The Best Life Here and
Hereafter.
MAN'S short life in this world cannot satisfy his soul. If he
lives without a view above and beyond this world his life is only
in degree better than that of an animal. Every part of his being
is worthy of a life much superior to that of the animal in both
its duration and its nature. His best desire is for peace and
happiness and for the continuation of his existence, that he may
exercise and develop the higher powers God has endowed him with.
If his mind should be set on the things that are unseen and
eternal, that does not necessarily weaken his belief that the
welfare of this present world is of prime importance. How to be
right for both here and hereafter is a problem worth considering.
It is also true that to ignore or deny our existence hereafter
does not make us more capable of improving our present life or
reforming the world. The reverse is the case, as we can only
improve the life that now is by living for that which is to come.
The infidel in his proposals for reform is, as a rule, vainly
striving to attain to the social life which was taught by Jesus
as a condition and preparation for our entrance into Heaven.
God left the Gentile nations free for four thousand years to work
out their own salvation in their national and social life, and
instead of improving they became worse and without hope. The
ancients were quick in observation - they could marshal facts,
they were capable in organisation and strong in action - and yet
they failed. It seems impossible to convince man that his power
is very limited. Wrecks and ruins strew his path through the
ages. The Jews rejected God and His guidance and they failed.
After four thousand years, Jesus came and taught that we must
look above the things of this world and view life in its wider
and higher sense, and in its relationship to God. He insisted
that the things pertaining to the soul and the spirit must come
first and the things of the body would naturally follow. He
showed that as we receive and develop spiritual life our power
and desire to improve the present life will increase. Only
through the spiritual life can man remove the lust and
selfishness and injustice that bring misery and ruin, and only by
the spiritual life can we attain to eternal life. In the
Scriptures, eternal, when applied to life, speaks beyond doubt of
duration, but it also indicates quality. Sin mars this life and
leaves us without hope at the resurrection. Man cannot save
himself. Education and personal effort, apart from God-given
means, cannot overcome evil and far less can they obtain
forgiveness for the past. Therefore, God is our only hope. Our
Heavenly Father saw our hopelessness and in His infinite wisdom
and almighty power prepared a way of deliverance.
It is to God's offered means of salvation that we wish to
respectfully draw your attention. As fellow-men we approach you.
Since the apostolic age no person or Church has been empowered,
or commissioned, to speak authoritatively for God. Under the New
Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles alone spoke with
authority, and the New Testament is the only authentic record of
their lives and teaching. We, therefore, draw your attention to
what they proclaimed in the name of God.
What Churches may teach, or what professing Christians may do,
should not deter you from listening to what God has spoken
through His inspired messengers. In the sacred word there is
safety and simplicity. The divine message can bring you to Jesus
in whom is salvation. No Church, or system of doctrine, can save
you. You first come to Jesus and then through Him to the Church
(Local). It is not by joining a Church you come to Jesus. His
word explains how you can come to Him.
God created you for His fellowship and friendship here on earth
and thereafter in heaven. It is unreasonable to expect that you
can obtain peace of soul and happiness of life, or attain to
eternal life, in the world over which God rules if you slight His
existence and reject His overtures.
With reverence and fear hear what God, in the Gospels, says
concerning His Son, our Lord and Saviour, and learn of His
commands as exemplified in the Acts of Apostles.
J.A.