In Philippians 3:10;" That I may Know him, and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his sufferings , being conformed to his Death." This is a very, very powerful scripture and it contains 4 Keys that both unlock the mystery of our belief and solidifys our belief. I could spend days without end on any of the four, but if you believe in Universalism, then you need to understand this scripture and what it is saying. Not to convince others, but to convince yourself, belief has to be established way before it is explained to others. So I want to go through each of these 4.
If you have a hard time explaining your belief to others, its a sure sign that its because you have the same experience explaining it to yourself. As I experience explaining Universal Salvation to others , I can go weeks and months and years in my explinations, because thats how much has been put in me, and the belief in me is still continually growing and being added to, the feeding of my belief is not finished, so I can never finish explaining it. And I am not finish comming to know him, to know Jesus. This is the first error in understanding Universal Salvation, comming to Know Jesus. To tell yourself, or others, that you already Know Jesus, as if that is a done finished deal, is just like saying that you totally understand Universal Salvation, and need not learn anythingelse.
You can have a baby and know that the Child is yours, but you still have to get to know this Child from forming a relationship with them, and although its yours, thats just going to take some time. So it is with " Comming to Know Jesus", Jesus is ours, yes, but listen, it takes time to get to Know him. Its not a threat to your spirituality or destiny to understand that you need time to get to Know your Saviour. Your Salvation is not based on your firm confession that you know Jesus and complettely understand him. In another post, I am going to go through the Life of Jesus and show some things about him that many do not understand, he was and is a very different kind of being.
There is a " Process involved" in comming to Know Jesus, like a positive Cancer, it slowly eats away at you until it consumes you, but you know you have it from its beginning when it first starts. And thats where many go off in the wrong hurried direction, they Know Jesus has started with them, then they tell themselves and everyonelse that they " Have Him", as if the relationship is instantly established. Its almost like a prize horse being let out of the starting gate, then stopping at the start and claiming the prize without even running the race. It thinks because its in the race, that the Prize is automatic, so it neglects the " Experience" of running the race. A relationship is developed by Experience, and with comming to know Jesus, it is no different.
I Corinth. 9:24 " Run in such a way that you may win." Heb.12:1;" Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." We are not " Winning Salvation", that is already garenteed to us, so what is this " Race?" The Race is the Experience of Comming to Know Jesus, Comming to Know both the Living and Written Word of God, and you do not instantly know them. And you don't have to act like you do, or think like you do. Just as the calling of God involves time, getting to know Jesus involves time. We need to get away from this " Instant Mentality", as if the race does not have to be run. Some think, " Oh Jesus ran the race for me", I'm special, I don't have to run. I don't have to try, I don't need to get sweaty and do all that work, that study, that effort, all that is done for me, I claim the prize without the race. I don't need to come to Know Jesus, I already know him.
There is " So Much", so much gained by the experience of comming to Know Jesus, when it is " Skipped over" by a believer, they are lacking the substance that the run, the race, the experience offers, and thats why some cannot explain Universal Salvation sufficently, because they are rushing through this thing. They jumped to the finish line, where all the glory is, and didnot take the time to get their helmet, their breastplate, their sheild , their boots, they just grabbed their sword and off they jumped to the finish. This experience is unlike anyother, we are truly fortunate to be involved in it. And that involvement is an evolution of sorts which shouldnot be short changed. We need this time we have, and our own minds shouldnot waste it. We are being established, building blocks being uniquely laid in our minds , through our experiences. The word of God, the Son of God, are to be experienced, and the more of both we go through, the more we come to know.
So I want to go into comming to Know Jesus.
Peace.
Beautiful post!
And what's amazing, is that it described me in a perfect manner. I thought I knew Jesus, and knew enough about Universal Salvation, that I began debates with those online (at another forum) several months ago (that still continue with a few off and on to this day), without having FULLY "convinced" myself that this belief was "THE TRUTH" and nothing BUT. It took me months while debating earnestly and without giving up to FULLY believe MYSELF that Universal Salvation was a true belief and not a false doctrine or heresy, even though I was arguing for in favor of the doctrine. :grin:
But I am now, fully grounded in this belief (I hate to say doctrine) of the Scriptures, fully convinced, and continue to learn something new everyday that further helps enlighten US, and convince me that what I believe is true, and that it was from God from the beginning. :bigGrin: Still collecting armor for that fight, though! :thumbsup:
Relationship is twofold, one a connection through the Blood and another through Affliation, which is the process of getting to know someone. When Jesus was crucified, all of humanity was then connected to him through a Blood relationship. You need to be careful with scriptures that speak of humans who do not have the Spirit of God, " Are none of his", or are carnal and Jesus does not know them, those are refering to a " Church status or a Church Rank", like a house rank, those do not mean that unbelievers do not fall under the Jesus Blood connection because they do. All of humanity are connected to God through the Blood of Jesus. Where Jesus Blood is concerned, there is no firstfruits of his Blood, all are placed under that veil, the calling of God has firstfruits, the Blood of Christ has all humans under its exclusive rights.
So Getting to Know Jesus is done through Affliation, we are already his Blood relatives. We are his " Kindred", Acts 3:25, Ps. 22:27-29. So there is no need to brag and focus so much on being a child of God, we are already blood linked to him. As I speak with others and tell them I am not called or chosen and I do not have Gods Holy Spirit, they wonder to themselves how this does not concern me, and how is it that I understand what I do. Well I am already Linked to Christ through his Blood, connected to him already in my destiny, and Jesus Blood is what sealed Salvation so tightly. So I don't have to worry about that, the calling, the being Chosen, having Gods Holy Spirit, NONE of those things give me my Salvation. Jesus ALREADY gave me my Salvation through his Ressurection, so I need not be in a hurry getting to know him, nor do I need to deceive myself or others about how much I know Christ.
Being a Blood relative does not mean you automatically know your relative, I can't count the Blood relatives I have in my earthly family that I don't even know. When you get to know someone, you have to spend time with them. Talk with them, listen to them, go through things with them, bond with them and Identitfy with them. And the more routine this becomes, the more you get to know someone. With Jesus its different, we cannot see or touch him, which he knows we can't, so the relationship needs much more FROM him, than it does from you! Remember that, so you can't " Overly give too much effort" or force the relationship into some " Spiritual Fantasy world", because the power and force has to come from Christ end of this, not your end. What we have to do is " Follow the Feed", and although we maynot see it so well at first, eventually, over time, we can often see the feed. But that takes quite some time.
