Knowing Him As He Really Is—The Definition of Immortality

[Chapter 11 of the book Yah-Is-Savior: The Road to Immortality]

We are well down the road to immortality now. We have learned that wisdom is being in awe of God.  It is the first step; it is the main thing, for it is the first key that begins to unlock the treasure house of God’s knowledge. Without this awe of Him we won’t get anywhere. Then we took step two, knowing His name. Moses got some wisdom, some awe of God, at the burning bush, and then he had to know His name. It was a crucial step, to know God’s true name Yahweh.

And now we have come to our third step: Knowledge of Who He Really Is. The farther we go down this road that leads to immortality, the more is at stake. We cannot turn back now; our own hopes of transcending a certain death hangs on our steadfastness and perseverance at this time. Immortality, the elixir that our mortal mouths must drink, is the knowledge of who God really is. This knowledge is the key to unlock the secrets of eternal life. We have arrived at nothing less than the information that will catapult us over this valley of the shadow of death. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Yahshua the Messiah, whom you have sent. John 17:3. NIV.

Our hopes for arriving at immortality hinge on how well we really know Him—how well we really know His nature, His essence, His Deity, His Godhead. For us, eternal life depends on whether we really know Him as He really is. We must straighten out misconceptions of who He is and how He is. 

Those of us on this road to immortality must realize that only He can grant us true knowledge of Himself.  It will not come through man’s conception of who and how He is. We must believe upon Him in true knowledge “as the scripture has said,” the way the scriptures really portray Him.

But that, of course, is the problem.We all have our own conception of Him.  We think that we have just “come up with it,” but we have received our personal conception of God through what we have been taught by other human beings that we have come in contact with. It really gets tricky when people have studied out minutely different denominational doctrines, and even though they have “come out” of that organization, they cling tenaciously to its teachings—teachings about who He is. 

     The Savior, 2000 years ago, standing before them in a human flesh body, told them that they were searching the scriptures. They thought that eternal life was contained in those scriptures of truth. But, as the  Master  was , the very writings that they thought would yield immortality for them were the very writings that spoke of Him—the One that they were rejecting!  You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40, NIV…You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life: yet, although their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life. NEB.

They were studying the scriptures diligently, thinking that immortality would be derived through them.  What writings were they studying that spoke about the Messiah, the Savior? What scriptures existed then?  They were the books commonly referred to as the Old Testament. Now  Yahshua, the Savior, said that those old books written by the prophets of ancient Israel, those old books spoke about HIM!     

The prophets spoke and wrote about the Savior by His very Spirit within them

Let’s go, then, to the prophets where they speak about the Messiah, specifically using the word “Savior.”  He just said in John 5 that the scriptures do testify of Him, so let us go there and see for ourselves what they are saying. Now Peter tells us that the spirit that was in those prophets was the Spirit of the Savior, Yahshua the Anointed One.  And they spoke and wrote down with the Spirit of Yahshua about this immortality, this salvation from a certain death. This salvation was the theme which the prophets pondered and explored, those who prophesied about the grace of God awaiting you.  They tried to find out what was the time, and what the circumstances, to which the spirit of Christ in them pointed. I Peter 1:10-11, NEB.

The Spirit of Messiah, which was in Isaiah the prophet said this: But now thus saith Yahweh (the LORD) that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel…For I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Isa. 43:1,3.

Several important points emerge from this passage that are vital for our understanding of His essence, which in turn is vital for our obtaining immortality. First, the Spirit of Christ that was in Isaiah said that He was Yahweh! Thus saith Yahweh…I am Yahweh. When the prophets wrote down the words, “Thus saith Yahweh,” they were saying that Yahweh is speaking through me the following words.  Yahweh is speaking thusly.  Yahweh, the Father, the Creator, the Supreme Being is using me by speaking through me! Oh, to be used that way, the way He used the prophets!

Second, the Spirit of Christ is saying that He created and formed Jacob/ Israel.  John confirms this. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1:3. Paul confirms this as well. For by him were all things created, that are in the heaven, and that are in the earth, visible or invisible…Col. 1:16.

Third, I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel…The  Spirit  of the Messiah speaking through Isaiah now says that He is Yahweh, that He is one God and that He is Israel’s Holy One (the whole House of Israel or the 12 tribes of Jacob/Israel).

Fourth, the Spirit of the Messiah, God’s Spirit, Yahweh, breathing and speaking through Isaiah says, I am thy Savior…I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no saviour. Isa.43: 3, 11. Here Yahweh, which is the Spirit that was in the Messiah, says clearly that He is the Savior and that there is no other savior!  Yahweh, then, was inside the man Yahshua who was called the Savior, for Yahweh says that there is no other savior except Him. We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe. I Tim. 4:10. God was in Christ (the Anointed One) reconciling the world unto Himself. II Cor. 5:19. It was Yahweh in the man who was the Savior. Or, in other words, Yahweh-in-human-form is the Savior.            

Bottom line: the same Spirit that spoke through the prophets, that created Jacob/Israel and everything else, this Great Spirit God dwelt bodily in the man Yahshua the Messiah. His name Yahshua means “Yah-Is-Savior.” It was Yahweh of old, the Yahweh of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, the Yahweh of Moses, David, and all the prophets— that same Yahweh came down, leaving His spirit-body dimension.  And He came to earth in a flesh and blood human body, walked in our midst doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.  And in due time, He laid down that human body, yielded it up to a sacrificial death, and raised that body in three days to life again, so that we could be restored to His original plan of reproducing Himself. “To tell the old, old story about our Savior and His love…”

[My book is free with free shipping. It weaves understanding of the sacred names and oneness together. Order your copy by sending your name, address, and the name “Yah Is Savior,” to my email address: wayneman5@hotmailcom ]

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–The Hope for Immortality, Christ’s Return, and the “Strong Delusion”

Turn on the news and what do you see? Suicide bombings, children slaughtered, ethnic cleansing, civil wars, domestic violence–the results of hatred at every turn. The “perilous times” that the apostle Paul wrote about are upon us. The Savior said as much. “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And He promised that we could overcome also.

