The Heaton File

Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. (Hebrews 6:17-19)

The Anchor Of The Soul

From the beginning, when men built boats and needed something to hold the boat in place and give it stability, the anchor has been an integral part of ship design. At first, the anchors were crude instruments of rocks or baskets of rocks that would hold the boat in place. Later, more sophisticated designs were developed to represent modern anchors and their use. As the Hebrew Christians were in danger of abandoning their faith in Christ and returning to the old law, the writer of the letter exhorts the saints to retain their hope in God, as an anchor secures a ship. No greater promises can be given but the abundant grace of the Father who cannot lie and has promised eternal life for all the faithful.

A mariner relies on the anchor for security and safety during storms. As the winds and waves batter the ship, the anchor holds the vessel in place. When an anchor is securely tied to something solid, the storms will pound the ship with their fierce winds and powerful waves, but the ship will remain unmoved. Using the picture of the anchor, the saints of God must place their trust and faith in the promises of God. In the trials of life, the Christian can place their hope and trust in the Lord, who will, like an anchor, be sure and steadfast to keep the soul at peace. Jesus becomes the image of the anchor when He was fast asleep in the boat with His disciples while a storm raged. He knew the Father would protect Him, and He had no fears.

Hope is the anchor of the soul. A life without hope is like a ship without an anchor. It matters what the anchor is tied to. The world secures its anchor to the changing wisdom of man, the fading pleasures of the flesh, and the pride of the heart. Satan tempts the soul to seek the fleeting things of this life. None of these things lasts. When an anchor is tied to things of the world, there is no hope. True safety is found in placing trust and hope in the Lord God, who cannot lie and who has promised eternal life to those who are faithful. The ultimate test of faith comes when men face death, and without an anchor secured in the promises of God, the passage of death is hopeless. For the child of God who rests their hopes completely on the word of God, like an anchor, the soul is at peace.

Jesus suffered and died to give man hope. When the soul turns to the Lord to place its anchor securely in His grace, life has meaning and death its reward. Hope is the promise of God that keeps the soul and of the final resurrection. Life is not about the here and now but that which is to come. There is a greater reward in eternal life, and this promise anchors the heart in the promises of God, knowing that God cannot lie and that everything He has promised is true. When a man places his life in the anchor of Jesus Christ, the storms of life will come, but there will be safety in securing himself to that which will not move. There can be joy in trial because there is hope in God. Everyone has an anchor. The question is to what the anchor is secured.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

He Is Always Faithful

The consequence of sin is the inability of man to be a faithful creature. Everyone sins and falls short of the glory of God. At best, the noblest humanity has to offer are failed creatures. Noah was a man who walked with God, but he failed. Abraham was called the friend of God, yet he failed miserably. Moses was one of the greatest men of scripture, but he was not always faithful to the Lord. Peter spent many hours with the Son of God, yet in the desperate hour of Jesus’ betrayal, Peter denied the Lord. The constant in the story of humanity as failed creatures is that the people of God serve a God who is always faithful. There have been men who have been mostly faithful, but only God has been faithful without failure.

Jesus gave His life as an example of faithfulness. He lived His whole life without sin. His life was a faithful testimony to the keeping of the Law, which no man could achieve. The sacrifice of Jesus was the death of a sinless and perfect man. He had the same temptations that all men face, yet without sin. Satan tried to dissuade, defeat, and discourage Jesus at every point of His life, but failed. Jesus served His faithful Father, who promised Him the exaltation of glory to be King of kings and Lord of lords. Everything God said He would do for His son was accomplished. Death could not hold Jesus, as the faithfulness of God raised Him from the dead on the third day. God kept His promise and glorified His Son.

