Heaven in Hell

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HELL IN HEAVEN? HEAVEN IN HELL?

By John Lyall

- http://endtimeupgrade.org

6 May, 2016 Posted in May, 2016. Scriptures quoted are from the New King James Bible, unless noted otherwise

A-1: Introduction p. 3 A-2: Who Are God’s People? p.5 A-3: The Book of Life p. 18 A-4: “Second Chance” for Unbelievers? p.26 A-5: Death and Hell p. 39 A-6: Justified by Works or by Faith? p.48 A-7: Resurrection and Rapture p. 69 B-1: What about the Unsaved? p.74 B-2: Why Share the Good News? p. 85 B-3: What Purpose this Life on Earth? p. 89 B-4: Judgment Seat of Christ p. 92 B-5: Believers and Followers p. 100 B-6: Heaven’s Class Structure – No Envy or Comparing p. 105 B-7: Life – a Continual Learning Process p. 111 C-1: Fate of Judas p. 114 C-2: Rewards, Rehabilitation, or Both? p. 121 C-3: A Word of Comfort p. 131 C-4: What Does the Bible Really Mean by “Everlasting Punishment“? p. 134 C-5: Deliverance from the Lake of Fire? Society of the Future! p. 143 C-6: Lake of Fire – What Is It For? p. 151 C-7: Conclusion p. 166

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A-1: Introduction We sometimes hear the question, “Where will you spend Eternity – Heaven or Hell?” From a certain angle, the question is positive; for it challenges us to reflect on the reality of life beyond the grave. From a different angle, though, the question could sound threatening. “Will I end up in Hell? …Oh-oh, I’d better get on God’s good side.”

A healthy fear of God is needed sometimes. But Christ came “that the world through Him might be saved” - not “to condemn the world”, not to intimidate or scare us into Heaven, but to prepare and lead us to Heaven whose gates are wide open for whoever’s ready. (John 3:17) His desire is to heal and restore our relationship with God, to bring us into personal, direct, endearing fellowship with the Almighty. From that point of view, the “where will you spend Eternity?” question is not a very good fit.

We understand, of course, that God exercises authority over the gates of Heaven and Hell and who goes there and who doesn’t and all that. But that sharp Heaven-or-Hell division, with no other options, is over-simplified. It overlooks certain realities about life in the Afterlife. Nor does it jibe well with God’s aim to “save the world” rather than “condemn” it. (John 3:17) In the Christian playbook, there is a need for a more welcoming approach and the understanding that there is room for growth, change, and deliverance, even in the Afterlife. True, there is much advantage and reward, and it is certainly preferable to come to know the Lord during one’s earthly lifetime. But to give the impression that this life provides the only or last opportunity for Salvation over-simplifies a reality that is broader-based and much more multi-faceted than we could ever imagine. And it under-estimates the power and love of God. If we assume that there is no chance after this life for salvation, then we are forced to ponder some difficult questions. Why would God shut out the innocent or ignorant (babies, children, or those who have not heard the Good News)? It seems terribly unfair to those who have tried to live decent lives but have not had a real opportunity to fall into the arms of the Savior during their earthly lifetimes; or even to those who did have the opportunity and refused but would turn to the Savior if given a second chance. Is there no provision for these people?

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And what about those who do land in Hell? They may deserve it and need it, but is there no possibility of release for them? The all-or-nothing-atall approach sounds terribly exclusive and forbidding. It makes Heaven appear as some kind of private club whose high walls are designed to protect its privileged membership while shutting out the riff-raff.

When one views a mountain range from a distance, it looks like one huge single block of towering rock. But as one travels closer, one finds all kinds of foothills and intermediate ranges. It soon becomes clear that there is a whole lot more variety and in-between stages than could be seen at first glance from a distance. And likewise, the Celestial Realm, the World Beyond, is much more complex than the simplified version we often hear – Heaven and Hell with nothing else in-between.

What we human beings can expect to encounter at the end of life’s road is no easy topic to address, but the following discussion on the subject, it is hoped, will help to clarify and broaden our understanding of what goes on in the Afterlife ‌ and, during our earthly lifetimes, how we can better prepare for our final destiny.

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A-2: Who are God’s People?

The Book of Daniel contains a startling revelation about the future deliverance of God’s people. “At that time [the last days of our present Age] your people shall be delivered… And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” In the Old Testament this was the most obvious reference to the Resurrection of believers – their restoration and return to life in the earthly realm. According to the angel, this Resurrection is for “every one who is found written in the book.”

That is, it is for the people of God of all ages, and probably a much wider range of persons than what Daniel was thinking, or even what many Christians today may think. And as the angel goes on to explain, there are different levels of reward – from those who “shall shine like the brightness of the firmament [sky]” or “like the stars” down to those who will have to endure “shame and everlasting contempt”. (Daniel 12:1-3) As in the illustration of a mountain range, we should expect that there are plenty of “foothills”, in-between stages, and varying degrees of resurrection and reward. These would lie between the “mountain ranges” of “everlasting life” and “shame and everlasting contempt”; between “the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15); between “life and condemnation” (John 5:29) So, rather than thinking of the Celestial Realm in simplistic, black-andwhite terms (either Heaven or Hell), a more mature perspective would understand a reality that is far more diverse, multi-faceted, multi-dimensional than our finite minds could ever imagine.

In the Old Testament days, God showed His favor towards the descendants of Abraham who later became followers of the laws of Moses.

These were the people of God in those days. Their laws, given to them by God, guided their behavior and government. As a result Israel served, in the midst of a pagan world, as the example of a nation that worshiped the God of Heaven. They were the “covenant people”, the “chosen people”.

Most Jews thought this gave them an inside track into the Kingdom of God. (See Footnote.) But the Laws of Moses couldn’t truly measure people’s motives and relationship with the Almighty, nor could they determine their fate in the Afterlife. “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they

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all children because they are the seed of Abraham.” (Romans 9:6-7). What was true on a corporate level did not necessarily play out on the individual level.

And perhaps a similar problem exists within the Christian Church. The church of Sardis, for example, was known as the “dead church”. Apparently some of its members were just there for the “name” and whatever benefits that name could give them, hovering around the edges of the Kingdom of God but not actually “born again”, never actually entering into it in spirit.

(Revelation 3:1-6) Christ’s coming into the world shattered the old framework of the Laws of Moses. That era had served its purpose, and the time had come to reorient mankind’s relationship to God. “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23) For “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Corinthians 15:50) God prefers for His people to love Him voluntarily. He is a personal God who desires from us a personal relationship based on trust, rather than a rule-keeping, going-through-the-motions ritual. The loving relationship that God prefers to have with us has the additional benefit of causing His people to become stronger in faith and better connected to Him in spirit.

So who exactly are the “followers of Christ” – the “people of God” in this day and age? A delicate theological question perhaps. From John chapter 1, verse 9, we learn that “the Word (Christ)… was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) Every person has a conscience, and many, without realizing it, are following that “true Light”.

And as he or she continues to follow it, that person will eventually be led to receive the “Word” (Christ). This then would give them “the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) From this we may understand that many individuals will be following the “true Light” without tying it directly to faith in Christ. And if so, they too should be included as belonging to the family of God. Who they are would be difficult for us to determine, but God certainly knows who His people are.

Recent developments among religious groups in modern times bear testimony to this truth, which we see in the rise of ecumenism and interdenominational and inter-faith dialogue. In spite of their non-Christian orientation, many groups, who aspire to the same ideals as their Christian

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counterparts, are willing to accept Christian leadership in various religious gatherings and worship services. (See news article for an interesting example of this.) In an increasingly secular world, it is not surprising that the forces of Light, as they oppose the growing forces of Darkness, are burying their differences and starting to cooperate more with one another.

At the end of the Age, Scripture states that “the man of sin… the son of perdition… opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped… showing himself that he is God.” The “man of sin”, also known as the Antichrist, will be opposed to any form of religion (“all that is called God or that is worshiped”). He will rail against those belief systems that oppose his “blasphemy against God”. In particular, he being a man of war (“who is able to make war with him?”), will be opposed by many of the world’s religions who share the Christian ideal of making peace rather than war. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:6,4 Matthew 5:9) No doubt, the strongest members of God’s family are those who have come to Christ and know Him intimately. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other voices or deeds from people who may not consider themselves officially to be Christians but who, whether they realize it or not, are following “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”

This principle bears some relationship to Christ’s statement in Matthew 12:32, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

Because of cultural misunderstanding and indoctrination, people can be forgiven for speaking against the Son of Man, but the Holy Spirit of Truth cuts through those barriers, speaking to people’s minds and consciences. And those who follow that Spirit of Truth, those who “come to the Light”, will be forgiven and accepted, while those who resist the Spirit will be rejected.

From that point of view, we can see that what counts more in God’s eyes is to yield to the Holy Spirit of Truth than to yield to the Name of Jesus Christ. Of course, the Holy Spirit guides people towards Christ, and once that knowledge becomes planted in a person’s mind, then he or she is responsible to come to Christ because of the direction given them by the Holy Spirit.

So the boundaries of God’s “new nation”, according to what we can gather from Scriptures like Matthew 12:32 or John 1:9 and others, may

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extend much further than we may think. Thus, it behooves Christian people to adopt an inclusive mindset when considering who they feel “God’s people” should be.

No matter how humble we may think we are, there is hardly anyone who doesn’t secretly like to think of him/herself as special, better than others, and unique. True, each of us is unique and special to God, and God doesn’t seem to mind if we have some of that feeling of merit and distinction (it’s good for our self-esteem) as long as it is tempered with the understanding that everyone else is also unique and special to God. Without that perspective it is easy for a group, denomination, fellowship, or even an individual to slip into the misguided belief that they are the one and only people of God. God loves His image-bearing creatures, and He values us. Because God values human beings, each has intrinsic, essential value. This should cause us to value each human being. All humans, no matter what their gender, race, skin tone, or creed, are created equal. Each person bears God’s image and should be respected and treated as such. Neither one’s place nor one’s value in society diminishes a person’s intrinsic value. … Seeing others as God’s image bearers should rid us of racial, religious, and all other prejudices. It should cause us, as individuals, to view and treat others with respect, regardless of our differences. (”What Does It Mean to Be Human?” by Peter Amsterdam) In Old Testament days this feeling of exclusivity was very much a part of the Hebrews’ religion. To some extent God goes along with human nature.

That is, He confines Himself to work within our boundaries. Yet at the same time He invites us to stretch beyond them.

To the Hebrews of ancient times, God said, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.” (Exodus 19:5; also Deuteronomy 14:26, 26:18) How proud the children of Israel must have felt to hear that – “above all people”. But a few centuries later, the prophet Isaiah added some perspective, proclaiming that the Gentiles (non-Jews) would one day belong to the Family of God. From chapter 42 on till the end of his Book, Isaiah several times mentions the inclusion of the Gentiles through the work of God’s “Servant” (Jesus Christ). Perhaps the best example is the following passage in which God is speaking to His “Servant” (Christ): “It is too small a thing that You

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should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) To establish the Israeli nation in those days was a remarkable feat, a grand testimony of God’s power as recounted in the Book of Exodus and in the rest of the Old Testament. But in God’s way of looking at things, that was “a small thing” compared to His greater desire to reach out “to the ends of the earth” to bring His “salvation… to the Gentiles”.

So when the “Servant” (Christ) did enter our earthly realm, He shifted the emphasis – by teaching that the true “children of Abraham” were those who did “the works of Abraham”. (John 8:39) He warned His fellow Jews that the “sons of the kingdom (pointing to those who were not doing the works of Abraham) will be cast out into outer darkness” while others (Gentiles) would “come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11-12) He even went so far as to say to His Jewish enemies, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33 – KJV) In most of his epistles, the apostle Paul spells it out, as in Romans 2:2829, for example: “for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision [initiation into the Hebrew faith] that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Much of Paul’s writings were devoted to what was a controversial issue in those days: does one have to be Jewish or observe the Jewish laws in order to be considered one of God’s people?

Paul answers that question nicely in Romans 7:4. “You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” The implication here is that the old system of the laws of Moses could not bring forth enough “fruit to God”. The new broader-based, more flexible approach that Jesus introduced would succeed in bearing more “fruit” – the benefits and blessings that God desires to bestow on His entire Creation.

Now, with hindsight, it is easy to see. It is almost a matter of common sense: why, in His fairness and justice, would God want to continue favoring one race of people over all others? Why should not His favor extend to all?

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But it would seem nowadays in the ranks of Christendom, there is a similar problem. As the Jews of old had to recognize that they were not exclusively the one and only people of God, so do Christians in this modern day probably need to stretch their boundaries of whom they consider should belong in the category of “God’s people”.

Basically, it should be anyone who loves Christ… but could also include many who are following the “true Light” but just haven’t connected the dots yet to see that Christ who is the “Word made flesh and dwelt among us” is the “true Light” which they have been following. (John 1:14,9) Christ said He was the “Light of the world”, and in this aspect of His nature, He resembles the Holy Spirit. (John 8:12,9:5) This may remind us of Jesus’ saying in Matthew 12: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.” (12:32) Because Jesus came in human form, people could be forgiven for misunderstanding who He was. But the Holy Spirit cannot be mistaken in this way. The Spirit comes directly from Heaven, from God, and speaks directly to people’s minds and hearts, cutting straight through the barrier of fleshly misunderstanding.

Therefore it is a serious matter to reject the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, anyone who “hates the Light and does not come to the Light,” those who love “darkness rather than Light” will face “condemnation”. (John 3:1920) Here, what is ascribed to the Word (Christ) resembles what we would think is supposed to be a function of the Holy Spirit. This sounds like a deep theological question. But to put it very simply, if we understand that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all part of the same Godhead, it should be no surprise if their functions overlap each other at times.

To conclude: It is not up to us to decide who belongs in the Family of God and who doesn’t. God knows who His people are, and about the best we can do, from our limited earthly perspective, is to judge by the fruits of what a person does or says: “By their fruits you will know them”. (Matthew 7:20) Christ did not come to grant His favor to a select group of people. Even though His work focused mainly on the Israeli people of His time and location, He stated plainly, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice.” (John 10:16) And true to this statement, Jesus bestowed His favor upon all He met who were worthy –

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including Samaritans and Gentiles. (Matthew 8:5-13, 15:21-28, Luke 23:34, John 4:5-26) Exclusivism was a problem in the days of the Early Church when the early Jewish disciples had to come to grips with the fact that God’s favor was being extended to the Gentiles. And so, in spite of themselves, Jewish Christians expanded their boundaries and began to accept Gentiles into the family of God, and that without synagogue attendance or law-keeping rituals.

And it is an ongoing process. Like the Jews of old, we in modern times may also need to expand our boundaries. We need to recognize – in spite of whatever we may think constitutes salvation – that many people outside of Christian congregations will wind up in the family of God. Of course, there is a limit as to how far the boundaries of welcome can be stretched. And for those evil-doers who hope to find a shortcut into God’s favor, these words from John the Baptist to his self-righteous, religious rivals provide a sober warning: “Brood of vipers!… do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones… Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Matthew 3:8-9) The only “shortcut” into God’s favor is a humble and receptive heart… which enables on to “bear fruits worthy of repentance”.

Now we might wonder, is there some definite procedure by which one can become a member of the family of God? In his controversial book Love Wins, Rob Bell explores this mystery. Before detailing a number of different examples of people who came to Jesus and trying to figure out what it was they did that brought them salvation, Bell expressed it thus: “One way to respond to these questions is with the clear, helpful answer: all that matters is how you respond to Jesus.” (Love Wins, pg. 7) How you respond to Jesus. This goes along with what Jesus said about His “other sheep”. They “hear My voice”; they respond. And that makes the door to salvation both easy, and not easy, to walk through. Easy if one responds to God’s call in whatever form it may take; not easy if one is hardened to God’s call. The Lord is reaching out to us, His creations, and He is gladdened when we turn to Him – “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:7)

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But He is disappointed when we don’t respond, or even worse, turn away. “When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened; and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes – so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.” (Matthew 13:14-15, NLT; and repeated in Isaiah 6:9-10, Jeremiah 5:21, Ezekiel 12:2, John 12:40, Acts 28:26-27) By such lack of response, we can tie God’s hands. If we “cannot turn to” Him, then He cannot turn to us. And this is how it is in any relationship; there has to be interaction, a mutual give-and-take process. Christ’s invitation to restore the Laodicean church expresses this well. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) God desires very much this interaction with us, His creations.