But what constitutes this overcoming the world? How did He overcome the world? We will find the answer in the power of His resurrection. This power spearheads the ultimate victory that He promised His followers. “You shall overcome also.”

You shall become like Me, He is promising. You shall walk with Me and be like Me in My immortal state. You shall receive an immortal spiritual body just like mine. John confirms this. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man who has this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3: 2-3). Our hope is to be like Him–immortal.

Let’s savor these words a moment. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” Christ is immortal, and so will we be when He shall appear. So when will that be?

When will Christ appear?

Christ Himself said that He will appear upon His return to earth “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matt. 24: 29). Which tribulation? It will be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be” (24: 21). It will be so destructive that God will have to intervene and stop it before all mankind is wiped out. “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (v. 22). God’s precious elect, His sons and daughters, will evidently be in danger, for He cuts the tribulation short to spare them from collateral destruction.

Furthermore, during this great tribulation period, deception and delusion will permeate the earth through the teachings of the false Christs and false prophets. They will be so convincing that it will almost deceive God’s elect, who are obviously still here on earth. For they could not be deceived by Satan if they were already with God in heaven. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matt. 24: 24.

This is the environment of Christ’s return to earth. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels…and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds…

It is a time of “great tribulation” in the earth. Christ returns at the end of this tribulation. In fact, His presence brings peace and tranquility to the earth.

And when He shall appear at this time, then “we shall be like Him.” His Spirit will be living in us fully. And this is our hope. We shall receive immortality and become just like Him–right here on earth. Not in the sky by and by. No. Right here. How can I be sure of that? Because He has promised in His word that He is coming back to earth, the same way He left earth!

Our hope is to receive immortality, thus escaping a certain physical death that stalks humans on this earth.

Our hope of everlasting life

Paul admonished the church of the Thessalonians to have this very hope of receiving a new immortal body. He mentions that if you are sorrowful because of brethren who have died, you are acting like you have no hope (I Thess. 4: 13). Hope of what? He speaks of Christ dying and rising from the dead. The same power that raised Him from the dead will give the dead in Christ a new body when He comes back to earth. Those who die or “sleep” in Jesus (Yahshua), “God will bring with Him” (v. 14).

God will be bringing with Him His saints who have died before His return to earth. Where will He be bringing them from? And to where? The answer is found in verse 16: He “shall descend from heaven with a shout.” He is coming from heaven to this earth, and the dead in Christ will be coming with Him.

Those of us who do not die before His return will not precede the Christians that have died. “We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep” (v. 15). Precede them in what? Those of the elect who are still alive at His return will not go before the dead in Christ in getting their immortal, spiritual body (See I Cor. 15: 23). They will get theirs first, then we will receive our immortal bodies, and we will join them, “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (v. 17).

Rapture doctrine erroneously based on one verse

The rapture doctrine has been built upon one major verse: I Thessalonians 4: 17. Of course, “rapture” is not in the scriptures. A closer study of this passage reveals events quite differently than what those waiting for the “rapture” envision. They imagine that they will be conveniently whisked away from the “time of trouble,” the great tribulation period, that shall ravage the earth at the time of His return. They base this primarily on one verse.

But let us dig deep into it and see what it really says. First, He is coming back to this earth. When He gets into the atmosphere of this planet, the dead in Christ will receive a new immortal, spiritual body, rising up to meet Him.  Those of us who are still living will join them “in the clouds…in the air.”

So there is a “catching away,” a rising up into our atmosphere. “Clouds” and “air” are components of the very atmosphere that we mortals breathe as we stand here on earth. The dead in Christ will join Him upon His return, and then those alive in Him will be changed and “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” Our change, when “this mortal shall put on immortality,” shall take place in the very atmosphere that we now breathe.

There will be air and clouds there. The Greek manuscripts are clear on this. Now take note of the next line in v. 17: “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” This   part of the passage is never quoted. We will join up with Him in our atmosphere rising in our new spiritual bodies from the earth, and then we will come right back down onto terra firma! We will come back down to earth after that short ride because He is immediately coming back to earth. And we are coming back down to earth with Him, for we shall “ever be with Him.”

This is our hope–to be eternally with Christ

We will forever be with Him at this time–all of His people down through the ages and those of His who are alive when He returns. That is our hope! The first step that He will take will be right here on earth.

Paul continues to explain to the Thessalonians about how Christ’s return will be “as a thief in the night” to those who walk in darkness. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” Those in spiritual darkness will not know when He is coming back, but the elect will know and not be overtaken. “You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness’ (I Thess. 5: 2-9).

God’s children will be changed into immortals and will not be taken in the “sudden destruction” coming upon all those in darkness. Paul says that at the time of end, the world system will be trying to induce an artificial man-made peace throughout the globe. They will say that everything is fine now. “Peace and safety” will be the talk of the land, but real peace will not reside in the hearts of the earth’s inhabitants. In reality, a godless darkness will cover the land.

Yet, this earth in all of its end time spiritual darkness will be the stage for man’s greatest disaster and greatest triumph. The New World Order and its enforced peace will crumble under the onslaught of God’s missiles, His heavenly bodies that will literally crash down onto this earth, wiping out whole civilizations. It will be a “time of trouble” never seen before on earth.

Rising out of the ashes

But, rising out of the wasteland will come striding God’s chosen ones, His elect, His sons and daughters, His ambassadors–the princes and princesses of God’s kingdom. They will have God fully formed in them. Nothing will harm them, for they are from another dimension–a heavenly one that has transcended earthly matter. They will no longer be of this earth. They will have been “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”

This at once terrible and glorious day will come on the world as “a thief in the night.” Darkness will envelop the land, literally and spiritually. But, as Paul exhorts, you are “the children of light…we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (I Th 5: 4-5). The very fact that we have the Spirit within us, will make us where we can see the “thief” who operates out in the night of the world system. God’s elect will know. We will know by the signs of the times, for we will be “sober, armed with the armor of God, “the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” This “hope of salvation” is the hope of our deliverance  from the dusty tombs of our mortal earthy existence. This “hope of salvation” is the looking forward to us receiving our new spiritual body at His coming–whether we be dead or alive upon His return.

