“…for he (the Father) maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Matthew 5:45.  In another verse we are told, “God is love.”  1 John 4:8. And His wonderful character is still further defined by the following verse: “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” John 3:17.

So…can we perish? Is that true? Is this verse talking about this paltry little life of 70-plus (or less) years? No. Perish means, “end.” Forever ended. No more life. Gone. That’s simply what God’s presence does to sin. His presence consumes sin. (The only reason we have not been consumed yet is because God put an enmity to sin in our hearts. Genesis 3:15) Love will finally, irrevocably and utterly consume sin. It says that in Revelation, the final book of the Bible, the fulfillment of which we are hurtling towards. In Nahum 1:9 it says, “…affliction shall not rise up the second time.” There is going to be an end to things as we know them. We all sense this: the financial markets, the national health care problems, technological advances, natural disasters and the depletion of natural resources are all proclaiming it.  Life is not going to “go on as usual.”  Like a huge boil, this world is preparing to burst open, and what will come pouring out of its volcanic head will be the finally-focused picture of the total difference between good and evil. No more gray ground. No more wondering, Does God exist? What is truth? How will I find the way? What is my path?  Louder and more clearly we are hearing His voice. The most urgent and earnest appeals are sounding down from the heights of God’s celestial palace: I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming! I love you, I love you. I died for you. Will you be there for me?  I want to live with you forever. Please come with me.”

And what will qualify us for that trip? “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:12) The “Son” is a very specific Being. He’s not some kind of “fits all.” He pours Himself into containers (vessels, temples, bodies: whatever you want to call these bundles of bones and organs) that will hold Him. If ye love me, says the Son, I will live in you. And the way that you love me is by keeping my commandments, even as I also kept my Father’s commandments. He also says, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Mark 5:36 Are we to “only believe,” or are we to “keep His commandments?”

In Revelation 12:17, we are given a view of God’s end-time body (woman, church) and the beastly power that is trying to destroy her: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  Revelation 12:17. What is Christ’s testimony: “I do always those things that please Him (the Father.)  John 8:29. How many of us “…do always those things that please him”?  Not a one of us. So what qualifies us for the trip?

It is our response to God’s continual wooing. He’s entreating, and calling, and shouting, and leaving messages, and sending texts, and ruffling and riling all earth and heaven, trying to get our attention. We can response with faith, or doubt. We are saved by faith. We are lost through lack of faith, or unbelief. It’s a learning process. We believe, then something happens and we doubt, then we again “look up” (John 3:14,15) in faith at the crucified Son of God (the Saviour-not called that without a reason) and we again believe; then something happens to test our faith, and perhaps we again lose faith, and doubt…or perhaps we believe. At all times, and through all experiences, God is seeking to establish our faith in His amazing love. He is always working for us—and, sad to say, we are almost, always working against Him.

Let’s look at a few examples of the faith-doubt pendulum. When John the Baptist, cousin to Jesus, saw Jesus coming to the Jordan River to be baptized, at the height of his successful ministry as the “herald of the Messiah, he cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29 Later, as John languished in the dungeon (because of his faithful ministry), he sent word to Christ asking, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Matthew 11:3 From faith to doubt.  But later, as a martyr, we know he died in faith, for Christ tells us he was the greatest prophet of all prophets.

Here is another example: the woman at the well in Samaria, of whom Jesus asked a drink of water. She said to him, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? John 4:9 But God kept pouring his evidential love over her, until she cried out in faith to her village people. “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?” John 4:29 From doubt to faith.

Another example is Peter. Jesus tells him to cast his net on the other side of the boat, in the day time (not a good time to fish), after Peter, a seasoned fisherman, has been fishing unsuccessfully all night (a good time to fish on the Sea of Galilee). Peter loves Jesus, and considers Him as “Teacher,” but not yet as God. But after he throws in the net, at Christ’s “word,” and draws in more fish than the boat can handle, Peter “…fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  From doubt to faith to worship.

What is your response to the Father’s overtures of love? Will you believe?