Our discussion today will be short, sharp and straight to the point. We’re going to discuss about Mathew 19:23, which reads, ‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”’ Firstly, man according to Genesis 1:27 represents both male and female (humanity or mankind). According to Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary page 1,315, rich is the state of having a lot of money or property. So the rich man above in the Bible verse represents a man or woman who is in the state of having a lot of money or property.
Mankind “was” rich before the Fall of Man though money was not present during that time considering Genesis 1 and 2. In fact mankind during that time were in charge of God’s entire creation here on earth as faithful stewards following God’s appointment of them to be stewards. On the other hand, “scarce resource” in general within this planet earth is a consequence of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3 (for more information click and visit this link:http://peterjnrbebi.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-basic-ingenious-introduction-to.html?m=1 ). Also consider Genesis 3:17-19. Furthermore according to the definition of “rich” quoted above, money is a means of exchange which was later-in-time invented due to “scarce resources”.
Our so called million kina question here is; “According to our key-text above, how is it that difficult for a rich man to enter God’s Kingdom?”
Answer: Firstly, let’s start from the beginning… God created man (specifically the first man, Adam) by forming him out of the dust of the ground before breathing the breath of Life into his nostrils considering Genesis 2:7-man, as a living soul is a combination of the dust of the ground and God’s breath of Life (which is the breath of the Life in John 14:6): separation of the two results in death (sleep). As a result of this, “THE EARTH AUTOMATICALLY REAPED MANKIND’S CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE” considering Genesis 3:17-19-furthermore, since mankind is also part of God (created in God’s Image in Genesis 1:27) “DUE TO THE BREATH OF LIFE (GOD's Breath), CHRIST HAD TO DIE FOR HUMANITY AS THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE” which was promised by God Himself in Genesis 3:15! This resulted or initiated “Scarce Resources” in general (everything that the earth produces, plus time, became limited or scarce due to the introduction of death in general, from the leaves of the trees, animals to man).
Secondly, as a result of mankind’s disobedience, God told man to sweat and eat bread (or survive) considering Genesis 3:19. Or in other words physically speaking, man now had to literally “work” (sweat) into order to survive (eat bread, which represents food in general). Now work (sweat) is practical and time consuming!
Thirdly, since time became limited after the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3 mankind also use certain portion of their unknown limited time while alive in this sinful planet earth to work in order to survive. This is time consuming. Furthermore, rich people one way or another work hard in order to be in the state of having a lot of money and properties. Now this time consuming!
Rich people remain “rich” because they maintain their position in being rich or accumulate more wealth with extra efforts. This is time consuming. On the other hand back to our key text for this blog, they tend to focus and use more of their time (the unknown duration of time allocated to them by God according to His Will to live in this planet earth) in the work of maintaining their state of being rich rather than on God and the things of God focusing and looking unto Jesus Christ! This is why it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Also, Christ also ease mankind’s worry of wanting more wealth in order to have more resources (due to scarce resources) in order to survive in Mathew 4:4, when he said replying to satan's temptation (stimulus), “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Mind you, Jesus Christ is the Word in John 1:1-4. However on the other hand, “it is harder but not impossible” considering John 15:5! As long as any man connects to the True Vine in John 15 everyday in Truth (according to what the Truth in John 14:6 says), and maintains his or her connection till death (sleep) or till Jesus Christ returns in His Second Coming, he or she will enter God’s Kingdom.
To conclude, only those who are connected to the True Vine in John 15 will enter God’s Kingdom. Only those who truly follow Christ from the heart within this Great Controversy despite whatever challenges they face within this Great Controversy will enter God’s Kingdom. For more information on how to connect to the True Vine in John 15 or truly follow the Truth in John 14:6, click and visit the following link:http://peterjnrbebi.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-it-means-to-leave-all-and-follow.html?m=1 Remember, “JESUS CHRIST CLEARLY STATED IN MATHEW 5:3 BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD-WE BECAME POOR EVER SINCE THE FALL OF MAN, AND WE ARE BLESSED WITH CHRIST IN WHOM WE MAY BECOME RICH AGAIN, CONSIDERING 2 CORINTHIANS 8:9.” The power of choice is yours-every choice has a consequence: eternal life in John 3:16 or death in Romans 6:23 depends entirely on your person choice! I almost forgot, "REMEMBER, WHATEVER CHOICE THAT YOU MAKE NOW AND ONWARDS THAT TIME IS ALSO A SCARCE RESOURCE!"
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