At the end of this present age, the earth, totally immersed in the evil world system, will be a crucible of wrath, bathed in fire and blood. Yet this earth’s most painful travail will with supreme irony give birth to the sons and daughters of the great Father Yahweh. They will be the first immortals to take up residence on this earth since Christ Himself did for 40 days after His resurrection. They will have His Spirit fully residing within, and they “will build the old waste places” (Isa. 61: 1-4). Paul and the Thessalonians looked forward to this day, our day. In fact, their spirit still looks forward to the day of Christ’s return, which will fulfill our hope–our hope for immortality.

 

 

 

 

 

From Death to Immortality–The Manifestation of the Sons of God

The inhabitants of the earth may not know it, but they are groaning and travailing, waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God.” They are yearning and longing for a hero, for someone to inspire them and comfort them and encourage them that it is going to be all right.

Their heroes are coming, for this is that rare time in history when some of us mortal human beings will be glorified. Some of us will be given a spiritual immortal body to tread this old earth in. For this is not a when-we-all-get-to-heaven immortality that His word speaks of, but a literal transformation into immortal beings just like Christ, right here on earth during these last days!  This is the great hope–to avoid the oppressive crushing corruption of old age on our mortal shells, with all the agony and heartbreak it entails (Romans 8: 18-25).

This is God’s purpose and His great promise and our hope–that Christ “might be the firstborn among many brethren.” For God gave some of us this destiny long before our earth home was ever created. And so as we arrived here on earth in these mortal vessels, He called us.

Now He calls us in dreams, reveries, visions, epiphanies, and experiences in life, creating a hunger for more of His light. And He has spoken to you and me because we are reading and writing this at this moment. And those that He has called out of the mist of darkness into His light, He has justified. He has provided a way to cleanse our hearts of the sinfulness we first fell into, growing up on earth. And once cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God, He is now in the process of glorifying us (Rom. 8: 29-30). These soon to be glorified ones will be immortal rulers with Christ–nothing less. The context of these passages makes this meaning clear.

These are the elect of God. God is for them. They have been in His heart, preordained and predestined for this high calling. It is an immutable calling, for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” He will bring His vision of the “manifestation of the sons of God” to pass whether you the reader or I the very writer of these words begin to balk at this or not.

The “elect” are His chosen ones for this honor. He’s doing it; this is His vision of what He will bring to pass. It is our privilege to glimpse with mortal eyes this precious ethereal plan, the same plan seen by the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles whose names are remembered because they wrote this vision of sonship down for us in these last days (v. 31-33).

Moreover, God leads His chosen ones to immortality, ironically, through a series of sufferings that He allows us to go through. These are called the sufferings of Christ. These are spiritual chastenings that we must endure to be accepted of Him for this honor.

These sufferings are like the hardships in training that future military officers must endure before they are to wear the gold and silver insignias of rank and leadership. If they cannot endure the physical and mental trials in training, then they are not fit for commanding men. The same is true for the elect. He said that if we suffer with Him we will also reign with Him (II Tim. 2: 12; Rom. 8; 17).

Fiery trials are ahead for the elect; make no mistake (I Pet. 4: 13). But by God’s grace and mercy we shall make it to the other side and be found worthy to walk with Him in white (Rev. 3: 4).    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[For more on this topic go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/manifestation-of-the-sons-of-god/ ]

 

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–What the World Needs Now

{Order your free copy of The Unveiling of the Sons of God or my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is totally free with free shipping to my readers. Just send your mailing address to my email address: wayneman5@hotmail.com   Specify which one.}

This world has one major need right now at the beginning of the 21^st Century.  The world doesn’t need another politician telling the people what they want to hear.  The world doesn’t need a steady robust economy to help it through the hard times that have been prophesied upon it.  No.  The world needs the sons of God to arrive on the scene.  They must come forth for these last days.

The whole creation, the apostle Paul wrote, (whether it knows it or not), is anxiously awaiting the sons of God to come upon the world stage.  For the sons of God will have something that all mortals walking the face of the earth must have.  They will have the key that will set the whole creation free from the chains of a certain physical death.  These children of the Most High are God’s elect, His sons made in His image, and they are what this world needs.  They are the ones who will have cut through all of the deception and vice in this world system.  They alone will see the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit of the living Yahweh.  They will build the old waste places and build the spiritual walls to the heavenly city.

Why the World Needs the Sons of God

The creation has purposely been subjected to mortality by its Creator God. The impending gloom of a certain death is no accident or aberration of God’s  original  plan.  It  has  been  His  will  all  along  for  death  to  come to all living.  And then, a few mortals will be brought by Him to an awareness of the abiding power of His spiritual presence and will become His actual spiritual children. He will change them and will engulf them with immortality one day soon.   And it is through them that the whole creation will finally come to know this glorious liberty from a certain physical death. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:19-21, NIV. 

     Every living thing on this planet will die; the whole creation will decay and go back to dust.  And we, this earthly creation, are “in bondage of corruption,” as it says in the King James Version.

The word “corruption” is translated from the Greek word phthora, #5356 in Strong’s.  It means “decay.”  Its root comes from #5351 phthio, to waste, shrivel, or wither.  We, the creation, are bound to become decaying matter someday.  And all of us, be we religious or not, are groaning under the impending physical doom that awaits us.

All of us have a built in desire to live forever.  Every ancient culture, without exception, was concerned with this impending gloom of an early exit from life.  All the ancient religions were concerned about how to secure immortality  for  the  mortal.   And  so  it  is  with religions today.  Man keeps on waiting, waiting, waiting for something real that will happen in order to deliver them from a certain death.

The creation is like the wife of the Creator, who is in the  deep  pains  of childbirth.  She is struggling to deliver her  children,  the  sons  of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Romans 8: 22-23, KJV.

The whole creation is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the sons of God because they are the first ones who will be released from mortality’s chains.  They will be the first ones who will not have to taste death.  And then after they are made known, the creation can look forward to its redemption.  That is how important the sons of God are.  When they are adopted or placed as sons, then a new era begins—an era where immortals will stride the earth, showing forth God’s way.