And I want to go into what " Following the Feed "is.
Peace.
Following the Feed in comming to Know Christ, is something that HE does to the human through two things, his written Word and his Living Word. The bible is really being written twice, once on paper and then " In our Hearts." The Key is Christ, he will meld and blend his written word into you until it becomes a part of your very being, and he can do this for years without giving a person his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not as important in getting to know Christ as some people think it is. The hundreds of diciples that got to know Jesus didnot have the Holy Spirit, they had Jesus. They were not given the Holy Spirit until after Jesus had left the earth, ( refer to Acts 1:1-8). Jesus would have given them the Holy Spirit right when he called them if it was so important in getting to know him. He didnot, which is " Definte PROOF" that the calling of God does not at first involve the receiving of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it shows that Jesus wanted them to get to know him FIRST!
Now I know some may not like this, but its right there in scripture for you to see, if you want to see it. And truth is never a threat to your relationship with God., NEVER! Its only a threat to the walls YOU have built, not what God is building. The calling of God does not at first involve being baptized in the Holy Spirit, it just does not. Its how he called the first disciples, its how he will call you, there is no difference, unless WE make the difference up ourselves. They all were gather together in one place, AFTER Jesus was gone, and THEN given the Holy Spirit, all together in unity. Which in my view of things, helped promote MORE unity in them, they all experienced it together.
So getting to know Jesus involves FIRST a process of becomming aquainted with him. Jesus called hundreds of people to him who didnot have his Holy Spirit. And he tested them right here on earth all the time. He was teaching them and testing them and constantly " Feeding them" the word of God. So being fed by God, does NOT mean you have to have his Holy Spirit inside of you. That is simply false assumption. The Spirit will be involved, oh yes, but it does NOT have to be in you, or the diciples would have NEVER understood anything.
I wanted to make this clear as I go into getting to Know Jesus.
Peace.
8Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
---John 14
His disciples never understood anything until after Pentecost.
well--very rarely.
They're like the keystone cops.
Everything that Jesus taught, was taught to people who didnot have his Holy Spirit " In" them, including the decipiles. Jesus got to know them and the people through his connection with God, the scriptures state that Christ " Knew everyman." He got to know everyone who came in consistant contact with him. So that is the first way to come to Know Christ, be consistant in your belief, your Spiritual goals, your very being that yearns for him, be consistant. This means never give up on it, don't turn back away from it. All while he walked the earth, he taught people who didnot have his Holy Spirit, and he has not changed, he still can teach without the Holy Spirit being within. With the addition of the Holy Spirit being within, now you have a very fully charged relationship, and that super charged addition cannot be hidden, but I won't go into that on this post. I want to show you the sheer Power of his ressurection, and I want your belief in Universal Salvation to be strengthened after this is finished.
Sadly, another way of comming to Know Jesus is " Pre-ordained Suffering." This is following in his footsteps, and he stepped into a whole lot of suffering, Luke 17:25. So comming to know Jesus is going to hurt, which is why many turn back. One reason why many alcoholics do not stop drinking is because of the intense withdrawal they must go through if they stop taking in the Alcohol into their bloodstream. It hurts them very bad if they stop, they thus continue. Some cannot eat or sleep until they get enough of it into their system, so it becomes an unending terrible cycle.
Followers of Christ must actually make a choice to suffer, Heb.11:25, choose to fight the pleasures of sin, which is a sign of committment. Its what you want to do, until the want becomes a need, then you move into " Needing to live for him", its now a need, which goes a little beyond choice. I need to eat, I need to drink water, I need to breathe air, when Christ becomes a need, then you are getting to know him. You get to the point that you don't try to avoid the suffering, you either need it, or become familular with it as you become familular with Christ. It gets to a point that suffering actually enhances your strength. Then eventually you get to a point that you begin to ask God to change you, without the need to suffer. Much change and repentance comes more real and sincere to us as we suffer. But you will get to the point that you will tell God that you want a mentality that will change without this suffering stuff, you will crave for repentance from just his Goodness, not the suffering.
And I want to go into that for a moment.
Peace.
God will chasten and put heat on those whom he is dealing with. But you know, don't you get tired of your parents having to discipline you? Eventually some get to the point that they can " See" what the parent is disciplining for, and they mature to a point that their head does not even want it to be that way anymore. They begin to obey and to actually like the fruits of obeying. Not that they don't want to be disciplined, but they want to " Learn in a better way" than disciplining. And I can understand that. I think I am as tuff as the next guy, but I don't like having a mentality that needs to be chastened all the time, I want to be a good person, or a good servant of God, I want to please him. I want to be at the point that the " Goodness of God" leads me to repent, Rom. 2:4. When you can beging to comprehend that point, then you can see what the " Fellowship of his Sufferings" is really all about.
We are Kin to Christ through his Blood, and if Kin then Heirs of God himself, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be Glorified WITH him." Rom.8:17. This is the fellowship that we have with Christ, suffering a very integral part of it. And not just suffering to discipline you, but suffering because of your belief. Suffering because we cannot touch Christ, sit and eat with him, be in the same room with him, walk with him in his actual pressence.
So we can be ridiculed because of our belief in everyone being saved, called a blasphemer and a heritic because we refuse the eternal hell punishing insanity. Not invited to the " Christian community" and shunned for believing Gods Mercy is greater than his Judgement. To be a part of the fellowship of Christ sufferings, means to cooperate with him, to agree with him, to associate with him, and Jesus continually pointed his followers toward his Father God. So God is our goal, Jesus our standard bearer, and suffering our coalition.
Let me show you some of the fellowship of suffering; Knowing that you don't have ENOUGH of the gifts from God is a suffering. Thats right, not having enough Faith, enough Self control, enough Peace and Kindness, enough Love and Patience, to the point that you CRAVE these things, hunger for them,THAT is a Fellowship of his Sufferings. I'll tell you whatelse the fellowship of Suffering means, 2Corinth. 1:5;" For just as the sufferings of Christ are OURS in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." Everything Jesus suffered, he suffered because of us, FOR us, and we can take comfort in the fact that we " Don't have to suffer because of our Sins", but our suffering is because of OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! Not suffering because of defeat by sin, but for the Polishing of Righteousness. The instilling of righteousness, the growing within of a new standard of thinking and Living. And we have a constant help with Jesus, a constant healer and comforter.