The message of Jesus to the world is to see how faithful His Father has promised to be. Everything God said is true because He is the truth. God does not do right things; He is righteousness. When God spoke the world into existence, His word became the promise that the world would continue until His word is spoken again. Every day the Sun rises is a testimony to the faithful word of God uttered on those six days of creation. The same moon Adam and Eve gazed upon still quiets the night throughout all generations because God ordained the heavenly beings to take their place for the glory of God. When the Father revealed His word to man in written form, a message of faithfulness was inscribed on the pages of that revelation, and it remains unchanged. The word of man changes constantly, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Through Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of faithfulness is found in the promise God made for sinful man to find eternal life. None of humanity deserves the mercy of God, but He gives His grace to those who believe in Him and obey His word. The most amazing grace extended by the hand of a gracious Father is to know God will wash away the sin that separates God and man. He is willing and just to forgive a man his sins and to remove those sins as far as the east is from the west. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, God regains the communion of eternal fellowship with all who will obey His will. His faithfulness never fails. The word God spoke to forgive sin is the promise of eternal life. What is promised, He is faithful to keep.

The faithfulness of God is the answer to death. Sin brought about the consequence of death as man is separated from the tree of life. Through Jesus Christ, the tree of life is regained in the faithful word of God to find no condemnation for those in Christ. The word of God was given so that those in fellowship with the covenant of the Father can know they have eternal life. Salvation is not a guess or a maybe, but something tangible and real because God is always faithful. The promises of men always fail. All the promises of God will never fail.

God is the God of peace because He is always faithful. Jesus is returning one day to bring home His saints who have lived for Him and served His will. Through these promises, the child of God can approach death whole in their spirit, soul, and body, knowing that the faithful word of God has promised eternal resurrection in the last day. Death is not the final call but the opening shout of eternal glory that will never end. God is faithful. He will do it. Praise God who is faithful.

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

To Glorify God

The sole purpose of man’s existence is to glorify God. Man was created to show the majesty of the wisdom and power of God. There is nothing humanity can accomplish on its own without the blessing of the Creator. Life comes from God. The world was created by the will of God. Every star is where God places it, and God names every star. The universe revolves in its place because the Lord ordained it. When the Sun was formed by the word of the Lord, God placed the burning inferno exactly the right distance to sustain life on planet Earth. Nothing is out of order in God’s creation. Man was created in the image of God. The authority to have dominion over the earth was given to mankind by the Creator of all things.

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to showcase the will of the Father. Everything they needed was provided, including the free will to choose to obey the word of the Lord. Satan did not force Eve to take the forbidden fruit. Her guilt was her own, as it was with Adam. The fall of man denied the glory of God, but the grace of God restored it. Instead of abandoning humanity to its own destruction, the Lord God made a promise to redeem the world through the death of His Son. In the eternal plan of God, Jesus Christ would take on the form of flesh, dwell among humanity, and suffer death at the hands of wicked men. This was God’s plan, not man. Jesus died on the cross to show the glory of God.

The death of Jesus brought God and man back to a place where redemption was offered. Most men reject the invitation of grace to find Jesus as Savior and return to a place of salvation. Those who believe and obey the word of the Lord find joy in the redemption from sin. In that cleansing, the Lord remains constant in His desire for His creation to show His glory. The fleshly lusts continue to war against the soul as Satan attacks the heart of God’s people. There is a war between the lust of the flesh and the will of the Spirit. It is a fierce battle. God knows and understands the challenge of fighting against the sins of the flesh. His grace helps the child of God live in such a manner to show the eternal power of God’s mercy.

While the world seeks its own pleasures, the child of God lives in such a manner that God is glorified in all things. The only focus of life is to find ways to let the world see the glory of God. Speaking truth glorifies God. Refusing the temptations of the flesh glorifies God. Being people of faith through the reading of the word of God and prayer sets forth a pattern of life that glorifies God. When the world examines the life of the Christian, all they see is the glory of God. No man can live to perfection as Jesus did, but that is not the eternal plan of God. He knows that men are dust and will not punish them according to their sin.