We Who Have Some Truth Also Desperately Need the Sons of God

Just look around us.  What do we see in every corner?  We see lurid trash in political high places, filthy-minded  movies and TV.  There is no shame to the world system.  And it is not getting any better.  So we try to lock in on the word of God.  We endeavor to glimpse a truth here, a truth there.  Some of us are trying to lead a holy life, but we “see through a glass darkly.”  We know, or should know that we are not walking in all truth.  For if we were, we would be bearing the same spiritual fruit as the prophets and apostles of God.  And we can’t seem to get in agreement and one accord with other sincere followers of Christ.

As  a  large  body  of  people,  we  can’t  see  eye  to   eye enough to get together.  Divisions abound.  We, if we are blessed, have a place to meet with a few other people who share some of our own beliefs, but something is dras-tically missing.  The unity of the Spirit is only a dream, for one group does not see eye to eye with another.  We are to be in one mind and one accord, and yet, who is to say just what that one mind is?  Who has the authority to say for sure anything?  Who has a sure word? There are several thousand “Christian” denominations, and they are growing exponentially daily.  There is probably a different concept of God and His plan for every one of His professing followers.

And it appears that the enemy is gaining ground, and we, the body of Christ, because of our disagreements and lack of unity, are seemingly losing ground as far as any “great move of truth” is concerned.

So what is the answer to this dilemma?  It is as if Yahweh Himself is needed to come down and just flat appear to His select few, whoever they are!  That would clear up the dim vision of those He has chosen.  They would definitely “get on the same page” after that shared glorious experience.  In the light of His own countenance and glow filling the room each would be in, He would straighten out off-concepts, purge out old leaven, old hypocrisies, and false concepts of Himself.  There would be no self-delusion if the King Himself came down to a handful!

Then a fire would well up from out of their bones!  Then they would cry to His people in His stead.  They would be His voice with his word welling up and out as springs gush out making rivers where dry land once was.

That is what we all need.  We need a sure word.  We need the Captain of our faith Himself to get a cadre of His brothers to catch on fire and, in turn, ignite the world.  We need a group of people baptized with the Spirit and with fire.   We need them!   We groan within ourselves, longing for someone to stand in the gap between God and the world.

That is the only thing that will ever turn this world upside down—if the people of the world were ready and knew they had a need for God in human form, had a need for the sons of the living God.

This whole creation is crying and groaning looking for someone sincere and true to believe in.  The heroes are gone; the people run to their idols of music and movies.  Those are their gods—gods who cannot see or hear them and their longings and needs, for their gods can see no one but themselves.  The whole creation does not know it, but they are groaning and longing for the manifestation of the sons of God.  And these sons will walk with the Lamb wherever He goes, for they shall be like Him.  These are they who will do the greater works that the Master spoke of.

It All Hinges on the Sons, But Do They Know Who They Are?

Yes, the manifestation of the sons of God is of extreme importance in God’s plan, but do they know who they are?  Do they realize their calling that He has placed on them?   Do  they  know  that  He  knew  them  long  before their earthly sojourn began?  Do they at present realize that  He  has  already  given  them  a  glorious   destiny—a destiny that has them justified from sin, set apart for this special work, and also glorified from heaven?  Does God’s elect, His chosen ones, know these things?

Have they called on His name and restored their heart back to Him?  But if they haven’t believed on Him, then how are they to call on Him?  And how can they believe on this God if they have never heard Him, never heard His Spirit, never heard Him who is the Word?  They are going to have to hear Him being spoken out of the mouth of another son in order to believe on Him.  And how shall these prospective sons hear unless there be a preacher?  And who is really going to be effective as a preacher?  The world is full of preachers.  Anyone who thinks they have heard from God calls himself a preacher.  The future sons will be reached by those who proclaim the truth.  And these proclaimers will be sent.  For whosoever shall call upon the name of Yahweh shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent?   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{This is Chapter 1 of my book, The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  I originally published it as a trade paperback book. Email me to get a copy of it a lot cheaper than amazon.com  [wayneman5@hotmail.com ] Or you may read it on-line here  on this website by clicking on “E-BOOK the Unveiling” at the top of this page.  I would love to hear from you.  Please make a comment…}

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect

King David is looking up at the dancing diamond lights in the heavens and writes, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him?” [1]

You, God, who created this vast expanse of stardust whose beauty causes us to gasp when we take time to look up—how incomprehensible is Your love for us! You, the Master of the Universe, who controls the destinies of a billion stars and their planets, why would You even think about us down here in the clay pits of the earth? And yet, You think about us all the time.

Your mind is full of us; we occupy your thoughts. And You have “crowned us with glory and honor.” Really?

Really? Glory for homo ignoramus? Honor for man who frets and struts his petty little ego around the yard of his mind? God has crowned man with glory and honor? Man, who grasps at vainglory all the days of his life, earnestly desiring to be the center of attention, does not realize that he is the center of God’s attention. But man wants the glory on his own terms and not his Creator’s terms. And therein lies the problem.

For man in his natural state will die, for God has “made him a little lower than the angels” for the suffering of death in hope that man would turn to Him for life, the crown of life.

Some Will Literally Wear a Crown

For those who can believe it, God has crowned us with glory and honor. God speaks here as though things already were fully actualized. A select few will wear a crown placed upon their heads by God Himself! A crown is made for and is only worn by royalty.

And this is no “hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king” [2]. No, these crowns placed upon God’s elect sons will be their immortal reward for their humble service to their King.

For in the Kingdom of God soon to literally come to this earth, no one will “tell sad stories of the death of kings.” For these kings will be immortal, ruling in their “house which is from heaven,” their new spiritual bodies. Immune from death, they will “rule and reign with Christ” for a millennium, and they “will be strong and do exploits in the land.” They will be like the patriarch Joseph in Egypt, their type and shadow. They will be the administrators and judges and rulers filled with the Spirit of God.

These are God’s elect, His chosen ones in this last generation before He returns to earth. They are the 100 fold spiritual fruit bearers, spoken of by the Master in Matthew 13’s “Parable of the Sower.”

They are the “five wise virgins” who had oil in their lamps and knew the times and were prepared for the Master’s return, unlike the five foolish virgins [3]. The ten were Christians all, but only the former group were accepted for the high calling.