And for those who respond and “open the door”, He says, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear (they respond).”

(Matthew 13:16) “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear [respond] will live.” (John 5:25) As for those who don’t “hear”, who don’t respond or respond negatively, the reason for it is simple; they won’t “come to the light… because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:20,19) How you respond to Jesus. It’s difficult, as Bell points out, to establish a one-size-fits-all procedure by which a person gets “saved”. The salvation experience is unique to each individual. Denominational credentials, religious observances, water baptism, genealogical descent from Abraham, and any other forms of outward show don’t get to the heart of the matter (although they can serve as a sign or testimony of inner transformation). Coming to Christ is a spiritual journey, one that is unique to each individual. Jesus compared the process of being “born of the Spirit” to the wind which “blows where it wishes”. (John 3:8) So there is no standard formula.

Perhaps the best we can say is that if a person is coming “to the light”, then, by whatever means they make that journey, they will accept Christ eventually. (John 3:20-21) And those who are known as Christians can play a useful role to expedite this entering-the-Kingdom journey through the positive impact of their words and deeds. Unfortunately too, they can sometimes hinder that process when they neglect to stay inside the charmed circle of

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God’s presence and so wind up becoming a bad example to seekers and nonChristians. But “he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” (John 15:5) Whoever comes to Christ, regardless of whatever path gets them there, they become the spiritual descendants of Abraham – the followers of God in Christ. And for all we know, that may include many who do not claim to be Christian but are, nonetheless, following in Christ’s footsteps.

We might consider, for example, these individuals belonging to the Hindu culture: Mahatma Gandhi who tried to follow Christian principles, espousing non-violence, as he led the people of India in peaceful protest against British rule; Swami Vivekananda, a preacher of tolerance and concern for the poor, who always carried with himself a copy of the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis along with his Bhagavad Gita; Rabindranath Tagore – eminent poet, songwriter, artist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner – who was much attracted to Christianity. None of these men claimed to be Christian and were thought by their followers to be devotees of Hinduism. But they were tolerant towards and attracted to the Christian way, and their influence upon their people was generally positive and uplifting.

Although some might think that in a sinister way these men were somehow undermining the cause of Christ, it is doubtful that such suspicions would hold up in God’s eyes who “looks at the heart” and not “the outward appearance”. (1Samuel 16:7) From John chapter 3 we learn that “condemnation” results because “light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” (3:19) So the question to ask is, “Were these men lovers of Darkness or lovers of Light?” God knows the answer to that one. But it shouldn’t surprise us to find out, in some future day and age, to see them in the Kingdom of Heaven and well rewarded for the positive influence of their earthly lives.

Jesus once said, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John 6:45) That seems to leave plenty of room for those who may not have known about Christ but had a general love for God the Father; “everyone” of them, Jesus says, will “come to Me”… even if that must happen in the Afterlife.

Christ said He was “the way, the truth, and the life.” Who Christ is and what He represents in human life encompasses a wide panorama of godly

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endeavor. Yet at the same time the gate is narrow; He is the door to salvation and the Heavenly Realm for “no one comes to the Father except through” Christ. (John 14:6) But this “door”, as we will see later, opens readily, not only in this life but in the next.

In the Christian community great importance is attached to having the right belief system as the all-important doorway to blessing and acceptance with God (and escape from Hell). But when we look at how Christ interacted with those He met during His earthly ministry, it seems He was more concerned about their conduct than their belief system. For Him it seemed that entrance into the Kingdom was not nearly as important as being ready to make that entrance into the Kingdom.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, who appeared so right and righteous with what they thought was their right belief system, were far from ready.

John the Baptist told them to “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Matthew 3:8) In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about false prophets who appear to be so righteous with their “sheep’s clothing” of belief systems but bear “bad fruit”. He counseled His followers not to look at the outward appearance of belief systems but to look rather at the fruits. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:20) Many people in our world have only ever heard hell talked about as the place reserved for those who are “out”, who don’t believe, who haven’t “joined the church”. Christians talking about people who aren’t Christians going to hell when they die because they aren’t… Christians. People who don’t believe the right things.

But in reading all of the passages in which Jesus uses the word “hell”, what is so striking is that people believing the right or wrong things isn’t His point. He’s often not talking about “beliefs” as we think of them – He’s talking about anger and lust and indifference. He’s talking about the state of His listeners’ hearts, about how they conduct themselves, how they interact with their neighbors, about the kind of effect they have on the world.

Jesus did not use hell to try and compel “heathens” and “pagans” to believe in God, so they wouldn’t burn when they die. He talked about hell to very religious people to warn them about the consequences of straying from their God-given calling and identity to show the world God’s love.

This is not to say that hell is not a pointed, urgent warning or that it isn’t intimately connected with what we actually do believe, but simply to point out that Jesus talked about hell to the people who considered themselves “in”,

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warning them that their hard hearts were putting their “in-ness” at risk, reminding them that whatever “chosen-ness” or “election” meant, whatever special standing they believed they had with God was always, only, ever about their being the kind of transformed, generous, loving people through whom God could show the world what God’s love looks like in flesh and blood.

(Love Wins, page 82, by Robert H. Bell, 2011) In a similar vein the apostle Paul places emphasis on “conduct” (with no mention of belief system) in the following passage: “[God] will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness–indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:5-11) Certainly it is not our business to decide who is or is not part of the family of God. That is God’s business. And as far as we Christians are concerned, it would be wise to keep in mind that God’s people may include a wide variety of folks whom we may think are not supposed to be our compatriots. For “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Matthew 3:9) And sober warnings also are there in the Scriptures that many, even though saved, will have to endure “shame and everlasting contempt”. This was a point that the angel Gabriel, in his dialogue with the prophet Daniel, mentioned would be a feature of the future Resurrection of believers. (Daniel 12:2) (More on this later.)

Theologians sometimes distinguish between the “visible church” (the church as Christians on earth see it) and the “invisible church” (the church as God in heaven sees it). This distinction emphasizes two truths. First, only God, who reads hearts, knows the ultimate makeup of the “invisible church” – those whom he has called (“The Lord knows those who are his.” 2 Tim 2:19) Second, there are some within the “visible church” who are not genuine believers, though they may look as if they are (cf. Matt 7:15-16; Act 20:29-30; 1 John 2:19). [from “The Church”, ESV Study Bible, pg. 2532]

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To illustrate the above quote, we could look to a couple of examples from the Old Testament. As the children of Israel were entering their Promised Land, spies were sent to Jericho. While there, they were befriended and protected by the harlot Rahab “when she had received the spies with peace”. (Joshua 2, Hebrews 11:31) Despite being a harlot and a non-Jew, she was granted special favor and recognition among the children of Israel and, centuries later, had the honor of being named as ancestor to the Messiah and one of the heroes and heroines of faith. (Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31) Then later, not long after their victory at Jericho, the children of Israel were to attack the city of Ai. Strangely, they began to experience defeat. God revealed to Joshua that He had lifted His hand of protection from the children of Israel because one of their own people (Achan) had kept some of the spoils of battle for himself. This sin of covetousness had to be rooted out before the children of Israel could continue with their conquest of the Promised Land.

From these examples we learn that God brings in the worthy “outsider” who has the fruits and removes the unworthy “insider” who has strayed from the path of righteousness. “For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:11) We may be quite surprised to see who makes it into the Heavenly Realm or who receives places of honor there. God’s idea of righteousness often baffles our human understanding. However, being aware of the fairness and justice of God, it would not be surprising to see destinies pan out in the way Jesus said: “many who are first will be last, and the last first”. (Matthew 19:30) Conclusion: We have the security of knowing we have entered the Kingdom of Heaven by coming to Christ, but it is important to beware of any false sense of security and self-righteousness. That can only hurt and limit us from the full expression of God’s plan for our lives. Nor does it serve God’s great endeavor and desire to draw the world to His Light and Love. A smug, holier-than-thou attitude on the part of those who are known as Christians will only repel and disillusion seekers who might otherwise be drawn to the Light of God. *** Footnote: On the corporate level the nation of Jewish people had importance because it was connected to God’s “holy name”. But on a personal level, Paul

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observes, regarding some of his less obedient brethren, “Do you presume on the riches of His kindness?” In a note on this verse, the ESV Study Bible states, “[Romans 2:4] is probably directed against Jews who thought that their covenant relationship with God would shield them from final judgment. After all, they had often experienced his kindness and forbearance and patience.

They thought such blessings showed that they were right with God and had no need to trust in Christ, but Paul says the opposite is true: God’s blessings should have led them to repent of their sins.” [page 2160] Going back even further, we find similar thoughts expressed in the Old Testament, where we learn that at certain times “the house of Israel profaned” God’s name “among the nations”. Nevertheless, God promised to restore Israel, not for their sakes, not because of their righteousness of which they had almost none, but “for the sake of My holy name”. “And the nations will know that I am the LORD… when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:21–23, ESV; see also Ezekiel 43:7–8.)

Footnote: (Significant portions highlighted) Pope and World Religious Leaders Vow to Oppose Terror in God’s Name

By Philip Pullella, Reuters, Sept. 20, 2016 ASSISI, Italy–Pope Francis and leaders of other world religions said “No to War!” on Tuesday, vowing to oppose terrorism in God’s name and appealing to politicians to listen to “the anguished cry of so many innocents”.

Francis flew by helicopter to the central Italian hilltop city that was home to St. Francis, the 13th century saint revered by many religions as a patron of peace and nature and a defender of the poor.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church closed a three-day meeting where about 500 representatives of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and other faiths discussed how their members could better promote peace and reconciliation.

Francis, who delivered two addresses and shared meals with the leaders, said indifference to suffering had become “a new and deeply sad paganism” that

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caused some to turn away from war victims and refugees with the same ease as changing a television channel.

Near the end of the gathering, members of each religion prayed in a separate location and then joined each other in a square outside the famous pink stone basilica where St. Francis is buried.

Prayers were said for the victims of war, including in Syria and Afghanistan, and for the refugees fleeing the conflicts. A woman refugee from Aleppo now living in Italy told the pope at final gathering “my heart is in tatters”.

“Only peace is holy, and not war,” the Argentine-born pontiff said.

Francis, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, prayed in the basilica with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, and Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of up to 300 million Orthodox Christians around the globe.

In a final appeal that key representatives signed and gave to children from around the world, they vowed “to oppose every form of violence and abuse of religion which seeks to justify war and terrorism.”

“No to war! May the anguished cry of the many innocents not go unheeded.

Let us urge leaders of nations to defuse the causes of war: the lust for power and money, the greed of arms’ dealers, personal interests and vendettas for past wrongs,” the appeal said.

The narrow, cobblestone paths of Assisi echoed with the sound of different languages when Shinto priests in red-and-white robes crossed paths with rabbis in black and Muslims in white as each group converged outside St. Francis Basilica to join the Christians.

Speaking during the Christian service, Francis said the world could not ignore “our brothers and sisters, who live under the threat of bombs and are forced to leave their homes into the unknown, stripped of everything”.

“Who listens to them? Who bothers responding to them? Far too often they encounter the deafening silence of indifference, the selfishness of those annoyed at being pestered, the coldness of those who silence their cry for help with the same ease with which television channels are changed,” he said.

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A-3: The Book of Life As noted earlier, towards the end of the Book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel speaks about Earth’s final “time of trouble” and tells Daniel that “at that time your people shall be delivered.” Here at last were the words Daniel was waiting for. The Jewish people had been living as captives in the foreign lands of Babylon and Persia, and Daniel was anticipating their deliverance from worldly oppression and re-entrance into their “promised land”.

At the time Daniel’s understanding of what “deliverance” meant was confined probably to the Jewish people and the land of Israel – combined with the hope (premature) that their deliverer would be none other than the longawaited Messiah. But the reality, as we understand from the New Testament (and from the Old Testament, especially the prophet Isaiah), is somewhat different.

The “promised land” is the Kingdom of God on Earth (with Israel perhaps being the location of its government headquarters) and its citizens will be the followers of Christ, drawn from nations all over the earth. And the Messiah (who came in the person of Jesus Christ) has already brought spiritual salvation to mankind – salvation from the oppression and captivity of sin, both in this life and the next. As for the physical salvation, that is also on the agenda, not just for Israel, but for the whole of planet Earth – that glorious day when it shall be freed from the hands of evil rulers. But for the time being, we will have to wait for the (soon-coming) return of Christ in magnificent heavenly power (spoken of in many places in the Sacred Book, but especially in Revelation 19).

Daniel’s viewpoint has a parallel in modern Christianity: just as Daniel was limited in his perspective about the make-up of his people, might it not also be true for us nowadays? Maybe our perspective about who are “God’s people” is much smaller than what God knows it should be.

To clarify then what is meant by “your people”, the angel throws in the qualification that they are “everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.”

And what does it mean, this mysterious “book”? Well for one thing, the “book” is an important sign of God’s interest in mankind. We human beings do not live in a void. Our actions in this life are not empty of meaning,

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purpose, or consequence. We may feel that way during our earthly lives when it is more difficult in this realm to perceive the reality of God’s presence. But He is there, intimately concerned with us, and He has a “book”.

Books were rare in ancient times. Amongst the Israelites they could serve as a register of the names of members of the different tribes, or in the New Testament Age as a roll of the members of various churches. Similarly, God’s “book” lists the names of those who are truly His people.

Furthermore, if God has a “book”, that should indicate to us that in some way records are being kept, and our actions in this life will not be forgotten. In fact, we get a hint of this later in Revelation 20. John the apostle observes that “the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” (20:12) These “books” are connected to another book, the “Book of Life”, which contains the names of those who are spared from the “second death” Judgment and from the “lake of fire”. This “Book of Life” seems to coincide with the “book” that Gabriel states has the names of the “sons of your people” who will be “delivered” at the end of Earth’s final “time of trouble”. (Daniel 12:2) But, as John the apostle observed, there were other “books”, or records, being kept that obviously had a great bearing on who would be written in the “Book of Life”. Nowadays we have many ways of keeping records much more efficient than writing things down in books. But in those days that was all they knew, so that was the illustration God used in His revelations to Daniel and John. Yet we can imagine that in God’s domain, the keeping of records, however it is done, is incredibly more advanced and thorough than even the most up-to-date methods we use nowadays.

To have one’s name written in the “Book of Life” is a great reassurance – to know that one is a member of God’s Kingdom. Jesus exhorted His disciples not to rejoice “that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20) Christ has lovingly extended to us the guarantee that we can never be separated from God, which we may appropriate, even during our earthly existence. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) In place of a vague hope, we have certainty, which saves us from having to worry about death and separation from God in some dreary hell in

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the Afterlife – what is often referred to as Sheol in the Old Testament and Death and Hades in the New Testament. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish [be lost/ruined] but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) This “guarantee” of our citizenship in the Kingdom is very clear in certain statements that Jesus made: “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” (John 6:37) That is, it would be preposterous to think that Jesus would throw out one of His children. The original Greek text uses a double negative expression (ou me) for the sake of emphasis.

The same expression is repeated in the Book of Revelation when Jesus explains to John that those who “overcome” would not be “hurt of the second death”, nor would He “blot out” their names “from the Book of Life”.

