Believers Who Are Strangers To Christ

Should someone tell you that you have become estranged from Christ, what would you think? If you are like the average Christian, you are likely to respond with a vehement “God forbid!” And yet, it is a verse in the bible. It implies there are believers who are strangers to Christ.

You may recall that Jesus spoke about such followers. As was usual with Him, He told it as a parable. In the parable, many will come on that day, saying “we prophesied in your name. We even raised the dead in your name.” Jesus will respond with “Get away from me, I do not know you.” They represent believers who are strangers to Christ.

Please note that these people were ‘good’ Christian men and women like you and me. Most of them were extremely busy with church activities. Some of them were office-holders in the church. There were miracle workers among them, some even raising the dead. Consequently, they all believed that at the Rapture, they would go home to be with the Lord.

Still, here was Jesus telling them that as far as He was concerned, they were total strangers. How was that possible since thus was the same Christ that they had been serving all their adult lives? This apparent paradox must have been extremely disappointing to Jesus’ listeners.

It later fell to their mentor, the Apostle Paul to attempt an explanation. He started by explaining that they were believers who are strangers to Christ. He was trying to warn them before the last day when it will be too late to make amends.

How You Have Become Estranged From Christ

For the people in Jesus’ parable, it was too late and they had to proceed to hell. They were examples of believers who are strangers to Christ. And strangers could not occupy the same space with Jesus. To hear that you are a part of the believers who are strangers to Christ might make you angry. When Paul warned the Galatian Christians, they must have been angry too.

But perhaps because of their respect for him, they did not walk away. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. They sensed that without such warnings, they could find out their mistake too late to make amends. Instead, they sought to know how they became strangers to the Christ they loved. How do people become believers who are strangers to Christ?

The most important way we can become believers who are strangers to Christ is to seek justification through the law. A Christian who is trusting in the law to take him to Heaven is wrong. Such a believer is among the believers who are strangers to Christ. And you may wonder why that is so, seeing as Jesus declared He came to fulfill the law.

Unfortunately, many believers erroneously equate the fulfillment of the law with totally keeping the law. When Jesus said He had come to fulfill the law, He had a different meaning. He meant that all the requirements of the Old Testament laws find their fulfillment in Christ.

With Jesus in your life, you automatically fulfill all the requirements of the law. You are justified. With Jesus’ sacrifice, God’s anger with man abates. Jesus is the atonement for our sins. He, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

Jesus Is The Fulfillment Of The Law

If you then try to personally fulfill any of the laws, you are setting aside the sacrifice of Jesus. Like the Pharisees, you are denying the reality and deity of Jesus. And yet, Jesus is the only propitiation of God’s wrath. Since Jesus fulfills, that is, satisfies the requirements of the law, Jesus is all you need.

You do not need Jesus plus prayer or giving or keeping the law. In some churches, you hear people preface their prayers with “by virtue of your being here.” By virtue of your fast, your night vigil, your giving or whatever, your prayer will be answered. That is a sacrilege and it dishonors Jesus.

Those who believe in such a doctrine are believers who are strangers to Christ. The only ‘virtue’ that you can claim before God is the death of Jesus Christ. Anything else with which you come before God, no matter how pious, makes you an enemy of God. It is like taking the virtue that belongs only to Jesus and giving it to some action that you take.

Justification By The Law Is A Backward Step

In Galatians 3:24, we see the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ. It is so that we might be justified by faith. Consider: you attend a university and have a favorite tutor. And then, at gradation, you refuse to leave the school and the tutor. Faith in Jesus represents our graduation from our tutor (the law).

That means that if you want to be justified by the law, you refuse your diploma or certificate. You remain a permanent student. It does not require much effort to see that staying with the law is a backward step. Such a believer is refusing to move forward into faith in Jesus. Such are believers who are strangers to Christ.

Believers who are strangers To Christ Will Miss The Rapture

And that is not all. It is like refusing to graduate and going in search of a job. No employer will employ the one who does not have a certificate. Especially in this case, because Jesus is the way to Heaven.

Finally, any believer who still seeks justification from the law has fallen from grace. What can we do without the grace of God? Like the song says, “Amazing grace… and grace that will lead me home.” Without grace, you will not make it home. The believers who are strangers to Christ have missed the one we call the Way. There is therefore no way they will make it in the Rapture.

I pray that none of us will miss Heaven when Jesus comes to take us home.

Maranatha!