The Overcomers Are Coming

“Many are called, but few are chosen” [4]. What distinguishes the elect from Christians who don’t mature? They will have overcome all things and endured all things and will have added to their faith those attributes of the divine nature that the apostle spoke of (II Peter 1: 4-7).

They are coming. Thousands will break through the suffocating conventions of churchianity and armed with the knowledge of their destiny and how to arrive at it, they will overcome all of the roadblocks and purify themselves with the cleansing power of the Spirit.

These overcomers have a stupendous destiny to fulfill. It is a future forged in the fires of Yahweh’s creative energy, fired like fine pottery to make vessels of quality, vessels worthy to contain the fruit of God’s ultimate vintage, His Spirit.

And these elect chosen ones will walk humbly with their God and with mortal men. For God requires the utmost humility, and only a few thousand humans in this age will be counted worthy to “go on to perfection” [5].

These are the elect of God—His princes and the future monarchs of His kingdom. To these God will delegate authority during His 1,000 reign of peace, for they will have proven themselves worthy of this glory and honor. Just like King David said earlier, they have been crowned “with glory and honor.” For “they were redeemed from among men” [6].

The Plot of a Fantasy Novel

These few words about them serve as a preface to a book being written now, a book whose working title is The Destiny of the Chosen Ones. In its pages the plan of God reads like the plot of a 1,000 page fantasy novel. It is fantastic if you look at the Bible story with fresh eyes and take it at face literary value.

Picture it. The Supreme Being in another dimension/world desires to reproduce Himself. But He happens to be an Invisible Spirit/Force of Love. And the greatest love in the universe is laying down your life for another.

But the Supreme Being, this wonderful Force of Love, cannot show His great love because, well, He is invisible, and He is immortal. He can’t be seen, and He can’t die for another.

So He first creates a prototype vessel, composed of Spirit, that looks like what will become a human being. He creates a world, a planet called earth, and He forms Adam’s body out of the dust of this planet. And Adam and His offspring are mortal.

The plan is that these mortal men are to be redeemed by their Creator from a life of bondage to an evil spirit being. This fiendish adversary has seduced these mortals into committing selfish dishonorable acts all their lifetime. And they are mired in a pit of degradation until they are lifted up and saved by their Creator. He does this by incarnating Himself in a body, a son of Adam, that can die. He then suffers death for their ransom, thus demonstrating the greatest Love—to die for another. He raises from the dead, and He buys them back and delivers them out of the pit of despair, and they remember no more their guilt for past iniquities.

And He cleans them up and trains them in the wise ways of the prophets of old who were placed in the earth to preserve the path that leads from death to everlasting life.

And these redeemed ones apply themselves to the teachings of the apostles and prophets who were sent in earlier ages to light the way to immortality. And they now believe with grateful hearts what their Master has prepared for them, and they grow in this newfound belief.

And they set their sights on this new vision and quest of becoming one of the Master’s princes. They humble themselves and learn the true teachings, enrolling in the School of the Prophets, and it transforms them. Old petty thoughts and desires melt away like tired and dirty snowbanks in the afternoon sun.

And that same sunlight begins to shine through their lives, and love and care for those still in the chains of darkness begins to grow until one day they hear a knock on the door. And they ask, Who is it? And the voice says, I am come to speak with you. And they recognize the voice as their Master’s, and they open the door, and their Master comes in, and He breaks bread with them, granting them His ultimate stamp of approval. He grants that they sit with Him on His throne [7].

That’s the destiny of the overcomers. That’s the destiny of the kings of the Kingdom. That is The Destiny of the Chosen Ones.

How Will We Know?

But one will ask, Who of us will these future kings be? Who will He choose? For we know that “few there be to find this way of truth.” The way to mortal mediocrity is broad and wide and many will enter it [8]. And the path to His immortal throne is narrow and fraught with spiritual sufferings that the masses will choose to not go through. These are the very sufferings that are used by God to burn out the dross in the lives of His chosen ones.

So who will they be? And how does one know that they are chosen? One thing is certain; you can’t work for it and earn it. It is a gift from Him. Christ gives us the answer. “He that has ears to hear, let him hear” [9]. Some will have their ears predisposed to be able to understand this high calling that He is speaking about, and some will not. Those that do, He is telling them to take it in and hear it and do it. For “unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them” it is not given.

If all this makes sense to you, then you may be one of those called to His throne. It will take a massive overcoming for us. Part of that overcoming is outlined in the growth levels we are to overcome in the seven church ages. Each of these overcomings are prefaced by this call: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh…” (Rev. 2 and 3).

I would like to think that some of us reading this right now may be these future monarchs.

1. Psalm 8: 1, 4-6
2. Shakespeare, Richard II
3. Matt. 25: 1-13
4. Matt. 22: 14
5. Hebr. 6: 1; Rev. 14
6. Rev. 14: 4
7. Rev. 3: 20-22
8. Matt. 7: 13-14
9. Mark 4: 9, 11

The Vision of God–Let Us Speak of Eyes

Vision is not man looking through his own eyes at God executing His will on earth. Nor is it us looking through God’s eyes. But rather vision occurs when God looks through our eyes. When our eyes are but His oculars through which, unclouded by the stains of earthly wisdom’s tainted presumptions, He assays His creation, and broken-heartedly sees the need for justice, love, and mercy. And He sees that from these three pools of water must He now use our hands and hearts to minister moisture to a parched and famine infested land.

For “where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where no man gives his eyes that He may peer our sad present world, then the vision is dim and the people suffer. But after He has made His abode in many, then in the presence of choiring angels He at last will stride forth across the domain of His kingdom here on earth, righting wrongs held seething in hearts for ten thousand years.

But first, those called to surrender now the regal aspirations for their selves, their dreams of their own greatness must be abdicated and thrown on the dung heap, as our brother Paul has admonished. For in comparison to their calling to be one of God’s sons, seated fittingly on the throne with Christ, their present vainglorious dreams do futilely fade.