(2:11, 3:5) The word “not” used in these Scriptures is the same doublenegative Greek expression used in John 6:37 and could have been translated with the same emphatic “by no means” phrase.

And what does the Lord mean here by the “he who overcomes” phrase? The apostle John explains it this way: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5) Anyone who comes to Christ, “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God,” has placed the world and what it has to offer into the background; he recognizes that there is a higher realm beyond this earthly one – one that is under the authority of Christ and far more valuable than this present world.

And because he has reached out for it by coming to Christ, he has “overcome the world”. And those who have made this step, Christ promises that they cannot lose that victory, that salvation; they cannot be kicked out of the Kingdom, much less sent to a “second death” in Hell or the Lake of Fire.

But there does seem to be some confusion about these passages in the Revelation Book; and they are sometimes misconstrued to say that a person who has come to Christ could lose his or her Book-of-Life clearance and even go on to experience the Second Death and get sent to the Lake of Fire.

But Christ’s intention here was the exact opposite; He was assuring believers – those who have come to Him – that their Salvation is accomplished

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and can never be taken away. And of course, this view is also consistent with what Jesus said during His earthly life (as noted above).

But perhaps the “he who overcomes” phrase has been misunderstood as applying only to believers who have attained a certain level of perfection – sinless saints who never do anything wrong. If that were the case, no one at all would get written in the Book of Life, and Jesus might as well have said in John 6:37, “By all means the one who comes to Me will be cast out.” But He didn’t say that; He said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

Prior to Christ’s coming, this certainty of salvation, this guarantee of being “written in the Book of life”, was not there. (Revelation 20:15) When Moses came before the Lord to intercede for the children of Israel after they had made the golden calf, he offered himself: “blot me out of Your book which You have written.” But the Lord answered, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” (Exodus 32:32-33) That was the order of the day back then: a person’s wrong decisions and lifestyle could cause him to be erased out of the Book of Life.

And the other point this Scripture tells us is that it is not man (i.e.

Moses), but God, who decides who can be written in it and who can’t. And yet this is not a matter of predestination, for our being written in the Book of Life depends on us – our deeds and decisions.

And a further point: This Scripture seems to tell us that we all start off written in the Book of Life, which has been around right “from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 17:8, 13:8) By whatever means God births a life, creates a soul, at that moment of our conception, we are automatically written in the Book of Life. Presumably, for babies, or those who die early in life, those who lack the moral capacity to knowingly sin against God, they cannot be blotted out from the Book of Life. But later on, depending on a person’s life decisions, his name may be kept or it may be blotted out. How or when a person crosses that threshold of sinning against God, we don’t know. That is a matter that belongs in God’s domain to decide.

But we do know this, that by coming to Christ we have the guarantee of being written in the Book of Life. Christ’s coming brought in a major change. As outlined above, by coming to Him, a person gains an iron-clad

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guarantee of “everlasting life”; he or she “has passed from death into life” and “will by no means [be] cast out.” (John 5:24, 6:37) And when a person comes to Christ, only then does a certain amount of pre-destination enter the picture. At this point a person is predestined for the kingdom, meaning their name has been written in the Book of Life.

Does that mean a person can just do whatever mischievous things he wants to and not worry because he is guaranteed a place in Heaven? As we shall learn further ahead, Heaven has plenty of room for correctional regimes for those who need it – a subject that we will look into further ahead. And in this life too, God’s blessings and favor in our lives depend a great deal on our obedience to what He expects of us. So, yes, we can still do what we want and not let God play His role in our lives. But to play the game of life that way, is not playing it very smart.

When a person comes to Christ, there is made a new bond of trust.

“No longer do I call you servants. . . but I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) Love without trust is not real love. Because “God so loved the world,” because He showed so much love by appearing in human form and sacrificing Himself for our sakes, we have every reason to trust Him. (John 3:16) That bond of trust, from God’s side, is undergirded by His guarantee of entrance into the Kingdom. From our side, by the re-orientation of our lives into a positive direction and submission to God’s rule in our lives. And through the power of the Holy Spirit and with knowledge of His mercy and forgiveness, we are given the inspiration and power to carry out this obligation, our side of the deal – to want to move away from the Darkness, not just out of duty or fear, but out of our love for God. God trusts us to abide in Him and bring forth fruit, and we trust in Him to grant us entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. In theological terms, that deal is known as the “new covenant”. (Jeremiah 31:31, Matthew 26:28, and several others) And even if we don’t keep our side of the deal, God will still keep His. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) To conclude, perhaps we can sum it up like this: everyone is written in the Book of Life to start with. How or when a person crosses that threshold of sinning against God, we don’t know. (Perhaps everyone crosses it; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23) Whatever the

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case, we are comforted in knowing this, that by coming to Christ we have the guarantee of being written in the Book of Life, regardless of what we have done before, or even what we may do after our being “born again” into the Kingdom. (John 3:3,5)

Some further information about that oftenmisunderstood phrase “blot out his name from the Book of Life” It was a custom in ancient times to erase the names in a city’s register of those who had died, even those with criminal convictions. Or in the case of the churches, to erase the names from their registers of those who fell away, had committed crimes, got excommunicated, etc.

From His viewpoint, looking at church fellowships (such as the Sardis church of Revelation 3:1-6), God might see that some, who are enrolled as “members” and may even be esteemed as honorable members of a church, had not actually entered the Kingdom; they were not “born again” in spirit.

(John 3:3,7) They joined a church for mere selfish reasons – political expediency, material gain, social advancement, or whatever it may be.

But they had not entered the Kingdom, were not “born again” in spirit, not “members” of the real Church – “the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven… the spirits of just men made perfect.” As such, they would be no better, even worse, than those members who had committed crimes, were excommunicated, and thus “blotted out” from the church’s registry. (John 3:3,7; Hebrews 12:23) These hypocritical church members “have a name” that they are “alive”, but in reality they “are dead” because they never had any kind of spiritual re-birth. (Revelation 3:1) They were not even believers (or overcomers), much less disciples. For them it is just a shell game – a goingthrough-the-motions exercise for mere gain. As a result, even though enrolled in a church’s registry book, as far as the Book of Life is concerned, they are “blotted out”; their names were not written (or re-written) in the Book because, despite being a member of a church, they had not actually come to Christ.

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And the implication here is that it might have been better if such “members” were “blotted out” right from the start, that is, not permitted to join the Church at all if their only intention was to use it for selfish gain.

(Then at least they would have known they were on the wrong track; better that than the false sense of security provided by their “forgery” of a church membership.)

This was the pattern set in the Book of Acts in the example of the apostle Peter’s sentence against Ananias and Saphira who tried to join the Early Church for the wrong reasons. Such “members” who, even though by all appearances may be registered and approved members of a church during their earthly lives, are not real members. God, who sees the hearts of man and does not judge by outward appearance, knows who have come to Him in truth, “registered in heaven”, and those who are just faking it.

The message to the Sardis church ends with the same “he who overcomes” phrase found in Christ’s messages to all the churches. It is a message of encouragement, and in the case of the Sardis church, much needed after the stern admonishment given to them. It promises that whoever comes to Christ won’t be “dead”. They have been “born of God” and “His seed remains” in them. (1John 3:9) Unlike church or city registries, which sometimes erased names from their membership/citizens lists, once a name is registered in the Book of Life, it can never be blotted out. And they will be “clothed in white garments” And to those who “have not defiled their garments”, special reward shall be given.

Because of their faithfulness and maturity, “they are worthy” and will be given the honor, Christ says, to “walk with Me in white”. (Revelation 3:5-6)

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A-4: “Second Chance” for Unbelievers?

Is it necessary for a person to have received Christ in order to enjoy the blessing of entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven? Of course the answer is yes. But this brings up an issue, not yet fully explained: is the opportunity for this Salvation restricted only to the present earthly life, or can it be received in the Afterlife? Through no fault of their own, we can understand that many souls are not able to experience the blessing of salvation during their earthly lifetimes – that mystical, magical experience where a person is “born again”, feels the touch divine, enters the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 3:3,7) Not everyone gets to this advanced stage in their spiritual lives.

Many people, in spite of the diligent efforts of dedicated Christians, will not have had any genuine opportunity to receive God’s gift of salvation in Christ.

In such cases, it cannot be said that they have refused Christ. Common sense tells us that God would give such people their opportunity to receive the Savior, who is the Door to eternal life, in the Afterlife. (John 10:9) Indeed, such a working of God’s grace would only be consistent with the attributes of fairness and justice that belong to His own nature.

Anything otherwise would seem quite unfair and inconsistent with the nature of the Creator, a Being who is supposed to be both loving and omnipotent.

Christ portrayed for humankind the full reality of the Godhead.

But there are secondary means, less effective, by which a person can perceive the reality of God. As brought out earlier, there is that peculiar passage in John chapter one: “[The Word who is Christ] was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) The Creation also shows evidence of the reality of God: “His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.”

(Romans 1:20) From this we could infer that a person doesn’t have to be officially “Christian” in order to be guided by the Light of Christ since it “gives light to every man”.

This is similar to what Christ said to His disciples that the Holy Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) Before Christ’s conquest over the forces of Darkness, the Holy Spirit could only dwell with men and women. But since the Resurrection, believers have entered into a new intimacy with God through Christ, who has bestowed on them the gift of possession by the Holy Spirit. God’s presence was somewhat distant in ages

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past – as the “true light which gives light to every man”, or as the Holy Spirit who could dwell with but not in men’s souls, or as the “Godhead… understood by the things that are made.” But now His presence has come to dwell in the innermost beings of His creations.

There has always been a certain amount of God’s presence working to influence the hearts and minds of mankind. Many people are not Christians officially, due not to any fault of their own. Perhaps they were hemmed in by their cultural background and/or never had opportunity to hear the Gospel message in a form that they could receive or understand. So if those persons manage to use the bit of Light they have to live a godly life, then why shouldn’t they be granted the special privileges that we as Christians think should belong only to us?

We may call to mind the parable about the landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard at different times – “early in the morning… the third hour… the sixth and ninth hour… the eleventh hour” [6 am, 9 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, 5 pm]. In the story all were paid the same wage, regardless of when they started working and in spite of the objections of the early starters.

Surprising as it may sound, there is every reason to believe that many souls who were unable to come to Christ during their earthly lives, for whatever reasons, will do so in the Afterlife. This is a hot issue nowadays, for it is a common belief among Christians that this life provides the only opportunity to receive the Salvation of Christ, and there is no “second chance” after death.

But we understand also that God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”. (2Peter 3:9) The words “any” and “all” would include even those whom we might consider despicable and deserving to be sent into the lowest depths of hell. And indeed, we are aware of such people who have “come to repentance”. They came to Christ and had a complete turnaround before they left this life. God was more than happy to receive them. They may require some “rehabilitation” in Heaven, but at least they have entered the Kingdom.

Now the logical deduction here is this: if rogues and criminals on this side of the grave can repent and be accepted into the Kingdom upon hearing the Gospel message, why should not the same opportunity be extended in the Afterlife to those unbelievers, many of them good people who,

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through no fault of their own, lacked the knowledge and opportunity to find Christ during their earthly lives? Might they not find acceptance when they cross to the Other Side? Could not Christ appear to them in the Afterlife?

Maybe He would say, “Hey man, you were a kind soul during your lifetime. I know you had a hard time understanding who I was because you never heard about Me in your culture. But in spite of that, you did the best you could, so you’re welcome to enter My Kingdom.” For many such people it is not even a question of a “second chance”; it’s actually their “first chance”.

At any rate these kinds of judgments/estimations are in God’s hands, and we can’t presume to understand everything about how God looks at these matters. But we do know that He “looks at the heart” while “man looks at the outward appearance”. (1Samuel 16:7) It behooves us then to be open-minded on this question of a “second chance” for the unsaved, or in most cases, it will be a “first chance”.

By taking on human form, God, through Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, proved His love for the human race and so ushered in a major upgrade in His relationship with mankind. “No longer do I call you servants… but I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) And a major upgrade in our personal destinies. “He Himself likewise shared in the same [our flesh and blood nature], that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14) Christ pulled the rug out from under whatever dominion the Devil had over Death and Hell and his power to keep the souls of mankind confined there. The souls of men and women are freed by Christ to enter the door of salvation and to pursue lives of freedom, abundance, vitality, joy, and love.

And they are free to go in the other direction too if that’s what they want with the end result of “spiritual death”. (More on this later.)

Another controversial theological question may come to mind. We can understand that, after their death, Christ would welcome those who were good people but had not had opportunity to receive Him during their earthly lives. But what about those not-so-good people? Do their chances for redemption end once they pass through the gates of physical death, or is there opportunity for rehabilitation and redemption in the Afterlife? From a common sense point of view, it would hardly seem consistent with God’s

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nature that he would never forgive and restore the repentant sinner, even in the Afterlife.

And just as our jails and prisons are supposed to be “correctional” institutions that rehabilitate the wayward and criminal, so it would seem logical that those who land in Hell, or some such place, in the next life, that their destiny might reach beyond just receiving punishment for the wrongdoings of their earthly lives. Free will surely extends into the realm beyond, and if someone chooses to turn away from a rebellious attitude towards God, then might he not be given the opportunity for reconciliation?

Would not his rehabilitation from the rebellious attitudes, beliefs, and deeds that caused him to land in Hell in the first place earn that person a second chance?

Well, it seems logical enough that such might very well be the case.

But now the question is, do the Scriptures have anything to say along these lines? It might help to consider first those Scriptures that are often used to deny belief in a “second chance” for sinners, or for the ignorant, in the Afterlife.

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) True, this is the general plan of what course our lives will take now and in the Hereafter: we die physically, and then afterwards our souls face the day of reckoning when we shall be judged by our works and rewarded accordingly.

From the context, however, we learn that the writer was not trying to explain whether or not there is salvation in the Afterlife. The Book of Hebrews was written with the intent of explaining to Jewish people how their religious beliefs were to change with the coming of Christ. And this particular passage deals with the matter of sacrificial worship, where the Jewish priests had to offer sacrifices year after year for the sins of the people. But when Christ died, that was the ultimate and last sacrifice. “Not that He should offer Himself often… but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Hebrews 9:25-26) And then the next verse 27 goes on to illustrate that same idea… by way of analogy, using as an example the death experience of all flesh-andblood humans: we die only once, and likewise, Christ died once as a sacrifice for sin; He doesn’t have to do it again: “as it is appointed for men to die once,

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but after this the judgment.” Once more the explanation is given: “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” (Hebrews 9:28) And when “He will appear a second time”, it will be for the sake, not of bearing mankind’s sin yet again, but this time to bring “judgment” – to welcome “those who eagerly wait for Him… for salvation” (Hebrews 9:28), and to send away those who “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) Again, this is analogous to the human experience: after our physical death, which happens only once, comes our judgment: “but after this the judgment.”

The whole purpose of this Scripture (Hebrews 9:27) was to illustrate for the Jewish people of that era the one-time nature of Christ’s sacrifice. How it could be interpreted as denying a “second chance” in the Afterlife is hard to fathom. That gap between Death and Final Judgment will offer unbelieving souls plenty of opportunity for change, re-orientation, and salvation. It may be their last oportunity, but the Scripture cannot be construed into proving that there isn’t any. Seems that’s just a case of trying to bolster preconceived notions by reading more meaning into a Scripture than what is really there.

Martin Luther proposed this idea about the possibility that people could turn to God after death in a letter written to Hans von Rechenberg in 1522 in which he concluded, “Who could doubt God’s ability to do that?”

Regarding this concept of judgment, in the Greek-Roman world of those days, people were generally ignorant about the true nature of divine judgment. God was thought to be rather “human” – arbitrary, somewhat cruel, and not particularly righteous in His judgments, having little or no concern for what was going on in the world. Many of their gods were characterized in this way, and it was the general line of thinking by many of the Greek philosophers. And in the modern age, as in the pagan belief systems, God is generally thought of in similar terms as having little concern for our world.

