Make Peace With Jesus

We saw in the previous 3 blogs that the Lake of Fire portrays that cleansing, purifying and refining fire that comes from the Law as it puts our old, fallen, selfish nature to death and conforms us to God’s standard of righteousness.  The aspect of it putting our evil self nature to death is why the Lake of Fire is also called “the Second Death.” (Revelation 20:14, 21:8)  This I hope will become clear shortly.  For this reason it behooves us to take another look at what Scripture has to say about death; b/c if what we saw concerning “fire” is correct then “death” should also confirm it.

In order to understand the “Second Death” we must first agree on what exactly “death” is.  The Oxford American Dictionaries describes death as follows, “the end of the life of a person or organism.”  I’m sure that this isn’t anything new to you; the usual understanding of death is that it means something living is no longer alive; it has come to an end.  But oddly enough…when it comes to the Second Death most presume it refers to a state of unending living torment!?!

The most widely held mindset concerning death as a punishment for sin is that it is an endless death.  But death is not endless, rather it is an end.  The death of our body is the end of our existence in this physical world.  No matter how much the modern world fantasizes about a Zombie Apocalypse, when we die we don’t continue on forever in some sort of zombie like state of existence!

Nevertheless, Scripture declares that, “the wages of sin is death.”  (Romans 6:23 When Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning God told them that the consequence would be death .  He said,

“for in the day you eat of [the forbidden fruit], you will die.”  (Genesis 2:17)

God also tells us in the book of Ezekiel that,

“the soul that sins, will die.” (18:4)

When Adam and Eve sinned their spirit died immediately and they fell into a state of mortality that ultimately led to the death of their body.  Death was and is the penalty for sin.

Therefore when Christ bore the judgment for the sins of all mankind He didn’t suffer in endless torment…He died!  As a child I didn’t understand this.  I had been taught that the penalty for sin was endless torment.  So when people told me that Christ paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind I believed that meant He had to suffer in hell for all eternity!  This actually really bummed me out b/c I thought I would never get to meet Him when I went to heaven.  But as I grew up and learned that He had risen to heaven…I was relieved, but I just couldn’t make sense of it.  It wasn’t logical to me that He didn’t have to suffer in Hell for eternity if that was the penalty for sin.  It wasn’t until after I graduated Bible College that I finally put it together in my own studies that the penalty for sin wasn’t endless torment in Hell, it was death!

Death was the penalty and death is what Christ endured.  The following is an excellent quote from an author I have yet been unable to discover.

“The scriptures speak of eternal punishment and eternal life, everlasting punishment and everlasting life, therefore many conclude that those being punished must live and endure punishment as long as the saints live and enjoy eternal life.  But this is as illogical as it is unscriptural, the word eternal (aionios) is an adjective used to describe the word it modifies.  In one case it describes life and means that the life is fixed, Age-abiding or final.  In the other case it describes the effect of the punishment, for the penalty is not punishing, but punishment and the punishment is death.  Therefore “eternal” has to do with death, not the means of bringing about that death.  Were the punishment some kind of spiritual suffering, or physical pain that did not destroy or bring death, we might conclude that this punishing could go on and on forever.  But the Scripture precludes any such idea.  First in the plain statements that the punishment is death, not life under miserable conditions; second in all the types of the Old Testament that make it plain that death is the penalty (the wages of sin is death); and third by the fact that Christ in taking the punishment suffered death not perpetual punishing.” (Parenthesis and emphasis mine.)

Jesus’ death, however, encompassed more than just His physical death. Generally when we refer to people dying, we are referring to the body dying.  When that happens the body ceases to operate.  It begins decaying and eventually decomposes entirely.  However, when God’s Word refers to the wages of sin being death it is not just referring to the death of the body, but more so of the soul.

Our body is already under the judgment of death.  Thanks to the judgment passed on to us through Adam, we are born mortal.  Our body is already dead before we even have a chance to sin.  Once you’re conceived – you’re dead(!) – its only a matter of time.

And though our body is under judgment, it is not our body that sins.  Our body is just the vessel, it is our soul that moves and controls the body.  It is the soul that lusts for all kinds of evil, it is the soul that hates, it is the soul that rebels; not the body.  It is our soul that directs our body into sinful actions.  Jesus mentioned this when He said,

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”  (Matthew 15:19)

And so when the Bible talks about the wages of sin being death, it is not just referring to the wages of Adam’s sin being passed onto us through mortality, but also to the death of the soul as a penalty for its sin.  This is why Ezekiel said, “the soul that sins, will die.” (18:4)  And just like the body, the soul will cease to function when it dies, at least until it is resurrected from the dead (just like the body will be).  (This might scare some people, but let me reassure you that through all of this the spirit that has been made alive in Christ does not die, it returns to be with the Father b/c it is made of His very life – see Ecclesiastes 12:7 and Luke 23:46.)

