Ever Moving On

The Fascinating Journey of Life from the Womb to Beyond the Grave

Robert V. Rakestraw

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666734584, 9781666790603
• eBook ISBN: 9781666790610
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

There is a biblically-revealed, sequential plan of God for the duration of every human life, the knowledge of which should profoundly impact and enliven each one of us who is able to understand and embrace it in a heartfelt way. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to inform readers of God's plans for, and claims upon, human beings, from before their birth and continuing through their existence to the final judgment and beyond. Each reader can then seriously consider their way of life now in view of the things to come. The author identifies seven sequential stages in every person's life journey, the majority of which occur beyond the grave. Written shortly before its writer passed away, this little book nonetheless exudes a spirit of joy as its author, his sufferings notwithstanding, leaned forward, full of expectation and without fear, into the glorious future promised to everyone who loves and serves their Lord Jesus now. Rakestraw shares the secret to investing a brief earthly life well. Like the venerable John Bunyan, writer of the devotional classic Pilgrim's Progress, Rakestraw points the way to our eternal home.

1

The Foundation

The Written and Living Word

The revelation to which I refer is the Bible, a truly remarkable work that is deservedly the bestselling book of all time. It was written by about forty individuals, each working alone or mostly alone (although some knew one another), led by God over a period of about 1,600 years, throughout the Middle East and southeastern Europe primarily. Along with billions of God’s people who have gone before, as well as hundreds of millions now living, I affirm without hesitation that these biblical writings—the Hebrew-Christian scriptures—are the written word of God.

Such a view of the Bible does not claim that it was all dictated by God. With most of the Bible, God led the human authors to write in an inspired and trustworthy manner—using their own vocabularies, writing styles, and personalities, within the thought-forms and cultures of their day—concerning the activities of the Lord and his people in bringing redemption and blessing to the world.

Everything in the Bible, including the good and evil deeds of humans, angels, and devils, has been recorded under the sovereign direction of God for our temporal and eternal benefit. The Bible makes these astonishing claims for itself (2 Tim 3:14–17; 2 Pet 1:12–21; Rom 15:4; see also Ps 119:11–20, 71–77), and this fact in itself ought to prompt everyone to investigate such claims.

Why, you might ask, do I have such a high view of an admittedly human-authored book? How can I speak of the Bible as “the written word of God,” and consider it the only infallible, only divinely authoritative written revelation for people everywhere: the supreme and essential guidebook for all of life—this life and the life to come?

There are numerous, substantial reasons for my conviction, ones that many wise thinkers have offered over the centuries. Here are just two, presented very briefly.

The first consideration is the striking pattern of biblical prophecies and their precise fulfillments, in some cases hundreds of years later. Two examples (out of many) of this pattern are: (1) the highly accurate prediction of the multi-phased destruction of the wicked city of Tyre in Ezek 26, and its exact fulfillment under Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great over the next few centuries, confirmed by careful historical research and archaeology; and (2) the naming of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, in Mic 5:2, centuries before the first Christmas. Such precise historical realities would have been impossible to predict in the natural realm, and were obviously directed by the only all-knowing and all-powerful Lord of all.

A second argument is based on the life of Jesus Christ, the remarkable man of God who lived in the first century AD. His teachings, his miracles, his fulfilled prophecies, his resurrection from the dead, and his authoritative yet compassionate message and manner while ministering to the people of his day, constitute the most convincing line of reasoning to me (and a large number of others) for the divine authorship of the Bible.

By this I refer to the reality that this man Jesus—in my opinion the wisest, most holy, most truthful, most down-to-earth human being in the history of civilization—(1) emphatically and repeatedly endorsed the scriptures of his day (now called the Old Testament) as the infallible and authoritative word of God; and (2) declared that the Holy Spirit of God would come after him to reveal to his disciples the further truth they would need to carry on the work he began during his earthly life (now called the New Testament, revealed to be applied over the following two thousand years and more by the Spirit’s teaching).

Since this most remarkable human being gave such forceful witness to the inspiration, truthfulness, and godly authority of the Bible, the written word (communication) of God, and spoke of himself plainly as the living word (communication) of God, I gladly and confidently place my trust in the Bible.

Some may reply, however, that the above is a “circular argument”—using the Bible to prove the Bible. The above way of reasoning would indeed be an unacceptable logical fallacy if we begin with the assumption that the Bible is divinely revealed. But we are not doing such. Instead, we begin with the far less controversial realization that the biblical documents—in this case the Gospel accounts—are worthy to be read and acknowledged simply as valuable ancient writings from four competent authors who present the story, from four different perspectives, of a highly unusual person.1

This striking individual has been considered by multitudes over the centuries to be the most pivotal figure in human history. (Our calendar, for example, is divided into BC [Latin, “before Christ”] and AD [Latin, Anno Domini, “in the year of the Lord”].) Such a fascinating person deserves to be studied and analyzed extensively and intensively, from all angles, as he has been. Any documents written close to the lifetime of Jesus, as the Gospels were, must be considered especially valuable historically.

The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are four well-researched and well-written historical/theological accounts placed at the start of the New Testament that present the life, teachings, and works of Jesus. Even if some people are unwilling to accept the divine inspiration of the Gospels, yet consider them as valuable ancient writings from the first century, such thinkers may still study these Gospels with an open mind, and conclude—even as a good many non-Christians have—that they are indeed accurate accounts of the life of Jesus. From that conclusion they may then come to believe—as many skeptics have after careful study and reflection (especially reading the Gospels themselves with an open mind)—that Jesus is indeed the living Word of God and the scriptures are indeed the written Word of God.

This line of reasoning, admittedly quite brief, explains my conviction that the Bible, authenticated by Jesus, is the only reliable written foundation for the following journey of the seven selves. Without it I would be simply spinning ideas and speculations out of my very limited and fallible mind, with nothing but possibility and perhaps some probability, along with some wishful thinking, to try to guide those who read this.2 In the following pages I will quote much from the Bible, and refer to it heavily even when I do not quote it, because I am convinced without doubt that the scriptures are the inspired truth of God Almighty himself.3

1. Some wise insights concerning the circularity objection are in Carson, Collected Writings on Scripture, 35–37.

2. A good place to begin studying, at a non-specialist’s level, the historical evidence for the reliability of the gospels and the integrity of Jesus is Strobel, Case for Christ. Valuable works discussing the evidence for the Bible’s inspiration, as well as the principal objections to belief in Christ are Strobel, Case for Faith; Helm, “Faith, Evidence, and the Scriptures”; and Wenham, Christ and the Bible.

3. All quotations from and references to the Bible, unless indicated otherwise, are from the New International Version (2011 text). For additional explanatory notes, charts, cross-references, essays, outlines, and a partial concordance, I highly recommend either NIV Study Bible or NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (previously published as NIV Zondervan Study Bible). With each of these hefty Bibles having over 2,500 pages, you will need a sturdy desk or table, or a solid lap and strong wrists, to work with these excellent tools. In addition, many have found the also-hefty and also-valuable Life Application Study Bible to be a useful guide in the practical aspects of daily life and service. It is available in several translations, including the well-regarded New Living Translation. I consider a good study Bible to be the most valuable thing a person can possess.

2

The First Three Selves

What...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1: The Foundation
• Chapter 2: The First Three Selves
• Chapter 3: The Intermediate Self
• Chapter 4: The Resurrected Self
• Chapter 5: The Judged Self and the Eternal Self
• Chapter 6: The Judged Self
• Chapter 7: The Judged Self
• Chapter 8: The Eternal Self
• Chapter 9: Dangers, Conclusions, and Hope
• Appendix: My Credo
• Bibliography