Modern concepts about God tend to explain Him in more scientific terms as a distant, impersonal being or mechanistic “force”. The modern emphasis on secular materialism, with its denial of the supernatural, has shoved God out of having any role in the formation of the natural world, and by extension, in the conduct of our personal lives. And this has led to much

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unbelief and atheism in our times. A true concept of “judgment”, however, reveals God, not as absent, arbitrary, or impersonal, but as very present, merciful, just, and passionately concerned with us, His creation.

Our God is not some faraway disinterested being. He is a God who is personal, who has a relationship with His creation. He has made Himself known to us through His Word. He has shown us some of what He’s like. He is interested in us as individuals. He has made a way for us to live with Him forever, through salvation. Through belief in Jesus, God the Son, we become God’s children, which enables us to touch Him personally, to communicate with Him, to hear His voice, to share our hearts with Him. He communes with us, abides in us, and loves us. We commune with Him, abide in Him, and love Him. We have a personal relationship with the Personal God. How incredibly wonderful! — Peter Amsterdam, March 19, 2015 So this reality of “judgment” should not be viewed as a fearful thing, for it is nothing less than evidence of God’s love and justice. We do not live empty, meaningless lives, for we are written in God’s memory, in His “Book of Life”. (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12) We needn’t get disillusioned because some people seem to be getting away with gross injustice and criminal activity, for they will have to pay for it eventually. And those who have followed after peace, justice, truth, righteousness, and concern for others will be rewarded. In the end everything will be made right in perfect mercy and justice. Because of this reality of future “judgment”, our present lives are enhanced with assurance, purpose, and fulfillment.

You have often wondered why some people who are loving, kind, and unselfish suffer, while others who only look out for themselves, dash the dreams of others to get what they want, and trample others in their charge up the ladder of success appear to have it better. While you cannot always see the outcomes, each person will reap in the next life what they sow in this life.

Justice will come in the next life.

Judgment will be meted out to those who were unloving and cruel and caused others to suffer; they will have to suffer the consequences of their evil actions until they learn the error of their ways and repent. But when those who lived right pass on, although they may have suffered or gone without on earth, they will be blessed with greater rewards and joy than they ever imagined.

And besides being rewarded in the next life, I bless the loving and unselfish in this life. I bless them spiritually. I bless them with happiness and

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contentment, peace of mind, and a clear conscience. Meanwhile, some of the wealthiest people in the world are also some of the saddest, loneliest, and most lost, because money can’t satisfy the needs of the spirit.

So pursue the blessings of My Spirit—the love, joy, contentment, and feeling of fulfillment that comes only from knowing that you’ve done your best to lead a godly life. Only then will you truly appreciate that life is fair.

— Jesus, speaking in prophecy Another Scripture often used against the “second chance” concept is Luke 16:26. “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here [Kingdom of Heaven] to you [In Hades or Hell] cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” True, no soul could cross such a chasm.

But who made the “gulf”? God did, and He certainly has the power to cross it if He wants to. And according to the apostle Peter’s testimony, that’s exactly what God (in the person of His Son) did after Christ’s death on the Cross and prior to His Resurrection.

We can imagine what a stir that must have caused – the Son of God Himself down there in Hell, as He “preached to the spirits in prison”. No doubt, many of those spirits who “formerly were disobedient… in the days of Noah” were repentant by that time and gladly received the Savior. (1 Peter 3:19-20) Peter goes on to explain, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1Peter 4:6) Or we might say, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that, having been judged according to men in the flesh (referring likely to the curse upon Adam by which “death spread to all men” – Romans 5:12), yet they might be given the opportunity for salvation and so live according to God in the spirit.”

This extraordinary event is really only an extension of what Jesus taught during His earthly ministry: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will… Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” (John 5:21, 25) Clearly, salvation in the spirit world should not be thought of as an unheard-of reality, as if it were something beyond God’s abilities or desire to do.

(For more information about these key verses – Hebrews 9:27 and 1Peter 4:6 – see Appendix.)

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Christ’s sojourn “in the heart of the earth”, when “He went and preached to the spirits in prison,” offers compelling evidence of God’s intentions and actual measures taken to rescue the souls of former evildoers who were repentant and worthy of the opportunity to receive His gift of heavenly life. (Matthew 12:40, 1Peter 3:19) The worst death of the lost is a spiritual death, a spiritual suffering in which their spirits will suffer in the world to come. God’s Word says Jesus spent three days and nights in the heart of the earth. [Matthew 12:40] It says that there He preached to the spirits in prison—He gave them the gospel, told them the truth! [1Peter 3:18-19] You say, “I thought once you went to hell, you were there forever?”

If it wasn’t possible for anyone in the heart of the earth to be saved, why did He take the trouble to preach to them? But they were people who had evidently never heard the truth, people who had never heard the gospel. So Jesus Himself went there and suffered just as they were suffering while He preached to them, that they might be saved.

So that’s what Jesus was doing on the cross when He died for us. He not only died in body but He even suffered the feeling that the sinner has in the death of the spirit. Now what this death of the spirit is, we don’t really know.

Jesus calls it hell, for some, like fire! It’s a terrible, terrible thing, whatever it is—some kind of suffering for your sins. (from “Death or Dawn” by David Brandt Berg)

Christ’s aim, surely, was to offer them a place in the Kingdom of God, just as He had offered it to the people living in Israel during His earthly ministry. He came there to offer release from their “prison” – after having been confined there for an “age”, from the time of the Flood to Christ’s first coming.

Christ’s experience with the “spirits in prison” goes along with and is like an extension of the scene where He, on the cross, mercifully promises a repentant thief (on another cross), “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) And isn’t this consistent with how Jesus conducted Himself during His earthly life: consorting frequently with “sinners”, pointing them in the right direction, showing them the path to restoration and eternal life?

It would seem altogether reasonable then that Jesus, after His death and in the company of the “spirits in prison”, would freely offer the same

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salvation to those who were ready and repentant. He was not going to wait for Judgment Day in some distant future to deliver salvation. “Now is” the time, He said “when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God” and “today” is the day when “you will be with Me in paradise”. So, all that to say, that unbridgeable “gulf” between Heaven and Hell is not unbridgeable for the Lord, and there is no reason to think that He will forever keep imprisoned in Hell anyone who is repentant.

And we should recall Christ’s message to John in the Book of Revelation: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (1:18) Again it is confirmed here that Jesus has the power to cross that “great gulf” between Heaven and Hell. He possesses the “keys” to unlock those prison doors of Death and Hell (Hades) and set free those who are worthy.

Related to the question about those who are ignorant of the Christian faith, this intriguing statement may shed some light: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Luke 12:10, Matthew 12:32) Without the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus said “will testify of Me”, people are apt to misunderstand who He is due to ignorance and the Devil’s propaganda; and for that they can be forgiven.

(John 16:26) In such cases, the natural conclusion would be that their opportunities for salvation don’t have to stop at the grave but can continue in the “age to come” when it will be easier to understand who the “Son of Man” really is.

The above Scripture about the sacredness of the Holy Spirit implies that a person could be following the Spirit without knowing Christ. Since the Holy Spirit cannot be misrepresented because the Spirit does not have a physical presence or reputation in the earthly realm (as Jesus did), then there can be no possibility of misunderstanding when the Spirit speaks to a person’s heart. And if they follow that Spirit of Truth, then certainly, they will be led on the path towards Christ – for, as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit “will testify of Me”; they will be blessed and worthy of Salvation somewhere along the line.

And, as Jesus pointed out in the above Scripture, mankind is accountable to the Spirit of Truth, just as much as they are to Christ.

An unfortunate trend has developed in mainstream Christianity – that of promoting the concept of no hope for evildoers; this portrays God as a

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horribly unforgiving character rather than the benign and loving Being that Scripture reveals Him to be: “the God of love… God is love.” (2Corinthians 13:11, 1John 4:8, and many others) And regarding His sojourn in the Dark Kingdom with the “spirits in prison”, surely it is safe to assume that Christ pursued the same policy He had during His earthly ministry – not “to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) Why did He preach them [“spirits in prison”] the Gospel? Just as a matter of information so they could be all the more miserable for the rest of Eternity in an everlasting spiritual prison?… just to make them feel even worse by not giving them any hope at all? (from “Heaven, Hell, and InBetween!” by David Brandt Berg, Treasures, Pg 787) So why this tendency in Christian teaching to want to deny the possibility of a “second chance”, or “first chance” mostly, for the souls of the dead? Could it be the same exclusivity, born of religious pride, that made it difficult for the Early Church to accept Gentile believers into the family of God? Human nature tends toward selfishness and arrogance; we like to think of ourselves as better than others, the chosen few. By thinking this way, we overlook the fact that God’s nature is passionately concerned for those who dwell outside His “family”.

Another factor too is that human nature tends to want to categorize the mysteries of God into nice black-and-white terms when in reality there is a lot of “grey”. Much as we might like to, it is not possible to put God into a man-made box that comfortably fits in with our limited human understanding.

So, rather than the Afterlife being compartmentalized into rigid barriers and divisions, the reality, by comparison, may be somewhat different and more fluid than we may think. Souls in the Afterlife will be engaged in the process of moving towards their Creator and into domains of greater enlightenment and unselfishness (or they may go the other direction if that’s what they want). The boundaries and regions are there, no doubt, but if souls are making the right decisions in the Afterlife, then why not reward them and grant them the right to cross “borders” into regions of greater blessing and privilege? The barriers are there, but they don’t have to be thought of as totally insurmountable.

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Appendix: Further information about 1Peter 3:19 and 1Peter 4:6 “By whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” (1Peter 3:19) Regarding this verse, there is some controversy as to whether the “spirits in prison” from pre-Flood times refer to angels or to human spirits.

Apparently, according to Genesis 6:4, angels were allowed to enter the earthly environment in pre-Flood days; these are usually considered to have been evil angels who “left their own abode”. (Jude 6) And then, of course, there were the vast multitudes who perished in the Flood. For a few reasons, this latter group seems more likely to have been the ones to whom Christ was preaching when he spent “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40) First of all, the Greek word for “spirits” – pneuma – is not reserved exclusively for angels. In Hebrews 12, for example, we read about “the Father of spirits” and “the spirits of just men made perfect”. (12:9,23) So it is quite acceptable to understand these “spirits in prison” as those of departed human souls.

Secondly, in Jude 6 we learn that the fallen angels are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” But in verse 18 of 1Peter 3 we read that “Christ also suffered… that He might bring us to God” - which is followed by verse 19 about Christ preaching to the “spirits in prison”. The context suggests then that these must be human souls whom Christ was going to “bring to God”; as for the fallen angels, their time to come to God, if it happens at all, is a long way off into a very distant future – “reserved… for the judgment of the great day.” And it seems common sense: why would not Jesus preach to human “spirits in prison” who were less guilty than the fallen angels and were more deserving of the opportunity to hear the Good News and gain salvation if they were repentant?

“For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1Peter 4:6) And regarding the above verse, commentaries and study Bibles nowadays tend to advance the idea that the “those who are dead” phrase in

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1Peter 4:6 refers, not to unbelievers who have died, but rather to believers who have died or will have died before Christ’s Second Coming.

There are, however, some weaknesses to this viewpoint. First of all is the fact that by the time the Book of 1Peter appeared, believers were not so concerned anymore that those who had died since Christ’s departure might miss out on the Resurrection of the saints. (It seems many believers thought Christ’s return was imminent.)

Paul had already assured them in an epistle (written in about A.D. 51) that “we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep… the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1Thessalonians 4:15-17) The Book of 1Peter appeared somewhat later (A.D. 64-65), and by then that issue was no longer a pressing concern, as it had been for the Thessalonian Church. And there is no indication of such a concern elsewhere in the Book of 1Peter.

Secondly, looking at the context, the preceding verse 5 states that the Lord will “judge the living and the dead” – which is followed by the additional information in verse 6 that “for this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead.” This easily leads us to conclude that, in order to be fair to those who had died before Christ’s coming (or without having heard the Gospel), then the Good News had be proclaimed to them also (in the spirit realm). It wasn’t meant for the “dead in Christ”. It wasn’t meant for the “dead in Christ”. Why do they need to hear it again in the Afterlife if they had already received Christ during their earthly lives? The Good News is meant, not for a select few, but for all mankind, whether living or dead, that they might “live according to God in the spirit” if they will receive it.

Much of the above information on 1Peter 4:6 was gleaned from a well-researched essay “Who are ‘The Dead’ and When was the Gospel Preached to Them?: The Interpretation of 1 Pet 4.6” by David G. Horrell. In his essay Horrell makes this interesting statement: And other verses in 1 Peter, which emphasise the impartiality of God’s judgment, show optimism about the possibility of the Gentiles’ conversion, or reveal a marked reticence about specifying the fate of those who are currently unbelievers, also add to the picture within which the

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‘already dead’ [those who have died not knowing Christ] interpretation of 4.6 may make sense.

The apostle Peter’s words manifest this outgoing concern for unbelievers. By contrast, the Apocryphal (non-Biblical) works of other writers in those days tend to display a narrow exclusivism and contempt for unbelievers. And the same may be said for those Bible interpretations which tend to convey the same type of narrow exclusivism – too much favoritism towards those who are already in Christ and a contempt for those who are not. Although the Lord has a special love and care for His people, the Scriptures also portray Him as a God who is passionately concerned about those who don’t know Him, both in this life and in the next.

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A-5: Death and Hell At this point it might help to get a better idea of what is meant by these words that are sometimes used together – “Death” and “Hell”.

In the New Testament the word “Death” (thanatos in Greek) took on some extra dimension of meaning. Besides the obvious meaning of physical death, thanatos also had a broader application. For example, in Romans 8:6 it is said that “to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” “Death” here is a metaphor for a negative state of mind or being, the opposite of “life and peace”. The Book of Revelation makes mention of the “second death” when souls are “cast into the lake of fire”. (Revelation 20:6,14-15) Again “death” doesn’t mean that souls actually “die” or get extinguished but rather, symbolizes an unhappy state of being.

In this case of the “second death”, souls, who have not turned away from their evil habits and attitudes while in the realm of Hades, live on and are sent into a worse realm known as the Lake of Fire. As the saying goes, “from the frying pan into the fire.” (This idea of Hades being a sort of Purgatory, or rehabilitation center, for evildoers and lost souls will be explored further ahead.)

Often in the New Testament, thanatos is used, either in conjunction with the word Hades or as a metaphor to describe the condition of mankind without the life of God, both in this life and the next. Following is a useful definition of the word: 1. properly, the death of the body, i.e. that separation(whether natural or violent) of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended…. 2. metaphorically, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, i.e. the misery of soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body… 3. the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell… 4. In the widest sense, death comprises all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death… to be followed by wretchedness in the lower world…

[Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pg. 283] In the age preceding the First Coming of Christ, mankind dwelt under that ominous cloud of spiritual death (thanatos). In a

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world that had been “delivered to” Satan, there was no “life of God” except for certain chosen individuals and the chosen people of the Israelites. (Luke 4:6) King David pleads with God to “not take Your Holy Spirit from me”, and Isaiah mentions the Holy Spirit dwelling “in the midst of them”. (Psalm 51:11, Isaiah 63:11 ASV, NAS, RSV) The faithful Israelites were dutiful keepers of the laws of righteousness, but there was much that “the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) Paul even refers to the Laws of Moses as the “ministry of death [and]… condemnation” (because the Law only brought the knowledge of sin, but without the power to fully obey it).

(2Corinthians 3:7,9) Jesus told His followers, “The Spirit of truth… dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) Prior to His departure, the Holy Spirit could only dwell with the disciples but not in them. So even for the disciples, there was a certain distance from the life of God. But Jesus had promised, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper… the Spirit of truth.” The Holy Spirit transformed Christ’s followers into powerhouses of positive spiritual energy – “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4) Up to that time in history, “sin reigned in death”. But Christ came so that “grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life.”

