- The Lake Of Fire
that the lake of fire is not a permanent condition. Right? In my understanding, the lake of fire is the destruction of everything that is against God. It is where God's last enemy bites the dust and that enemy is death. It is where the most stubborn will surrenders. It is where the liar learns to tell the truth. It is where the whore monger and the whore learns that they don't have to have the attention of the opposite sex flocking around them to make them feel like somebody .And, where Sister Super Spiritual learns that it is ok not to pray louder and longer than everybody else. (That is what people who try so hard to "advertise" their spirituality make me think of.... religious whores.) It is where we are forced to die to the flesh where we wouldn't before..... where everyone bows their knee to the real King. It is where the self sufficient cries out for help. It is where genuine repentance takes place. We will all be tried by the fire of God. If we learn to judge ourselves and die to our flesh as we go through our life with the Lord, the second death, or the lake of fire, will not hurt us.
rope"....where we give up.
Fire Strongs # 4442 Pur
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Re 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Re 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Re 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Re 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. So many ways to view this concept..... Fall on the Rock and it won't fall on you... Judge yourself and you won't be judged... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved....
few things we should keep in mind as we attempt to figure out just what it is.
which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Stephen Jones says the case history of burning people with fire is only after they were executed so they would not have an honorable burial. Jos 7:25 And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes. NAS
heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 5. Takes place in the presence of the Lamb and the Holy angels
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
fire.
Some people equate Gehenna with the Lake of Fire. If this is indeed the case, Matthew 23:39 shows without doubt that this punishment is not endless. Quite the contrary, it lasts long enough for those unbelieving Pharisees to start "blessing" the true messiah, the Lord, Jesus Christ.
this radical message to see if it could be true. Don't do like I did the first time I heard it. I just readily dismissed it BECAUSE I had never heard of it. That's pretty smug and arrogant isn't it? Not to mention extremely closed-minded. Come on, admit it...there's not much peace in taking someone else's word for everything is there? Go for the peace...You got a brain, use it!
all the answers? We have to learn to stand on our own sooner or later. God said if we lack wisdom to ask Him and He would give it. He told us in the Bible to check out what we are told to see if it is the truth.
speak English? Of course not. What was the language of the BIble days? Doesn't it stand to reason that that is probably the one we should start with? Of course it does.
and judgments. Here are a couple of his articles, printed with his permission, for your benefit/blessing.
sin, and yet the judgment would end when the people repented. For example, 1 Kings 8:33, 34 says, " (33) When Thy people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, if they turn to Thee again and confess Thy name and pray and make supplication to Thee in this house, (34) then hear Thou in heaven and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which Thou didst give to their fathers." This idea is taken directly from the law of tribulation in Lev. 26:40-42, where God said He would judge His people and even bring them into a foreign land if necessary. He said that He would bring them back to their land only after they "confess their iniquity . . . and also in their acting with hostility against Me"--that is, against Jesus Christ, the Yahweh of the Old Testament and Lawgiver. In other words, God brings judgment in order to bring correction. But His judgment does not end until people actually repent and confess their iniquity and hostility toward Jesus Christ. In the case of Israel (above), it is plain that the so-called Zionists have forced themselves into Palestine without confessing their iniquity and their hostility against Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is not the fulfillment of the law of tribulation, nor even of Solomon's prayer. The purpose of judgment is to bring correction, which is manifested by repentance. David repented, and so God showed him mercy. All through the book of Judges, whenever Israel repented, God ended their captivities to other nations. In no instance did God end the judgment prior to their repentance. If we take it back to Adam himself, we see that God judged him with the death penalty for his sin. But we also see the mercy factor in this, because he was not executed immediately. The death penalty in his case was lengthened by time and is what we call mortality. Mortality was a sufficient penalty for Adam's sin to fulfill the penalty expressed in Gen. 2:17, "in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die." It was God's prerogative to define a "day," and He did so by making it a thousand years (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). So Adam died at the age of 930, which was just 70 years short of a thousand. This was God's mercy upon Adam. The law demanding the death penalty is expressed in seemingly rigid terms (Deut. 17:6, 12), but this gives instructions to the judges (priests), telling them that they have no power to set aside the death penalty. In fact, the judge has no power to reduce a restitution payment either. If there is to be any mercy applied to the sinner, it must be done by the victim, not the judge--unless, of course, the judge is the victim. If a judge sentences the sinner to pay $100,000 restitution, the case is closed, but the victim can either collect it in its entirety, reduce it, or forgive it in full. That is his prerogative, if he sees repentance and wants to extend mercy. Paul says in Phil. 2:10, 11, " (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, (11) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This is a loose quotation of Isaiah 45:23, where the full passage reads, " (22) Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (23) I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. (24) They will say of Me, 'Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength. . ." God first swore by Himself (His own name) in Num. 14:21, "but indeed, AS I LIVE, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord." This was God's unconditional vow. Most Christians today question His ability to fulfill that vow. They question His ability to bring the whole earth to repentance, where "every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." But Paul did not question it. I believe that this will take place at the Great White Throne judgment, when all are raised to be judged according to their works. On that day there will be no more unbelievers. In 1 Cor. 12:3, Paul says that "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." And so, when they all confess that He is Lord at the Great White Throne, it will be by the Holy Spirit. They will repent and be converted, and they will receive mercy even in judgment. Some insist that death is the deadline for conversion, based upon a misreading of Heb. 9:27, "as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." I fully concur that the Great White Throne judgment comes after men die. But nowhere does it say that death makes men incapable of conversion--of if they want to be converted, they are not allowed to repent. The divine deadline has been inserted by the traditions of men, not by God. Paul says clearly that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This will be done to the glory of God. There is no glory in forcing every man to his knees against his will. There is no glory in torturing men into confessing that Jesus was right after all. The fact is this: the GLORY of the Lord is in the fact that all men will confess Him to be Lord only because they will recognize clearly that "only in the Lord are righteousness and strength," as Isaiah 45:24 says (quoted above). When God receives such glory in all men, then and only then will His glory cover the whole earth to fulfill His vow to Moses in Num. 14:21. But as I have shown already, repentance is the key that brings mercy. Mercy does not necessarily cancel out judgment, as we saw in the example of King David. But it certainly plays a role. And God, the merciful Judge, has the full right to redefine death or to lengthen it by Time. John was shown this when he wrote in Rev. 20:14 that "death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." The first death, imposed upon Adam, is called mortality. The second death, revealed by Paul in many writings, is when we put to death the old man, crucify the flesh, and "die daily." It is repentance itself, and the law is satisfied because its purpose has been served to correct the sinner. Thus, we see that at the Great White Throne, God will dispose of mortality, which gives way to this second type of death. How? By the fact that every knee will bow and all will repent sincerely to the glory of God. Because of this universal repentance, no one will be annihilated, nor will anyone be tortured in a never-ending fire. The "fire" is the symbol of law (Deut. 33:2) and the word of God (Jer. 23:29). This "fire" proceeds from the throne (a symbol of law, containing the Ten Commandments), as Daniel 7:9, 10 tells us. This "river of fire" forms a "lake of fire" in Rev. 20:14. It is the judgment of the law, but it is not without mercy. While it is certain that the majority of humanity will be judged by the law, it will be done according to the level of their responsibility. Some knew God's will, and others did not (Luke 12:47, 48). In that final Age of Judgment, the former unbelievers will learn righteousness and obedience (Isaiah 26:9) until they are fully released into the glorious liberty of the sons of God at the Creation Jubilee, when all judgment ceases and God is all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). The Law of First Fruits Each of the three main feast days in Israel was a time when the first fruits were to be offered to God. Exodus 23: 16 reads, "(14) Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. (15) You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Passover]; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. (16) Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest [Pentecost] of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering [Tabernacles] at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field." The three first fruits offerings were barley, wheat, and the fruits of the land. During Tabernacles at the end of the year, the wine was poured out as a drink offering to represent all of the fruit given to God. The law of first fruits follows the same basic principle as that of the tithe, in that it was to be given to God for His labor in the field. As I explained in my article on The Law of the Tithe, God wants a return on His labor. He created dirt, air, the sun, the rain, etc., and so for His labor, He wants a return. For man's labor, he is allowed to keep 90% of the crop. This is also why Ex. 23:16 above calls it "the fruit of your labors from the field." In the case of first fruits, God was to be given a token amount to represent His labor in the field, and then the farmers could return home and harvest their crops, keeping 90% of it for themselves. Since a tithe is the biblical tax system, it is based upon one's labor--God's labor and man's labor. This is also why tithes were not owed on every form of labor. Tithe was owed only where God had labored in the creation process. God is due a tithe upon crops, herds, fishing, lumbering, power plants, and any other enterprise where God has done some direct labor to contribute to the income. (See Lev. 27:30.) The modern Church idea that tithe is owed for every form of income is simply a means of increasing revenue, based upon man's traditions, rather than God's law. If an employee takes home wages and desires to give an offering from it, whether 10% or not, it is called a "voluntary offering," not a tithe. The basis of the first fruits offering is also the fact that God labored at creation and is thus a partner to all enterprises that utilize nature to generate income or "increase." The primary difference is that the first fruits of the feast days are more prophetic and speak specifically of the resurrections. Resurrection is a "harvest" from the ground. The first fruits of the barley were to be given to God on the day after the Sabbath after Passover--called "Easter Sunday" today. Seven weeks later the wheat was ripe, and the first fruits of the wheat were therefore associated with the feast of Pentecost. These were the two grain offerings, the first being unleavened, and the second being leavened. They prophesy of the two resurrections mentioned in Revelation 20. The first resurrection is restricted to the overcomers who will rule with Christ (Rev. 20:5). The second resurrection, which includes everyone else (Rev. 20:12), includes both unbelievers and the rest of the believers, as Jesus said in John 5:28, 29. The first fruits offering is obviously not the entire harvest, but only a beginning point. Paul tells us in Romans 11: 16 (Emphatic Diaglott) that "if the first fruit be holy, so also the mass" (or lump, the rest of it). The first fruit sanctified the whole field that was to be harvested. Prophetically speaking, when the first fruits of the barley are offered to God at the time of the first resurrection, it will involve the manifestation of the sons of God. Those who inherit aionian life, or Life in The Age--that is, in the Tabernacles Age--will find their flesh (chaff) blown away by the wind of the Spirit. Barley needs only winnowing to remove its chaff. These manifested sons, then, will minister to the rest of the Church and to humanity during the Tabernacles Age to come, producing many more barley-type persons. At the second resurrection (God's wheat harvest), all the dead will be raised, "both of the just and unjust," as Paul says in Acts 24:15. The believers from ages past will then be "saved yet so as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:15), some being given few lashes, others many (Luke 12:47, 47) before being given immortality. Their judgment will be of short duration. Even as wheat needs to be threshed to removed the chaff from the germ, so also will this body of believers need some threshing. But the unjust, who were not justified by faith in Christ prior to that time, will be judged according to their works by the "fiery law" (Deut. 33:2) in the so-called "lake of fire." These are comparable to the grapes, which need a more severe treatment in order to obtain the new wine for God's table. Hence the biblical metaphor is used where God puts all things under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). In those days, the grapes were trodden under foot in order to remove the juice from the pulp. Yet the final result is that God sets His great Communion Table, having both unleavened and leavened bread, as well as wine for His Table. Time is the main factor here, for barley ripens first, wheat next, and finally the grapes ripen toward the end of the growing season. The first fruits themselves prophesy of a greater harvest yet to come. The barley first fruits prophesy of more barley to come; the first fruits of the wheat prophesy of a greater harvest of wheat; and the seven drink offerings of wine on the seven days of Tabernacles prophesy of the greater harvest of wine and all the fruits of the land for which God has labored since the beginning. It may be said that the overcomers are the first fruit of the Church, even as the Church is the first fruit of creation. James 1:18 says (Emph. Diag.), "Having willed it, He begot us by the word of truth, in order that we might be, as it were a first fruit of His creatures" (i.e., creation). James understood that the purpose of first fruits was not to be the only thing harvested, but rather that these were only the beginning of a much greater harvest. Thus, when we speak of the manifestation of the Sons of God, we are not talking about the entire harvest, but the first fruit of that harvest. In Exodus 22:29, 30 we read, " (29) You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me. (30) You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me." This was why Jesus, the first-born of Mary, was brought to the temple on the eighth day from his birth (Luke 2:21- 23). He was presented to God as the first of the first-fruits. It is obvious that He was not the only one that God would claim, for we all have opportunity to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Jesus was a first fruit of the Overcomers and the manifested sons of God. The law of first fruits, then, indicate a greater harvest yet to come. This understanding is of primary importance, if we every hope to understand the purposes of God in the resurrections from the dead (i.e., the harvests from the ground). First fruits are certainly first to be presented to God, but the field is the world. All creation awaits its turn to be harvested.
org/WebLog/WebLog.cfm. This page may seem to be a Stephen Jones ad but he does do a thorough job explaining God's judgments in a way that makes sense. The lake of fire and what we think of it, ultimately, determines what we think of God, doesn't it?
gave His people that the idea of torturing people endlessly is not from God. The following excerpt is from chapter 5. It is Jesus’ responsibility—indeed, His calling—to rule His Kingdom on earth during the final Ages of the Ages, until the purpose of His reign has been fulfilled. Jesus will NOT reign forever as the Son. He will reign only as long as it takes to subject the whole earth under His feet. It will take BOTH of the coming ages to do this. His purpose is to conquer the whole earth by the power of His Love, for He said in John 12:32,
indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. In other words, Jesus said, “If I am crucified, I will draw ALL MEN to Myself.” Was Jesus “lifted up” on the cross? Of course He was. Then He will indeed draw ALL MEN unto Himself. He died for the salvation of the whole world, not just a few, and His blood has never lost its power. When all men have accepted Christ as Savior and King, even as believers in past ages have done, then He will present a perfected and completed Kingdom to His Father. Verses 27, 28: Paul here quotes from Psalm 8:6, as he does so often to prove the point. All things (ta panta, “the All”) will be put in subjection to Christ, with the single exception of the Father Himself, who will not, of course, be put under the headship of the Son. And when the all is indeed subjected to the Son, then Christ will present the entire perfected creation to the Father as a present and be subject to the Father also. This is truly a glorious destiny for the earth. This is the Creation’s Jubilee. The Witness of Hebrews Hebrews 2:6-9 continues this same teaching: 6 But one [David] has testified somewhere [Psalm 8], saying, "What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? 7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; 8Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. "For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now [at present] we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Here the author defines “all” as “everyone.” Not all are in subjection to Christ at the present time, but the day is coming when all men everywhere WILL be subject to Him. Meanwhile, the Scripture says, we see that Jesus tasted death for EVERYONE. “He left nothing that is NOT subject to Him. Paul refers to Psalm 8 again in Philippians 3:20 and 21. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Many Christians today have never really thought about whether Jesus really has this power or not. They assume that He is essentially powerless to save any but the firstfruits, a tiny portion of the harvest, because Jesus will not go against the will of man. But Jesus Himself said in John 12:32 that if He would die upon the cross, He would “draw” all men to Himself. The word “draw” is the Greek word, helkuo, which means “to drag.” As used in the New Testament, it always indicates that the one doing the dragging is imposing his will upon the ones being dragged. John 6:44 says no man can come to the Father except the Father DRAG him. John 12:32 says that Jesus will DRAG all men to Himself. John 21:6 speaks of dragging the net to bring the fish to shore. James 2:6 speaks of the civil magistrates, who, in persecuting the Christians, would DRAG them to court. It is apparent, then, that the day will come when God’s will is going to be imposed upon all men. He will drag all them to Himself by means of judgment, that is, the lake of fire. He has both the power and the will to do this. In Philippians 2:10,11, Paul says: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. John saw the fulfillment of this in a vision recorded in Revelation 5:13. 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." John well knew that the purpose of Christ’s rulership in His Kingdom was to draw all men to Himself. He wrote in 1 John 2:2, 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Of this verse, Clement of Alexandria gives us a commentary on its meaning and scope in his Commentary on 1 John: “And not only for our sins, that is, for those of the faithful, is the Lord the Propitiator does he say, but also for the whole world. He, indeed, saves all; but some He saves converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily He saves with dignity of honour; so that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and things under the earth—that is, angels and men.” What a marvelous thing that Jesus would die not only for our sins (that is, for us as Christians), but also for the sins of the entire world! Surely the blood has not lost its power since then. Paul told Timothy (1 Tim. 4:10,11) to preach this as well. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 11 Prescribe and teach these things. |