“… the salvation of your souls…” (1 Pet. 1:9, OAV)
Now that we’ve come to the understanding that the idea that Jesus is the Tree of Life is indeed not true, we need to do a complete re-orient ourselves with regards to what happened in paradise.
But before we can do this, we first need to look at another important truth. In the teaching of Day 1402-1404 we explored, in detail, how the soul is mortal. But what do we then do with the statement many of us often make, that the end of our faith is the salvation of your souls? If this is true, it is possible that the mortal soul can be saved, and is thus actually immortal! This is an amazing truth. Think about this – your will, intellect and emotion, with your talents and abilities, your personality type, individual characteristics, everything that makes you a unique, own person, does not go to waste when you die, when your “living soul” blows out its last breath. But how does this immortalising of the mortal soul take place?
The second implication is that the soul must be saved, and we usually explain this by saying that your will must be in accordance with God’s perfect will (Mark. 14:36; Rom. 12:2), your intellect must demonstrate the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16, KJV), and your emotions must be the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). To get to this, we’ve often argued, sanctification needs to take place – this is what saves the soul. Heb. 12:14 is often thrown into the mix here: “holiness, without which no one will see the Lord”. Indeed.
It often made me very dispirited about the narrow path that I am forced to walk – often with a conscience that says, “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle.” (Col. 2:21).
And then I often wondered, when good friends die young – did their souls make the cut for salvation that God requires, since His standard is so terrifyingly high: “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:16). And even though you can’t judge another’s walk with God, I have lost many believing friends who I know, from the perspective of my own unholy soul, were quite far from salvation of their own souls when they died. What happens to them? One can understand the Roman Catholic need for an in-between state, for purgatory – you (and those you love who’ve been left behind) are at least given the opportunity to negotiate with God for the salvation of their souls, through all kinds of penance.
Does this sound crazy? It does, but our traditional Reformed and Charismatic thoughts still carry some of this deception within it. [There is of course the issue that the story of the rich man in the afterlife looks dangerously close to that of purgatory (Luke 16:20-32). Luckily we’ve however already looked at this misunderstood parable in depth in the teachings of Day 584-586, and know that this is not the case.]
In the following teaching we look at the absolutely surprising revelation that God offers us concerning the salvation of our soul.
- Selah: Ponder the eternal destination of the mortal soul.
- Read: 91-93
- Memorise: 91:1
