April 24, 2008

• Eternal Judgment Part 2 By Pastor Don

   You can find part one here.

  Pastor Don continued talking about Revelation.

  In Revelation 22 Judgment has occurred and that judgment is for the ages of ages, and yet we know that something is still going on after Revelation 22. We don’t know when an age ends, but we do know that the Church is raptured, and we have no idea of what will happen next.

  Revelation 20:7-10 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

  The devil, the beast and the false prophet are in the lake of fire forever and ever. We know that the actual term for that is for ages of the ages. But we don’t know how long a period called an age is. We do know that there have been several ages on our world, such as the age of the Church.

  Pastor Don had a brainstorm about how to explain this. He talked about the game of basketball, and how each game has four quarters in it, and yet while one game is at some point within those four quarters, there are other games of basketball being played each of those games having four quarters. But there is the eternal game of basketball. The ages of ages is like one period of basket ball played over and over for all time and there is still basketball going on with each game of four periods. So a person can move from one game to the next game forever.

  Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

  The New Heaven and the New earth are in existence.

  12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

  This judgment is for all the dead who were not raptured (if you were raptured you did not die, your body was transformed). And for those who are in Christ, to be absent from the Body is to be present with the Lord, so they would have already faced the Judgment seat of Christ. But to be fair, there is a judgment provided for all those who rejected Jesus.

  Revelation 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

  This is for those who died a physical death, and their spirits were in a holding place called Death and Hades. Any who speak of the soul sleep are teaching a false teaching, for the Bible clearly states that to be absent from the Body is to be present with the Lord. There are also false teachings that state that there won’t be a final judgment with a lake of fire, that God will forgive all sinners, even the devil will be forgiven. If this teaching was true, why did Jesus teach more about hell than most subjects? After Love, the next most frequent subject that Jesus taught about was hell. The ideas about soul sleep and that all would be saved even if they reject Jesus during their lives is not supported by scripture, and it would not make God true to His word, for He is a judge, and must justly judge. But everyone will get their day in court, so to speak. And in this judgment people will be judged by their works. The end result for failing this judgment is to be cast into the lake of fire. If we can’t believe Jesus for what He said about earth, how can we believe Him for heavenly things?

  Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

  Anyone not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the fire. Scripture points out that those who are in Christ become one new man.

  Those false teachers state that they have a spiritual revelation, but it is not a revelation from God. They often come at the believer pretending that they have received advanced information from God. It is not supported in the Bible, but they often say things like, “You are not advanced enough to understand this revelation that I have received.”  Many of the cults like the Jehovah witnesses and the mormons give extra revelation. But what they are sharing is not supported by the Bible. No matter how Christian-like a teaching sounds, if it is not supported by the Bible it is a false teaching. One of the biggest lies that is being taught today is the doctrine of universal salvation. This comes from spiritual presumption. God clearly spells out His Truth for us in His word, and He will not go beyond His Word or change His mind about something.

  We know that Jesus prophesied correctly and taught correctly. To accept any other teaching that is not in agreement with the Word of God is spiritual presumption. There will be a factual end of the age, and there will be a judgment. We don’t know exactly when that will be, but the signs of the times are indicating that time is near.

  Death and Hades in verse 14 are cast into the lake of fire, that is the second death. Hades and death are a holding place in the center of the earth. Jesus spoke of them in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was in hades, and Lazarus was in the good part of this called Abraham’s bosom.  This is taught in Luke 16. The rich man did not keep the law and ended up in hades, and Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom. This is not purgatory. The concept of purgatory is also a false teaching based on spiritual presumption. There is no holding place. When a person dies they are either in heaven or in hell. To die is to go immediately to judgment. Purgatory was invented by a pope to raise money for the church. People were told that they could pay indulgences for others, but you cannot cover another person’s sins. There was no crossing over from Abraham’s bosom to hades, once you came to a place that is where you stayed.

  The book of life mentioned in verse 15 is a list of those who are believers, who have accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers us. Jesus descended to paradise, to Abraham’s bosom, after His crucifixion, and preached to those, bringing them to Heaven with Him. The others in hades are there awaiting eternal judgment. But after Jesus went to Abraham’s bosom the place is empty, when believers die now, they are immediately with the Lord, they do not go to Abraham’s bosom.

  When the disciples saw Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, it was not the physical bodies they saw, but the spiritual bodies that they saw.

  We need to have the Spirit and the Word agree.

  Pastor Don pointed out that there were three levels to our atmosphere, there is the air around us, there is the 2nd level of the stratosphere, where satan resides, and then there is a higher place of paradise with the Lord.

  Pastor Don pointed out that we cannot see much beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, there are vast reaches of space that we cannot see. So, we cannot penetrate to where paradise is.

  If you are a believer you will spend the ages of ages in paradise.

  Revelation 21:6-8 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

  This is not Hell, it is a new place. It also is not Heaven.

  Revelation 21:22-23  But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

  Jesus, the Logos, the Lamb of God, the son of God.

  Revelation 21:24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

  Nations are saved and walk in the light.  It is a new earth, a new Jerusalem.

  25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).

  No night, not Chronos time.

  26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life

  This is a new age, but there are many things we do not know about this place. We do know that nothing evil could enter, but that means that there may be evil on the outside.

  Revelation 22:1-2 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

  There are still nations, and saved people are ruling and reigning on this new earth.

  Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

  Death, physical and spiritual is the curse.

  Revelation 22:4-5 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

  Forever and ever is from the ages to the ages.

  Revelation 22:7-9  “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
  Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

  Worship God.

  Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

  There are angels sent as ministering spirits for us.

  Revelation 22:10-15 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

  There are gates to the city, and the ones who do His commandments can enter. But there will be those who did not go to the lake of fire, who are outside of the city. Someone asked about that, and Pastor Don pointed out that there would be births during the millennial reign.

  Revelation 22:16-18  “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;

  Angels testify of these things, and the Root and offspring of David is Jesus. This is a spiritual perception, and we are not to add to these prophesies our spiritual presumptions.

  Deuteronomy 28, 29, 31 and 21 talk about the blessings and cursings connected with obedience and disobedience.

  Revelation 22:20-21 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
  Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

  In the ages of ages things happen beyond Chronos time that we know nothing about and are not permitted to know. God wants us by faith to complete the age based on the Word, not with our presumptuous ideas. It would be easy for God to clearly state something if He wanted to. If He wanted those false teachings in the Bible He would have put them there. These false teachings are not of God. One example is Carlton Pearson (????) who is saying that all will be saved. His church is losing members, so it is not showing much fruit for those false teachings.

  God will always pay and there will be a judgment. We need to ask ourselves, do you believe there is God? The depth of your belief will cause you to evaluate presumptuous teachings. If there is error, we are to correct the problem in love. But remember the sinner who loves their sin is lost. The sinner who acknowledges that their sin is sin, even if they are struggling to beat their sin, will be forgiven.

  The Lord will lead us to know Him, and tell us how to be His disciples. He will introduce us to discipleship and how to work for Him. Why would God equip us and then not do anything with us? What the devil meant for evil, God can turn for good. God can turn what satan meant for harm into a testimony. The more you learn about God, the more you will move in the supernatural things of God.

  Hoping your day is blessed, I am still working at getting to all your sites, I miss reading what you have to share, but life has been a bit more hectic these days.

  Heather

  • 7:05 am
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