Today we had some friends over from our ecclesia. In conversation a brother brought out an excellent analogy that I thought might be handy to share.
If we were around many, many years ago then our countries may not have been under the rule of democracy. We as citizens of the country would not have had a say in the ruling of our country, our opinions would have meant nothing. Whatever the ruler of that country said was all that mattered. The King or Queen's laws were to abided by and if not then the likelihood would have been that the offender would be executed. Anyone who went against the rules would be killed. So of course we would not have even dared to go against these laws as we would not have wanted to lose our lives. We would have followed the commands without second thought.
Linking this to our King, our Lord Jesus, we can see striking similarities. Christ has shown us the way, he has laid down the laws to be abided by. His teachings were far greater than the Old Law and whatever Jesus said was to be obeyed. Now if we obey and listen to Christ (and ultimately God), then we will be greatly blessed. However, if we do not hearken to the laws then the simple answer is that we will be destroyed following Judgement. We will be killed just like the offender was for disobeying his ruler. We can in no way, shape or form take a back seat in our service and pass off certain commandments simply because we do not like them. We can not break rules simply because we can not make the effort to adhere to them. If we would obey a king of the land for the sake of our lives then why would we not obey the King of Kings? For if we do not obey then we know our punishment.
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15
The starkness of that is frightening but we should not be scared of this, instead we should take delight in obeying our King. And if we do fail and not obey, if we do slip up then we have the great privilege of being able to avoid eternal death. If we put to death such sins, sincerely repent and live with the more earnest desire to serve our Father and His Son, then we will through such grace and mercy be blessed with a place in the Book of Life.
I felt this was a great point made by this brother.Of course I have expanded upon it. But the main idea is that in old times, if you disobeyed the King then you would be executed. Therefore, if we disobey Christ the King, we too will be cast aside. There is no room for complacency or laid back attitudes. Every act of ours is recorded and sins will only be blotted out if we truly ask for mercy.
Let us all strive to follow the teachings of scripture, to follow the pattern laid down by Christ so that each and every one of us may have "an entrance that shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
"AND BEING MADE PERFECT, CHRIST BECAME THE AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION UNTO ALL THEM THAT OBEY HIM." Hebrews 5:9