For the dreams of mortals are not worthy thoughts for the immortal children of the Immortal King. Surrendered eyes, directed by allegiant hearts bring vision to the earth. For the King will then see through our unencumbered eyes the needs across the land. The need for love and balm and a gentle touch to heal the sores of many nations and peoples will He bring through the unveiling of His offspring. For they are His princes and princesses, full of His Spirit, soon to be immortalized with their “house from heaven,” their spiritual body.

In preparation for that glorious day, these elect of which we speak must educate and consecrate themselves by holding to John Baptist’s adage. They “must decrease, and He must increase.” The Spirit must increase to a point that it would no longer be them that looked out of their own eyes, but the Spirit of Christ.

To be fruitful and attain this heavenly vision, the elect must add attributes to God’s faith within them. Outlined in II Peter 1, these are not spiritual things about God, but rather are integral aspects of His divine nature that when added, He will then feel welcomed to come into us and make His abode with us and look through our eyes.     KWH

Immortality–Bringing “Life and Immortality to Light”

To live on.  To not have to die.  It is the common thread tying almost all cultures, religions and philosophies together.  Is it not what every nation has clamored for?

The furtive longings of a billion souls from a thousand civilizations have whispered their desire for it.  The baked clay tablets of Mesopotamia speak of it.  Fragments of Egypt’s fragile papyrus pages still share the dream.   The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia around 2,200 B.C. chronicles the hero’s quest for immortality.  The ancient Greeks thought that immortality was attained through courageous effort on the battlefield.  Shakespeare imagined immortality coming through the longevity of the lines he wrote.  The Philosopher’s Stone, with its lead-into-gold alchemic dream, symbolized transcending our leaden mortal existence into a golden immortal elixir of life and rejuvenation.  Time would fail us to include the Egyptians’ mummies, the Indians’ nirvana, and on down to our present day where actors and directors try to immortalize themselves in celluloid.

Each of these attempts have flickered and failed.  But the thirst for immortality will not be quenched.  Is it not the most important possession one could ever attain in this life?  To live on and silence the tears shed at your passing.  To trump and triumph over Death.  To laugh at Death’s rude intrusion into all you hold dear.  To negate Death’s mayhem.  To expose him to be a liar when he says that your expiration date is a welcomed conclusion to the human condition, and his boast that he is a friend to the infirm and decrepit.

And Then a Man Came on the Scene

Though a universal longing, all these attempts have collapsed in the dusty halls of darkness.  And then a man came on the scene some 2,000 years ago–a man said to have “brought life and immortality to light.”  He brought good news, announcing the way to conquer death.  He would know, for He defeated Death.  For He was raised from the dead Himself after “three days and three nights” in the grave, seen by hundreds of witnesses.

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3, NIV).  He taught them during that time how to become citizens of His immortal kingdom.  In a word, He taught them how to become immortal.  He, of course is the Savior of mankind, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ and known to those very early disciples as Yahshua, which means in the Hebrew, Yah is the Savior.

He shared His Hebrew name with the Hebrew patriarch Joshua, the Anglicized rendition of Yahshua.  Many biblical scholars admit that their names are interchangeable [http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2424&t=KJV].

In fact, the angel of Yahweh told Joseph to name Him  “Yah is Savior” because “He shall save His people from their sins.”

The Words He Spoke…

Now many have a problem with Him, but all that know of Him will at least say that He is a wise man, a great teacher, and a prophet.  If He was such a great prophet and spiritual teacher, then why don’t those same people believe His words?

And it is the words He spoke about life and immortality that tests us in our search.

What did He teach?  He taught us that the Father Creator is an invisible Spirit, that He is Love, that the Father has a kingdom and a government, that there is a way to enter that kingdom of God and become the children of the Father God, and that He and only He is the way to eternal life, which is immortality.

He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14: 6).  Anybody who comes up another way is a “thief and a robber.”

He also taught a duality–that there was an enemy Satan, who has a kingdom here on earth, and that he and his evil spirits are warring against God and His children’s kingdom.

Christ taught that sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments (I John 3: 4-6).  And we humans break the law early on in our lives because of the old nature we are born with.  And He taught that it is this sin nature in us that causes our death.  We are mortal because of the sin within our hearts.  Sin brings on death.  Plain and simple.  “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin” (v. 5).

“He shall save His people from their sins,” said the angel.  He “takes away our sins,” says the apostle John.  So if Christ takes our sins away, then we are free from sin, which opens up the way to immortality because it is sin that brings on our death.

Summing up, Christ “has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light” (II Tim. 1: 10).  He has “abolished death.”  He has abolished death by abolishing sin in our lives, and thus, He brings immortality to us.

He came to “save His people from their sins” by destroying sin in their lives.  But how does He do this?  It is through His death, burial and resurrection.  He took on our sins upon His sacrificial body, and He died.  He died, we died; our old sinful self died.  He was buried; we were buried.  He raised from the dead; we are raised from the dead–by faith in His resurrection [for much more on how He takes away our old sinful heart, see Romans 6: 1-12 and https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/life-out-of-death-the-ultimate-paradox/ ].

So the Savior destroyed the sin in our life, and thereby destroyed death, thus bringing “life and immortality to light.”  He destroyed sin and death, “for the wages of sin is death.”  Destroy sin and you destroy its after effects–death.

But He also said that most would not comprehend and do His teachings.  He said that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will enter that wide gate.  But narrow is the way to eternal life, and few will find it.

And that last clause–“and few will find it”–should give us great pause.  He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Oh, to be one of His chosen, chosen to sit with Him on His throne, helping Him rule the nations during the greatest reign of peace this earth has ever seen–ruling alongside of Him for 1, 000 years, ruling as one of the immortal princes and princesses in His kingdom.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind–Answering the High Calling

Life is a paradox.  We must forget our past before we can fully remember what we had with God before the world began.  The future manifested sons and daughters of God will have to do just that.

For us there is only one thing left to do in this old world.  Once we have seen through the confusion and subterfuge and lies put forth by the powers of this world, what else is there to do but put all our energy into becoming God’s offspring.  What prevents us from growing up into Him are the memories of the past life that intrude into our minds every day.