2 Deaths

The reason that our soul must die is b/c it is wicked, fallen, depraved.  God has no desire to keep something so foul and unclean alive.  This means that we really have 2 deaths to endure.  The death of our body and the death of our soul.  Most of us are terrified of dying once…but twice!  But we need not fret about this b/c we have a great example of what this looks like – Jesus!  Jesus endured these 2 deaths therefore so can we!  After all, it is His Spirit that dwells within us.

“For if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —  for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  (Romans 8:11-13)

We will see more of that in the next blog, but getting back to the 2 types of death: first of all – Christ endured the death of His body.  Colossians 2:20 says that Christ died to the “elements of this world,” which is the Greek way of referring to the physical 3 dimensional world.  This therefore is a physical death, a death of the body.  Christ died to this earthly existence when His body died on the cross.

Secondly; Christ endured the death of His soul.  Romans 6:10 says that Christ “died to sin.”  It is our soul that is in a sinful fallen state.  We saw above that all the evils come out of the heart.  I’m sure that we don’t actually believe that our physical heart produces evil.  No, rather it is our mind will and emotions which the term “heart” symbolizes.  Our heart is a reference to our soul.  And our soul is inherently sinful.  In Scripture it is also referred to as “the old man,” “old self,” “natural man” or “outer man.”

“…that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,” (Ephesians 4:22)

“…knowing this, that our  old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6)

“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,” (Colossians 3:9)

“But  the  natural (Gr. Psuche – soulish) man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Christ lived His whole life denying His human soul and it’s self concerned will and instead obeyed God’s will.  This was a death to His soul.  When it refers to Christ “dying to sin” it does not necessarily mean that He refrained from sinful temptations (although I am sure that it included this) but more so it refers to His denying His own will.  For instance, if there occurred a time where it was late at night and Christ (being tired) wanted to sleep, but God told Him to stay up and pray, and Christ went to sleep anyways, that would be a sin, even though sleeping is not necessarily sinful.  It would be disobedience and disobedience is sin.  But we know that Christ lived ONLY to do His Father’s will.  And He ultimately sealed this death to His soul when He obeyed God’s will for Him to die on the cross.  Christ’s human soul will did not want to die, but Christ denied Himself saying in the Garden of Gethsemane,

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”   (Luke 22:42)

Misunderstanding the Doctrine of Substitution

Christ died for our sins; He died on our behalf, this is true b/c only a perfect and spotless (sinless – holy) sacrifice could atone for us.  But despite the common opinion, that does NOT mean that we ourselves don’t have to die to sin as well.  We are righteous IN Him, but we too must die to our self nature; even as we have to die physically.  Like Christ our example, we must also endure these 2 deaths.  The Good News is that we now have the power to obey God’s will, even as Jesus did.  He is our example, and He has given us His Spirit to do this.

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps,” (1 Peter 2:18)

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life (Psuche –  soul) for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”   (Matthew 16:24,25)

That word “life” used there is literally the word soul in Greek (Strong’s Greek 5590).  On top of that, the word “lose” there literally means, “utter destruction.” (Apollumi – Strongs Greek 622)  We will have much more to say about this word in a later blog but for now suffice it to say that it refers to annihilation/death.  Therefore unless you deny your self nature and suffer the death of your soul, you CANNOT be saved!  Are you getting this?  We must have our soul put to death if we want to be fully saved.

This soulish death is accomplished by that process of refining that the Lake of Fire portrays (which we looked at in the last blog).  We are refined by enduring trials and circumstances that we do not like, that we do not want/will to happen.  We must suffer the denial of our own will and desires, which consequently puts it to death.  The Lake of Fire will kill the sinful selfish soul.  This is why it is called the 2nd Death (Revelation 20:14, 21:8).

Therefore we can conclude; 1 – that everybody will die physically (this is the 1st death).  2 – that everybody will eventually die soulishly, that is, a death to their soul and its selfish, evil desires (this is the 2nd Death, it is named thus b/c they have already died in the body).  And 3 – it is the Old Adamic nature within us who dies.

We must (and will) all go through this death, this baptism of the Spirit and fire.  But those who endure it in this life will get to take part in the 1st Resurrection and reign with Christ over the world during the Millennial Kingdom (for more info about this see my blog here).  But even though the rest of the world will not endure this fate until the next life, it will still lead them to new life even as it does for us.

And that will be the topic of the next blog.

There are a few noteworthy details that are related to the Lake of Fire that I wanted to mention before we move on.  This blog is not complete by any means and I plan on expanding it at a later date, but for now I would like to just offer a few more thoughts.

Brimstone

#1 – The word “brimstone” used in describing the Lake of Fire, “these…were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone,” (Revelation 19:20, 20:10, 21:8) is the Greek word Theion.  Theion happens to also be the Greek word for Divine!  As in the Divine Nature!  It is another way of saying God (theos).  One of its definitions is, “the nature or state of being God.” (Louw and Nida English Greek Lexicon) (!!!)  The verb derived from Theion is the word Theioo; which means “to make holy, divine, to devote to a God.”  (Liddel and Scott Greek English Lexicon, 1897 Edition)

In other words it conveys sanctification.  After what we saw in the previous two blogs on the Lake of Fire it is far too much of a “coincidence” that this word “brimstone,” used to describe the Lake of Fire, conveys sanctification – to make one like God (divine).