I want to go into being conformed to his Death and what that means.
Peace.
Being Conformed to Christ Death is to be in Harmony with him to the point that when he died, you died. This widens the magnitude of Christ Death beyond what many are thinking, he died for all, but all died WITH him. Christ took on much more than our sin, don't limit his death to just that, but just that would be fine. He took on our flesh,our emotions, our troubles, our doubts, our future, everything that could possibily keep us from God and complette happiness with him, died with Jesus that day. Jesus became every possible bridge that a human would need to cross over to God, he became every sin that is possible in reality that needed to be repented of and took those sins to their death.
Those sins wereNOT ressurected with him, they are dead, and no supersticous religion can bring them back. This is why you need to believe in Universal Salvation and the sheer power of the Ressurection.
And I want to go into that.
Peace.
The Power of Jesus Ressurection is the Key to Eternal Life, to Universal Salvation itself. The Power of Jesus Ressurection includes all this:
the complette destruction of All Sin,
the complette forgiveness of All those Sins,
the elimination of all quilt imposed unpon humanity,
the earseing of all intolerance that God holds on humanitys disobedience,
the Key that opens the only door through which Gods Justice will allow only Jesus to walk through with humanitys sins on his person and they be excused,
the Power of Ignition which " Sparks the Transfiguration from corruptible to incorrupitable",
the Entrance into Gods Kingdom,
the deed of inheritance through which his shed blood now demands that his generate be given their inheritance, by devine right,
the complette fulfillment of Gods Will,
the " Passing " from death to Life,
the Justification that we cannot be tried " Twice for crimes already paied for once",
the assurance that Jesus has " chosen to Marry Humanity" and he is bringing his Bride to his Father and willnot be denied,
the insurance policy that Jesus death purchased for all of humanity, he died for all, thus all are complettely covered through him, he met the requirements of Death, now he holds the exclusive rights to collect from God the benefits of that policy,
the right of Jesus to give his Bride his protection, their place in his House, and their status in accordance to being called by his name,
because our King has fought the battle himself, we then hold exclusive rights as citizens in his Kingdom,
because God ressurected Jesus, the Father then expresses his own will to be in complette agreement with the events that Jesus ressurection MUST now unfold, thus,
we have the Father Gods agreement on our side, which opens up another list that I will get to later,
because Jesus is the Propitiation for the whole worlds sins, God is now disposed toward nothing but rendering his Favor to all of humanity,
because Jesus drew all men to him through his death, through his ressurection he can carry all men with him into eternal life,
because Jesus was sent to save the world, when he was ressurected, he himself in complette newness from flesh to Spirit, the world now can be changed from sin and flesh, into complette newness, which will shed humanity of any prior curse, including their imagined ones, such as eternal hell suffering,
because he tasted death for everyone, through his ressurection he then can taste life for everyone, a taste he will share in complette unselfishness.
So I want to go into the Power of Jesus Ressurection and the implications it holds to Universal Salvation.
Peace.
One of the most interesting componants of Jesus Ressurection, is the Forgiveness of Sin, which is why he died, so that we might Live without Sin, the very basics of Universal Salvation. Notice Jesus, right after he was Ressurected in John 20:23;" If you forgive the Sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." He rose from the dead with his mind on Forgiveness and wanted his diciples to have their mind on it. I am not sure what he meant by retaining sins.
The message of Universal Salvation has to do with the total forgiveness of our sins. Many people look at sin as a delegate for hell. They see sin as a politician for hell, going around fighting for hell delegates. So a misinterpitation of sin, will produce a misinterpitation of Universal Salvation. If people could see what Jesus death and Ressurection did to Sin, they could then see Universal Salvation. Most believers are not against God, they believe in Jesus Ressurection, but they don't see the " Tone of Forgiveness" that his Ressurection set.
Look at Luke 24:47, again Jesus right after he was Ressurected;"And that repentance for Forgiveness of Sins should be proclaimed in my name to all nations." Look at Jesus intent and purpose here, he came out from death, preaching about the forgivensee of sins for humanity. One would think that if Jesus message was filled with eternal punishment, well then no better time than this, right after he was killed, to just jump all on sinful humanity and go right after those sinners. He could have said;" Well you killed me, I am alive again and I now preach to you that if you do not repent, then your on your way to hell fire.
His focus was just the oppisite, he came out of the grave preaching forgiveness and his mind and heart on the future of humanity with God.
And I want to go into that.
Peace.
In Luke 20:36 we are called the " Sons of the Resurrection", and humanity is specific to that. Angels may be called the sons of God, but they cannot be called the Sons of the Resurrection, because they have never died. They never had to rot in a grave, they never had to experience dying. What Jesus Resurrection signifys is the bringing of a race that is dying or dead and rotting in their sins, back to Life in a whole new creation. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and willnot rot away.
Now to try and show a human mind the Power of Universal Salvation, is akin to trying to speak to a dead persons mind. A mind that sees Universal Salvation, has crossed over from dead mind, to Live understanding. Dead mind is what offers the eternal hell doctrine, because they see everyone in hell as unaffected by Christ ressurection. Hell in fact is a serious blinding to the Power of Jesus Resurrection. Its like me leaving America to go to China to get something done for a person, and then when I get back, the person thinks they have to go and do what I have already done for them. Humanity thinks that we have to die for our Sins, when Jesus already has. They are correct, we must die, but the death is not a payment for our sins, it is a requirement to reach the Ressurection.
Everyone must die, and when they do, they are " Automatically Placed into an Inheritence", and the grave, or the casket cannot hold them forever, because the inheritence demands their Life to be renewed. And that is the Power of Jesus Resurrection.
Peace.
I want you to think about something that I think is important and unique. Before humanity was conceived, there was no Death, No Sin, No satan or Demons. There was no Pain, no sorrow, no crying and no suffering. Why would God bring these things into existence in order to create Man? Well the answer is in the bible, but even knowing the answer still gives you a mystery. The Answer is so that Man could be " Like God", knowing Good and Evil." So the mystery is ; To what degree or experience did God and Jesus " Know Evil" before they created the physical world and satan himself? Now that question cannot be answered, at least not by me.
