I think it is time to summarise. In essence, I have delivered a double proclamation:
THE REASON FOR LIFE ON EARTH
One announcement is that God is looking for a wife.
The whole purpose for Creation, the meaning of life, the reason for us being here, is wrapped up in Jesus.
“By Him and for Him were all things created” (Colossians 1:16, Ephesians 1)
There was a time before all this, before the earth, before the sun and the moon, before the universe, when eternity was not measured in hours and seconds. At that time, the only thing that was real was God Himself. He then dreamed up all of this, not because He was bored, or because He was in a creative mood. He created it because He desired a life partner.
After He created us with a free will to choose, He set about the most incredible courtship of His own creation by gradually revealing Himself. First He showed us His righteousness and how high His standards are. Then He showed us another side of Himself, the infinitely loving and forgiving side. And all the time, man continues to have the free will to decide whether he wants to be part of this, or not be part of this. God did it this way, so He could isolate that part of His creation, which has a heart wholly for Him.
If you feel that life has no meaning, it is undoubtedly because you are out of sync with this eternal and divine project. This is not a new doctrine. It has been around for longer than anyone can remember. Many of us have just forgotten that this is what it is all about. If you need a reason to live - this is it! God created everything because He wanted an eternal partner, a spouse or bride if you will. You have to decide whether you want to be part of that.
If you never make another decision in your entire life, this is the one that counts. It out-weighs the decision as to whom you marry, what house you buy, how you earn your keep or what car you drive. This decision is for eternity. If you decide 'no', you don't have to do anything at all. But if you decide 'yes', you want to be part of God's bride, then the Bible tells us you have to do certain things. These things may sound like religious jargon to some of you. Maybe that's because it is difficult to find secular terminology that adequately expresses those ideas. Amongst other things, we must 'repent', 'be baptised', and be 'born again' (John 3:7, Acts 2:38).
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
The second announcement is that the bride is totally unprepared for His return.
The spouse He is preparing, collectively known as the Church, at the present time doesn't even come close to resembling the eternal partner He is looking for. At present, the churches, as we know them, are worldly organisations pandering to the likes and dislikes of their audience, with little thought, if any, given to what Jesus wants. We restrict the Holy Spirit by ritualising our meetings. We like to be in control, so we organise the church in the hierarchical structure of a secular company. We forego our individual, equal accountability within the body of Christ, by paying someone else to be in charge and over us.
If you subscribe to church on Sundays, but not so keen the other six days, one of the older denominations may well be your cup of tea. If you want a larger share of the pie than average, without feeling guilty about it, you could choose a church where the prosperity doctrine is rife. If you're into ritual, you may choose Anglican. If you're homosexual, you could well be prepared to accept a split, if that's what it takes. If you like the idea of being able to buy your place into heaven, you could opt for the Roman Catholics. And if you have a liking for loud up-beat music, you might choose Charismatic. If you are looking for 'signs' and are into the 'gifts', you can't go past the Pentecostals. If you think of yourself as 'scientifically minded', you would probably go where the Word of God as to our origin has been compromised. The Church, like a woman whose husband is perfectly happy with the way she is, goes to have her hair cut, a facelift, puts on her make-up and buys new clothes. She does it, not for him, but for herself.
Like the harlot married to Hosea, during the phase when God was revealing His very high standards, Israel continued to be unfaithful over and over again. Now, during the phase when He is revealing His loving and forgiving side, spiritual Israel, the Church, continues to be unfaithful, over and over again. The time must come, when the unfaithfulness must stop. And the true sons of God will be revealed.
If you really want to know what Jesus wants in a life partner, get a Bible with 'red text' denoting His own quoted words. Jesus was God Himself, come to earth to call those who truly have a heart for Him. He was totally in control of the message He wanted to get across. He was and is totally aware of the characteristics He desires in His eternal spouse. We have lists of essentials for the perfect man or woman we would like to share our life with. So does He!! Go and read the red text, over and over again, and see if the life you are living, and the principles and values you hold dear, match His.
