Believed

The Bible tells us when mistakes are made. One of my favorites is a “Gotcha!!” question put forward by Sadducees. These Jews did not believe in eternal life, though they studied the scriptures. Christ’s response to them resounds today:

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29 KJV)

As His response continues, He explains a bit about heaven:

For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (Matthew 22:30 KJV)

We’re given just a glimpse of that heavenly world – as He confirms its existence and its inhabitants. Then He continues:

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:31-32 KJV)

God … of the living. Where do we fall in that statement? Is He our God? Are we living? Rhetorical question, of course.

Where I’m heading is the next verse:

And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. (Matthew 22:33 KJV)

I look around at the people I know, and have known, and am astonished that they either do not understand this doctrine, or they are ignoring it.

John 3:16 assumes the reader has knowledge of eternal life and appreciation of its attainment:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

I love Daniel’s description:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3 KJV)

The choice comes to each one of us – shame and everlasting contempt or stars for ever and ever.

For me, the choice is simple. I believed.

(The photo is one I took in 2003. I was lucky)