Charles H. Pridgeon explains that,

“Sulpher or Brimstone was sacred to the diety among the ancient Greeks and was used to fumigate, to purify and to cleanse and to consecrate to the diety: for this purpose they burned it in their incense … To any Greek, or to any trained in the Greek language, a ‘lake of fire and brimstone’ would mean a ‘lake of divine purification.’”  (Is Hell Eternal, quoted by G.R. Hawtin, The Restitution of All Things, Artisan Publishers,1994, pp 26,27)

Pentecost

#2 – Each of the Feasts of Israel are prophetic of not only the various stages in History by which God is working out His plan to save man, but also the various phases by which the process of salvation is worked out (accomplished) within each individual.  Everyone must pass through 3 different phases of salvation (salvation of spirit, soul and body – see my blog about it here).

The Feast of Pentecost is the second feast and details the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.  The Church began on the day of Pentecost 2000 years ago and perfectly fulfilled the original Pentecost that took place when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.  But the “harvest” taken in during that feast was to be offered to God with fire.  It was leavened and baked with fire.  Leaven is a type and shadow of sin (which is why the sacrifices were forbidden to have leaven in them, b/c they were types and shadows of Christ our Ultimate Sacrifice who was sinless).

The Church is leavened, we are all racked with sin in some fashion or other.  Leaven causes the dough to puff up and basically makes it empty inside and full of hot air.   It has no substance, just like us when we are full of sin.  The only way to stop the leavening action is with fire.  One of Pentecost’s main themes is fire.  Pentecost was when the Spirit was poured out within us; the Holy Spirit who writes the Law upon our hearts and minds and that law is pictured as fire (as we saw in the previous Lake of Fire blogs).  This is why tongues of fire were seen at the outpouring of the Spirit during Pentecost in Acts.  Its also why there was a blazing fire seen at the first Pentecost when the Law was given.

This fire is the Law being worked out within us by the Holy Spirit, and is the purpose of the second stage of Salvation.  The Feast of Pentecost has many more details concering this, but I have not been able to take the time to detail it at this point.  I will update this blog at a later date.

Sacrifices

#3 – the sacrifices were all burned with fire.  Fire was the process by which the flesh was not only consumed but transformed into smoke which rises to heaven.  God demanded that the flesh be burned (consumed) b/c sin had been imputed into it.  It was a substitutionary sacrifice and as such had to be fully destroyed (consumed) b/c it represented sin.  But in its consumption it was transformed into a “soothing aroma” which ascended to God and heaven in an acceptable form.

There is a lot more to all this that needs to be expounded, which I dont have the time to do at this point but I will do so at a later date.  What I want to point out is that it was through fire (destruction) that the sinful flesh was transformed into an acceptable form before God.

In conclusion, there is a wealth of evidence in Scripture that demonstrates fire as a consuming and purifying and transforming agent.

In the previous blog we saw that the nature of fire is the Law and the purpose of this fire is to discipline and correct us, refining us until we are righteous and holy – as God is.  To clarify, we are actually imputed holiness and righteousness through faith in Christ and His righteousness, but while this is a legal standing before God we are still sinners and we are still imperfect.  In a word the old man, our rebellious nature is still alive and well. The baptism of the Spirit and fire that follows our justification by faith is what begins to make us actually righteous by killing the flesh; this process is called sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1).  What we own by faith, we then begin to possess by experience (Hebrews 11:1).

There is much more that must be examined concerning salvation and other related issues in order to fully understand the process by which God will save all men, but that must wait until the next series.  For now, we must focus on the Lake of Fire and other judgments that take place in the after life.

Fire as a Future Judgment

Since the picture of fire throughout Scripture is almost universally God’s emblem for a purifying judgment, it becomes clear that the judgment of fire in the next life is also a purifying fire.  This explains the curious passage in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 that says,

“…every man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.  If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.  If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Have you ever stopped and considered this statement?  Those whose works were un-Christ-like in this life will watch everything they lived for get burned away…and yet they themselves will still be saved!  And their salvation will be wrought “through fire!”  This fire is very clearly and obviously referring to the Lake of Fire in the next life, where all men will be sanctified.  You will be amazed at how clear Scripture is on this point…and even more amazed that we have been blind to it for so many years!

2 Peter 3:9-13 is also unusual, notice all the similarities,

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing that any should perish but for all to come to repentance (ahem… 😉 ). But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved…regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.”

Notice all the themes we find here: 1 – God’s will for all men to be saved; 2 – God’s patience by which that will be accomplished; 3 – the destruction of the heavens, the earth and its works through fire; 4 – new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells!  Its very similar to the previous passage we looked at where a man’s works will be burned up yet he will be saved through that very fire.