Living godly lives not only helps fight the wiles of the devil, but also shows the world how sinful man can be transformed into the image of the glory of God. The world wants to live according to the selfish interest of the heart, but the Christian lives so that God will be glorified in all they do. When the world sees the good works of the Christian, what they see is the glorification of how majestic, forgiving, compassionate, and awesome God is. That is the sole purpose of man. Everything in life is about his relationship with God because that is all that life can be. Death comes to all men, and the glory of God is revealed in eternity. Those who glorify God in this life will share in the glory of God in eternity. What glory that will be.

Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? Now therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. (Judges 20:12-14)

Refusing To Punish Evil

In the closing days of the judges who ruled the people of God, a disturbing story emerges that rivals that of Lot and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A certain Levite is passing through the land of the Benjamites and decides to spend the night in the city of Gibeah. His servant had suggested they spend the night in a city of the Jebusites, but the Levite did not want to stay in a city that did not belong to the children of Israel. Coming to Gibeah as the sun was setting, the Levite, along with his servant and concubine, decided to lodge there. They sit in the open square looking for someone to take them into their homes for the night, but no one extends the cultural courtesy.

An old man comes in from the fields, finds the Levite in the open square, and takes him into his home. As they were enjoying themselves, certain men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. Like the perverted men of Sodom, they demanded that the old man bring out the Levite so that the men of the city could rape him. Instead, the Levite brought out his concubine for the men to ravish, which they did all night until morning. The concubine crawls back to the old man’s home, where she dies at the threshold of the house.

Returning home, the Levite takes a knife and cuts up the concubine into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sends her body parts throughout all the territory of Israel. He warns the people of God to consider it, confer, and speak up. Four-hundred-thousand-foot soldiers of Israel gather against the people of Benjamin, demanding justice for the crimes of the city of Gibeah. They demand that the city of Gibeah deliver the men who raped the concubine to the point of death. The children of Benjamin would not listen and prepare to go to war with their brethren. Instead of delivering the wicked men of Gibeah, the Benjamites decided to protect the perverted men, leading to the death of more than one hundred thousand people.

It is difficult to understand the cultural nuances of the times when a man is willing to give his virgin daughter or another woman to a mob of perverted men to do with as they please. This is done to honor the guests who come into a home. In the story of Lot, God delivered his family without offering his two daughters. In the story of the Levite, the concubine is given to the men of the city and ravaged until she dies. What makes the story more heinous is that when the people of God are shown the seditious nature of the men of Gibeah to rape a woman to death, they decide to go to war rather than deliver the wicked men. One point that must not be lost in the story is that the Levite did not want to stay in the city of foreigners but in a city belonging to the children of God. The results were catastrophic for the concubine.

Sin cannot be hidden or excused. Paul challenged the church at Corinth for allowing a member to have his father’s wife. This was something even the Gentiles would not allow. Yet, people of God excuse the acts of someone who is clearly in sin and, for whatever reason, accept them and even protect them. What the church people of Corinth were doing was no less than the Benjamites protecting the vile, wicked men of Gibeah. God’s justice came to those men and the city of Gibeah as the vengeance of the Lord had them killed. The church member in Corinth repented to the glory of God.

Ignoring sin does not answer sin. When someone is in sin, their souls stand in jeopardy before the judgment of the Lord. Allowing sinful actions to continue is a greater sin. Turning a “blind eye” is not seeing how terrible sin is. It is easy to suggest that sin is a “lifestyle” or to refuse to rebuke a man because of his wealth, position, or power, or whatever the cause not to address sin. God is not a respecter of persons and will judge sin on the merits of what that sin is, regardless of what the world says and does. Sex before marriage is a sin and will condemn a soul to torment. Drunkenness is not acceptable. Pornography can and will destroy the soul. Marital infidelity is serious. Being in an unlawful marriage is condemned by Jesus.