Consequently, to answer our calling, it takes a forgetting, a conscious determined effort on our part to see our past carnal lives as mere childish attempts at chasing the wind.  We must realize that God designed it all to happen.  Our selfish first lives on earth are futile attempts at happiness, and they are fruitless and vain.”

Why design it that way?

God designed it that way in hopes that we would turn to Him to fill the void.  Many have experienced this already.  We finally became weary of fighting the constant bombardment that the enemy dropped on us.  And so we began looking for something more substantial than the usual band aids of alcohol and drugs, churches and civic organizations, clubs and hobbies.  The elect, the ones God has called and chosen for a deeper walk, will tire of these way stations in life, for they will not give them the peace that they long for.

God has designed this scenario to draw His chosen ones.  And make no mistake; He does the choosing.  Remember Christ’s words: ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you’ (1).  This is personal to Him.  And He should be very personal to us, for He is very much a part of our lives.  And someday we all will realize that He is our life.  That is what we are striving for, and that is why we are to forget the old life we once led–the old haunts, the old memories, the old doubts, the old misgivings.  He has forgotten those things about us; now He is waiting for us to forget them.  “Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more, ” (Heb. 10: 17).

How do we forget the old life?

We’ll learn to forget from the apostles of old who are our teachers, for they saw and listened to the risen Christ.  Even the apostle Paul, as he said, “And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (2). These apostles heard Christ speak

about the kingdom of God (3).  We must realize that it is all about the kingdom of God.  We in our new lives in Christ as His elect chosen ones in our day–we are about the kingdom of God.  Or should I say, the kingdom of God is about us its future kings!  In fact, because the Spirit of the King of the Kingdom lives in us, we are a part of the Government of God that will soon come to this earth in a fullness.

The future kings?

Yes.  Its future kings!  For Christ is the ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.”  And we are the offspring of the King of glory, which makes us princes and princesses (4).  We are to think on these things.  That will help us to forget the past.

For it’s all in the mind.  That is the battleground.  That’s why Paul the apostle said, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (5).  We forget the past and all of its futile implications when we pursue the goal of sonship and daughtership.  No greater calling.  That is the pinnacle of human development–being the manifested sons and daughters of God.  We simply must fill our minds with these thoughts, which are the steps along the way to sitting with Him on His throne” (6).  For He said, “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

“To him that overcomes…“  Overcomes what?  We must overcome being lukewarm toward God, of being smug and self-assured, thinking that what our “works” in service toward God and men is sufficient. Many in the end time generation believe both spiritually and materially that they are “rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and they are not aware that they “are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3: 15-17).

This lukewarm spiritual state must be overcome before Christ will grant us to literally sit with Him on His throne.  Many people who consider themselves Christians will be left out in the cold.  For they did not buy the “gold tried in the fire…and white raiment and the eye salve” to cure their spiritual blindness (3: 18).  Yes, it costs to obtain these things needed to prepare us to rule with Him in His kingdom.  It costs our old lives.  And only a few will make it.  Very precious few will pay the price to arrive at the inner circle throne room of God.  “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it”(7).

In short, we forget the past by remembering the future–our future: the reign of Christ, the immortality He promised us, the throne that is there to pursue for His sake, the destruction of all evil, buying the spiritual gold, white raiment, and the eye salve–these things and more–thinking on these things will help us forget the past and “press on for the prize of the high calling.”   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1. John 15: 16

2. I Cor. 15: 8

3. Acts 1: 2-3

4. Rev. 17: 14; I Tim 6: 15; Psm. 24: 8-10

5. Phil. 3: 13-14

6. Rev. 3: 21

 

Add to Knowledge Temperance–On Being Puffed Up

Someone on this earth will sit down on the throne of God alongside our Savior and will be a ruler in the government that the King will establish in all the earth.  In fact, a whole company of over comers have been “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29).  Fully matured, they will stride this crippled earth after the Great Tribulation.  In God’s stead as His ambassadors of the literal Kingdom of Heaven will they rule with Him, for they will have His Spirit fully developed within them.  These are the “partakers of the divine nature” who will do the King’s business after the disasters that will smite the earth.

“No man takes this honour unto himself” (Heb. 5: 4).  It is God’s doing.  He has a plan and He is quite capable of helping them carry out His own plan.  And that plan and purpose is to share Himself with His creation.  He is Love, and all Love can do is love and share and give.

Those of us who have been called to this “high calling of God in Christ” have been left a textbook explaining how to receive immortality.  We now are in the process of studying it and taking it to heart.  We need this instruction in order to receive the proper training and education to be an effective ruler with Christ in the soon coming Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth.  That textbook is found in the “scriptures of truth,” the Holy Bible, which is God’s letter to us, a guidebook He showed to His prophets and apostles.  And He is now showing it to us who believe, who have faith.

Adding to our faith

The apostle Peter instructs those of us who have been called to “partake of the divine nature” (II Peter 1: 3-4).  He relates that God  promised us immortality, and it is by these promises, that we can get rid of our old sinful nature and receive His divine nature.   And God’s nature grows and matures in us to the point that in the end, it will be all Him.  The divine nature grows in us through receiving more true knowledge of Him and His plan.  And part of that is the additions to our faith.

“Add to knowledge temperance”

The apostle Paul wrote that “knowledge puffs up, but charity (agape love) edifies” (I Cor. 8: 1).  This puffing up is the sound of an inflated ego that has no place to go with the knowledge; there is no desire to flow the knowledge on out to others.  Agape love, conversely, flows out of its heart of love and shares and builds up fellow Christians, helping them in their walk with God.

The novice in Christ will get the bighead after gaining some of the true knowledge of God.  There is an innate tendency in the old nature of man and spiritual babes in Christ to have one’s pride inflated upon receiving this knowledge, which has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13: 35).

This knowledge flows out of the mind and heart of God and sheds light on the very mysteries of the acquisition of immortality.  This information is precious–so rare and fine a treasure, in fact, that “few there be that find it” (Matt. 7: 14).  A beautiful four lane highway is leading many to destruction.  “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (v. 14 NLT).

Knowledge of these things will puff a person up.  Why?  Because they are still thinking that they are the object of God’s blessing and not the channel of it.