It is the fire by which the old heavens and the old earth are changed into new heavens and a new earth.  Thus as Scripture says elsewhere,

“the heavens will perish…and be changed!” (Hebrews 1:10-12)

The world will be burned with intense heat and fire b/c fire is the appointed means of delivering this present nature from its fallen state.  It is the fire that changes us.

Nature (which is a witness of God’s various truths – Romans 1:20) confirms this, for fire transforms whatever it touches into a higher form (from solid to vapor, the first state being material and of the earth, the latter state being immaterial [in a sense] and of the heavens [atmosphere]).

And so bringing it all back to the Lake of Fire – notice the same connection of themes as seen above,

“This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…” (Revelation 20:14-21:1)

The new heaven and new earth are seen immediately following the Lake of Fire!  For it is in the fire that the first heaven and earth “pass away.”  And in the passing of the Old the New emerges,

“And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’  This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:26-29)

Notice the context with which Scripture declares God to be a consuming fire!?!  It is in the removing of the old, fallen creation that the unshakable kingdom of heaven emerges – the new heaven and the new earth!  This is the purpose of God’s consuming fire – to transform the old and fallen into the new and holy.

It ought to begin to be clear to us that the overarching context of “fire” in Scripture is that it is a refining and purifying agent – making all things new.  Consuming what is not of God, until all that remains is the character and image of Christ.  And there is not one soul who will skip this process for, “All men must be salted with fire!” (Mark 9:49)  All will undergo that “baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.”  (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16)

As I pointed out in the last blog the Lake of Fire is the same imagery as the baptism of fire.  They both involve water and fire.  Those who don’t receive the baptism of the Spirit and fire in this life will endure it in the next life.  Even followers of God must go through the fire in the next life if they refuse that fire in this present life.  For Jesus declared of His servants that if they know His will and do not obey Him then they will receive their portion with the unbelievers (lake of fire) and be beaten with many stripes which He then describes as a fire! (Luke 12:46-49)

The Baptism of the Spirit is also described as a fire because it is how God conforms us to His Law.  Did you ever notice that in one of the descriptions of the New Covenant God declares,

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  (Ezekiel 36:26,27)

Statutes and ordinances are both synonymous with His Law and it is by His Spirit within us that we become obedient to His righteous standard – a.k.a the Law.  Therefore God declares concerning the New Covenant that,

“I will put My Laws upon your heart and write them upon your mind.” (Hebrews 10:16; Jeremiah 31:33)

Be assured that this process is painful, as our old man comes under the judgment of the Law and our New Man grows and matures into a fulfillment of that Law.  That is why fire is the main picture of the Law – it hurts but transforms.  Therefore when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost we see that tongues of fire appeared over each person! (Acts 2:1-4)  That was when the Holy Spirit came to dwell within man and begin the process of writing His Laws upon our hearts and minds.

Fire also appeared at the original Pentecost that Israel observed when they came out of Egypt.

“Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace,” (Exodus 19:18)

Sounds a little bit like the description of the Lake of Fire doesn’t it?  And guess what happened when God came down as fire?  The 10 commandments were given!  (Exodus 20:1-17)  It was the beginning of the revelation of His Law!  And how did the people react?  After hearing the first 10 commandments,

“they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.’”

They were afraid to hear His Law b/c the Law puts our old man to death and they didn’t want their flesh put to death.  That is why it is a fire and that is why the Lake of Fire is also called “the Second Death.”  The Law kills our flesh in order to conform us to God’s holy character.  That is why the Spirit is constantly at war with the flesh (Galatians 5:17).

And, as if there wasn’t enough in Scripture confirming all this, that section of Hebrews that I referenced earlier (about the destruction of the old creation and God being a consuming fire) actually begins by saying,

“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire…” (Hebrews 12:18)

The author of Hebrews then goes on to describe the events of that original Pentecost where the Law was given (compare Hebrews 12:18-21 with Exodus 19:10-21).

I believe that the force of Scripture on this issue is clear.  God’s Law is a fire, and it puts our flesh (old man, sin nature) to death, but in that death we are made righteous and holy, for that is the process by which the New Man matures.  And all this is done by His Spirit dwelling within us.

At this point some of you might be thinking, “that may be so, but if people being cast into the Lake of Fire don’t believe in Christ, then they don’t have a New Man and therefore they would just be extinguished…”  This objection is the reason why some believe in Annihilation vs. Endless Torment.  But those who believe such only see half of the picture; the problem is solved with a simple reference to Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10,11 which states,

“that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

It is at the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation that everybody will bow their knee and confess Jesus Christ is Lord.  And then they are cast into the Lake of Fire.  But at this point they are saved and beginning their baptism of the Spirit and Fire (their sanctification process).  For Scripture declares that,

“If you confess Jesus Christ is Lord…you will be saved!” (Romans 10:9)

And that,

“no one can confess ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit!” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Thus they are saved before being cast into their baptism of fire, and through it they will be made righteous, even as He is righteous.