The story of the Levite and his concubine has many layers that are difficult to understand. One lesson stands clear: the Benjamites agreed to accept the actions of the men of Gibeah rather than deliver them for the sin they committed. Thousands of people died because of that decision. When the church refuses to deal with sin as the Bible demands, a gathering of judgment will occur, with many serious consequences.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

Twenty-Six Days

It is hard to picture life as a vapor. The scriptures say that life is a vapor. From ancient times, the people of God understood the brevity of life as but a vapor. David said that life is as handbreadths, and his age before the Almighty was nothing. At best, every man is but vapor (Psalm 39). David further illustrates that life is like the destruction of a moth that consumes or destroys priceless possessions. Life appears for a little time, but then it goes away, vanishing into the midst of eternity. Everyone has an appointment with death. No one can escape the sting of death.

Moses saw the brevity of life as days to be counted. He appealed to God to teach him how to number his days to gain wisdom. Moses lived to be 120 years of age with his strength not abated and his eyesight clear, but he still died. Methusaleh is recorded as having lived 969 years and died. Tombstones bear the testimony of age with a day of birth and a day of death. The question is not how long a person lives but how many days they have left on earth. James’s appeal to remind the saints of life as a vapor was to show how short a time everyone has before eternity begins.

In a brief moment of time, my son went from a vibrant forty-year-old preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to being carried by angels twenty-six days later to the bosom of Abraham. It was sudden. There was no warning. Everything that could be done was done without success. Thousands of voices lifted prayers for his health. Hundreds of churches carried his name before the Father. He told his mother, “God said no.” His death was peaceful. He only had twenty-six days left. No one knew the time. He preached a final sermon and two days later joined the heavenly cloud. Twenty-six days.

Death is not measured by a calendar. Very few people know when they will die. The irony of life is that death is certain, and yet the world lives as if there is no death. Everything is focused on the day-to-day toiling after the things of the world, recreation, pleasures, plans, and future. No one thinks they will die. And then a tragedy strikes, a diagnosis is made, and life comes to an end. Plans made for today and hopes for tomorrow vanish. All the expectations of life to do this and go there and accomplish this and see that – ends in a last breath. The lesson God tries to show the world is that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Life is nothing but a mist, a thin vapor that appears for a little time – and – then – vanishes – away.

How would you spend your final moments if you knew you had only twenty-six days left to live? Everritt spent his days glorifying God with trepidation and hope. He has vanished from sight into a world of eternal glory that is beyond description. The vapor of his life is gone, but the joy of his hope is fulfilled. For the living, the lesson must be driven home that all will die, and few know when and how long their time on earth remains. But never doubt the reality of death. The old must die, but the young can die. Jesus did not take death away, but He answered death by bringing life to the world through His blood. Death brings grief and sadness. Eternal life brings hope and joy – and it never ends.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:47-50)

The Divine Dragnet

Jesus taught in parables, using worldly stories to convey divine lessons. Many common, everyday occurrences became teaching platforms that Jesus would weave into divine applications. The purpose of parables sought to strike the hearts of those seeking truth. Many heard His parables, but because of their hard hearts, they went away without understanding the meaning. No parable could be as clear as the story of the dragnet.

A fishing dragnet is a large net used to catch large quantities of fish. It is typically dragged through the water, allowing the net to trap fish in its mesh. Fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John used this technique to fish the waters of Galilee. After Jesus arose from the dead, He found His apostles fishing and told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. The catch was so large they had difficulty drawing it into the boat. John said there were 153 fish caught in the net. Dragnet fishing is an efficient way to catch fish, but it can also lead to unintended catches. The fishermen dragged their net to the shore and sifted through their catch, throwing the undesirables back into the water.

Using the backdrop of a common picture of New Testament fishing, Jesus explains the last day or the judgment day. The kingdom of God is like a man who fishes with a dragnet. A day will come when God brings the world to an end. Angels will come forth, where the wicked will be separated from the righteous. All men will be gathered before the Lord. No one will be left out or escape the judgment of God. There will be a great division where most of the generations of people will be cast into the furnace of fire for refusing to acknowledge God and obey Him. Those who share in the covenant of Christ, cleansed by His blood, will enter the portals of eternal life to dwell with God forever.

