Another Ninety-Five

T H E S I S # 23

Jesus foretold most people would reject Him and His salvation.

What can we give to our Lord Jesus that He doesn’t already have?

We can give Him our neighbors. And/or relatives. And/or friends and acquaintances.

Lord Jesus does not have everything because He does not have everyone. He only has a relative few. A minority. A remnant.

Few: “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it.”

Many: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are MANY who go in by it.”

How few are few? How many are many?

When our Lord Jesus spoke of few and many, He was referencing adults, not infants in the womb or children not yet accountable. So, most thankfully, few are less few and many are less many.

Nonetheless the numbers of both FEW and MANY are staggering.

Worldometers.info and others suggest humanity’s total number of births to be about 100 billion. The number of conceptions that didn’t result in births would greatly increase that number. But for discussion sake let’s say the total number of people ever residing on planet earth is 100 billion. That’s 100 billion people living somewhere at this moment.

100 billion is a lot of people, equal to 100 thousand cities each with a population of 1 million. If you started counting non-stop, even at a young age, you would never reach 100 billion.

And increase comes at an amazing rate. By the time you said, for example, 4 billion 492 million, 787 thousand 9 hundred and 61, approximately 30 babies would have joined humanity.

If a few (“there are FEW who find it”) is 5 percent, that translates into 5 billion people. But perhaps it would be safe to double, or even quadruple that number because of the many children who died before losing their innocence. The percentage of FEW could be 20 percent. 20 percent of 100 billion is 20 billion people, most of who are in heaven.

If many (“there are MANY who go in by it”) is 80 percent that equals 80 billion people, most of whom are in hell, the remainder on their way.

Perhaps, and hopefully, FEW are more than 20 percent and MANY are less than 80. Only our God knows.

The final population of heaven and hell will be determined, largely, by Christ’s church on earth. FEW can be much increased and MANY sharply decreased. Unfortunately, the light of the church, the only “light of the world”, is as dim as that flashlight that badly needs new batteries. There is light, but not much.

And it will always be so. Nonetheless….

Nonetheless your neighbors are your neighbors. Your parents and siblings and children are your parents and siblings and children. Your relatives are your relatives. They are within your influence. The church’s dimness matters not to them; what matters is the brightness of your light.

Assimilation. Let’s talk assimilation.

The twelve (yes, including Judas) assimilated Christ. Not fully, of course, not even close. But because they were in His presence each absorbed, somewhat, who He is.

And they assimilated each other. Can you see, for example, Andrew’s commitment to Christ would be different, shallower or deeper, if he kept different company? Matthew’s character was carved, mostly, by Christ’s influence, and, to a lesser degree, by his spiritual brothers. Thomas’ unbelief was a drag on the twelve while his loyalty to Lord Jesus (“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”) was positive.

And people assimilate you (again, not fully, of course).

To varying degrees each under your influence absorbs who you are. You affect. Life would be different if life were minus you.

The quality of any gathering is determined by all. You may not be as impacting as the blabber, but your presence does matter. That’s why it’s so important how bright your light shines. “You are the salt of the earth.” You make others thirsty for Christ. And you can become progressively saltier.

Who we are – our value as a person and as a witness – is the result of who we have been attached to…. who we are bonded with…. who we abide in. Every one of us can, if we so choose and if willing to pay the price, assimilate more of Christ.

Quality fruit is the fruit of quality relationship, and good fruit always includes salvations. The abider is a natural evangelist. Abiding in Christ brightens our light, which makes surrounding darkness less dark. The Christ-life becomes enviable, wanted.

Also, the passionate have better results in intercessory prayer than the tepid. He/she who is tightly knit to Jesus Christ prays with power. Neighborhoods can be transformed by one neighbor’s faith in God’s precious Son.

Isaiah 53:6: The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The iniquity of what could eventually total 100 billion people or more? Our precious Christ bore “in His own body on the tree” the sins of 100 billion people? He did this knowing in advance most would refuse this costly and priceless redemption?

Really?