Praise God!  The Gospel truly is Good News of Great Joy, which will be for ALL People!  (Luke 2:10)

Conclusion:

God’s Law is a fire, and it is administered by His Spirit.  And this law condemns our old man and puts him to death, but in his death the New Man is renewed and grows up into the fullness of the image of the One who created Him! (Colossians 3:10)

In the next blog we will take a look at what Scripture has to declare concerning Death.  This will help us understand what the “2nd Death” is, which will further confirm what we have noticed concerning the Lake of Fire (which is the 2nd Death).

We saw in the previous series what Hell is not.  This left us with very little in Scripture to base the doctrine of a ‘fiery hell’ upon.  However, the Lake of Fire (found in the book of Revelation) is a straight forward declaration concerning an existence of punishment (torment even) for those who are disobedient to God in this life.  Hell, it appears, is founded upon truth, unfortunately that truth has been distorted.

So let’s take a closer look at the Lake of Fire.

To begin with, the Lake of Fire is found in the Book of Revelation; in chapters 19:17-21 and 20:10-15 (with a very similar description found in 14:9-13).  The Lake of Fire is most clearly described in the section of Revelation that talks about the Great White Throne Judgment.  This Great White Throne comes immediately after the Millennial Kingdom, which is the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth (along with His overcomers – those that are worthy to attain to the first resurrection).  During this Great White Throne Judgment all the dead are resurrected, whether good or bad (see also John 5:28,29 and Acts 24:15).  Following this certain books are opened and anyone not found in the book of life is cast into the Lake of Fire.  Revelation describes this as “the Second Death,” which we will look at more closely later (the connection will become very clear).

I am sure that we have all read this scene in Revelation before, probably many times.  But what most do not realize, is that this is a continuation of a scene Daniel saw in his Apocalypse (apocalypse means ‘vision of the end times’).  You can find the whole scene in Daniel chapter 7, but for our purposes we need only look at verses 9-14.  In it (as in Revelation) we see the Great White Throne, where the Ancient of Days sits to judge the earth, and certain “books are opened!”  Interestingly enough, the Throne is described as being ablaze with fire and there is a River of Fire flowing from this flaming throne!  John apparently saw this same scene and described it with almost identical language.  However, where Daniel saw a River of Fire flowing from the Throne, John saw this River culminating in a giant Lake – a Lake of Fire.

The Law

The first thing that we need to notice is that this Fire comes from the Throne.  A throne is where a King sits to pass judgment; the throne room is where the King settles disputes and criminals are sentenced.  The throne room is also where the court meets to determine legal issues, with the King presiding over the hearing.  And every court determines its judgments based upon the Laws of the Kingdom (or at least it ought to).

This is the picture God is giving us to help us understand what is happening in the spirit (heaven).  You see, these are earthly descriptions of the heavenly court where God sits on His throne to rule His Kingdom and pass judgment (see also Ephesians 1:20).  All His judgments are based upon His Law.  This Law is the fire coming from the Throne.

This is further confirmed by the fact that Scripture refers to the Law as, “the fiery Law.” (Deuteronomy 33:2,3)  God Himself also declares, “Is not My Word like fire?” (Jeremiah 23:29)  So we see that the fire engulfing the Heavenly Throne is His Law, and the River of Fire flowing from the Throne, culminating in the Lake of Fire – is the outworking (or judgment) of that Law!

One of the prophecies concerning the Millennial Kingdom declares that all nations will come to the mountain of the LORD to learn His ways; and at that time,

“The Law will go forth from Zion, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)

Zion was the headquarters for David’s Kingdom; it was the ruling name for Jerusalem where his throne was.  Of course this is all poetic language concerning the Heavenly Kingdom, New Jerusalem, where Christ sits to rule His Kingdom (see Galatians 4:25,26; Hebrews 12:22 and Revelation 3:12, 21:2,10).

But we see from this and many other pictures in Scripture that God’s Law is what He will judge all people with and this judgment is pictured as a fire.

The Nature and Purpose of Fire

In order to better understand the Lake of Fire as an outworking of God’s Law we need to see what Scripture has to say concerning fire.  If fire is the picture of the judgment of the Law then what exactly does this fire do?  What principles can we find in Scripture concerning fire?  The answer to that will clue us in on the purpose of the Lake of Fire.

First off, God likens Himself to a “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29) and His love is likened unto a violent flame that nothing can quench (Song 8:6,7).  God is love and the nature of love is that it must possess its beloved – ENTIRELY!  Therefore God is described as, “a consuming fire, a jealous God.”  He is jealous b/c He is not satisfied with possessing only part of us, He wants all of us for Himself.  So He consumes every part of us that is selfish and self-centered and un-Christ-like in order to have us all to Himself.