The bride He has chosen and is in the process of separating for eternal union with Him consists of all people, living or dead, that He has ever decided to include in that bride. It includes well-known reformers from the past, great evangelists, and untold numbers of unknowns. It may also include many who cheapen the Gospel by turning it into a get-rich-quick scheme. It may include ones so back-slidden that you'd hardly know they were Christians. It may include sinners that we personally would deem totally unsuitable. People who think a different way to us and practice cultures alien to us. Each of these has a unique soul. And that's the part of us God wants to preserve (subject to a few adjustments to make us fit together)! He loves the enormous diversity He has created!
THE NEW COMMANDMENT
During the time when He was revealing His very high standards, we were required to love our neighbor as ourselves. And we failed miserably. When Jesus came to show God's loving and forgiving side, He also raised the bar. He gave us a New Commandment, to love each other as He loved us. And He loved us more than He loved Himself! He loved us with 'agape' love, a type of love we don't really understand yet, the kind of love that makes us prepared to lay down our lives for each other. Greater love has no man than this. Implementation of this New Commandment is critical in the culmination of history and the consummation of the eternal purpose.
The Law showed us how truly sinful we are. But He made a New Covenant with Israel, which includes us Gentiles, ushering in a new age of individual relationship with God. God's grace and mercy released us from the impossible demand of having to live up to His standard, God Himself paying the penalty for our shortfall. Jesus was God in human form and died a human death on a cross to pay that price. To be part of the bride being readied for Jesus, all we have to do is accept that gift and, in all humility, accept all others who do likewise. This is the true meaning of forgiveness - it is an attitude of deference to God's wisdom. It recognises how much we ourselves have been forgiven, and that changes the way we see other sinners. Forgiveness of others is the one condition placed on our salvation.
Even though we have been 'saved', until such time when we enter the Kingdom, we still carry around that old, sinful nature we were born with. And until the very last, we retain the freedom to choose what we do or say, and whether we want to be part of what God is doing. We are body, soul and spirit when we are born. When we are 'born again', God the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, and henceforth we have a choice as to which spirit is the source of our actions. Some of the fruits of the Holy Spirit are agape love (as required by the New Commandment) and broad-spectrum forgiveness (which binds together the bride of Christ, rather than divide her.) There is no way our human spirit is capable of producing such fruit. To produce this fruit as something that will convince and convert the world, we must lay down our lives for each other daily.
CHOOSING THE WAY
There are many who stumble over the black-and-white stance taken by Christians as to how we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, all claim to have 'the way' or profess a multi-disciplined approach. Without meaning to show disrespect to their right to believe whatsoever they want, if there was another way into heaven, Jesus would have died for nothing.
If you already have a personal relationship with Jesus, surely it makes sense to believe literally the scriptures that describe what He is like, predict His coming, explain why He had to come, and lay down the ground rules for acceptance by Him. Most people would agree with that statement. However, they don't realise that by changing even slightly the straightforward meaning of the text in any way at all, we are in fact telling Him that we don’t like Him the way He is, and thus inventing a different god! The sheer logic of that seems to escape most of us.
Satan wants to usurp God's throne. The direct approach rarely works, so he uses subtlety. He tries to get us to make up, or invent, our own god. If he can do this through another religion, he thinks that's great. If that doesn't work, he'll try to make us compromise our perception of what God is like. Once we have constructed our own golden calf, turning us from worshipping the fake god to worshipping Satan becomes just so much easier.
There is something happening right now, leading to the most apocalyptic confrontation between good and evil this world has ever seen. There is no more option for sitting on the fence. We must choose a side, whether we like it or not.
CONCLUSION
God is working towards a goal from which He will not be diverted. He will have His bride. Against a background of a multitude of distractions, we really have only one choice to make: are we for Him or against Him?