(Romans 5:21) God has poured out freely His favor upon humankind… at least to those who are searching and will receive that “life of God”.

However, there still exists the barrier of the Curse; it is not easy for human beings in this present Age, first of all, to perceive the life of God, and then to receive it. Which probably is why Jesus made remarks like, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it;” or, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Matthew 7:14, John 20:29) In the present Age, the believers, or “elect”, are few. But the time is coming, in a future Age, when that number will increase enormously; and that is a subject to be explored in upcoming posts.

Although some individuals and the Israelite society prior to Christ’s First Coming were granted access to quite a bit of God’s

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Truth and Light, the majority of mankind lived under that ominous cloud of “death”. Besides physical death and the accompanying sorrow and sense of loss that it brought, human society had to deal also with the fear of spiritual death – of not knowing what would come in the Afterlife, or if there would even be an Afterlife.

Some human societies became so preoccupied with the fear of death that they spent enormous amounts of labor and resources building elaborate tombs for their rulers. The pyramids, for example, were huge structures filled with a Pharaoh’s earthly possessions. By this means, people in ancient societies hoped to preserve into the next life what they had worked so hard for during their earthly lives. In Chinese ancestor worship, the relationship between the dead and their family members continues on in the form of various ritual offerings and sacrifices. Reincarnation is another belief system that attempts to bridge the gulf between death and life.

And throughout history an endless number of beliefs and superstitions have arisen to explain or resolve the fear of and sense of loss felt in the “death” experience. For centuries upon centuries mankind has tried to reassure himself with various beliefs and practices that would guarantee the soul’s continuance and/or prosperity in the Afterlife.

Then God came into our realm in the person of Jesus Christ. And for what reasons? Probably the most obvious is God’s compassionate desire to restore mankind’s relationship to Himself. This meant rolling back the Curse, and the first aspect of it that has rolled back is the fear of death. “He Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.”

(Hebrews 2:14-15, RSV) Jesus declared that He was the “way, the truth, and the life” and that whoever “received Him” would gain “the right to become children of God” and thus inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God. (John 14:6,1:12) Christ’s coming overthrew once and for all that all-pervading gloom and pessimism about death.

And we know from the apostle Peter’s words that Christ, the Son of God, went into that Dark Kingdom to rescue lost souls who had died in previous ages. (1Peter 3:19, 4:6) He taught that whoever trusts in

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Him will have “passed from death into life”. (John 5:24) And so, a few years later the apostle Paul was able to declare, “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1Corinthians 15:55 – KJV) Monumental change had begun, as we learn from certain Scriptures. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.” (Matthew 11:12) Evidently, a great “stir” took place at this time, not only here on Earth but also in the Heavenly Realm: Christ preaching to the “spirits in prison” to release them; “the veil of the temple… torn in two from top to bottom”; “graves… opened; “many bodies of the saints…raised.” (Matthew 27:51-52) Obviously, a great convulsion was going on in the unseen world – events that are beyond our finite minds to fully comprehend.

And in the earthly realm, a great polarization began: the enemies of God began to fight against the Kingdom of God coming on Earth while believers started “pressing into it.” (Luke 16:16) That such a monumental shift had taken place in God’s universe is evident in a vision recorded by John the apostle. He describes the grand celebration in Heaven of Christ’s Resurrection and conquest over the forces of evil. This glorious victory paved the way for mankind’s redemption and release from the shackles of Death and corruption.

Revelation 5:9-10 portrays it as the grand opening of the seven-sealed “scroll”, the book of future history, which could now unfold towards full implementation: the removal of Satan’s kingdom on Earth followed by the establishment of God’s Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Now when He had taken the scroll… they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

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Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

(Revelation 5:8-12) Christ had re-directed the course of human history.

In the Celestial Realm, the stranglehold of Death and Hades over the souls of mankind was broken; the mystery and fear of death were banished.

Mankind’s disinheritance from the Garden of Eden had been reversed. Now “he who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.” (Revelation 21:7) No more did mankind have to worry about separation from God and an uncertain future in the Afterlife. Salvation from sin’s dominion was a promise and guarantee that could be acquired, even in the present earthly existence.

It should be safe to conclude then that, according to what we would expect of the fairness, justice, and mercy of God, that He would also present the same gift of salvation to those who arrive in the next life – those worthy souls who lacked opportunity and were not able, for whatever legitimate reasons, to receive His great offer during their earthly lives.

Of course, it is better if those who are searching can find Christ in this life. But if it doesn’t happen, then why would not God in His mercy reveal Himself to them in the Afterlife? Otherwise, why should Christ have gone to all the trouble of being “made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death” if He could not “taste death for everyone”.(Hebrews 2:9) “Everyone” should include those souls who arrive in the Afterlife, not having had the benefit of finding Christ during their earthly lives. The love of God has no limits and knows no boundaries.

And nowadays, because of advanced medical technology, we have plenty of evidence from those who were revived from near-death experiences. Many of these people, who were non-Christians,

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testified of meeting Christ and being given the invitation to enter the Heavenly Realm. One group of testimonies along this line is titled True Near Death Experiences; and probably there are several other website testimonies along the same line.

So, the question now is, can reality change to suit our theology? Well, not likely. Rather, our theology (or more accurately, our old mindsets and rigid pre-set ideas) needs to change in response to the more deeply understood reality that confronts us nowadays.

It is almost a matter of common sense. “God is love”, and if that’s what God is supposed to be, then, being fair and just in His nature, it is incomprehensible that He would refuse to offer the gift of salvation to those who deserve it (even if they never came to Him during their earthly lives). (1John 4:8) God knows the hearts of those who are His and those who deserve the honor of being counted as His people.

Now regarding the word “Hell”, this is the translation of the Hebrew Sheol (Old Testament) and the Greek Hades (New Testament). Young’s Analytical Concordance gives almost the same definition for each word: Sheol – the unseen state; Hades – the unseen world.

This, we should understand, is the general definition of these words. In actual usage, the Bible writers, when speaking of the fate of evildoers, would focus on the desolate and dismal regions of the spiritual realm. And thus, Sheol or Hades came to be associated with those (lower) regions of the “unseen world”.

Originally, there was no realm of Hades because there was no such thing as “death” before the Fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life was planted there and was meant to enable human beings to regenerate; it was the conduit, the pipeline for the supernatural energy from Heaven that would overcome the natural forces of disintegration, the aging process.

The Earth itself was Heaven-like, but because of the Devil’s influence and man’s disobedience, some of those Heaven-like qualities had to be removed and/or transformed in the Curse: mankind and his environment became subject to pain, hostility, the perils of nature, and death (with Hades the receiving ground in the spiritual realm for the spirits of the dead). God’s plan, however, as we know from many passages in Scripture

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(especially Revelation 21-22), is to restore the Earth to its original pristine condition, similar to what existed in the Garden of Eden. “And there shall be no more curse.” (Revelation 22:3) Before the Curse we might guess that in the Garden of Eden the spirit world was very real and visible to Adam and Eve. But when the relationship between man and God was broken, that brought with it a barrier between our world and the spirit realm – a barrier which has already been removed to some extent as a result of Christ’s sacrifice and the consequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) And in the days of the future, that veil separating earthly and spiritual realms will be abolished even further, if not completely.

“Death and Hades” will be “cast into the lake of fire”. (Revelation 20:14).

There will be no more “unseen realm”. Earth and Heaven will merge together when once more “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people.” (Revelation 21:3 – ESV) No more will that same barrier exist between earthly and spiritual realms as we experience now in the present Age. But in the Beginning, Adam and Eve, and all succeeding generations, were barred from partaking of the Tree of Life, “and so death passed upon all men”. (Romans 5:12 – KJV) Our bodily existence, the visible part of us, comes to its end at the time of “death”, but our spirit, which is invisible, lives on and has to go somewhere.

Earth is the visible habitation while our bodies are alive, while Hades/Sheol is the invisible habitation for our spirits. As inhabitants of the earthly realm, it is difficult for us to get an accurate idea of what Hades is like. But perhaps we can describe it as that region in the spirit world which, in broadest terms, is the receiving ground for the spirits of the dead.

But in actual usage in the New Testament, Hades meant that region in the spiritual realm designated for the unrighteous. It may include different environments – ranging from neutral reception areas to

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regions of barren desolation. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament offers these definitions of Hades (pg 11): The nether [lower] world, the realm of the dead… the common receptacles of disembodied spirits.

And there is a foreboding aspect: “[Hades] denotes, therefore, in biblical Greek Orcus, the infernal regions, a dark (Job X.21) and dismal place…”

As for the Hebrew sheol, Jewish belief held that it had two parts, one for the righteous and one for the unrighteous. Most of the Scriptures that mention sheol, however, zero in on the fate of evildoers in its “lower” regions. “Unseen world” is the widest definition of Sheol, but the Old Testament often refers to it in more pessimistic terms, which in the New Testament is more accurately expressed in phrases like “Death and Hades” or “lake of fire”. Following are some of the references to Sheol in the Old Testament: Sheol appears to have different levels reserved, probably, for different ranks of evildoers: “lowest part of Sheol” (Deuteronomy 32:22, NAS) “lowest sheol” (Psalm 86:13, ASV) Sheol is not a cheerful place: “sorrows of Sheol” (2Samuel 22:6, Psalm 18:5) And it can be uncomfortable: “pangs of Sheol” (Psalm 116:3) Sheol is considered to be the abode of evildoers: “the wicked shall depart to Sheol” (Ps 9:17, RSV) “her [harlot’s] house is the way to Sheol… her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (Proverbs 7:27, 9:18, RSV) “the wise man’s path leads upward to life, that he may avoid Sheol beneath.” (Proverbs 15:24, RSV) “Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you [king of Babylon] when you come… your pomp is brought down to Sheol” (Isaiah 14:9,11 RSV) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!… For you have said in your heart… ‘I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be

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brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15 12) “You sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!…

You sent your messengers far off, and even descended to Sheol.” (Isaiah 57:3,9) As “Death” is associated with “Hades” in the New Testament, so “Sheol” is associated with almost the same thing - “Destruction” – in the Old Testament: “Hell and Destruction are before the LORD.” (Proverbs 15:11) “Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering.” (Job 26:6) And here is a definition of Sheol: Orcus, hades, a subterranean place, full of thick darkness (Job 10:21,22), in which the shades of the dead are gathered together… hell, purgatory…

(Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament, pg. 798) The picture we get here then is that Sheol, in its more common usage, is the place of the dead in the unseen world that is reserved for the unrighteous and, we might suppose, for those whose spiritual status is in a state of limbo – not righteous, but also not terribly evil.

As for the righteous, the Old Testament seems to indicate that, even in those days prior to Christ’s coming, they did not land in Sheol. There is the example of king David’s declaration: “my flesh shall rest in hope, for You will not leave my soul in Sheol… But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [Sheol], for He shall receive me.” (Psalm 16:10, 49:15) And if the righteous were received by God, then their dwelling place in the Afterlife would be a heavenly environment. It was understood that Heaven and Hell were the dwelling places for souls in the Afterlife. “If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Hell[Sheol], behold, you are there.”

(Psalm 139:8) The appearance of Moses and Elijah, conversing with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, also points to the fact that they too were dwelling in the presence of God. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15) This also agrees with how Jesus pictured it in the New Testament: Hades was the abode of the unrighteous, an unpleasant environment, while the righteous were received into “Abraham’s bosom” – meaning a heavenly abode. (Luke 16:10-31)

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And not just for the righteous, but also for the innocent, the Afterlife was pictured as a realm of serenity and peace. Job’s lament over his earthly distress provides some insight: Why did I not die at birth?…

For now I would have lain still and been quiet… then I would have been at rest…

There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

There the prisoners rest together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

(Job 3:11,13,17-19) The ancient Hebrews were aware of the mercy and justice of the Almighty and knew that the innocent – such as children who died, or those who were treated unfairly – need not look forward to a gloomy Afterlife but would find release and rest from their earthly troubles in a Paradise-like environment.

Sheol may not be the kind of dreadful place that we usually envision in the word “Hell”; that domain seems to exist separately in another region of the spiritual realm and is called the “lake of fire”. For many souls “Death and Hades” may be a neutral sort of region – like a Purgatory or “holding cell” environment – a time and place where souls can continue their activities, not in a wonderful heavenly environment, but at least one where they might have opportunity to prove by their works and attitude of heart where they stand.

Then in the Final Judgment, those souls who have turned towards the Love and Truth of Christ shall have their names “written in the Book of Life”, while those who have not repented in their Afterlife existence will meet their fate in the Lake of Fire; the heat gets turned up a bit.

This is known as the “second death” when the rebellious will be sent to the “lake of fire”, and whatever that is, it should serve as a warning to souls in Purgatory to make peace with God and avoid the dismal fate that lies ahead in that infernal region. (Revelation 20:14-15) (More on this subject later.)

Now to those souls who truly are unworthy, we can imagine there may not be any intermediate stage at all for them: those who have committed grievous atrocities and crimes against humanity, the

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“Hitlers”, the cold-blooded monsters and warmongers; along with their accomplices – the liars, deceivers, and false prophets who lay the philosophical foundation for criminal activity and tyrannical regimes that have come and gone through history. Most of these souls, we probably wouldn’t mind to see them get marched off straight into the Lake of Fire (as will happen to the Beast and the False Prophet at the Battle of Armageddon according to Revelation 19:20.)

Then there are those to whom salvation is offered, but, because of pride, rebellion, excessive guilt or self-righteousness, or other reasons, might feel incapable or unwilling to receive Christ’s gift. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20) How does the Lord feel, seeing His created beings turn away? Ezekiel 33:11 expresses it thus: “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” It is not because Christ doesn’t want a person to “come to the light”, but because that person “hates the light” and fears to have his “deeds… exposed”, then they refuse or find themselves unable to make that step. The choice is ours, not God’s. He provides the “light”, the guidance we need, but He does not choose for us. That’s our part, but as so often happens, because of pride or fear, we make the wrong choice.

And for many souls, brought up in gross ignorance, the Light is shown if for no other reason than to make them aware that there is a choice; there actually is an alternative to the kind of life or belief system to which they have been held captive. And once that has had time to sink in, would they not be given their “second chance” – first chance really – to embark on their journey towards the true Light?

We may conclude then that Sheol and Hades, in their widest sense, signify the “unseen realm”. However, in actual usage, the terms usually refer to the lower and gloomy level of that unseen world. Sometimes a more fine-tuned expression is used – “Death and Hades” (in the Book of Revelation) and “Sheol and Destruction” (Job 26:6, Proverbs 15:11) – as if to say that Hades/Sheol really is a wide domain (the “unseen realm”). But when the phrases “Death and Hades” or “Sheol and Destruction” are used, these point specifically to that region of the “unseen realm”, which we might think of as Purgatory or a way station or holding cell. It is the temporary abode for

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the unrighteous until “Death and Hades” are “cast into the lake of fire”.

(Revelation 1:18, 6:8, 20:13-14) Regarding this subject of how the words Hades and Sheol were used in the Scriptures, the following explanation provides some helpful insight: [Luke] 16:23 In Hades… “Hades” was the Greek term for the abode of the dead. In the LXX [Septuagint Bible – translation of the Old Testament into Greek in about 250 B.C.], it was used to translate the Hebrew Sheol, which referred to the realm of the dead in general, without necessarily distinguishing between righteous or unrighteous souls. However, in NT usage, “Hades” always refers to the place of the wicked prior to final judgment in hell. The imagery Jesus used paralleled the common rabbinical idea that Sheol had two parts, one for the souls of the righteous and the other for the souls of the wicked – separated by an impassable gulf. But there is no reason to suppose, as some do, that “Abraham’s bosom” spoke of a temporary prison for the souls of OT saints, who were brought to heaven only after He had actually atoned for their sins. Scripture consistently teaches that the spirits of the righteous dead go immediately into the presence of God (cf.