The parable of the dragnet is not a myth. As certain as death is the certainty of the judgment. At the end of the world, all men will stand before a righteous and loving God who will execute His judgment according to His righteousness. Jesus taught that most people will be lost. How sad those words. Knowing the judgment of the Lord should lead men to accept His will and obey Him. The final great division is permanent. No one cast into the lake of fire can escape. Those in the presence of God will glorify Him in the eternal ages. There is a great division coming. The question remains whether one will be thrown aside or embraced forever.

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)

He Is Made Like Us

The sacrifice of Jesus was deity becoming flesh to experience every aspect of the human story. It is impossible to fathom how great a sacrifice Jesus made when He submitted to the will of His Father to become one of His creations. Man was made a little lower than the angels, and Jesus would become a man made in His own image, a creation lower than the angels who served Him. He was conceived in the womb of a woman to grow for nine months in the order of creation. As a small baby, Jesus would be totally dependent upon His earthly parents to care for Him and protect Him. They would teach Him how to read and write.

Jesus would learn to walk, chew His food, and help in Joseph’s workshop. The word of God was read to Him. This was the same word He inspired many generations before. Joseph and Mary told Jesus about the creation and the terrible flood that destroyed the world in the days of Noah. Jesus would learn the story of Moses and the history of the Hebrews through the teachings of the word. At the age of twelve, Jesus amazed the teachers at the Temple with His perception and inquisitive mind of the Law. Luke shows that Jesus was subject to His parents, growing in favor with men and God.

The life of Jesus was not unlike that of all those in Nazareth. He spent many hours in carpentry work like Joseph. Mary had four other sons and at least two daughters, who would be Jesus’s half-siblings. Seven children grew up together in the city of Nazareth. A family united in the love of God and keeping of the Law of Moses. Jesus was like His brethren in every way but one. The oldest son of Joseph and Mary never sinned. There was never an occasion where He broke any of the laws contained in the Law of Moses. He endured the temptations of the flesh and the eyes and faced the pride of life, but He never wavered.

Luke records that Jesus was thirty years old when He began His ministry. The gospel writer emphasizes that Jesus was like His brethren. How can a deity be thirty years of age? Jesus was before time began and is everlasting. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Yet He spent thirty years on earth like His brethren and died three years later on a cross outside Jerusalem. Every part of Jesus’ ministry revealed His nature as a man. He grew weary, thirsty, hungry, and on occasion expressed anger at the heart of the rebellious people. In all this, He never sinned. The highlight of His experience to be made like His brethren was the scourging and crucifixion. He felt every part of the human story. The soldiers offered Jesus medicine to dull the pain, and He refused. His desire was to be made like His brethren and suffer in every way like His brethren.

There is joy and comfort to know that Jesus willingly became like His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God. The hope of eternal life is anchored in the love Jesus had to be like His creation. As a High Priest, Jesus knows and understands the plight of man and shows mercy and love for the frailties of the challenges of life. His faithfulness is the beacon of light in a dark world, giving hope that death is only a sleep between this world and eternal rest. His death is how He propitiates the sins of all humanity through His blood. Everyone who comes to God can know that Jesus died for them because He became one of them. What joy. Thank God for Jesus to be like His brethren.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)

That You May Know

Man is a fallen creature. Everything about his nature is defined by sin. The magnitude of the life of Jesus was that He came in the flesh and lived without sin. His dedication to the will of the Father is unmatched, as the sinless perfection of His life paid the debt for sinful man. Faith gives assurance of God’s grace, but men struggle with understanding how a loving and great God could and will forgive sin. Often, the magnitude of sin overwhelms the mind of the humble heart to accept the hope that God would save such a sinful creature. What makes the human story so difficult is that the nature of sin continues throughout life. It’s not a matter of a few sins, but the multiplicity of sins, even when the Spirit seeks strength not to sin. How can God forgive sinful man? The answer is found in Jesus Christ.