His love burns up all that is not of Him and it is painful to be sure but it is for our good. Thus Jesus encourages us that,

“Those whom [He] loves [He] reproves and disciplines.” (Revelation 3:19)

The Apostle Paul declares the same saying,

“For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. … For [our earthly parents] disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but [our heavenly Father] disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” (Hebrews 12:6, 10)

God uses discipline to put our rebellious and fallen nature to death in order to make us more holy.  His discipline makes us partakers of His holiness!  That is our calling, to be holy even as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15; Leviticus 11:45).  So God uses the fire of discipline to change us and make us like Himself.  Because God is just all of His discipline is based upon His Law; discipline is God applying His Law to our life.

Therefore the Psalmist declares that,

“You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined…We went through fire, but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.”  (66:10-12)

And Job states that,

“When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”  (23:10)

Isaiah also says,

“the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion…by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.”  (Isaiah 4:4)

For,

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:11)

Thus Peter encourages us saying,

“do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you…for it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God.” (1 Pt. 4:12,17)

For God says,

“[I] will be a refiner’s fire.  [I] will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and [I] will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.” (Malachi 3:3)

“I refined you, but not as silver, I tested you in the furnace of affliction.”  (Isaiah 48:10)

When silver is refined and purified, it is heated to a very high temperature whereby any impurities within the silver separate and float to the surface.  The refiner then scoops the impurities away leaving only the silver.  As the temperature is raised higher and higher more and more impurities begin to come to the surface.  Eventually all the impurities are exposed and subsequently removed.  What is interesting is that impurities cloud the reflectivity of silver, and in the old days the purifier knew the silver was pure when he could clearly see his face reflected in the silver!

All this is an earthly witness of God’s ways.  For God will turn up the heat in our lives in order to bring all of our faults and shortcomings to the surface.  But He does this in order to remove them, and when He has fully removed them…His image will be perfectly reflected in us!

And so it is for this reason that we are,

“…distressed by various trials, so that the proof of [our] faith…even though tested by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6,7)

This is the nature of fire; it purifies us and removes our old nature, conforming us into His image.  This is the purpose of the “baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire” that Christ baptizes us with  (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16).  And that is the exact picture that the Lake of Fire presents, a baptism of fire.  The imagery is identical, they are both a fire in the form of water (a lake and baptism are both pictures of water).  It is also interesting to note that in the Law all things were cleansed (washed pure) by either water or fire (Numbers 31:23).  This is the spiritual picture being presented to us in earthly imagery – a purifying, cleansing fire that washes away our filth.  It is this picture the Psalmist references when he describes his own afflictions,

“We went through fire and through water, yet You brought us out into abundance.” (66:12)

God is this consuming fire, therefore it is no wonder that He brings us through the fire, for He desires to make us like Himself.  That is why Scripture declares that He, “makes His ministers a flame of fire.”  (Hebrews 1:7; see also 2 Thessalonians 1:7)  The end goal of His refining fire is to make us like Himself.  We stand through the fire till it no longer hurts and everything that could be consumed is burned away and we conform to the very nature of God Himself and become a Divine and pure and holy fire ourselves.

This is why we are encouraged to,

“…exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

Fire, therefore, is Scripture’s emblem of the Law, which comes upon us in the form of trials and tribulations; which are ordained by God to refine us and purify us and make us more like Him.  Fire is discipline, a judgment designed to expose and eliminate the sinful nature within us, and it is always administered out of a heart of love.  Everything He does is out of His nature of love, even judgment.  Therefore it is for our good – to conform us unto His image!

We will continue to look in detail at fire as a future judgment in the next blog and see that it is this process by which God “makes all things new.”

Judgment.  It doesn’t sound good, it never sounds good.  When Christians think of judgment Hell is usually what comes to mind.  We usually connect it to the lost who have rejected Christ (or at least never put their faith in Him).  They have not possessed that special grace our Lord extended to us when He died on the cross for our sins, grace that moves us out from being under the condemnation of the law.

But Judgment is a large topic and is the special focus of this series of blogs.  So we are going to begin to look at it in more detail.  We have already seen some foundational things that are necessary to begin understanding God’s judgment – the 3 stages of salvation and a look at the righteousness (holiness) of God.  Its now time to begin looking at Judgment.

Judgment Begins With God’s People

To begin, where does Scripture say Judgment begins?  It might surprise you!  Peter says that judgment must begin with the house of the Lord!  As we noticed in the blog on God’s Righteousness, this is b/c a breach of love demands judgment in order to be restored to the purity of union it had before the breach.  And though God loves the whole world His elect enjoy a far more special and intimate love with God than the rest.  Thus our rebellious ways and our failures demand judgment.  That is why God says,

“Those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:5,6; Proverbs 3:12)

and,

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)

We ought not to think that b/c we are saved and have communion with God that we are excluded from judgment.  On the contrary, b/c of our close proximity to God we are judged all the more for our disobedience.