Long before humankind was created, God and Christ teamed to create all that is in the Spiritual world, whatever it is that is. Every Elder, and Angel, every other kind of Heavenly creatures that are not Angels, all of them, which have existed for a very long time. Somewhere in that Time, the creative mind of God took a turn, and perhaps spoke with Christ, the actual creator, about " Something New." A creation that would be unique and different, so different it could be classified as " A Birth." Everything about the creation of humanity is different and unique. Everything. In order for humanity to come into existence, God also had to bring other original creations into existence
Evil, Sin, Satan, Suffering and Death, all had to be brought into existance in order for man to exist. God wanted to give humanity Life, then take it away, and then resurrect him from the Dead and Give him Eternal Life. Why All of this Drama?
And I want to get into that.
Peace.
Understand this; part of the Glory of the Resurrection, is that you first had to die. To walk around in Heaven amoungst Eternal Spirit beings who have never died, will forever make you different from them. They were never flesh, never anythingelse other than what they were created to be. Humans are not like that. We will have been created one thing, fleshly beings, then will have lived and died, then be resurrected and reborn into an entirely new creation. Only Christ and humanity will ever personally know what Death is Like. Now the Firstfruits of the latterday church, which are caught up in the Air to be with Christ, they willnot experience Death or the Ressurection, they will be transfigured in the twinkling of an eye. They will never share in the Honor of being put to death physically and being Resurrected. That honor is not reserved for them, only for those who must experience Death and the Resurrection, that will be a specific Crown of Righteousness.
It is much harder to Live and Die without Gods Spirit, than it is to Live and be Transfigured with its help. So I am convinced that the Greater honor will go to those who have not been called and must live their lives without God's involvement. And that is how God planned this to be. What makes the Last Great Day so Great, is that billions of humans will be resurrected back from the dead unto life. They will be totally in complette Shock, and totally forgiven, totally transfigured and totally renewed, so that Day will be a Day of " Totallity." And I want to go into this " Last Great Day", and what the Resurrection has to do with it.
Peace.
Theres a lot of " Drama" involved in this " Creation of Humanity." Even more, there is definte drama involved in the being " Satan", or being a demon, or just the energy of Evil. There is Drama and Energy involved in being a Human and not knowing God, just as it is definte Drama involved in being " Aware of God" and having to Live your Life within that awareness. So why all this Drama?
Well you need to think about this in order to try to understand Gods Plan of Salvation. God is doing an exciting energetic thing here. It explains an often overlooked thing about God. God himself is exciting and Energetic, and this is most defintely being expressed through his creation of Humanity. Through Human creation, God is forever establishing His Greatness, in that he can create Life, yes, but he is also the Master of Death. He will create billions of humans who will Die, then he will bring them back to Life and recreate them again. He will have introduced Life in the Flesh, then Death in the Flesh, then the Resurrection of that Life to Spirit. Then the complette elimination of Flesh and Death forever. A most unusual Drama.
God is establishing a " Glory" here. A unique Glory that is hallmarked for Honor, and I am one who is inclinded to believe that eternal hell punishing just does not " Fit" anywhere into this Drama of Glory. Oh but how Universal Salvation " Fits in."
And I want to show that concerning the Last Great Day.
Peace.
Before I go into the Last Great Day, I wanted to say that it will " Kick up Life to a Higher Octane", and in this Gods Purpose is more Revealed.
For those of you who have some Knowledge of Automobiles, the purpose of " Shifting Gears" is to put the motor into a Higher Level of Speed, to move it much faster and give it more Power to substain that Speed. This is the Purpose of the Last Great Day, it is a " Shifting of Gears", a change in momentum that will last forever. And Jesus " Purchased this Change" with his own Blood.
This reveals a lot about God AND Heaven. God wanted to " Change Things in Heaven", and Humanity has a lot to do with this Change, this " Shift." When a couple decides to have a child, that will forever change their Lives, their Atmosphere, their standard of Living. Humanity will do this to Heaven.
Listen, Heaven no doubt is a wonderful Place, but this New Life which Jesus has Purchased with his Resurrection, will forever Change Heaven, and bear this in Mind as we go into the Last Great Day.
Peace.
To maintain Clarity, I view the Last Great Day, and the Day of the Lord, as the Same Day, the same events. Three things are clear about this Day, God will Judge Humanity, he will Destroy the Earth AND the Heavens, and all things will be New, INCLUDING Heaven itself. In 2Peter 3:12-13;"Looking for and hastening the comming Day of God, on account of which the Heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the Elements will melt with intense Heat. But according to his Promise we are Looking for New Heavens and a new earth, in which Righteousness dwells."
I think many understand that the earth will be destroyed, but neglect to understand that the " Heavens", or the entire Universe and ALL of its Galaxys will be destroyed. God either has already remade them or has replaced them, or is in the process of creating a totally new Spiritual Universe as we speak, and will simply eliminate ours. But let me stop here and bring out a significant Point that relates to the Lake of Fire.
God will " Burn" our entire Universe with Fire, fire which even Burns Air, water and matter and Space, or the " Elements", 2Pet.3:10. Now Listen, God could simply " Will these things out of Existence", with the Power of his Mind. But God is a Being that likes to use " Symbolism". He is a Symbolist, calling things that are, as if they are not, and calling things that are not, as though they are. This means Symbols, something that stands for somethingelse. An Image that embodies a web of interelated Meanings, one event or Act that Articulates a complex set of Meanings. This is the very nature of the Lake of Fire, it holds a complex set of Meanings and represents various possibilities that we just do not yet understand. God wants the Universe to " Burn" because it symbolizes Change, metamoprhisis. And I think it quite possible that this is the same reason he wants Humanity to be Salted with Fire.
Another reason God uses Symbols, is because I believe he himself is some kind of "Symbiont" Being, Living in a constant state of Symbols or very high standards of complette righteousness, Living Spiritual Organism which have created or birthed other Living organisms which now exist with him in Symbiosis.
And with symbols, we can understand that God is VERY concerned with " Teaching", because Symbols carry with them a message, a lesson. So God is using symbols to simplify, or teach, he is trying to communicate with his creations in a manner in which they can understand him. This is why he gave the Commandments and Holy Days when he did, and its why he has set a pace in the New Covenant which can be followed and Understood. The books of the Bible, using men to write it, all efforts by him to communicate.