John was one of the dearest friends of the Son of God. He shared a relationship with the Lord that allowed him to be in the inner circle of Jesus’ life. Of all the apostles, he alone died of natural causes. His gospel declares the glory of the divinity of Jesus, and his epistles unfold the love of God found in Jesus Christ. John was a sinful creature, like all men, yet he wrote about what the child of God can know. This knowledge was not a maybe, per chance, or perhaps. John was affirming the hope that should dwell in every Christian: that eternal life is not a chance promise but a blessed assurance.

Jesus told the woman at the well that God must be worshipped in Spirit and truth. The church has done a fair job of establishing the need for truth and accuracy of the word of God. What the church has lacked so often is the teaching of the Spirit of God. While the religious world lacks the teaching of truth and embraces the Spirit, the church lacks the Spirit while establishing the truth. Too many Christians go through life hoping that they will go to Heaven when they die. They doubt their salvation. Fear lingers in the mind of whether God would save them.

The Holy Spirit declared that the promise of God is clear, demonstrative, and real. There is no condemnation to those in Christ who walk according to the Spirit. Those who believe in the name of the Son of God have life. They can know they have eternal life. This knowledge is a promise God has made. God cannot lie. Why would the child of God doubt the word of his heavenly Father? There must be a renewal of the Spirit of God within the hearts of God’s people and the teaching of the church to give the church family the promised hope of eternal life. The caveat of obedience is accepted, and one must continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. But let every child of God know that if they walk in the light and share the covenant of blood with the Son of God, they can know they have eternal life.

Paul said he had a crown waiting for him. He looked forward to eternal life. The Holy Spirit did not give that promise only to Paul. He gave it to all who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. No one is perfect, or the sacrifice of Jesus would have been useless. All men are sinners. This is why Jesus died. Those sinners who obey the gospel of Christ are saved. He that believeth and is baptized is not maybe saved – they are saved. Everyone who names the name of Jesus can know – believe – cherish – acknowledge they are saved, and eternal life is there. Know eternal life. Embrace the grace of God and accept His divine mercy. Praise God for eternal hope.

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

Death At The Tower

The Bible is filled with stories without a background to explain their origins. Jesus tells two stories without historical references. Luke mentions the Galileans whom Pilate murdered while they were making sacrifices. Nothing in scripture or history explains the story, but those to whom Jesus is speaking know it. Jesus also mentions eighteen people who were killed when a tower in Siloam fell on them. This event is also silent in scripture and history. In the context of Jesus telling those present at that time, the tragedy at Siloam was an event in recent history they could relate to and understand.

Jesus explains to those present that those whom Herod killed were not killed because they were sinners. They may have been evil people engaged in idolatrous worship, but the fact that Herod slaughtered them was not because they were sinners. Why did the tower at Siloam fall? Nothing is said. Sadly, eighteen people were killed. Were these people killed because they were worse sinners than others? The question is whether the tragic death of the Galileans or those killed by the tower was caused by their deserved it through the agency of sin. The answer is no. Jesus is teaching the need for repentance from sin as a result of individual choice. Everyone suffers the consequences of sin, but men are not born blind because of the sins of their parents, nor are they killed for being the worst sinners in the world.

Every day, righteous people die tragically. Hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, fire, earthquakes, and accidents kill thousands of people every day, whether they are good people or evil. Many evil and wicked people live wicked lives for many, many years without any apparent consequences for their lifestyle. Why do bad things happen to good people? The same reason good things happen to evil people. The world is filled with the tragedy of disease, accidents, and death because the world is a fallen place. Jesus came to save souls. He did not take away tears, sorrow, or death. In the past two thousand years, disease killed millions, wars massacred millions upon millions, and death has taken every generation in the billions.

