What a Choice
Dearly beloved of God, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
There are two ends revealed in this verse: one is to perish, and the other is to have everlasting life.
To perish is to be utterly and finally ruined and destroyed. It is the fate of the sinner.
Everlasting life is the end for those who believe in God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When a person confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead, he/she will be saved [see Romans 10:9.] When someone does this, he/she receives the gift of holy spirit, and is born again of the spirit from God, and enters the kingdom of God.
This is available to anyone because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for them. A person is saved by the grace of God.
Jesus Christ gave his life in the place of the guilty sinner, and as a result of his sacrifice, and that God raised him from the state of death, he accomplished what was necessary for our salvation.
Whether a person is saved or not, they will die. It is the natural end of life; but for the person that confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead that one will be saved for everlasting life.
God does not want anyone to perish, but that all should come to repentance. Mankind has free will; a person can choose to be saved, or to perish.
For the Church of the Grace of God we are saved by Jesus Christ and his accomplishments for us. When we believe Romans 10:9 we are born again. This birth makes us a child of God, and entitles us to the inheritance as heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. We will receive this inheritance of salvation when God sends His Son to save us in the gathering together up to meet him in the air.
The Lord Jesus Christ will raise the dead in Christ from the corruption of the grave as incorruptible, and he will change the mortal ones to be immortal, and together we will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. We are to comfort one another with these words.
What begins with the new birth will end with receiving the inheritance of everlasting life, and glorious bodies like Christ’s glorious body when he returns for us.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
If Christ is not raised, our believing is worthless, and we are yet in our sins. Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished; but now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Christ was the first fruit, and at his coming we will follow.
Rejoice, dearly beloved, we are sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until we receive it when Christ returns to gather us up to him in the air.
Thank God for His great love wherewith He loved us! Instead of death, corruption, and perishing, in Christ and by his accomplishments salvation is available to anyone that takes him up on his offer.
To perish or to receive everlasting life…. Why would anyone reject such a magnificent offer of God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus?