The Terms of Peace

What king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, no one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions (Luke 14:31-33).

Terms of peace with Yahshua, the Messiah, must be made while He is a long way off. He is coming to take up the rule of the whole earth. It will be too late to make peace when He returns with the mighty armies of heaven (Revelation 19:14). He will not be able to trust those who wait for the overwhelming display of His power before they will repent. Just like death comes to every person, and there is no way to avoid it, so the end will come to this present evil age. All those who persist in finding their life in this world will perish with it. But He will trust those who voluntarily surrender their lives to Him now, because they acknowledge their guilt and cry out for His mercy. They will enter the new age with Him, and they will never die.

The terms of peace themselves are clearly laid out in the Bible. They are just like the conditions exacted, or demanded, by a greater army to a lesser. Receiving those conditions is the only way to avoid the awesome power of this army. Yahshua, the commander of the coming army, told us exactly what we had to do. He warned us that no amount of self-effort will ever replace obedience to His commands. We cannot build anything on the corrupt foundation of our lives that will gain us admittance to His Kingdom. He said we had to hate our own life in this world and follow Him. He told us we had to die to everything that gave us life apart from Him " family, possessions, ambitions — and cling supremely to Him. We do this in His Body on the earth, the place where His Spirit dwells (Luke 14:26-30).

Those who obey His word and actually give up all they possess become His disciples. It is only disciples who have their sins forgiven. In order to have eternal life, you must become a disciple.