And the Day of the Lord comminucates certain things to us about God.
And I want to go into that.
Peace.
When God created the earth it was at first created formless and Void, which means it had no " Meaning", it became meaningful when he pumped Life into it, and said " Let the Earth bring forth Living Creatures." So " Meaning or Purpose" is important to Life. Even an inanimate object needs Meaning or purpose. A tool is meaningless until you use it for a purpose, it then can " Symbolize" something that helped you accomplish a purpose. And this is what the physical Universe is to God, a Meaningless Form which he gains meaning from by the way he is using it. Once its Purpose is complette, it will be disguarded as we would disguard a tool we used for just one purpose. And this needs to be understood as we view the Destruction of the Day of the Lord.
God is not going to go on a meaningless rampage and rip apart everything that we have known, there is a purpose for the Universe, and on the Day of the Lord, its purpose will have been accomplished. I understand that we Love the earth and our Bodies, but they are destined to be disguarded, replaced and Renewed. This " Elimination", this utter destruction, tends to make the Day of the Lord something to fear, and could enhance a view of God that is already fearful of him. It also makes the Lake of Fire something that people fear.
God is an " Expert" on Symbolism, and uses it quite extensively in Scripture. The bible is no ordinary owners manual. Even Gods Judgement is Highly Symbolic, remember that, as we go into this Great Day of God.
Peace.
The Day of the Lord will hold a lot of Meaning, both symbolic and relevant to the Day. Its most important Meaning, is the Resurrection, in my view. In John 6:44;" No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him on the Last Day." Many will experience this drawing on that last day, so the Last day will hold the Resurrection of much of humanity, and their Conversion, which means the Giving out of the Holy Spirit in the greatest mass ever. The Last Great Day then will comprise of the Resurrection, the Judgement and the Giving of the Holy Spirit. This far outweighs the Day of Pentecost, it will be a Day that God settles ALL scores with everything. And all this Salvation will outweigh the Destruction, but its going to be a whole lot of Destruction. God will expend a lot of energy on this Day.
The last great Day will be spent by God doing a significant amount of Judging, even angels of darkness will be judged on this Day, Jude 1:6. And I think even moreso, a significant amount of Saving, notice Rev. 21:6, Jesus is there at the Last Day " Giving Salvation away at absolutely no cost whatsoever." Giving the Water of Life, meaning giving Salvation, at no cost. Do you know what this means, salvation at no cost? He paied the Cost with his Resurrection, we do not have to give God something in order to receive this Salvation. Cost is being " Charged Something", this means we are not being charged for our sins. Why should I be arrested and charged with something, and tossed into a lake of fire or a jail, if the fine has been paied already, and someonelse has taken the blame for me? Cost entails that a particular sacrifice be paied, and Salvation cost Jesus his Life.
All Judgements that God will then pronounce on any human on that Day, must be rendered by him , on the Basis of Jesus Sacrifice and his Resurrection. God will Judge based on Jesus Resurrection, and I want to explain what that means.
Peace.
Now in Rev. 20:4, we can begin by looking at the first Resurrection. " And I saw Thrones, and they that sat upon them, and Judgement was given to them." Now here is I think the 24 Elders, only they and Christ, and the Father himself are said to sit on Thrones in Heaven before this day. And they are about to " Judge", but pay close attention as to who they are going to Judge.
" And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who hadnot worshiped the beast or his image, and hadnot received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand: These were Resurrected and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years." Now if these saints were " Judged" by the 24 Elders, the Judgement could have only been " Righteous Judgement", and they are " Given to Christ to Reign", so their Resurrection AND Judgement, was filtered through Christ, and thus they had nothing to fear from God or his Elders.
This is simular to a " Court Room scene", and they are standing before " Judges", but the Judges are complettely Righteous, and Christ is their " Lawyer", who has already dealt with the Judges and brokered their FORgiveness. Their FORgiveness was already FORcast and their sins FORgotten. All this was taken care of beFORehand. So Jesus Death and Resurrection gives our Sins a FORE, or future FORgiveness.
Then in vs.11, John sees a " Great White Throne", and he who sat on it was no doubt God himself. And then we see the second Resurrection of dead humanity and the rest of Living humanity And God starts Judging. Then John said " Books" were opened, Plural-- Books, remember that. Then another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. Then these humans were Judged " From the Things Written in the BookS, AND according to their Deeds." So their Judgement is based on the " Things IN THE BOOKS!" And I think that human Salvation is based then on two things which religion does not understand; Jesus very pressence and representation at this Judgement, and the information that is " In Those Books." One of which I believe is the Bible. If Jesus Death and Resurrection has indeed cancelled out Sin, and these " Books" hold Holy Salvation information, then sinful humanity cannot be condemned. And " If", which is a very big If, If anyones name was not found in the Book of Life, then I believe Jesus is very capable of having them written in, even at this late hour , he can get them a Pardon.
And I want to take a closer look at that.
Peace.
In Romans 3:23;" For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This is the condition each man would have stood before God in the Judgement "IF" Christ had not gave his Life for us, but since he did we can stand now being justified as a Gift from Christ through his redemption as we stand before God we can expect his Graceful pardon. Vs.25;" Whom God displayed publicly as a Propitiation in his Blood through Faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the " Sins Previously Committed." Each human will now stand before God in the Judgement in this condition, our previously committed Sins " Passed Over" or forgiven.
So Jesus death was a " Propitiatory Sacrifice", or an act that renders Gods Judgements in our Favor, And his Resurrection Conciliates Gods Judgements in the last great day. Listen, this solidifys our belief in Universal Salvation, and its all scripture, all of it. Every hell verse in scripture, everywhere it was translated into eternal damnation, everywhere sinners are tossed into the Lake of Fire, everywhere they are Judged, the fact still remains that Jesus very pressence at that Judgement, renders their sinful Lives as Justified through him. Jesus didnot come to Judge the world, but to Save it, and the time to save the World, will be right here at this Judgement. He is a Savior AT the Judgement, not only before it. He Died and Rose on OUR behalf, 2 Corinth. 5:15. He became Sin on OUR behalf, that AT THIS JUDGEMENT we will become the Righteousness of God IN HIM! And the " We" in these verses is the " World he came to Save." NOT a world of believers, but of unbelieving , unrepentant sinners.
And I want to paint a few more scriptures into this picture.
Peace.
