A different kind of Salvation than they expected
Jesus used the expression “everlasting life” more than he used “salvation” since it more accurately portrayed the reality of what he taught. The Jews lived in a time when they were under the oppression of the romans and they were expecting a long awaited messiah that their scriptures prophesied would come who would deliver them out the the hands of their enemies.
Salvation for the Jews to a large extent had to do with their current conditions and physical state as much as if not more than having to do with the next life. They expected the messiah to be a king, like the messiahs before him, who would unite their kingdom against their enemies, and bring back their true religion.
Luk 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
Luk 1:69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
Luk 1:70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Luk 1:71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
Luk 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
Luk 1:73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
Luk 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
However, though Jesus was that king and messiah that they were awaiting for God to send them, he didn’t come to bring them quite the type of salvation that they had expected. He wasn’t exactly the kind of king most expected him to be. Jesus came to bring them the message of salvation rather than deliverance from their enemies. He came to teach them the way to obtain “everlasting life”. This is the kind of salvation that would be “lasting unto the age of the ages” as the expression is literally translated.
But the enemy Jesus came to deliver them from was not Rome, as we can clearly see from history. Jesus said that his kingdom wasn’t from this world. The real enemy Jesus came to deliver them from was the god of this world and their own sinful selves — and I might add the bondage to parts of a law that was never written by God. The law of God was corrupted by the commandments and traditions of men and it became ineffective.
Why people believe the way they do
The reason people today believe the way they do is based on basically what they have been taught about the bible and because of how the bible is written. Unfortunately, the bible is the way it is because of how it’s been butchered and remanufactured to say what churchmen wanted it to say hundreds of years ago. But that’s not to say that there is no truth there.
The fact is there is still lots of truth there. It’s just that much of it has been corrupted and even cut out. Nevertheless, reality is what it is no matter what people believe. But what people believe has a great impact on the way people live their lives seeing that our future lives are largely shaped according to the way we live our lives today.
The great misconception about belief
A great misconception that people have is that all that is required for salvation is that one believes. When Jesus said, “He that believeth in me hath everlasting life…”, people get the idea that all they have to do is believe and that’s it, nothing more to do. If this were the case, then why did Jesus spend his whole ministry teaching people the right way to live?
So why can’t people just live their lives the way they want since they’re “not going to hell”. And “who cares if I don’t have any rewards in heaven, I’ll be happy anyway no matter what I do — God will forgive me for all the wrong I’ve done. So why worry about it. Once saved always saved. I can’t lose my salvation anyway. And as soon as I get to heaven I’ll have a new body and I’ll be perfect just like Jesus forever and ever”. This is the attitude most Christians have nowadays.
What Salvation is really all about: the process of perfection, the purpose of Reincarnation.
To believe IN or ON someone, which is actually the same thing, in reality means that you believe what they they say or have faith in their word. If one believes what Jesus actually taught is the truth, then he or she will actually live accordingly. The reality is not so much whether one believes what Jesus taught is truth or not. You can tell what someone believes by the way they live their lives — and are they living in the light?
Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
“That was the true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (Joh 1:9), but some men love the darkness rather than light. Why? Because they prefer to live in their evil ways rather than let the light shine on them and be changed. This is the whole reason Jesus came into the world: to bring light and get men to change their lives.
There is no instant, magical change — men change very slowly — through their own will and efforts and the help of God
This is what salvation is all about, and we know that change comes very slowly for most. The churches teach that when we die we are changed and we will automatically be changed and be like him (Jesus), perfect, “for we shall see him as he is” (1Joh 3:2). However, they only quote this verse and ignore the rest of it about righteousness, purifying one’s self, loving your brother, etc.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Death and Rebirth: Reincarnation
Sorry to have to tell you this but for all you that think that you only die once, you may be disappointed. A verse that they commonly use in the bible to “prove” that you only are born once is this:
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
The truth is that we are born many times and to be re-born you have to die. It’s a funny thing that people don’t see that Jesus actually taught that you had to be not only be “born of the spirit”, but also of “water”. Water in this case actually represents being born of in the flesh — literally as a baby. Technically when we use the word “AND” the two things that it joins are not mutually exclusive, they BOTH have to be true.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus understood that he was speaking of physical re-birth, since he posed the question: “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus then qualified his born again statement by saying a man has to be born of the flesh AND the spirit — BOTH. Here it becomes evident that being born again means more that a spiritual rebirth, but also a physical one. Now, to be born again a man must die and if he is born again, he must die again.
The verse in Heb 9:27, if it is not actually spirious, could have a different interpretation than what is traditionally accepted. It could merely mean that there is a judgement after death that every one is appointed to. This word that is translated “once” can also be translated “everyone”. In other words, “death is appointed to everyone, but after this the judgment.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that you only die once.
It is a known fact that the Jews believed in pre-existence and so also did the Greeks. Origen, considered to be one of the greatest men since the apostles, a Greek Christinan philosopher, taught the doctrine of pre-existence as he found it taught in the scriptures.