kingdom of heaven.

There is no promise that we will not have to suffer. To the contrary, Jesus said very plainly,

Mark 9v49,
“For everyone will be salted with fire.”

The more prophetic books like Daniel and Revelation make it very clear that the saints must suffer for a little while in the last days, but we can trust God, his plan is good.

God cares for his people and although he disciplines those he loves, we will never need to face the full wrath of God. Such wrath destroys the sole, but the loving discipline that God serves to his children is for our sanctification. While no discipline is pleasant at the time, God's discipline in the last days will make for a better resurrection.

God willing I want start discussing what God reveals to us through the Scriptures about his plans for the end, the build-up to the end, and our final great crossing to victory that is coming.

The understanding about things to come in the last days that I hold in my mind and heart I hold knowing that as a sinful man I am prone to error and completely dependant on God's grace and mercy. But I hold an understanding about the last days with enormous conviction and I believe that it is from God, by his Holy Spirit, so if you can test these things, please test them.

As Jesus said, John 16v13:
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

1 Thessalonians 5vs19-24
Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Amos 3v7:
“Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”

Who are these prophets that are honoured to know the Lord's plans?

I believe it is us who believe, and who serve God. If we are in Christ, we are all prophets, priests and kings. We have God's Spirit and his spiritual gifts are available to us.

To varying degrees God also gives us special spiritual gifts. As part of the body of Christ different people excel in different gifts, but they are all for the building up of the body, the temple of God, the church.

We speak as true prophets when we preach the gospel and warn people about the judgement to come. We prophesy according to the Spirit of truth because we have understood from God's word that Jesus is coming and we must all face judgement in the end.

We serve as priests and are called, “a kingdom of priests” (Rev 5v10) when we council each other with Godly wisdom according to the Spirit of truth. As priests we work for reconciliation between God and man as we point people to trust in Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

We are kings and we reign in life as we overcome sin and live victoriously for the Kingdom of God. We work to advance the kingdom.

Matthew 16v19
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
(see also Mat 18v18)

For some people the things that I have written about thus far may be all you want to know, but I challenge you to be diligent and study further with me on the topic of the last days and the second coming of Jesus. The Bible has a lot to say about it and the prophetic message burns strongly in my heart.

I believe that we will be called to follow the way of Jesus at the end, and that it will involve bearing the cross for a short time. I believe that there will be an hour of darkness at the end in which the Lord will sanctify his people in preparation for a very glorious day of victory.

We must all endure some darkness during the very last days, a short time of testing, and we must not let our lamps go out. Jesus says, “For everyone will be salted with fire,” Mark 9v49. During that time we will need to be patient and to wait just a little longer for Jesus to come and save us.

If we stand firmly in the faith, maintaining our obedience to Jesus, we need not fear. He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure. Jesus is coming and we who are faithful will be ready for him. He will raise us up on the great and glorious day of the Lord.

Holy Struggle

When the end comes, on that great and glorious day we are going to meet our creator, our holy, perfect and righteous God. But until that day we must continue to fight the good fight and walk the way of Jesus.

But lets be honest, until the end comes, being a Christian is not the easiest path to take while we still live life in the flesh. The world offers easier races to run with fewer obstacles and less opposition. All kinds of things compete for our attention, but if we fall into sin we become spiritually unwell.

Christians living in sin are as useless as salt that has lost its saltiness, like going to get hot water only to find that its luke warm. If we are longing for Jesus to return and bring us into the heavenly household of God, we have to take seriously his warnings, such as this one to the church of Laodicea.

Revelation 3vs15-19

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”

We all need spiritual refinement, clean spiritual clothes and good spiritual vision. If we love God and seek his good guidance we must expect to receive his rebuke and loving discipline at times. We must learn to be sincere in our faith and earnest in our repentance. We must grow to be holy to the Lord.

We need to be holy because God is perfect and sin cannot enter his presence. So as Christians we must be rid of all sin, firstly by faith in Jesus, but also with repentance which we show by our obedience.

Why must we repent and turn away from our sinful deeds?

Because we are not called just to believe, but to repent and believe.

These are the words of Jesus, Mark 1v15:
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Repentance is not because we are in anyway saved by our own efforts. Even our good works appear as filthy rags to God. But none the less, Jesus calls us to repent and believe, and he healed people saying, “Go and sin no more.”

We show our faith by repentance, and repentance requires obedience to God. As James says, “Faith without works is dead”.

The devil uses sin to distract and dis-empower us and to separate us from our Lord. God requires us to be holy which means to be "set apart", or "separate". He requires us to be separate from the world, or more specifically, separate from sin so that we may enjoy a good life and relationship with our creator. We must be separate from the sins of the world and holy to the Lord.

Growing in holiness is often a painful experience. Our sinful human nature resists and it can be a real struggle - a daily spiritual struggle filled with temptations that appeal to our selfish fleshly desires. We must fight to separate ourselves from all kinds of sin and disobedience because such things make us unholy and are offensive to God.

