At the throne of God

January 21, 2009 FB
Here is a hypothetical story about a real conversation you and God must have before you die. It is based on real questions and answers from the Bible, so it is most beneficial to you if you look up the Bible references for yourself. Just to warn you, it may seem a little harsh at the beginning, so be prepared.

Let’s say that God appears to you tonight in a dream and you stand in front of His throne. God lovingly, but seriously, asks you “Why should I give you eternal life and let you into heaven?”
You say “Because I believed that you exist.” Then God tells you, “You believe that there is one God. You do well, even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).”
You say, “Well I was a good person.” Then God tells you, “There is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10).”
You say, “Well I did lots of good things, like helping the poor, reading the Bible, going to church, getting baptized.” Then God tells you “All your righteous deeds are like filthy rags to me (Isaiah 64:6).”

At this point it seems you are getting nowhere with God, but He is very patient about everything. You notice God’s demeanor change from being lovingly stern, to being overwhelmingly sorrowful. So now, you ask God some questions. You ask, “Well then what is wrong with me, that is keeping me from eternal life and heaven?” God tells you, “Now you are going the right way with your questions.” He says, “I can't let you into heaven because you have sinned and fallen short of My perfect standards (Romans 3:23).” Then you may say “Well what is a sin?” God would tell you, “A sin is anything that you do that is wrong, like lying.” You say, “Yeah I know I’ve done some wrong things, but what’s so bad about a sin or two?” Then God, with a deep sorrow in His voice, tells you “The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). You are separated from life with Me forever because you have sinned. I cannot be with you because when you sinned you died to Me forever.” You plead with God saying, “Well I tried to do good things for you and to do your work.” Then God, with tears in His eyes, says “But, I never knew you (Matthew 7:23).”

You feel how deeply moved God is because He wants you to be with Him. You realize that there is nothing you can do to save yourself, so you ask Him, “God, I know you want me to be with you and I want to be with you too, but what must I do to be saved?” God now becomes joyful because He has a surprise for you. He reaches behind His back, grabs something, and puts it in front of you. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God says “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17), he is God just like Me (John 1:1), I gave him, my only Son, for you (John 3:16), he became a man for you (Philippians 2:7), and now I want you to talk with him about eternal life (Matthew 17:5).”

So now you are standing there at the throne of God with Jesus. You ask Jesus, “Why did you become a man like me?” Jesus says, “Well, you know you’re a sinner separated from me and my Father right?” You say, “Yes, but what does that have to do with you becoming a man?” Jesus says, “I had to become a man so that you could be saved from being separated from Us forever. You are required to be perfect to have eternal life and you did not, so I became a man and lived a perfect sinless life for you.” You notice that the way Jesus speaks is wonderful. His words are loving, caring, and completely truthful. You ask him, “Okay, you lived a perfect life for me, does that mean I can have eternal life now?” Jesus says, “No, because I also had to die for you.” You tell Jesus, “You already lived a perfect life for me so you shouldn’t have had to die. Why did you have to die?” Jesus says, “First of all, I love you. And second, sin must be punished. The punishment for sin is death; which means separation from me and my Father. If you are going to be saved from your sins and being separated from us, someone has to take your death punishment for you. That’s what I did. Because I love you, I took your sins in my body, died on a cross with your sins in me (1 Peter 2:24), and shed my perfect blood for you.”

You start to realize that you cannot do anything to get eternal life and be with God, and that God already did everything for you to make it possible for you to have life. So you ask Jesus, “If you are dead with my sins in you, then how can a dead person save me, or anyone?” Jesus says “That the amazing thing! I am no longer dead! Three days after I died, I rose from the dead in this same body (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and went up to heaven. I am cleaned off from your sins and I am alive now forever and that’s why I can save you. I will save you if you want to be saved. Do you want to be saved?”

This is it. This is the moment for you the reader to make your decision. Although this is a story, it is a real situation you are facing right now. You will not get a chance after you die, you must decide today. You can say “yes” to Jesus and be saved, or you can say “no” or “not yet” and walk away from so great a salvation that is offered to you maybe to never have another chance.
If you want to be saved, pray right now and ask God to give you eternal life because of what He has done for you, a condemned sinner, and tell Him you receive Jesus as your savior.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).”

Nehemiah Ryan © 2009