Now if you believe in Universal Salvation, then you believe that Jesus Death and Resurrection renders Gods Judgements in all of humanitys Favor, 1Tim.2:6, he became the Ransom for all of Humanity. At the Judgement, in this, for lack of a better description, Courtroom scene, all of humanity will be Judged. No believer in Universal Salvation has any business going through years of unbelief and doubt in the Salvation of all, if you have committed to believing Scripture. Because you will still hold that doubt when YOU stand before God yourself. You think he won't notice it? Jesus Sacrifice was a " Total Committment" to humanity, ours then needs to be a total Committment to him. Don't you think one should breed the Other? In Ps.19:9;" The Judgements of the Lord are True, they are " Righteous Altogether." Which means God will consider " Everything involved" in your situation, and THAT will be your Salvation because that means Christ Death and Ressurection must be considered. When that has entered the equation, its that which equals Universal Salvation, unless Christ " Looses a case" in this Courtroom.
Notice somethingelse about Ps.19:9, it says the " Fear of the Lord is Clean". This suggest that there exist a " Dirty Fear". Now what kind of fear would be dirty? Well when you fear your own belief, that is dirty fear. When you fear that what you believe might be wrong. It goes like this: " You know I believe in Universal Salvation, but I'm afraid that it could be wrong." That IS NOT 100% committment, and when the bible suggest that we be " Perfect", that also means 100% committment to your belief in God! You believe it, then committ to it with all your heart! You then stand before God with a " Perfect Belief." And I would rather be judged by something I wholeheartedly believe in, than to stand there with all kinds of " Dirty Fear."
So our prayers to him should always include that he " Cleans up our belief", because satan goes after halfhearted belief, like a Lion goes after weakness in its prey.
So I want to take a short detour into how we can " Clean up" our belief in the Salvation of all. We have a Savior that has given his Life for our belief, we then need to be very strong in that area.
Peace.
I think the worst thing I have ever done in my Life, is to doubt my own belief. Not my belief in God, but how my belief " Strongly Changed", but I couldnot keep up with the Strength of it. To change from " Common or Traditional belief", to belief in Universal Salvation is a very large leap, and if you make that leap and stay in the mid air, your not going to be properly grounded. Such a change will make you dig deep into Gods word, because it must support your belief. And it will make you go to God because " Only the Lord may Confirm his Word", 1 Sam. 1:23.
The sheer shocking change from Limited Salvation and the eternal hell doctrine to seeing the Salvation of all and no eternal punishing, is a catastrophic difference of View. Such a view, such a belief, requires the whole being to be invested in it, this is no halfhearted path. Oh it may sound good, it may " Think good in the Mind", but as with any Faith, the belief in the truth you have chosen, should continually grow stronger within you. Plastic Faith is groundless and void, progressing to nothing. Any doubt that enters your being needs to be " Cleaned up", espically if the " Matter is to be determined by God", Gen.41:32.
I wasted a lot of years in my first comming to see the truth of Universal Salvation, because I allowed the outside cares of this world and my own sin to " Muddy the Waters of the Truth." So those two things have to be viewed as a " Threat to the Truth", not something God is using to fuse the Truth within you. You get caught up in that , your going to waste a lot of time that you could have been growing in the Truth. No matter what you believe, nothing can establish you like obedience in what you believe and seperating yourself from all those things that seperate you from the Truth. You clean up your beliefs by submitting to God in the best of your service to him, your obedience to him, and becomming grounded in the fighting of your walk with him. It is number one in your life, and you totally believe in it with all your heart.
Your mind, your disposition, your inclination, your aittitude, your approach, all must be invested into your Belief. Those are the things that God looks for to strengthen within you, because these things are " According to your Faith." 2Thess. 3:2, notice" To Strengthen and Encourage you " As to your Faith." According to your investment, depending on your level of committment, its gets adjusted according to how much you are willing to invest. How much you really believe. There will come a time that God will intervene, but before that time comes, there is the testing that everyone has to endure.
If you look at 1 Pet. 5:10 it will be obvious when God intervenes;" And after you have Suffered for a little while, the God of all Grace, who called you to his eternal Glory in Christ, " Will Himself" perfect you, confirm you, strengthen you and establish you." Notice the first thing God works on establishing within you, is " Perfection", which as I have said means 100% belief in what you believe.
The Mindset of 100% belief, is easier taught by the Spirit, because it does not have to fight you and your doubts. And I would like to go into that.
Peace.
One of the more difficult things that unbelievers face, is that they have a hard time believing in God, though some think he may exist. And they think Jesus may have existed, but have a hard time believing he was the Son of God. They experience an even harder time believing he was killed and was Resurrected. These are barriers to the entrance of any more truth into their minds. When Truth is not accepted, or believed, it is not planted, thus is not watered, thus cannot grow. Now lets take an individual who accepts " Some Truth." He or she believes some of it, you may naturally want to assume the same formula, some is believed so some is planted, will get watered and will grow. Oh there will be a " Growth", but it will be a " Hybrid Growth", a mixture that lends more toward confusion, than understanding. Truth is so powerful that it requires 100% belief and committment. This is why Politics can be so confusing, because they are not 100% committed to the Truth or the people, they are 100% committed to keeping their Jobs.
You ever just watch it Snow? It comes down from the Sky in a silent accumulating rain. Then over time, it slowly compacts and builds up from the ground. Snow is billions of individual particals , but once they are grounded, they just blend into each other and form a unified base which covers the ground. The Truth is so much like that. The individual particals do not fight against each other, they just blend into each other, 100% acceptance of each part. Belief is so much like this, and you need to have Faith in the blending in of the Truth to your mind. 2Thess.2:13;"Faith in the Truth." Faith in the Truth is 100% belief in it.
Belief in God is only " Fitting" or unified when all of it is uniformingly accepted. Acts 8:37;" Believe with All of your Heart." We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for our sins and that he was resurrected and that the power of his resurrection is what passes us from death to Life. And not just ours only, but for the sins of the whole world, and this is a backbone of our believe in the Salvation of all. Were not being " Overly Generous" in our belief, God is being overly generous in his Grace. We didnot " Make up" the doctrine of Universal Salvation, we just " See its Truth" in the bible and believe it. We are not " Hoping against Hope", Rom.4:18, we believe this to be the Truth. In 2Kings 17:14, people didnot listen, they " Stiffened their necks" to the Truth. A stiff neck means you take a hard stance against anything entering into your mind, you stubbornly reject things. You start worrying about whoelse believes, who will believe your report.
