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Destiny.
When a person finds what they were made for, we say they have found their destiny.
To what animal have we said they have a destiny?
They serve a purpose, but they are not a creature who has a divine appointment or a glorious future.
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Man was created without sin, but he fell in the garden.
His destiny of righteousness was shattered and the was cast out of the perfect place where all of his needs were met.
He no longer sat in the presence of the Lord.
Now entering a world of struggle, mankind would wrestle with identity theft of why he was created until the One from heaven, Jesus Christ, came to set things right again at the cross, the grave, and His resurrection of the grave.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8:29
The Bible also says,
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
Therefore do not cast away your confidence,
which has great reward.
Hebrews 10:35
When we realize our value, and hold on to it, not letting the devil or the world cheat us out of our position, then we will have great reward. That means we know who we are. We have not been victims of identify theft.
Our reward is specifically mentioned in Scripture.
Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
Isaiah 40:10
The word reward is used 29 times in the New Testament which is interesting since 29 is the biblical number for "departure." The tie-in is obvious, when we depart (29) this world, our reward (29) awaits.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1
What is fascinating is to contemplate where our future lies. We are to be like Jesus.
Beloved, now we are children of God;
and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is.
1 John 3:2
There is a quote from a famous Christian book written by the same author who penned "The Chronicles of Narnia." C. S. Lewis writes the following from Mere Christianity:
The son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.
We are going to be recipients of a glorified body, one that is heavenly.
The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44
Isaiah gives us another clue on the power of the new body that Christ will give humanity.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29,31
Weakness will be replaced with power. Strength will pulse through our veins like blood, pumped through our muscles like steel, more enduringly than when we were young. We can run all day and not grow tired. We can fly and defeat the hold of gravity, we can have access to perpetual energy and not run down. Gravity and the second law of thermodynamics are now under our feet, as are all the physical laws of this Universe.
As a race of men, made in the image of God, we will rise to finally become like Jesus.
With all the talk of human beings living forever through the aid of science, and the idea that we could have a next step in our "evolution," albeit by mutation, does not compare to the bodies we will be given by God at the Rapture.
When we consider the robotic, symbiotic, and neurologic scientific promises that will be made in the future to advance the human race, we feel let down when we compare them to what God has in store for us.
"Bigger, stronger, faster!" is the call. The desire for the human body to possess super strength, super speed, and super intelligence with super powers at command are idolized in our depiction of Greek gods or more recently in the Comic bookish superheroes. They are just cries echoing out that we want what God has promised to us all along.
To become a son of God give us access to heaven and more importantly eternal access to the presence of the Lord where peace resides, and unspeakable joy, There will be ultimate fulfillment in our existence where no regrets can partake. No one will be poor, lonely, homeless, sick, rejected, or socially outcast anymore. We will find our home with God as Adam once did in the Garden of God called Eden.
Our future will cause us to shine as Daniel declares.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake...
Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.
Daniel 12:2-3
Mankind will have a bright and glorious future.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
What Jesus saw that allowed Him to endure the cross was the shining glorified bodies of so many who would become sons of God forever because of His one act. If He finished it, if he completed His death on a cross, His burial in a tomb, and His resurrection from the dead, then He would be the firstfrutits of others who would enter into the kingdom of heaven with Him.
But now Christ is risen from the dead,
and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20
This joy was His and His alone, but now we are destined to share in it for we have a bright and glorious future.
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