Jesus lovingly gave his life to set us free from our slavery to sin, and he paid for our freedom by his own blood. Therefore we cannot live in sin any longer. We must get rid of sin. God's perfect selfless loving ways are directly opposed to our human fleshly desires, and we must wage war. We fight against sin to purify our lives so that we may put on the character of Christ Jesus. In this way we will be ready for him when he comes.

This struggle against the sinful nature is very important as faith without works is dead. Jesus called us to take up our cross and to follow him, and although it involves suffering, and a kind of death, it brings new life and great reward.

The theological name for this process of putting off sin and growing in holiness is "sanctification". We must all be sanctified for even Jesus sanctified himself and learned obedience through what he suffered.

Jesus said, John 17v19
“For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

Hebrews 2v10
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.”

Hebrews 5v8
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered”

If the perfect Son of God needed to suffer to learn obedience, and to be made even more perfect, and to be sanctified in this way, how much more should we as sinners need to endure God's rebuke and discipline?

It is my firm conviction that God's will is for all of us to be sanctified, set apart, made ready, pure and holy in every spiritual way so that we may be ready to meet the Lord.

In line with this, I believe in a day of the Lord rapture, not a “pre-trib” rapture.

The logic of this means that we will need to endure some difficult times before Jesus returns. We must endure the birth pains, hardships and suffering as God sees fit. However, when we suffer in obedience to God it is opportunity to demonstrate our zeal, and with real acts of faith we are sanctified, growing in Christ likeness and holiness.

If we are tangled up in sin we leave ourselves spiritually naked and exposed, but if we put on faith and obedience we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. God's plan is that we should be suitably clothed in the spiritual sense on the great and glorious day of the Lord. Not only does he cover our sin and nakedness by his blood shed at the cross, but he leads us in his righteous ways. So we must expect him to teach us obedience in the last days.

Jesus calls us to be ready, to keep watch and to keep our clothes with us. God's plan is good and if we persevere with Christ he will make sure that we are ready. We will be given fine linen to wear, pure white and spotlessly clean. The fine linen stands for the righteous acts of believers that God gives us to do as acts of obedience to him.

Revelation 19v7b-8
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Naked we come into this world, and if we walk in obedience to Christ, being refined and sanctified, we will enter the next world beautifully clothed, thanks to our Lord and Savior.

Jesus makes us holy by his own blood. If we remain in him he will remain with us and lead us in his righteous ways. If we are well disciplined we can perform as good athletes spiritually speaking, and if we persevere faithfully to the end he will give us the victors crown.

Just consider this; can an un-sanctified, unholy people enter into God's presence? Certainly not.
But praise be to God that through Jesus all of our sins are completely removed from God's presence. We must be assured that by faith with patient endurance and obedience we will be made perfectly holy in every way in the end.

By the blood of Jesus, through having faith in his sacrificial death on the cross we are now justified and made one with him. Our obedience is evidence that we belong to him, and that we are currently being sanctified.

No-one can be saved by their own works of obedience, but is anyone be saved by faith when there is no evidence of faith in their life? Even the thief who died on the cross next to Jesus put his faith on display when he called out to Jesus to remember him in the Kingdom.

God is the judge, and only he knows the secrets of the heart, but there is no doubt that faith and obedience go together. We grow in holiness and oneness with God as we put on obedience, and this is done by the Spirit of truth while we live out our faith through obdience.

Be on guard. The devil is deceitful and he prowls around looking to steal away whoever he can. Make sure that you are firmly grounded in the truth of the Gospel. Salvation comes by faith in Jesus, and not by human effort. If you are trusting in your own accomplishments or character or anything that is of yourself - you are very likely in a category of self-righteous people who Jesus most dislikes. Repent.

Be on guard. If you are trusting in someone else, or trusting your own judgement, watch out. If you consider yourself a believer - test yourself. Be pure and sincere.

Test yourself. Do you really trust Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? Don't backslide or be caught sleeping. Jesus is coming again, he will return and he will judge. I believe that he will test his people in the last days. In judgement he will begin with his own family.

1 Peter 4v17
For it is time for judgement to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Please forgive me if you find fault with my work, and if you can help me do better I will be very grateful. I cannot claim to be the source of truth. (And neither can any man, but only Jesus). I speak according to the passion that I believe God has placed in my heart. I love the truth found in the Scriptures, I love the word of God and I love looking into his profound and glorious mysteries.

It is my conviction that great mysteries are revealed at the Cross of Christ. It is also my conviction that the cross of Christ, that place of suffering, will be a central part of our own testimonies if we are walking with Christ as we make our final crossing, as we leave this world and enter into eternal glory.

Consider this;
How will God actually prepare his people — those living in the very last of the last days for the great and glorious day of the Lord?

God gives us faith, and he calls us to obedience. He calls us out of the nations to be holy and separate, and to learn perfect obedience (Mat 5v48). He doesn't expect the impossible from us, but none the less he sanctifies us, setting us apart to be holy.

Jesus prepares us and shows us the way so that by faith we can walk with him, learning obedience, and in the end, after all prophecy is fulfilled, he will present us to his heavenly Father as a people both justified by the blood of Jesus, and sanctified, made perfectly holy.