“You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)

This judgment of God’s chosen people can further be seen all through Scripture in every instance that God’s people forsook Him and followed after the idols of their hearts (we also have idols; success, possessions, relationships, self, etc…).  Each time they failed God would judge them with disasters, plagues or captivity, until they repented and returned to Him with their whole heart.

God’s people have a high calling – to demonstrate to the lost the nature and character of God.  Thus the shortcomings of any saint demands discipline in order to prevent them from being an evil witness of God.  And God accomplishes this through making us take up our cross daily in order to truly follow Him (Luke 9:23).  Suffering/discipline is part of God’s process of growing us up, maturing us into His image.

“…[do not] be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.”  (2 Thessalonians 3:1-3)

“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,” (Philippians 1:29)

And so Paul says,

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.  But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:26-32)

Lets take a minute to ponder that section of verses.  While it is not my intention to expound on the great mystery that communion is (in a word it is the fellowship of His sufferings), I would like to take note of some aspects of communion that apply to the topic at hand.

Firstly, communion “proclaims the Lord’s death, until He comes.”  This is to say that when Christ returns and raises His elect from the dead they will no longer need to proclaim His death, b/c they will now be proclaiming His life.  So how do we proclaim His death?  By following His example of crucifying the flesh (see Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:1-51 and Peter 2:21).  We must die to our self and in so doing we are seen to be imitators of Christ.  Communion symbolizes this b/c it is a partaking of His body – which was broken for us – and His blood – which was poured out for us (1 Corinthians 10:16,17; Luke 22:19).  We are now that body which must be broken (Romans 12:4; 1 Corinthians 12:12-20; Ephesians 2:16, 4:4; Colossians 3:15, etc…) and it is our blood (life) that now must be poured out (Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6).  This is the fellowship of His sufferings that Paul spoke about (Philippians 3:7-11).

Secondly, we must “examine” ourselves.  That is why we must not fear the exposure of those areas of our lives that are selfish and carnal.  Paul said elsewhere that we must test (or examine) ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith – 2 Corinthians 13:5.  He employs the same Greek word in both cases.  This examination, this testing is to prove what areas are of Christ’s character and what are not.  And in so doing we are to then “judge the body,” that is judge our fleshly nature.  In doing so we will avoid being judged by God against our will.  For Paul says, “if we judged ourselves we would not be judged by God.”

And lastly, if we judge ourselves “we will not be condemned along with the world.”  That Greek word translated “along with” means “together with” or “to accompany.”  In other words it does not mean that we will avoid condemnation if we judge ourselves now, it means that we will avoid receiving our judgment at the same time that the unbelieving world receives their judgment (see also Luke 12:46 for the same principle).  This will be more clearly seen when we look at the Lake of Fire and the 2 resurrections.  To say it another way, we wont receive the humiliation of our corrective judgment at the same time that the unbelieving rebellious world receives their corrective judgment – IF we endure it now.  We have the chance to grow up first through discipline.  To abort such discipline now will be to prove ourselves no more mature than the unbelieving, rebellious world.

There must be judgment, whether we are of God’s household or not.  Those who put themselves in the position of being judged, of having their sinful nature exposed and crucified, will endure it humbly and with grace.  Those who refuse to accept that they must be judged will have to endure their judgment with angst and hostility.  The latter will be suffering against their will, they will therefore have the added horror of that pain being an inescapable and unrelenting violation of their will and desire.  Their will being overridden like this will produce the added discomfort of confusion, such people will be unable to understand why they are suffering such a hard (and seemingly harsh) judgment.

Those who understand the cross and that judgment IS necessary will be able to accept and receive its violence and fire with much more tolerance and grace.  They will know that it is for their good.  There will be love seen in it.  Those who do not – will feel it is something hostile towards them (and indeed it is, hostile towards our selfish nature/flesh that is).  They will have a much more difficult time enduring it than those who understand the purpose and necessity of the cross.

This makes Peter’s statement make much more sense when he says,

“For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

Thus, the first thing we ought to understand is that Judgment begins with God’s people.

Judgment Corrects

The second thing we should know is that Judgment is corrective not punitive – this will become much clearer as we look at the various descriptions of judgment in Scripture in the next few blogs.  Judgment corrects; God’s heart is to restore the sinner, not damn them.  He restores through corrective discipline which we understand as judgment.  Scripture confirms this many times,

“You have appointed them for judgment, You have marked them for correction.” (Habakkuk 1:12)

“When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9)

“It was good that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71)

“Your judgments are right…in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” (Psalm 119:75)

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” (Psalm 119:67)

“Happy is the man whom God corrects, therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.  For He bruises but He binds up, He wounds but His hands make whole.” (Job 5:17-18)

Judgment produces repentance, it makes us painfully aware of our faults and failures.  Many times we become confused when we suffer trials and afflictions, we cannot understand why this is happening to us.  But when our eyes are opened to see where we were wrong and that God was bringing discipline to correct us and to train us – we repent.  When you train up a child to be obedient and good, you must teach them through discipline (spanking).  Once they begin to understand the purpose of their discipline they stop their foolishness/disobedience.   In effect discipline causes children to repent.