23:43; 2Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23). And the presence of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (9:30) belies the notion that they were confined in a compartment of Sheol until Christ finished His work. (from notes on Luke 16:23 in The MacArthur’s Study Bible) The above commentary about Hades offers a reasonable and balanced explanation. Unfortunately however, when commenting on the fate of the unrighteous in the post-Hades era (the Lake of Fire), the same author spirals off into some odd conclusions: [Matthew] 25:46 everlasting punishment…eternal life… The punishment of the wicked is as never-ending as the bliss of the righteous. The wicked are not given a second chance, nor are they annihilated… Jesus indicates that the punishment itself is everlasting – not merely the smoke and flames. The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God. They consciously suffer shame and contempt and the assaults of an accusing conscience – along with the fiery wrath of an offended deity – for all eternity… (from notes on Matthew 25:46 in The MacArthur’s Study Bible)

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The above commentary echoes the standard Christian view on this subject of what happens to evildoers. It presents God as a rather monstrous character, tormenting souls through a never-ending infinity. Common sense would tell us this cannot be the right conception; God would not be so negligent or incompetent as to forget all about the souls He has had to penalize in what is known as the Lake of Fire‌ or whatever purgatorial realm in which they may be incarcerated.

And as this study will endeavor to show, this is what the Scriptures do, in fact, teach. What has happened though, unfortunately, this aspect of God’s truth lies hidden, buried under a rubble of man-made misunderstanding.

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A-6: Justified by Works or by Faith?

Although we usually think of Salvation as that grace (divine favor) by which God releases a person from a dismal fate in Death and Hell and grants him or her entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, the same grace of God operates in many other ways: to bring present victory in our personal lives and circumstances; to bring healing in body, mind, and spirit; to take Earth’s government out of the hands of evil rulers, replacing them with the meek who shall inherit the Earth; to restore and regenerate Earth’s natural environment. “Salvation” then can be understood in many different ways, covering the entire scope of human life and environment.

But let us narrow the focus down to that aspect known as personal salvation – the transition that happens when one “has passed from death into life” to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. (John 5:24) Such salvation is not a complicated process. God has made it easy. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) In this reference to the children of Israel, Moses had fashioned a bronze serpent; the people needed only to look on it to get healed from the curse of serpent bites that were ravaging the wilderness camp. (Numbers 21.9) Likewise, to gain release from the curse of Death and Hell in the Afterlife, it is a simple matter of believing in Christ. But then we might recall the statement, “even the demons believe”. (James 2:19) And they certainly don’t have eternal life, but eternal damnation.

So then, there must be something more to this step of “believing” than meets the eye. And that extra something is explained further ahead in the same passage. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:20-21) So here we see that mysterious factor which, paradoxically, can complicate the simple step to salvation for some people.

For to take that step means renouncing one’s wrongdoings, the setting aside of one’s pride; it’s repentance. More than just “faith”, it’s also a matter of “deeds” that “have been done in God.” And for those who are “practicing evil” and would rather not that their“deeds should be exposed”, then submission to Christ’s authority becomes difficult as it requires a

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shattering of their old ways and attitudes. But for the person “who does the truth” and whose “deeds… have been done in God”, it is easy for him or her to “come to the light”; they are already walking in love and humility.

The example of Naaman in the Old Testament offers a helpful illustration of what this salvation process entails. The commander of the Syrian army, Naaman, had journeyed to Israel to visit the prophet Elisha in hopes of finding a cure for his leprosy. The prophet’s answer was simple: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”

But since the prophet did not accord a grand welcome ceremony and display of healing power, “Naaman became furious” (2 Kings 5:10-11) Finally, Naaman humbly yielded to the prophet’s instructions and bathed in the Jordan River and was healed… not only of his leprosy but of his pride also. When not yielded, humbly, to the will of God, Naaman’s healing was difficult; but once he yielded, it was a simple matter.

We may conclude then that “believing” includes more than mere acknowledgment or mental understanding of who Christ is (for even the demons have that). As far as personal salvation is concerned, it is a matter of receiving Christ, which means submitting to His authority, which in turn means renouncing the works of Darkness in one’s life. “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19) It’s a humbling and repentance.

At the outset Naaman had faith; he believed it was possible to get healed of his leprosy. But that faith wasn’t enough until he humbled himself.

This we might label as the “works” factor in the equation, that mental or spiritual effort on the part of the believer which causes him or her to put their faith into action. This leads us then to the controversial question, can we be saved by works as implied in the above story and in the Scripture, “He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God”? (John 3:21) Well, there is a fine line here. “Deeds… done in God” are not selfworks. For as the apostle Paul explains, “By grace are ye saved… and that not of yourselves… not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 – KJV) There are two very different ways that “works” can manifest in a person’s life. One is the self-righteous way of seeking merit through an

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outward show of goodness by which a person can “boast” through works done “of yourselves”. The other way is found in those “deeds” that, in a spirit of humility, have been “done in God”.

And Paul himself, in the very next verse, states, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (2:10) Paul places great emphasis here on the role of “good works” in the lives of believers. “God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Each of us has a destiny, “prepared beforehand”, to fulfill. Essentially, Paul is saying that faith and works cannot be separated.

In the Parable of the Final Judgment, Jesus talks about dividing the sheep from the goats – those who are ready for Heaven and those who are not.

We learn here what the deciding factor is – not religious beliefs, but charitable or non-charitable acts of compassion during their earthly lifetimes. To them (“the righteous”) it was granted to “inherit the kingdom”. They had cared for the “least of these My brethren” – not for show or thought of reward, but simply out of compassion.

In fact, they were not even aware that they had done anything worthwhile in service to Him: “when did we see You hungry… thirsty… a stranger… naked…sick, or in prison…?” But By helping the less fortunate, they were, without knowing it, doing their kind deeds in the name of Christ.

(Matthew 25:31-46) The same idea appears in John 13:20 where the deciding factor is whether or not people receive the people whom God sends to them. And in the Final Judgment: “the dead were judged according to their works… those who have done good and those who have done evil” (Revelation 20:12, John 5:29) John the Baptist warned the Pharisees and Sadducees” not to trust in their false security of bloodline descent from Abraham, but rather to “bear fruits worthy of repentance”. And whoever has the “fruits”, “God is able to raise up” to become “children to Abraham”. (Matthew 3:7-9) In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ stated, “by their fruits you will know them.” He was referring there to “false prophets” who have their “sheep’s clothing” of brilliant ideas and belief systems, but the real gauge of their trustworthiness was to take a look at their fruits, the results of their ideas and actions. (Matthew 7:15-20) The angel Gabriel told the prophet

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Daniel that those who will be highly rewarded at the end of Earth’s final “time of trouble” were “wise” and “turned many to righteousness”. (Daniel 12:3) The emphasis is on their conduct during their earthly lives, not their belief system.

Whom God is looking for then is the person “who does the truth”.

“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts.” (Psalm 51:6) “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23) “Deeds done in God” may be nothing more than a repentant heart – “the answer of a good conscience toward God”. (1Peter 3:21) The thief on the cross, for example, showed great faith, trust, even insight when he uttered his cry, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42) Such “works” as this final confession of faith may seem small to our human eyes, but in God’s eyes they are big. Unlike the other thief, he was honest and not proud, able to acknowledge that he had led a sinful life. On top of that he had the courage and humility to throw himself upon God’s mercy. His repentance was the act of one who “does the truth”. And those who “worship in spirit and in truth” are the ones whom “the Father is seeking”. (John 4:23-24) Not everyone, of course, has led a life of extreme sinfulness like the thief on the cross. Many peace-loving people try to obey their conscience, and it could be said of them that their “deeds” were “done in God”. But if they have not had the opportunity to come to Christ during their lifetimes (as did the thief on the cross), then it only seems reasonable that that opportunity would be offered to them in the Afterlife.

This brings us now to a question that comes up quite a bit in the New Testament: are we justified by works or by faith? It almost seems as if there are contradictory teachings on this issue.

If we go by what the apostle Paul said, then we are justified by faith. To prove his point, Paul uses the example of Abraham who “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”. (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:1-8). The apostle James, on the other hand, using the same Scripture about Abraham, stated, “You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:14-26) Could James be wrong here? Does not the New Testament teach that salvation is by grace through faith? And did not the reformers during the Church Age fight hard to reinstate the belief that salvation is the gift of God,

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not dependent on works but on faith alone? Prior to the Reformation era of history, Popes and clergy taught that salvation came by works. And the kind of works they emphasized were those that increased the temporal power of the Church. In the early 1500s Martin Luther and the Protestant reformers repudiated this perversion of the Gospel; they re-introduced the knowledge of God’s grace – salvation as God’s free gift, accessible by faith and not by works. The pendulum began then to swing away from ritualistic “works” to the side of “faith”.

To resolve this faith-versus-works question, much depends on how we define “works”. Christ once made this intriguing statement when asked by the people, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Probably they were thinking in terms of some physical activity, rituals, or good deeds.

He answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

(John 6:28-29) In our earthly realm, spiritual reality is difficult to perceive; thus, that step of believing in Christ is in itself a “work of God” – the “work of faith” as the apostle Paul calls it. (1Thessalonians 1:3) “Even the demons believe”, but with their kind of believing, there is no “work” of submission or yieldedness to the authority of Christ, only stubborn refusal. (James 2:19) The journey to Salvation, although it is a spiritual journey, does take a little effort – mental or spiritual effort we might say; it’s a struggle sometimes to believe and to submit. It was a struggle for the “lukewarm” church of Laodicea to undergo the difficult process of re-dedicating themselves. But Christ assured them, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.” Christ is knocking at our heart’s door, but if there is no response, if one doesn’t make the conscious effort, an act of will, by which he or she “opens the door”, then there is no communion or fellowship with Christ; salvation, or re-dedication in this case, is hindered. So, looking at “works” from this perspective, it would be correct to say that the path to salvation requires that faith and works walk hand in hand.

But the apostle Paul was looking at it from a different angle. He was embroiled in the task of instructing the Jewish people about their insistence on keeping the laws of Moses. Thus, in that context “works” meant something different: external activity that seemed good on the surface, but because God had introduced the new way of faith in Christ’s sacrifice, their “works” were nothing more than a sign of their rebellion against how God wanted them to follow. No wonder then that Paul made the statement, “We

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conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

(Romans 3:28; see also Romans 5:1, Galatians 2:16, 3:24) And before his time, the Old Testament prophets frequently had to expose the disconnect between the people’s obedience to the external requirements of the law and their inner state of being. King David expressed this well. “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom… For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it… The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:6,16-17) And there is the prophet Isaiah who admonished those who had a certain level of “faith” and took “delight in approaching God”. (58:2) But their “works” of fasting and prayer were not the kind of works God was pleased with. “Why have we afflicted our souls, and You [God] take no notice?” the people would complain. And the Lord told them to get busy and “loose the bonds of wickedness… let the oppressed go free… satisfy the afflicted soul, etc.”

(Isaiah 58:3,6,10) Their faith without the right kind of works was dead and was robbing them of God’s blessing.

This question about how to define “works” is a rather fine point of theology perhaps. However, by clarifying it, we open the door to becoming more accommodating and charitable towards unbelievers. Especially important is the understanding that “works” does have some role to play in the salvation process. By excluding “works” from the Salvation equation, we shut out many an unbeliever who, although he or she may not have much to show in the way of “faith” (or Christian understanding), do have plenty to show in the way of “works”.

We might think of their “faith” as a desire to live in a godly way, prompted by their conscience, subconsciously perhaps, and in God’s eyes this would mean a lot. Just because it can’t be seen or measured, doesn’t mean faith is not there. Fortunately for many of us, God does not judge by the “outward appearance” but “looks at the heart”. (1Samuel 16:7) The apostle Paul made note once about “Gentiles” (unbelievers) who would “by nature do the things in the law… who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” (Romans 2:1415). Indeed, conscience is often described as God’s presence in man. For example, George Washington’s statement:

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Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

If a person is pursuing godly ideals of truth, love and concern for others, then we can probably assume that the Lord will take note of this. And if it happens in a cultural setting where Christian beliefs are unknown or prohibited, this also He will take into account. That, after all, is what those “books” mentioned in the Revelation Book are for – to keep track of our activities, whether good or bad. (20:12) We should concede then that such people have been influenced by “the true Light which gives light to every man”. And so it should not seem surprising that He would bring them the opportunity in the Afterlife to find the faith that was missing during their earthly lives. Or in many cases, that happens in this life supernaturally through the power of dreams or visions.

A welcoming attitude towards unbelievers, by the way, is one of the striking features in Mormon doctrine. In their understanding there exists a variety of potential outcomes for souls in the Afterlife. Importantly, they believe that those who did not have the chance to receive Christ during their earthly lives will get that chance in the Afterlife; in addition, some souls may experience a temporary hell after death but will have opportunity to repent before the Final Judgment.

To the minds of those outside the Christian faith, this kind of outlook surely would sound more reasonable, appealing, welcoming, and less forbidding than the standard, black-and-white conception of Heaven for born-again Christians and eternal Hell for everyone else. Whatever else we may think of Mormon doctrine, this one aspect may be one of the reasons why God has blessed the Mormon Church and allowed it to grow. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”(Matthew 7:20) Getting back to the faith-versus-works question: In his epistle the apostle James uses the example of Abraham to explain how “faith was working together with his works”. (James 2:22) Although “Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him for righteousness”, that belief was accompanied by the “work” of taking Isaac to the mountain and getting ready to sacrifice him.

(James 2:23, Genesis 15:6) If Abraham had not done so, then it would have meant he didn’t believe and/or refused to obey what God had told him.

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Whether it’s no faith or disobedient faith, it could not have “counted for righteousness”, and the result would be no blessing, no salvation.

Faith and works cannot be separated. There is always this interplay, and the one cannot exist without the other. Abraham showed his belief in the difficult thing God had asked of him by setting out to do it. “Faith was completed by his works.” And for this reason Abraham “was called a friend of God”, in contrast to those whom James mentions later will not or cannot obey and thus become “a friend of the world” and “an enemy of God”.

(James 2:22-23, 4:4 – ESV) The same can be said of Naaman who had to obey what Elisha had told him before he could receive healing.

The same principle appears, from a different angle, in the Scripture, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11, ESV) That state of “rest” corresponds to that domain of grace – that state of deep assurance of being one with God, under His wings of protection and blessing. But it is preceded by the “let us therefore strive” stage, which corresponds to the “faith” side of the salvation equation.

And if one must “strive to enter that rest”, then there must be an element of “works”; otherwise, it would be “disobedience”. “Faith completed by works” may be thought of as our response to what God’s grace or favor has already provided.

Mankind’s Salvation has already been accomplished; we need only to exercise our faith to make it reality. And as far as personal salvation is concerned, to exercise our faith requires some kind of “work” of confession, submission, or repentance. This kind of “work” is simply the result of our trust (or faith) in Him, which is love really. Whereas the other kind of works (“of yourselves”) is based on a lack of trust (or faith). Those who are not trusting in God cannot enter the Kingdom of God. “For the Kingdom of God belongs to men who have hearts as trusting as these little children’s. And anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get within the Kingdom’s gates.”

(Luke 18:16, TLB) What often happens is people fear having to trust God and fall into His arms. They avoid letting go of themselves; they may deceive themselves into thinking they can maneuver their way into God’s favor by a display of

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works of their own choosing. In this way they can hold onto their pride and comfort zone of habitual thought and action. But that doesn’t bring salvation.

In Abraham’s example, we know that his “works” resulted from what God had told him personally. The law-keeping Jews, on the other hand, to whom Paul was trying so hard to teach the new way of faith, were not engaging in personal interaction with God; it was a distant relationship, and their “works” were just a going-through-the-motions ritual which they hoped would leverage the hand of the Almighty in their favor.