Take no thought of whoelse believes, you believe, your righteousness only accounts for your belief in learning, you cannot believe or learn for others. Your battle with any doubt must be won. Our Faith can afford to be less in areas, but our belief cannot afford to be less than 100%, that is an area to pray for perfection.
Peace.
I want to take another detour here that will be kind of " Meaty", but I wanted to share some things I have been looking into for quite sometime. Back to Genesis, and I will tie this into the Power of the Resurrection. In Gen.1:26, God creates what I think are humans, in his form and likeness, or who physically are simular to his Spiritual form and likeness, but they were not " Breathed into", or given intellectual consciousness. The human, Adam was created in Gen.2:7, and he became a being with " Living Consciousness", created way after God had completted his creation work and rested, or " Finished it." I think there were millions of earth years that had passed between these two different creations of humans, and I think the " Caveman Years" are evidence of that elasped time. Now this is Meaty and speculatory, but I believe highly possible, I believe it though.
Now everything God created prior to him resting or completting his work, I don't think God has obligated himself to resurrecting, or giving it another future. He only created Adam after his work was completted, and I think he has obligated himself to giving Adam and his generate a future with him. So along this line of belief, God is not obligated to resurrect the earth, the Universe, satan and his demons, or the humans created with no consciousness. Everything God had prior created he viewed it as a good thing to do, but he didnot bless anything he had created, he only " Blessed and sanctified" the day that he had completted this creative work. Now I believe when God sanctifys something, he then is obligating himself to it in some kind of manner, so I don't think we have seen the end of the significance of the 7th day.
But anyway, I wanted to fool around with this for a little bit.
Peace.
So the " Breath of Life" was the difference between the humans created on earth prior to God resting or being finished in Genesis 1, and Adam in Genesis 2. God had created all animal Life, and they were " Alive" but there is no record of him " Breathing into them the Breath of Life", so I think there is a distinct symbolic difference. I believe the difference entails a different level of " Consciousness." The level of Consciousness that is " Like God", is the level that understands the difference between right and wrong, which brings far more responsibility into being alive. So being " Breathed on " by God is symbolic of being placed into an entirely different level of awareness and responsibility, or you can say Consciousness.
In John 20:21-23, Jesus " Breathes on " the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit, and this was before the Day of Pentecost in Acts. What did he do to them that is different than what The Holy Spirit did in Acts the 2nd chapter? Well I think it has to do again with awareness and level of responsibility, I think he did something to their Consciousness. And it will be no different today, when God breathes on one of us. That person, or persons, that he breathes on will then just have a different level of Consciousness, and that will be reconizable by some. They will have a much higher level of awareness and Responsibility.
What level of responsibility did all the cavemen who existed have? Well it was survival and feeding their families, just like the animals had. Their is no record of any " Cavemen" worshipping a God, that would be like an animal worshipping God. Jesus didnot give his Life for animals, God is not obligated to ressurect any animal. They are a different form of Life. Just as I believe demonic angels are a different form of Life that God is not obligated to. demons only understand evil, thats what they live for, its what they will die for, evil. They do not know the difference between right and wrong. They understand how to use right to get to wrong, they can use goodness as a means to achieve evil. They can " Dress themselves" in the Robe of goodness, but it is always purely illusion, because beneath it they are deadly vipers.
So the Breath of Life is symbolic of a different Level of Awareness and responsibility, or you can say " Consciousness." It does not keep a human alive forever, but it does give you something before you die. And that " Something", is what God will resurrect. That something, is really what you are! Your body is just carrying around that something which we are. Our Consciousness, and the Power of the Resurrection, is a unique phenom of God and Christ. And I want to go into that.
Peace.
It is a custom among the Jews to tear their clothing to signify that they have disowned someone. The robes of the Father are perfect, without a single tear, for he will never disown one of His own children.
Jesus came to reinforce that aspect of the Father. To know this truth is to live here on earth with His hand in yours. It is up to us to take this hand or let it go. But He will never give us up in eternity.
:cloud9: It was also a symbol of grief over the death of someone.......thus the veil was rent. I'm sure this symbolism was not lost on the Jewish leaders of the day........
Great Point Cardinal. My prayers go out to your daughter as well.
Human beings are really " Symbionts", because our Consciousness is living in a state of being with our bodies. Now God is a Symbiont, which is not the topic of this thread, but he has at least 8 levels of Consciousness that I have counted in scripture , which I think is awesomely amazing. We are flesh, that is one organism, our Consciousness is " Spirit", that is another living organism, and we live in close relationship with our bodies, that is a " Symbiosis", two different organisms living together in close relationship. And I will show you what this has to do with the resurrection.
But first let me say this, really the expression " God is A Spirit", is incorrect, because God is not a singular Spirit. It is more correct to say God " Has A Spirit", although he has more. God is A Spirit being, but he is not " A" Spirit, If by " A", you mean singular. Now you can say God " is" Spirit, and that be correct. God cannot be condensed to any singularity except to say that he is the only one that is like he is. God is " One", meaning its only one being like him, nothingelse, including Christ, is exactly like God " Overall", I say overall because Jesus shares exactness with his Father in some ways, but not all of his ways. And that is another topic of intrest.
Now why would God create humans as Symbionts? Well back to the Garden of Eden, and you must excuse me for going back and forth to the events in Eden so much, its just that there is an awful lot of information stored in Eden. When you go to a friends house and go with them to see their garden outside , they will show you what they are growing, it is a history of their forthcomming menu, what they plan on eating or consuming. Its no different with a vist to Gods garden in Eden, only what God grew, he planned on humanity to consume it.
The symbiont relationship was established in the garden of Eden when God planted, or created and established in one Tree ( or human society) two different organisms that must now exist in the same society. Two entirely different concepts that must live inside of the mind of man. Thats 4, count it thats four. Our human consciousness, thats one, our human bodies, thats two, the concept of Good, thats three and the concept of Evil, thats four. Two organisms existing inside of each other with two major concepts existing inside of them, look at the reality of this creation.
