I don’t know about you, but one thing that really stood out to me when reading Lori’s informative posts about Gog and Magog was that the prophecies center around Israel. It got me thinking that some could come away after reading them wondering about God’s plan for the rest of the world. Does He only care about Israel and what happens to her? If that’s the case, it sure doesn’t seem fair! What about everyone else?

Well, consider this parable told by Jesus:

A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, “I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.” Another said, “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” Still another said, “I just got married, so I can’t come.” The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” “Sir,” the servant said, “what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.” Then the master told his servant, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.” (Luke 14:16-24)

The great banquet in this parable represents the kingdom of God which He prepared for the Jewish people, His invited guests. When Jesus arrived on the scene and proclaimed that they needed to repent because the Kingdom of God was at hand, they made excuses and did not want to accept Him as their Messiah. We have to remember that God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, so their rejection of Christ opened the door of salvation to the rest of the world, which was really God’s plan all along since He desires all people to repent and be saved. We today are living in what is called the Church Age, which was a mystery kept hidden in the Old Testament, a future time when God would extend His invitation to all people – Jew and Gentile alike – into His kingdom. But that doesn’t mean God has forgotten the Jewish nation, and much of what we write about when we refer to future events – the last days, the tribulation, etc. – is about the coming time when many Jewish people will turn back to God and finally recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

Getting back to this invitation by God to come and feast at His banquet, it is His desire for all people everywhere to come to know Him. Everyone is invited! Jesus said that “people will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29) How do they get there? Jesus told us himself:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Salvation means to save, help in distress, rescue, deliver, set free, and it is the overriding theme of the entire Bible. In a nutshell, below is the good news of God’s plan of salvation. Remember, God is holy, righteous, and just. But He is also love. Because He is a God of justice, He must punish sin. And because He is love, He made a way for us to escape His punishment. I like to think of the cross upon which Jesus suffered and died as the place where God’s justice and mercy meet.

We all have sinned and are separated from God: 

Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Our sin separates us from God, both now and for all of eternity: 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). 

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them (John 6:36).

Sin problem solved — Jesus provided a way of salvation: 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Each person must decide to accept or reject this free gift of salvation: 

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”(Romans 10:9-13)

As a result of accepting God’s free gift of salvation, we are no longer separated from God:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). 

Jesus conquered death in order for us to have eternal life: 

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:4-5) 

And nothing will ever separate us from God’s love: 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). 

The bottom line is that Jesus died so that we could live. This free gift – this invitation – can be accepted by placing our faith in Christ.

Sadly, like in the parable above, so many of us make excuses and reject God’s incredible offer. Maybe some have been turned off by Christianity in the past because of their upbringing … maybe they’ve been hurt … or felt they could never live up to some legalistic standard … or they think Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites … or perhaps they don’t need Jesus because they think they’re nice enough or good enough already … or maybe they’re honestly just too lazy … or too selfish … or just want to live life on their own terms, living in the here and now, willing to risk their eternal state for today’s pleasures … or even just too busy, waiting for a more convenient time. Whatever the case may be, what if you were to set aside your excuses and consider what Jesus did on your behalf against a fresh, unsullied backdrop, free of any pre-conceived ideas or misconceptions or conclusions?

When I did that — put all of my doubts aside and stepped out in faith — He met me right where I was and I began discovering what it meant to be loved by God, personally, and to have the security of knowing I’m His child. The thing is, He will meet anyone where they’re at. Anyone who calls on Him will be saved. You don’t have to work hard to prove to Him your worth — you are already worth much because He died for you. You don’t have to clean up your act first. You just have to repent – to see yourself as God sees you – a sinner in need of a Savior. When you do that, and ask Him to forgive you and come into your life, trusting that Jesus paid for your sin, He will. And when He comes into your life, He will begin changing you from the inside out, transforming you into the person He created you to be. There is nothing more satisfying than to be in fellowship with your Creator, as He designed you to be, with the assurance of knowing that you are guaranteed to spend eternity in heaven with Him.

The message of the cross is very simple. It almost sounds too easy, too good to be true. And really, it is. That’s how God planned it. We can’t get to heaven by anything we do or don’t do – we get there by faith alone in what Christ accomplished for us. That’s it! You are on the guest list. The invitation is open to all. It’s a free gift to whosoever will come and accept the life He freely gives.

Holding fast,

Lisa

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (1 John 1:10-13)

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)

^{Photography by Stefan Kunze}