So, although Paul wrote much about how the works of the Law could not bring salvation, that did not mean that he thought works were not necessary. In fact, in the passage quoted before in this study, Paul himself said, “[God] will render to each one according to his works.“ To those who continue “in well-doing… he will give eternal life.” But for evil-doers, “there will be tribulation and anguish.” (Romans 2:5-11, ESV) When Paul states that the “gift” of Salvation cannot be obtained by “works”, he is referring to a certain type of works, those done with the wrong motive – just for show, whether it be the works of the Law, religious observances, or even moral conduct. (Ephesians 2:8-9) And that kind of do-ityourselfism has caused huge problems throughout Church history.

The most raging religious controversy the world has ever known has been between the do-it-yourself religions and the God-alone-can-save-you kind.

Man has always been trying to save himself, to work his way to Heaven, with just a little help from God thrown in. That way he can give himself most of the credit and go his own way.

The first murder was committed by a religionist of the do-it-yourself kind, Cain (the oldest son of the first couple, Adam and Eve). Cain killed his brother Abel, a man who was trusting God (Genesis chapter 4). This was the beginning of the persecution of the true church by the false church. Cain was religious, very religious. He was trying very hard to save himself in his own way, even sacrificing to God and claiming to worship God. He was doing his best to ask God to help him earn his own salvation–but his best wasn’t good enough! His way was not God’s way, but was the way of all false religions.

Those who follow false religions are all dependent upon self-righteousness and their own way. Most of them claim to be worshipping God and seeking a little help from Him to make it, but because they work so hard at trying to earn it, they figure they deserve it–with or without His help–and are quite

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offended if He doesn’t seem to appreciate their goodness…

On the other hand, Abel just did what God told him to do–and he “offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain” (Hebrews 11:4): the sacrifice of pure faith in what God told him to do. By sacrificing a lamb, which was a foreshadowing of Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world (John 1:29), Abel showed that he was trusting God alone to save him.

He knew he had only God’s righteousness, and none of his own, and that salvation was purely a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Abel’s humble sacrifice made such a fool out of the hardworking Cain, the self-made man and devout religionist, devoted to his own form of worship, and it so totally exposed the futility and hypocrisy of Cain’s hard work, that Cain was furious. After all his labors of the flesh, his legalistic reasoning, and his demands for salvation in return for all he was doing, Cain was so humiliated that he tried to wipe out the awful truth that his religion had failed to save him–and he did so by killing the man whose simple faith in God’s grace had exposed him.

Thus began the battle royal between pride and humility… the perpetual warfare that has been waged ever since between the false church and the true church, flesh and spirit, [self]works and faith, law and grace, self and God. This conflict has resulted in some of the greatest misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Scriptures that have ever existed… [“Flesh or Spirit” by David Brandt Berg] A vivid picture there of the right and wrong kinds of works: Abel “who was trusting God”; and Cain who wanted to do things his own way. As explained above, the gift of Salvation requires “faith” – without any “do-ityourself” works. Of course, Abel still had to do his part of preparing a lamb sacrifice. This was the action of his faith. “Abel just did what God told him to do.” Like Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac, or Naaman bathing in the Jordan, they put their trust in God at the outset; they knew it was a “Godalone-can-save-you” situation.

Nevertheless, there was an action or “work” required to complete the “faith” of these individuals. But their works were the right kind of works (since they were what God wanted them to do). And as they did their works, God poured out His grace and did the miracles that were needed. And likewise, the miracle of Salvation requires, not just faith, but the “work” of an enquiring mind, a seeking heart, a contrite and humble spirit, a confession of faith of some kind.

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Here is where that peculiar human attribute known as “choice” enters the picture – what sets human beings apart from the animal kingdom.

If there were no “work” (no involvement, no step of faith), that means no choice would be needed. And if there is no choice, then it is all left up to God – total pre-destination.

But that is not what God desires, nor how He has designed the drama of human experience and history; He expects us to trust and respond, as in a relationship, and thus He has given us humans freedom of choice. And choice means faith moves itself out of mere contemplation into action. As far as personal salvation is concerned, there should be some kind of confession of faith; or conversely, a conscious denial, turning away, and rejection.

So when Paul quotes from Genesis, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” it doesn’t mean that works were not involved. (Romans 4:3) Paul was simply putting more emphasis on the “faith” side of the equation because he was addressing a Jewish society where the faith-works pendulum had swung too far to the side of keeping the wrong kind of works (of the Law), and this was interfering with their acceptance of the new way of faith in Christ.

On the other hand, James, who also quotes the same Scripture about Abraham, emphasizes the “works” side of the equation because he was dealing with those who thought they could get by with their belief system “without works”; they were smugly content with their Christian “faith” but were not living it. (2:20) Back in those days of the Early Church, perhaps the apostle James noticed among his flock of believers a certain lack of connection between faith and works. Some thought that one could have faith “apart from works”, but James countered this idea, saying, “I will show you my faith by my works”. (2:18, ESV) Nowadays, in some Christian circles it seems as if that pendulum has swung too far in that direction. And as James points out in his epistle, it is possible to fall into a sort of easy-believism. Born-again Christians should, of course, be happy and overjoyed to have found God’s favor through Christ, their salvation, but they must beware of getting too familiar and slipping into an attitude of “it doesn’t matter what one does because God will always forgive”. Well yes, that is true; He will forgive… but regardless, it will still cost something. (More information on this in the section “Rewards, Rehabilitation, or Both?”)

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“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” An overemphasis on “faith” (belief system) doesn’t count for much because “even the demons believe.” (2:17,19) Citing the example of Abraham, James states, “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? … You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (2:22,24) Now it is possible to go too far in the direction of “works” (as to go in the direction of “faith”). There is the example of the situation that came up amongst believers in the Ephesian church. Its members were found wanting because they had lost their “first love”. (Revelation 2:4) They were failing to let go of self-effort (works) so that (through faith) they could have more communion with God, the result of which would allow Him more opportunity to work through them.

The only way we can become abundantly fruitful is to understand the Lord’s fruit-bearing process. As we lay down self-effort, our natural human independence, and seek communion with Him, abiding in the Vine, then His power, His will, and His desires will be realized in our lives, which then will bear fruit that remains throughout eternity! — George Whitten, “Abide” The Lord loves our faith and our belief in Him even though we can’t see Him. He also loves it when we show our faith by our works. There is this constant interplay of faith and works. It’s a bit of a mystery, but one thing seems certain: the two complement each other, and neither can exist in isolation. To stay on God’s track means to keep the right balance between the two.

An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers.

One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word “Faith,” and on the other oar the word “Works.” Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of this. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad of the opportunity for testimony, said, “I will show you.”

So saying, he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again–this time the other way around, but still in a circle.

After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works, and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his

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inquiring passenger, “You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and ‘faith without works is dead’ also, getting you nowhere. But faith & works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing.”

[Good Thots, 1987, Page 1035] So if we perceive that our spiritual life is lacking and seems to be going around in circles, then maybe it results from this imbalance – lack of faith or lack of works. This controversy over which is more important – faith or works – can be argued either way, it seems. Much depends on the circumstances, as noted in the above examples of Paul and James and the different emphases they used in ministering to different sets of people and their weaknesses. About all we can say on this is that both faith and works are important; they complement each other and need to be combined. Faith without works is incomplete, and works without faith is also incomplete.

In the years following the establishment of the Early Church, various Gnostic heresies began to spring up. One of these over-emphasized the division between the “evil” physical and the “good” spiritual domains, which resulted in two false teachings: 1) Since the “spirit” was saved (and therefore “good”), then it didn’t matter what the body did; you could indulge in any kind of licentious behavior, and it would be okay. 2) Since the “body” was evil, then the way to salvation was asceticism – strict denial of bodily/worldly pleasures. These Gnostic practices were like the extreme end result of the “faith apart from works… body apart from the spirit” attitudes that James was confronting. (2:26, ESV) Christ set the example for us. He did not operate by self-effort or self-will: “I can of Mine own self do nothing… I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” He abandoned Himself to what God was leading Him to do, saying “as I hear, I judge”. (John 5:30, KJV) Not preconceived notions, not a set of rules (like the Laws of Moses), not society’s conventions, just simple obedience to the will of God; and this, of course, required Him to spend a great deal of time in prayer and meditation with the Father. In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul mentions something similar: “He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (3:5) Paul makes it clear, in his epistle to the Ephesians, that the gift of God’s favor, the “grace” aspect of salvation, is dependent on faith (“by grace

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you have been saved through faith”). (2:8) And this faith, as James made equally clear, cannot exist “apart from works”; otherwise it is “dead”. (James 2:26 – ESV) So perhaps it wouldn’t be wrong to paraphrase Ephesians 2:8-9 thus: “For by grace you have been saved through your living faith (not a dead faith without works), and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works of your own self-effort and self-will lest anyone should boast.”

As mentioned before, there are two kinds of “works”. What James had in mind are those of simple and humble obedience to God. Whereas the kind of works Paul had in mind are those that encourage pride and selfrighteousness, being the product of one’s own imagination or legalistic reasoning or self-effort. In particular, Paul downplays those “works” of the old law that were interfering with the new way of faith. Or it could be any scheme that causes us to fall for our human nature’s desire to “walk by sight” instead of “by faith”. (2Corinthians 5:7) So far, we have considered the concepts of faith and works, but not much about “grace”, which is also very much a part of the salvation process.

So then what about “grace”? What is it? To put it simply, when God lavishes His love upon us, especially when He does what is impossible for us to do or be deserving of, that is “grace”. The word “grace” comes from the Greek charis: The N. T. writers use [charis] pre-eminently of that kindness by which God bestows favors even upon the ill-deserving, and grants to sinners the pardon of their offences, and bids them accept of eternal salvation through Christ…

Eph. 2:5,7,8. (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pg. 666) There is only one path to salvation – through the name (or power) of Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). But that path may be understood from two different angles. On the one hand, we can look at salvation through the lens of faith. As Ephesians 2:8-9 explains, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”. “Grace” is what God does. “Faith” is what we do. And faith is not only a matter of believing, but also accepting (unlike the demons who only “believe”). And if one “accepts”, this is the crucial step of faith, the built-in “work” aspect that completes the initial “faith”. And this effort of faith, this “work” of faith, brings access into God’s grace.

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On the other hand, we can look at salvation through the lens of works. And here we may consider what the Gospel of John says about the path to salvation: “he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (3:21) The deeds” themselves do not perform the miracle of salvation; that’s God’s job (“grace”). But those “deeds”, if they’re the right kind of deeds, done in love and humility, are the action of a person’s faith in whatever Light he or she was given. They may not have understood it as God’s Light working on their conscience. But their works are the evidence that that was what took place.

Now a person’s “deeds” cannot of themselves bring salvation. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

(Titus 3:5) Nevertheless, it should be conceded that a person’s “deeds” or “works of righteousness” do touch the heart of God who lovingly pours out His grace and miraculous salvation power on those worthy individuals who are coming “to the light”.

In this connection we might consider the case of those who were not thinking much about God but were working with a view to benefiting their fellow man – with a pure heart out of concern for others – and not trying to prove their own righteousness. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it was not at all important that the Samaritan belonged to the wrong religion. All that mattered was that “he had compassion” for someone in need. (Luke 10:33) And in the Lord’s eyes this placed him far above those (the priest and the Levite) who had the right religion (“salvation is of the Jews” - John 4:22) but could not show compassion when it was needed.

For so many people in this world, their faith in the Christian God has been weakened or made non-existent because of their cultural background and training, or because of a poor example seen from those who were supposed to be Christ’s representatives. For all we know, as far as God is concerned, the works of these people could be counted as “deeds done in God”. If they have the right kind of works, and if faith and works operate together as the Book of James teaches, then these people must have some kind of faith (even if it might seem lacking from a Christian point of view). “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (James 2:24) Of course, in the end their salvation is still a matter of faith – “by grace through faith”; to overcome their ignorance and unbelief (the faith side

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of the equation), Christ would have to show His divine favor (His grace) by manifesting Himself at some point, in the Afterlife, to those who might not otherwise have the “faith” to accept the truth and be given the opportunity to enter the Kingdom. Normally, we think of faith as being “completed by works” (2:22, ESV), as James expressed it. But, since faith and works are inseparable, who is to say that the converse cannot also be true? Works can be “completed by faith”.

The thing to remember then is that a person’s “works”, if done with a good conscience, will engage the grace and mercy of Christ, even to those who were unbelievers during their lifetime. Although it is much better for a person to know Christ during his or her lifetime, that does not have to limit Christ’s outpouring of “grace” in the Afterlife.

Regarding the people of God in the very End Time, the Revelation Book makes this interesting statement: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (12:17) The forces of Darkness shall be warring against certain people (“the woman”, later referred to as “His wife” in 19:7) The “woman” symbolizes the people who are obeying God, standing up for truth and righteousness during those dark days at the End of our present Age, those who pose a threat to the Dragon and his new world order headed by the Antichrist and False Prophet.

Are all these people Christians? Probably most of them will be. But it should not surprise us to see many in those days who, because of their culture or upbringing, cannot see their way to making bold declarations of faith in Christ. Yet they will courageously confront the evils of the new world order of the Antichrist and False Prophet. Even without a proper understanding of who Christ really is, nevertheless, they will have been guided by that “true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) Would not God overlook their lack of knowledge and consider them His people, as those “who keep the commandments of God”? On the other side of the coin, there may be many in those days who call themselves Christians (“have the testimony of Jesus Christ”) yet may fail to “keep the commandments of God” and will shy away from making the difficult choice to stand forth boldly in the cause of righteousness. Having the right belief system – “the testimony of Jesus Christ” - is important, but it is not the entire picture.

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So again the question: Salvation, does it come by works or by faith?

Neither really. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace or favor. It is our faith, however, that leads us towards God’s salvation, bestowed freely on those who are ready for it. Faith is a powerful force. It transfers “things hoped for” and “things not seen” into reality. (Hebrews 11:1) But there is no such thing as faith that is not accompanied by some kind of work or action. In the “faith” chapter of Hebrews 11, every one of the heroes of faith has listed, along with their name, the action they took that showed their “faith” in what God wanted them to do.

We normally think of faith as the starting point and works as the completion point. But for many that starting point is rather vague and may best be expressed in John the apostle’s words as the “true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) For those who have no knowledge of Christ, the words of John 3:20-21 are appropriate. If a person “does truth” and his “deeds have been done in God”, he will “come to the Light”. And if he “hates the Light” because he is “practicing evil”, he won’t “come to the Light” at all. Or at the very best, it will be a painful process to have the “faith” to receive the gift of salvation because it means his “deeds” will have to be “exposed” and renounced. (John 3:20-21) Obedience (or works) engenders faith just as much as faith engenders obedience.

Well, we may speculate forever about who gets into the Kingdom and who doesn’t, or what their place in the Kingdom will be. The important thing to remember is that “the Lord knows those who are His.” This statement is followed by the qualifier, “And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19) Christ cannot bestow salvation on someone who refuses to “depart from iniquity” (which renders them unable, or unwilling, to “come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed”), nor is He going to be very happy with those who, having come to Him, turn their backs on Him in disobedience and unrighteousness.

The thing to keep in mind about all of this is that “faith” doesn’t act by itself; there is always an element of “works”. And in many cases, those “works” happen over the course of a whole lifetime before an obvious “faith” (in Christ) comes into being. As far as salvation itself is concerned, those “works” may be of an internal sort, an act of personal will – whether it be confession, a move towards repentance, a calling out “on the name of the Lord”, or whatever it might be – what Jesus called “the work of God”.

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(Romans 10:9-10,13; John 6:29) And after that it is pure grace; Christ opens the gates to welcome the new believer into the Kingdom.