This was preplanned confusion from the get. A very purposeful design that tends to wear down to Death. Mankind was designed to wear down and Die. And God preplanned our Resurrection. So the Resurrection of humanity was preordained, because our Death was preordained. And this very simply means that Salvation itself was preordained, there can be no other correct deduction. So the resurrection is best explained through the concept of Universal Salvation.
And I want to go into that.
Peace.
Now I want you to look at the the 3rd day of creation in Genesis 1:9-13, in it is a detailed explination of how God created water, plants and vegetation that had " Sprouted", meaning they were growing and active. Everything was bearing fruit and revegating themselves and spitting out more " Seeds." Now look at Genesis 2:1, all prior events in creation had been concluded. God had finished, and this includes the creation of both male and female humans in 1:26-28. But look at Gen.2:5;" Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, no plant of field had yet sprouted, for God had not yet sent rain to the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground."
Well now Gen.2:5 seems to contridict 1:9-13, and it is a direct contridiction, totally oppisite. So something happened that is not explained here. And I believe what happened is best explained by Archaeology and human Consciousness. Archaeology undenialibly shows an age of humanity that had both prehistoric man and animals. And our technology proves that the age of the earth is far beyond the 6,000 plus years that many bible believers have adjusted to. There then must have been a period between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, where God created both animals, vegatation and humans that he discontinued their existance before he created Adam. Adam was created inside of a " Garden", a fixed environment that was seperate from the rest of the earth, because they were " Put out of it". So that man that God created had absolutely nothing to do with the earth or prior humans created before him. I believe when God placed Adam and Eve into the Earths environment, all other " Ages" that the earth had went through, were now finished, including the Ice Age.
And I want to go further into this as it relates to the Resurrection.
Peace.
Now the " Ice Age" was just another way for God to kill the inhabitants of the earth without killing the earth. I believe he used the Ice Age to rid the earth of prehistoric animals, of the humans with no consciousness and of pre Adamic vegitation. Putting it on Ice so to speak, preserving only what he willed to survive.
I was amazed to see all the stages that the earth has been through in its history. Just to name a few; Precambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Ecene and Miocene, and all these were before the Ice Age. Each age lasting millions of Years. Did you know our Universe is estimated to be at least 4.5 billion years old? There is so much that God has done that we just do not understand.
God took the earth through stages, he is taking humanity through stages, and the resurrection is a very important stage. And it relates to the Salvation of all.
Peace.
Now this is why the beliefs of some hold no credibility. Here we have an earth that is closer to 3.8 billion years old, and a universe that is around 4.5 billion years old, then we have certain believers in God who are teaching that the earth is just over 6,000 years old. Instead of dealing with reality and letting reality spur their study of God and his word, they would rather jam something other than the truth into their minds, and think that knowledge should be built on such a foundation as that. Thats not going to correctly fit.
Faith needs to be used in areas that facts cannot help, but if the facts are there, then no faith is needed. Some believers think that facts hold no relevance in the search for truth, that is incorrect reasoning. Now can we prove, outside of Gods word, that Jesus was resurrected? No, we cannot, so Faith and belief is needed there. Faith then becomes the evidence for the believers trust in the Resurrection. Now we cannot give others this evidence, did we give it to ourselves? But neither can we deny their " Evidence", and try to fit Gods word into our preconceived molds.
So I want to go into the things that believers are putting out, that actually do damage to Christ Resurrection and our belief in the Salvation of all.
Peace
I wanted to go through a few things that I think does damage to the doctrine of Universal Salvation.
1. It does damage to the belief in the Salvation of All, when you really don't believe it yourself. Because of your double mindedness, because you have " Too many minds", you then are really expressing that through your own doubt. You are just further spreading your own double mindedness, because you are not fully convinced yourself. Imagine a person walking into a room of people who are confused, they don't know what to do, what to believe. If the person who walks in does not know what to do or what to believe, they just add to the confusion.
2. It does damage to the belief of the Salvation of all, when we inter-mix it with our own doctrines of belief that are in error themselves. When you take in a New belief, and try to mix it with Old beliefs, its like putting old wine in a new bottle, the fermation is going to be ruined. Gods word of truth only matures in the direction that it is meant to grow into. When the Truth is mixed with deception, its power is lost, because the deception will ruin its maturity.
3. We damage the reception of the Salvation of All when we purposely try to " Horde it to ourselves", put the spotlight on ourselves and uplift the annointing of receiving such knowledge by now living with an inate " Superior Aittitude", which manifest itself and shows much more than you think it does. I think this is the number one reason why the message of the Salvation of all is rejected by people, because of the aittitude they see in the message bearer.
4. One of the strongest dilutions or " Watering Down of the Great message of Universal Salvation" that I am aware of is the " Throwing off of Gods Timetable". Our tendency to misplace the things of God in their sequence, and through our personal desires and Coveting, just throw off the time involved in the things of God. We tend to bring things down from heaven too early, or we seem to think our beliefs controls when God will Act and when he will give.
I want to go into the Resurrection as it relates to the " Transfiguration" of Jesus.
Peace.
In Matt.17:1-12, Jesus takes Peter, James and John his brother with him high up into the mountians and is " Transfigured" right in front of their eyes. This means his " Apperance was changed" to an elevated glorified state. Now I am under the belief that human eyes cannot see a " Spirit glorified being", but in vs.9 Jesus tells them to " Tell the " Vision" to no one." So this was a Vision shown to the diciples. With visions one can hardly tell the difference between reality and symbolic images being shown. Because the two worlds are colliding.
This was a very powerful display, and it is recalled in 2Pet. 1:15-18. What I want you to think about, in relation to the Resurrection, is the " Quickness involved" in this display of power. Jesus was changed instantly, and recall where the bible states that some will be changed in the " Twinkling of an eye", or less than a second. The Resurrection takes up no time at all, which means God can change anything using no time elapsed, if he so chooses. What would be harder for God to do, to change your nature, or to change your entire existence from flesh to Spirit? By harder, I only mean which would require him to expend more energy, because nothing is too hard for him to do.
In closing this out, the Resurrection is the last great Power extended by God to change humanity, and it will take no time at all. It will be instantly done. The time that God is investing in us while we yet live in our flesh, is where the time is really being spent. The Salvation of humanity has invested time, but the change will be instant. The resurrection was instant, the glorified results will be instant. The Real Power of the Resurrection is instant, and Universal Salvation is an instant result of Christ Glorification.
Peace.