We all have two critical choices. Yes, life confronts us with myriads of decisions – what house to buy, spouse to marry, house to live in, job to take, movie to watch etc.
But there are only two critical choices which will affect our eternal destiny. We can either choose Christ or reject Him. Each choice will lead us to a particular outcome.
It all began at the dawn of mankind when God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden to tend it. They were then offered the choice to either obey or disobey God. The command was simple and clear:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen 2:16-17
Away from God’s presence, the Serpent asked Eve, “Has God indeed said, `You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen 3:1)
Eve responded that they could eat of every tree, but they could not touch or eat of that tree which God singles out. The Serpent then told her: “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:4-5)
Adam and Eve chose to listen to the Serpent and disobeyed God. Thus all mankind fell.
When they ate of the fruit their eyes were immediately opened to sin and shame. While they had previously enjoyed intimate fellowship with God, they now feared Him. They were excommunicated from His presence and evicted from the Garden. Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God resulted in Death and the cursing of creation Gen 3:14-19
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… Rom 5:12
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Rom 8:22
Yet God knew this would happen because He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). In what is commonly called the protoevangelium. God declared:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. Gen 3:15
That was the first gospel. John MacArthur tells us that: “…the ancient world…didn’t have anything else. They didn’t have anything but Genesis 3:15. That’s it.”
This protoevangelium message was reinforced throughout the Old Testament. One way we know this is through Jesus’ response to the two grieving disciples on the road to Emmaus, after the crucifixion:
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27
Many of these examples where Scripture prefigured Christ’s work on the cross also involved choices.
One obvious incident is where God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:2). Recall that God had promised to prosper Abraham’s line through Isaac (Gen 17:19). God tested Abraham’s faith in that promise by his obedience, and Abraham made the right choice. At the same time God used the occasion to point to the future when He would send His only Beloved Son to be a sacrifice for all who choose to place their faith in Him (Gen 22:8; John 3:16).
Another clear example of the future gospel is the incident in Exodus where God sent poisonous snakes to the disobedient Israelites (Numbers 21:6-7). God told Moses to set up a bronze snake on a pole and any Israelite who had been infected had to look upon it to be healed (Num 21:9). Jesus alluded to this very incident and connected it to Himself (John 3:14-16).
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Rom 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:23
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1 Co 15:22
Because of Adam’s sin, and because we all sin, our punishment is death. Like the poison-infected Israelites who looked at the snake on the pole for healing, the only antidote for us is to put our faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins (John 14:6).
The last book in the Bible provides us with two futuristic examples of the consequences of choice.
One group of people chooses to worship the beast and accept his mark. They drink the wrath of God and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. Whoever receives this mark will have no rest, day or night (Rev 14:9-11). The other group of people washes their robes and makes them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14). They are those who reign with Christ forever (Rev 22:5).
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. Rev 21:6
The extreme circumstances found in the book of Revelation are still future, but the choices we face now have the same eternal consequences. We either choose Christ or we reject Him.
If we choose Christ we become members of the household of God (Eph 2:19) and citizens of heaven. Think about what these words mean for a moment. Then listen to what Paul tells us:
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Phil 3:20-21
This earth will one day pass away and there will be a New Heaven and Earth (Rev 21:1-5). Only those who have placed their faith in Christ will participate in the New Creation. The Apostle John wrote:
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 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 3:1-2
We cannot begin to imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor 2:9).
Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ yet? What are you waiting for?
If you have any doubts, go into your private room and confess them to God. Ask Him to show you the truth. He will answer but you must pay attention and respond to His call.
You have a choice right now. Make the right one.
Sharing is caring!