When the time is right, when everything is prepared he will come in glory to get us, and to present to his heavenly father, and to judge the peoples and the nations who have not trusted or obeyed the Lord.

This is wonderful, and we need not fear because the Lord's plan is perfect, and because Jesus promises not to loose any of those that the Father gives to him.

What strikes my keen interest is that preparation for the great day of the Lord at the end of the world doesn't only involve Jesus and his sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus' death may be the most important thing, but not the only thing. Faith without works is dead, and we are called to obedience. We must be sanctified, set apart and made holy according to God's perfect plan. So this plan involves us.

So again I ask,
How will he prepare us for the day of the Lord?

As I read the Scriptures I look for the answer.

God has a plan to prepare us for the great and glorious day of the Lord when Jesus returns at the second coming, and he makes his plans known to us. (Amos 3v7)

How can we all be made ready in the fully sanctified sense? I don't think it is such a silly question to ask; How can all believers together all be ready and prepared at the same time for the glorious appearing of Jesus at the end?

Great mysteries remain for us to search out, and in Christ great mysteries are revealed. The power of God is found in the cross of Christ. Jesus sanctified himself so that we may also be sanctified (John 17v19). We are called to walk with Jesus, and his Spirit of truth will be poured out on us in the last days.

Revelation 10v7
“in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

We must trust in the blood of Jesus because only by faith may we enter, and we must be prepared to take up our own cross too, in unity and obedience to Jesus.

In the end when all mysteries are fulfilled, Jesus will present us to his heavenly father as a holy nation, a people made perfect, spotless, blameless and pure by his blood. We will be a people who are both justified and also sanctified, separate and pure, made righteous and holy in God's sight.

Prophecy

The mystery of God is that in Christ we are made one. So we must become like Jesus in every way, and may I suggest - even in the process of learning obedience through suffering, in being sanctified. We must take up our cross, we must bear the cross together with Jesus as part of our sanctification.

I believe there will be one last great cosmic battle when the time comes to put off our mortal human fleshly bodies and to be clothed in the immortal. When the time approaches for us to be changed, I understand from the more prophetic parts of Scripture that some very special things must first happen. Only after all prophecy is fulfilled we will enter into the kingdom of heaven fully glorified.

Birth pains on a woman giving birth intensify and become severe as the birth comes near. So the Scriptures say that the end will come on the world with birth pains, and gives examples such as earthquakes, wars and fearful events. But these pains are only warning signs to alert people that the time is near. They are warnings and so in a sense they only represent the beginning of the end.

Let me make an analogy. During a woman's labour we know that the end is very near when her waters break. At that time we know that the birth is very near. For this world when her waters break it will be like a great flood.

Daniel describes the end coming like a flood, (Dan 9v26b). I expect that in some ways it will resemble Noah's flood, except that instead of a flood of water, at the end it will come by fire. The old testament stories are just symbols, however the events of the last days will be a huge, and will involve fire.

2 Peter 3v4-13

They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

There are many wonderful prophecies to search out, so that we may grow in our understanding about what is still to come. Prophecies are very clear about the great deceptions and a world ruler still to come.

In Revelation that final government and world ruler is called, “the beast”, and he persecutes God's people. But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet the great mystery of God will be accomplished, and we will enter into his eternal kingdom both fully justified and also sanctified. We will enter the eternal kingdom of God with great joy on that great and glorious day of the Lord.

I believe that the final hour of darkness will be important for our sanctification. Being called out of the evil world system and set apart, being made holy to the Lord will make for a much better resurrection. However our final salvation is regardless of our own efforts, not counting our own good works. If we are trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins we are saved by the perfect blood of his sacrifice. On that final day we will be fully in Christ. We will cross 2 victory and be glorified in Christ.

Biblical prophecy is wonderful, and I want to explore it in careful detail, examining the Scriptures. If you love Jesus and are ready to explore it with me, I pray that God will give us understanding of how it is that by being united as one in Christ Jesus we will attain this great victory in the end.

I don't intend to avoid any tricky bits but to examine Scripture closely. Especially concerning that brief struggle of birth as we persevere through the final hour of darkness. Before the glories come the sufferings. When the time was right God glorified his son, and again, when the time is right he will glorify us also.

Through Biblical typology, and through his Son, God reveals his plans to us. The Temple, and the Jewish race are important ancient symbols that reveal to us how God plans to end this world and how he will finally establish his eternal kingdom. The greatest revelation came through Jesus.

Don't fear what may happen tomorrow. If you trust in Jesus and are one of his people we know that we are walking with God and he is with us. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can endure.

Having justified us through Jesus' work at the cross, surely God's plan is to sanctify for himself a chosen people, the elect of God, and his faithful remnant will be justified, sanctified and called holy to the Lord. We know that we are in safe hands. We are secure in Christ Jesus, and as he says, he looses none that the Father has given to him.

The most prophetic book of the Bible is the last book, Revelation. It's basic message is simple, "Jesus wins". And so in Christ we will be the winners in the end. In Jesus we Cross 2 Victory!

If we continue in Christ our victory is guaranteed.

God’s plan for the end is revealed in Jesus

Link:

God’s Plan