Therefore, knowledge of the holy things must have temperance added to it.  Self control must be added.  And the major lesson we must learn is that our little powerless self did not come up with this knowledge on its own.  It was not delivered to us for any great thing that we are or have done.  No.  It is pure grace flowing out of God’s heart to us.  It is all Him, favoring and having “mercy on whom He will have mercy” (Rom. 9: 15).  It is all Him.  It is our privilege to be a channel of this knowledge on out to His people.

Beware of False Teachers

Paul warns in another place about getting “puffed up” by knowledge.  He warns new Christians not to get entangled by men who teach a  “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2: 8).

He is saying that men will deceive young Christians through all kinds of worldly earthly thoughts.  But Christ is all you need, which is knowledge about who He is and what He has done for His people.

“You are complete in Him” (v. 10).  You don’t need mumbo jumbo bells and whistles and gimmicks of worship, as it were.  “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.”  And through His sacrifice of Himself, you have been circumcised spiritually.  His Spirit invisibly cuts out your old sinful Adamic nature, and He gives you a new heart.  “Buried with Him by baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the  faith of the operation of of God, who has raised Him from the dead (v. 11-12).

False teachers are “puffed up”

One who teaches false doctrines tries to “beguile you,” and is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2: 18).  Remember that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing.”  They appear as “messengers of light.”  They have a little smidgeon of truth, and it has puffed them up as they imagine vain things about God and ways to worship Him.

How does a false teacher or preacher first go astray?  He gets all “puffed up by his fleshly mind.”  “Fleshly” here is from the Greek word sarx.  It is a mind controlled by the “flesh” (sarx).  This denotes the old nature, natural thinking man, unregenerate man.  He has an earthly mind.  “He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth; he that comes from heaven is above all…for He whom God hath sent speaks the words of God” (John 3: 31, 34).

The phrase “of the earth” points to the same origins as Adam in the garden, made of the dust of the earth, clueless as to the heavenly destiny for mankind.  These false teachers are puffed up with a bit of God’s knowledge, yet remain Spirit-less when it comes to the truth of God.

So, yes, temperance must be added to knowledge.  This entails, of course, self-control in all areas of a Christian’s life.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Additions to Your Faith–Prerequisites of Receiving Immortality

Just having faith in Christ is not enough.  Now, wait a minute.  Hear me out before you jump.

Some have said, “Faith in Christ is all you need.”  To get into the first level of a walk with God, that is true.  But things must be added to the true faith in order for us to fully manifest God’s divine nature in us, according to the apostle Peter.

He says that we must make certain spiritual additions to the faith, so that we can be “partakers of the divine nature…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (agape love)” (II Peter 1: 5-7).

Peter goes on to say that if these additions “be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (Yahshua) Christ” (v. 8).

In other words, without these additions, we will not grow up “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 13).  Nor will we without these additions “be filled with all the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 3: 19).  Why?  Because the person without these additions listed above “is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (II Pet. 1: 9).  These additions, then, serve as a kind of eye salve that anoints our eyes that we may see the spiritual road ahead of us.

In fact, the way we “make our calling and election sure” is to add these very things to our faith! That is why this is so important to the overcomers of all things.  For if we add these things to our faith, we “shall never fall” (v. 10).  The addition to our faith of these things is the key that unlocks the door to the “entrance…into the everlasting kingdom” of our God (v. 11).

Who was Peter writing to?

Peter is writing not to everyone, but to those “that have obtained like precious faith with us” (1: 1).  He is writing to “those who have already received by divine allotment” this equally honored and precious “conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ” {Thayer’s Lexicon}.

It is God who has placed this faith, this “conviction” that He is real, in our hearts.  It is not something we “muster up.”  It is all Him.  It is His grace to us, which is to say, God favors us with knowledge of Him and His plan and word.  This brings light to our eyes and strength to our hearts.  God gives grace to some during this end time era with spiritual knowledge of Him.  This is His grace to us.

Now He gives this grace in accordance to “His divine power” which gives to the recipients “all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him” (1: 3).  For He “has called us to glory and virtue.”

Glorification = Immortality

God has tapped us on the shoulder in some way  to bring us to the stage of spiritual growth called “glorification”!  Yes, this spiritual road we have begun to walk down is leading us into being glorified with Him!  This is sonship; this is rulership with Him in His kingdom.

We have to add these things listed by the apostle Peter, if we are to fulfill our calling to be His manifested sons and daughters, His ruling family that He has called us unto.  That’s how important they are to Him, first, and should, therefore, be important to us.  Important enough to seriously study them out.

But the big take away of this opening chapter of II Peter is this: This conviction that God is and is in control through Christ–this faith, this conviction must have other attributes added to it, in order for us to fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters, the princes and princesses, sitting with Him in His throne.

Peter knows full well what it takes to “make our calling and election sure.”  He knows that our initial experiences based on God’s favor and grace in showing a bit of Himself to us and thereby “calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light”–he knows that those early experiences and revelations will not take us across the finish line in this race “for the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3: 14).

And it is through this knowledge of the holy things of God that we are given “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Pet. 1: 4).  God has promised to give unto us His followers immortality, or eternal life.  Immortality is it.  It is the biggest gift, the greatest promise the Immortal One can give to a mortal.  There is nothing greater for one who will die than to be granted eternal life.

And this immortality that God has promised us is what the aforementioned “glorification” is all about.  And Peter says by the Spirit of God that we are called “to glory and virtue.”  And God promised this to us from time immemorial.  “In hope of eternal life, which God, which cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1: 2).

All of this notwithstanding, in order to receive this precious promise of immortality, we must add certain spiritual components to our faith, to our conviction that God is real and true.  These additions are the elements of the very nature of God Himself.

How do we do this?  First we must study them out and receive the knowledge of just what they are, and then, reckon them added by faith.

Two points are worthy encouragers for us on this road to immortality.  First, He said of us in His prayer in John 17: 22: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”  In His mind, it is a done deal.  He is saying, I have already given them glorification, which is immortality.  With this, they are one with the Father and Son.  It is also good to know that “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”  He has full confidence in His plan, which includes us.  But the first step is to add to our faith virtue.   What virtue is comes next time.          Kenneth Wayne Hancock