We went on a tour of the Vatican yesterday. Among so many things we learned, one particular biblical truth stood out. Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceilings of the Sistine chapel. One of the paintings was a huge mural of THE LAST JUDGMENT showing Jesus dispensing judgement accordingly, but that is not what fascinates me. My main focus was his painting of the 2 judgement books, one small book representing the book of life and the other, a HUGE VOLUME with the names of those to be sent to hell. Apparently the cardinals of that time were learned men who knew the Scriptures quite well and as they interpreted this to Michelangelo, he in turn painted what the meaning would be.
The truth behind this interpretation comes from Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
Listen, and listen well...ONLY A SMALL MINORITY OF HUMANITY WILL MAKE IT TO HEAVEN because it is not as easy to enter the kingdom of Heaven as we have been taught to believe. ARE YOU CERTAIN THAT YOU ARE PART OF THAT MINORITY? Then make sure you are a true disciple of Christ.
Matthew 16:24-27,Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life[g] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done."
Luke 14:26,27,33 reads "“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple...So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
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