Life is not about the here and now but the world to come. The greatest challenge the world faces is accepting the reality that life has nothing to do with what is experienced now. Jeremy Taylor correctly observed that life is short and yet upon this short life eternity depends. Life is filled with tragedy. God sent His Son to prepare the world for eternity, where there is no tragedy. The world is filled with sorrow. Jesus died to show the world that the answer to sorrow is eternal life with His Father. God will wipe away tears, but that will not be fully realized until after death. Sorrow and death are experienced in this life, but through the grace of God, the heart can find peace and solace.

Why do people get sick and die? The world is a fallen place. It is appointed for all men to die, and many die earlier in the day than others. That becomes hard to understand, but their death is not because they are worse sinners. They live in a world that has fallen through the consequence of sin. The joy of Jesus Christ is finding a path of light in a world of darkness, knowing there is hope in sorrow, joy in tears, and eternal life in Jesus Christ.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)

Everyone Needs The Gospel

Jesus entrusted the preaching of the gospel to twelve men, who, on the Day of Pentecost, would change the world. After He arose from the dead, Jesus spent forty days with the eleven, teaching them about the kingdom. The most pivotal moment in the history of the world was laid on the shoulders of the apostles to take the gospel to the whole world and to every human being to hear the eternal plan of salvation. Jesus did not die for a chosen few. The Son of God was not sent to the world to save only the Jews or only the Gentiles. His mission was to embrace people of every nation and touch every heart with the good news of God’s redeeming grace.

God is not a respecter of persons. He created all men in His image as divine beings. Adam and Eve had no nationality. They spoke one language, as did the whole world. As the world was populated, there were tall people and short people. Some were skinny, and some were not. Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a farmer. Jabal was skilled in making tents, and his brother Jubal liked music. God expected all men to believe in Him. After the tower of Babel, the world became a place of nations with different tongues. The good news of God’s grace spread throughout the world in different tongues. Everyone needed the message of God. Noah and his family believed in God when the rest of the world did not. Abraham and Sarah served the one true God.

From the beginning of time, God has expected all men to serve Him in the same manner. The law of God has remained unchanged in principle. God’s law for Adam and Eve was obedience. Cain and Abel were expected to worship in spirit and truth. Cain refused. The world of Noah plunged into wickedness because they refused to listen to God. When the Lord established the nation of Israel, He did not reject the Gentiles. The Law of Moses was given only to the Jews, but the rest of the world (Gentiles) were expected to obey God’s will. Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, demanding repentance. The inhabitants of Nineveh were Gentiles, and they heeded the preaching of Jonah. When God spared the city of Nineveh, Jonah was angry because he refused to accept God’s grace toward the Ninevites. He failed to understand that everyone needed the news of salvation, including the people of Nineveh.

Jesus brought the gospel of salvation to the whole world, uniting Jews and Gentiles under the banner of God’s grace through the blood of Jesus. When the Lord sent out the apostles into the whole world, He did not want them to decide who could hear the gospel and who could not. Three thousand devout Jews obeyed the gospel on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit goes to great lengths in the book of Acts to remind readers that men and women obeyed the gospel. A man from Ethiopia needed the gospel, as did a Roman centurion and a Philippian jailor. Educated men and women and those not so learned obeyed the gospel. Wealthy and influential men and women obeyed the gospel. The poor heard the gospel and obeyed.

Everyone needs the gospel because all men are created in the image of God. The plan of salvation is to save all men. There is no respecter of persons with the gospel. The heart of a hardened sinner who has lived a tumultuous life of sin can receive the grace of God. Paul wrote about people who, at one time, were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, drunkards; who obeyed the gospel and were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel saves all who repent and are washed in the water of baptism to wash away their sins. God loves all men and desires for none to be lost. The gospel is for the whole world. Praise God.