Repentance by the way doesn’t mean to say your sorry, it means to turn around 180 degrees.  So that where you were going one way before, now you are going the opposite way.  When we repent we are turning away from that which we were doing (or the way we were going) and we turn our backs to it and walk towards what is right.

When a child learns through discipline to stop being naughty, they in effect are displaying true repentance.  We too learn correction and repent (turn around) through discipline/judgment.  And though it seems harsh and even opposed to grace (or our flawed idea of grace as a free ticket out of punishment), it is actually “God’s kindness (grace) that leads us to repentance.” (Romans 2:4)

True Justice Demands a Finite Judgment

The third thing we ought to discern about judgment is that it has a limit.  God demanded a limit on every punishment prescribed for sin in the Law.  I believe that the “Spirit of the Law” as Paul referenced reveals that true justice for a crime has a limit.  Even in our horrifyingly perverted justice system, if someone were to be given a life sentence, or worse yet a death sentence, for stealing a cell phone – we would consider that unjust.  To punish someone severely for such a minor offense is not true justice.  So it is with God’s Law.

True Justice Demands Restoration of both the Victim and the Criminal.

The fourth thing we desperately need to learn is that true justice restores the victim and the criminal.  This is a topic far too broad for me to detail in full, but suffice it to say that the judgments in the Law for each transgression had a unique process by which the transgressor was reformed.  The only example I am going to highlight is the law concerning theft.  (There are a multitude of other examples in the Law, I simply do not have the time or space to teach this.  But anyone who is willing to brave the books of Exodus through Deuteronomy will be able to discover them easy enough.)

The Law prescribes that a thief had to pay double what he stole.  Most likely he stole b/c he couldn’t afford the item himself, so there was no way he could pay back double.  And so the Law prescribed that a man who could not pay double was to be sold for his transgression in order to pay it off.  But this wasn’t permanent, the Law of the Jubilee demanded that he would only be able to work until the Jubilee set him free from all his debts (we will look at the prophetic significance of that in the next series).  What happened was a criminal would be sold into servitude to whoever had the most generous bid.  So say someone said, “I will pay off his double debt and he only has to work for me for two years.”  This not only restored the victim, but it also taught the thief a trade by which to make an honest living so he could afford the things that before he would have had to steal. The same principle is found in all the rest of the laws and their penalties.

Therefore it is clear to me that the Spirit of the Law is concerned not only for the victim but also the sinner.  And I do not think this is overstepping what we know of God’s heart towards the lost and depraved.  And if every sin is to be judged by God’s Law, God’s standard, then looking at the other principles of Judgment we have looked at I am convinced that the idea of sending a sinner away to be tormented for eternity is NOT true justice.  Rather it is a monstrous perversion of not only God’s heart, but His Law, which is what all true justice and judgment are based upon.   The idea of endless hell will provide neither restoration of the victim nor the sinner.

Justice is impartial and unbiased, it attributes equal value to all people.  The reason forgiveness is such an important issue with God is b/c according to His Law the criminal will eventually be rehabilitated and the victim will cross paths with him again.  In such a case forgiveness is crucial.

When I see people punished for certain mistakes, I have a lot compassion for them especially if they feel remorse for their mistake.  I believe that true discipline only works if the one being punished is comforted after said punishment.  Otherwise it just breeds resentment.  To comfort after discipline establishes that it came from a heart of love and not hatred.  And I know that the compassion in my heart is a million times smaller than the compassion in God’s heart.  Perhaps this is why God reminds us in the Law that the sinner should still be treated with dignity.

“He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes. (Deuteronomy 25:3)

For those with ears to hear the Spirit of the Law declares that endless punishment is anything but just.

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

The last thing I want us to walk away with concerning God’s judgment, is that even though,

“Judgment will be merciless to those who show no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13).

God is a God of love and grace, and though He judges, He will not judge forever, and His judgment is to correct us from a heart of love.  So that no matter how severe the judgment is, He will eventually have mercy on the suffering soul.  And compared to His mercy, His wrath will be but a moment.

“His wrath is but a moment, but His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 30:5)

He cannot deny His nature and He is the all wise Father; He knows what judgments will be most effective in turning His wayward children’s hearts back to Him.  Judgment is and always will be His tool for doing so.

Conclusion

I hope that what we have looked at so far gives you a much clearer idea that judgment will not be endless (even in the afterlife), but will be used to restore the sinner back to God. We will look at more principles concerning Judgment (Part 2) at the end of this series, but before we do there are a few items we must look at first.  If God’s Word truly is perfect, and I believe it is, then this concept should be confirmed by the imagery and language used to describe judgment in the after life – and that is exactly what we will find. In the next blog we will look at “The Lake of Fire,” the one actual description of what we could call Hell.