A-7: Resurrection and Rapture The terms “Resurrection” and “Rapture” are key concepts in this study about Heaven and Hell. It will be helpful then to get an accurate idea of what they mean.

What Is “Resurrection”?

In most basic terms, “Resurrection” means “a raising or rising up”.

And in the Biblical context, it means to “cause to rise or raise up from the dead”. It is the reversal of the Curse pronounced on Adam and Eve (and all humanity) that “you shall surely die” because of having eaten from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. (Genesis 2:17) So in very general terms, Resurrection means the raising of the dead back to life.

The separation of body and soul caused at death is an unnatural tragedy, which will be remedied when the body is resurrected, allowing humans to exist as they were intended to do. [“Mankind,” ESV Study Bible (2007 edition), pg. 2528] Resurrection is the great promise of all ages that will reverse the sorrowful condition of mankind. Since the Garden of Eden, the human race has been haunted with the gloomy prospect of facing death without any knowledge of what will follow. Is it the end of existence, period? Or will the Afterlife catapult one into an abyss of hellish horrors, or some kind of endless darkness, or some state of disembodied helplessness? These were the troubling thoughts that have disquieted the minds of people for generations.

The Jews were the one people who did have some comfort, knowing that the Resurrection would come some day, but it was a long way off in some vague and far-away future at the “end of the Age”. It was a distant concept in the minds of most. But then along came Jesus Christ who gave a clear demonstration of its reality.

Towards the end of His earthly life, Jesus arrived in the town of Bethany; this was four days after the death of His “friend Lazarus”. Upon His arrival, Jesus told Lazarus’s sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life”

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in answer to her expressed hope: “I know that he [Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:24-25) At this moment He felt so sorry for their distress that He “wept.”

And since He was God, the One who would orchestrate the Last-Day Resurrection, He proved and gave a little foretaste of His divine supremacy over death with the astonishing miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, a deed which certainly validated Martha’s belief in the Last Day Resurrection.

(John 11) This was such an extraordinary event that the chief priests, perceiving it as a threat to their authority and influence, “plotted to put Him to death”; and not only that, but “plotted to put Lazarus to death also.” (John 11:53, 12:10) Of course, the main Resurrection demonstration that Christ gave was that of His own self. His physical body, which had died on the cross, was raised to life after three days. This so astounded and motivated the disciples who witnessed it that they spent the rest of their lives testifying to Christ’s great and awesome victory over Death’s dominion. And from this was born the revolutionary movement of the Early Church and Christianity.

For the Jewish people of that era, the return to physical life was how they understood the Resurrection would be manifested. The Old Testament Scriptures exhibit a confident expectation that “the meek shall inherit the earth”. (Psalm 37:11) Although it was understood that some of that “inheritance” can happen during a person’s own lifetime, the central idea was that, eventually, the Day of Judgment would come, evildoers would be cast out, and the righteous, resurrected in new bodies, would “inherit the earth”.

A rather intriguing aspect of this Resurrection is that the new physical body will not be subject to the problems that our bodies presently experience; they will even have supernatural capabilities. “The Lord Jesus Christ… will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21) And we learn from the Gospels that Christ’s “glorious body” was able to do some amazing things: it could appear or disappear, go through walls, ascend into heaven (or fly?). So there is much to look forward to.

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Besides the Resurrection of His dead body to physical life, Christ’s spirit was also raised out of the realm of spiritual death, from the prison of Hell (as outlined in the earlier section “Second Chance for Unbelievers?”).

“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” “(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)”

(Matthew 12:40, Ephesians 4:9-10, NAS) The phrase “lower parts of the earth”, being fairly general in scope, should include the time between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Christ’s sojourn in the domain of Hades “in the heart of the earth”.

This raising of Christ and many of the “spirits in prison” from Death and Hell relates to another form of Resurrection, which happens frequently in our present Age – when a soul is “born again”. (John 3:3) A person receives Christ, is washed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and becomes a “new creation”. (2Corinthians 5:17) The new believer gains a whole new and positive direction in life. He or she experiences a healing of the soul.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) What this means is that entrance into the Kingdom of God doesn’t have to wait until one’s death but can start during one’s earthly lifetime.

Christ promised, “Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40). In other words, by coming to Christ, a person’s “Resurrection” is sealed ahead of time.

This kind of Resurrection, which works effectively during the earthly life, can also bring healing of the body from afflictions or addictions. In a sense, it is like a mini-Resurrection, a taste or foreshadowing of the full reality of the Resurrection that is to come. Jesus Christ has simply led the way. “He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.”

(Colossians 1:18) We may conclude then that the concept of Resurrection, in its widest sense – raising the dead to life – encompasses both physical and spiritual aspects of human existence. And all of this was made possible by

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God’s efforts to restore His relationship to mankind through the work and sacrifice of His Son. What Is the “Rapture”?

In the Old Testament there were two people mentioned – Enoch and Elijah – who were translated straight from the earthly into the heavenly realm; they did not have to experience the death of their physical bodies, which apparently, by the power of God, were instantly transformed into spiritual bodies that could function in the Celestial Dimension. (Genesis 5:24, 2Kings 2:1,11-12) Their instant translation into Heaven were small examples that pre-figure the grand-scale “Rapture” that is to take place at the end of the Age. As far as we know, those who are still alive at that time will be translated in much the same way.

According to modern man’s scientific way of thinking, however, the whole idea of Resurrection, and even more so the Rapture, seems preposterous. Although Christians can accept these extraordinary doctrines by faith, it does help to understand that that faith is based on recorded testimonies from the past, including Jesus’ own deeds and words on the subject and His own Resurrection; we can trust then that this is a future event that will come to pass. The big question in Christian circles is “when?”

But first, it would help to know, what exactly is meant by the term “Rapture”? This event takes place at the Second Coming of Christ, when there shall be a seizing and carrying away of souls “en masse”, not just of those who are still alive at the time of Christ’s Second Coming, but also the “dead in Christ”. (1Thessalonians 4:16) These final moments of mankind’s history seem to happen in stages, beginning with the dramatic appearance of Christ in the heavens; then the angels will “gather together His elect… from one end of heaven to the other”. (Matthew 24:31) This “Rapture” is also known as the “first resurrection”.

(Revelation 20:5-6) It is the sudden transfer and invitation to what is known as the “marriage supper of the Lamb”; and there, in some honored place in the Celestial Realm, the people of God of all ages will be assembled – “those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead.”

(Luke 20:35) “For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready… Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:7,9)

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As in Matthew 24:31, this event is again referred to as a “gathering together” in 2Thessalonians 2:1. It almost sounds like a conference of delegates called to deliberate on some important leadership strategies. This would not be surprising in light of the fact that the Battle of Armageddon follows soon after the Marriage Supper: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints… And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.” (Jude 14, Revelation 19:14) This in turn is followed by the new government of Christ and the saints “who lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4).

Perhaps then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suppose that, besides being a victory celebration, the Marriage Supper is also a time to prepare for the future recovery and governing program of planet Earth, which by this time will be in pretty bad shape. At this time Earth’s future rulers will be outfitted with their new bodies, enabling them to function supremely well in the earthly environment.

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HELL IN HEAVEN? HEAVEN IN HELL? (Part B)

By John Lyall

- http://endtimeupgrade.org/

9 May, 2016 B-1: What about the Unsaved?

B-2: Why Share the Good News?

B-3: What Purpose this Life on Earth?

B-4: Judgment Seat of Christ B-5: Believers and Followers B-6: Heaven’s Class Structure – No Envy or Comparing B-7: Life – a Continual Learning Process

B-1: What about the Unsaved?

In the Daniel 12 passage, often quoted in this study, we note the words, “your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” (12:12) This great event happens at the end of our present Age and is known in the New Testament as the “first resurrection”. (Revelation 20:5-6) And it is limited to whomever God knows are His “people… every one who is found written in the book”, whether still alive on Earth at the end of that final “time of trouble” or, having died in ages past, alive in the spiritual realm.

Now we see here the wording “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth”. “Many” does not mean “all” – only those who are “found written in the book”. They are raised, “some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt”. So then, what about the multitudes of souls who are not “written in the book”, and so are not resurrected “to everlasting life”, not even “to shame and everlasting contempt”? What about those who were unable to find any entrance at all into the Kingdom of God – neither during their earthly lives, nor afterwards, in the spirit realm – and so are left to dwell in the realm of Death and Hades?

They were evildoers who had rejected God, and/or their works ran counter to the ways of God. They did not come to Christ during their earthly lives, nor were they given the opportunity, or were just not able, to meet

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Christ after their physical death. What will become of them? The simple answer is, they are among those who experience the “resurrection of condemnation”. (John 5:29) In the First Resurrection there exists a division between those who are raised “to everlasting life” and those raised “to shame and everlasting contempt”. But in a sense there is a third division – those who are not raised at all. Presumably, this means they are just left to dwell in whatever places to which they were assigned in their after-death existence in that less-than-ideal region of the nether world known as Death and Hades.

To understand better this mystery, we can start with Matthew 25:31-46. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory… “all the nations will be gathered before Him [the son of Man]” and will be judged according to how they had treated the poor, the sick, the prisoners, “the least of these My brethren”. (Matthew 25:31-46) Since this Judgment is presided over by the “Son of Man”, that seems to link it with the “judgment seat of Christ”, spoken of by the apostle Paul. (2Corinthians 5:10) As a result of this Judgment, Christ promises that the “sheep… the righteous” will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you”. As for the “goats”, they “will go away into everlasting fire”. (This word “everlasting”, in its original meaning, by the way, is not as permanent as the translation would suggest; more on this later.)

This goes along with another passage where Jesus states, “The hour is coming in which all [not just “many” but “all”] who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28-29) The Scriptures quoted above are general statements about the Final Judgment. As we go in for a closer look, the picture fine-tunes itself; further ahead in the New Testament, we learn that the Final Judgment happens in at least two stages. In Revelation 19:20, for example, after their defeat in the Battle of Armageddon, “the beast… and with him the false prophet…were cast alive into the lake of fire.” It seems that some of the world’s worst criminals will meet their fate at this first Judgment. This is also the time of the First Resurrection that Gabriel long before had mentioned, when the “sons of your people” would be raised.

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Now at this Judgment Seat of Christ, it would appear that not all the “goats” are sent to the Lake of Fire… although that could become their eventual destination. But before that happens, it seems they are given a reprieve – an opportunity to turn towards righteousness – a rather long one (in Earth time at least) of 1,000 years. Then comes a second Judgment – another sifting of the ranks – known as the Great White Throne Judgment.

(Revelation 20:11-15) Again, there will be a separation of the righteous from the unrighteous. After being judged, “each one according to his works”, some souls will be sent from Death and Hades into the Lake of Fire; others will have their names “written in the Book of Life” and will live again – resurrected into what is known as the New Heaven and New Earth. (Revelation 20:15, 21:1) As there will be a First Resurrection and Judgment prior to the Age of the Millennium, so also there will be a Second Resurrection and Judgment prior to the Age of the New Heaven and New Earth. (Regarding these future “Ages” spoken of in the Bible, we will learn more about them further ahead.)

To those who were part of the First Resurrection, it is promised, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” One reason they are blessed is because, as that Scripture goes on to say, “Over such the second death has no power.” (20:6) And what is the Second Death? It comes after the First Death of course. But this First Death is more than just the death of the physical body.

For those not “registered in heaven… not written in the Book of Life”, the First Death marks their transition into that less-than-ideal region of the unseen realm known as Hades or Sheol. As for the Second Death, this will bring entrance into the Lake of Fire and its heavy-duty chastisement and correction – needed for those souls who have continued in their rebellion and evil-doing.

No doubt, there are many differing opinions about who will qualify for this final sentencing to the Lake of Fire. Following are some thoughts on this subject: First of all, it should be understood that for the souls who were left behind at the First Resurrection, the game is not over. (Whew!) They will get their “second chance” when they are brought before God at the Great White Throne Judgment. Multitudes of those who are raised at this Second

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Resurrection will, like the First Resurrection souls, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34) These are the “rest of the dead” who “lived not again until the thousand years were finished”. (Revelation 20:5) They are not in the same category as those whose earthly lives were so bad that they had to be sent straight to that dreadful realm of the Lake of Fire – the fate, for example, of the Beast and the False Prophet and their worshipers. (19:20, 14:9).

Now it was said of the First Resurrection saints that “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”. Most modern translations use a more accurate version: “they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (20:4, ESV) This gets across better the idea that the saints were resurrected to physical life so they could reign with Christ on the Earth in the post-Armageddon Age of the Millennium.

It follows then, in the context of the passage, that when the Second Resurrection rolls around and the “rest of the dead” (who “did not come to life until the thousand years were ended”) are raised, that should mean they too will be raised to physical life (along with, of course, spiritual life and its blessings and peace).

Unlike the First Resurrection folks, their Resurrection had to be postponed. But then after the thousand years, their time has come. At this point it is important to understand that the Great White Throne Judgment does not happen in the physical realm: “the earth and the heaven [sky] fled away” before the face of the Almighty. (20:11) At this stage the final Judgment is taking place in the Spiritual Realm, not the physical. And this is the time when the dead from “Death and Hades” are “delivered up” and “judged, each one according to his works”.

Now where the passage states, “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended” (20:5, ESV), it does not mean they were resurrected to physical life just so they could die again and be sent off to their “second death”. They “come to life” so that they can enjoy physical (and spiritual) “life” on the New Earth. This is the great Second Resurrection when the “rest of the dead” will “come to life”. And just as the “first resurrection” saints “came to life” physically at the start of the Millennium, so these Second Resurrection souls will also return to physical life (on the New Heaven and Earth).

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It would make more sense to think that they were brought to life so they could “live again”, both spiritually and physically. Having finished their “prison term” in Hades (the First Death), they are now given entrance into the bountiful and blessed “life” of God. And it would seem that the vast majority of these First Death folks will be released at this time – judging by the fact that the phrase “rest of the dead” is used. Indeed, it would be hard to understand how anyone, however much of an evildoer they may have been during their first lifetime, upon entering the Realm Beyond, would not quickly come to his or her senses. The blindness to spiritual reality that we experience now will be stripped away upon entrance into the Afterlife and will undoubtedly cause immediate or eventual repentance on the part of most of the souls as they enter that unseen realm known as Death and Hades.

And by the time the Great White Throne Judgment arrives, most of them will have repented and thus will be “found written in the Book of Life”.

This seems, at any rate, to be the implication behind the “rest of the dead” phrase, which is dealing specifically with the souls who were unworthy of the First Resurrection, but not as vile or wicked as the Beast and False Prophet and their worshipers and other such characters through the ages who, after their First Death, had to be sent straight to their Second Death in the Lake of Fire.

Now we should consider this passage: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

(Revelation 20:15, ESV) Many a commentary will state that all the souls who were not part of the “first resurrection”, not only spend a thousand years in Death and Hades, but afterwards get sent to the Lake of Fire as well.

But this position fails to account for God’s great desire for mankind, that He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2Peter 3:9) The whole purpose for Christ’s coming to Earth was not “to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) And surely, that purpose continues on after the First Death of the souls who find themselves imprisoned in the realm of Death and Hades.

The phrase “if anyone’s name was not found…” is a more accurate translation of the original Greek and suggests that the number of Death and

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Hades inmates, who actually wind up in the Lake of Fire, are the exceptions and will be comparatively few. These exceptions would be the ones who have continued their proud and wicked ways during the Afterlife, still rebellious and unashamed of what they had done during their earthly lives.

To them, the Lord will have to say, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41) “This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14) This Second Death marks the end of life in Hades and the beginning of a “living death” in the Lake of Fire.

Regarding this Second Death, Scripture states, “they were judged, each one according to his works.” (Revelation 20:13) Now if they were judged only “according to their works” on Earth, then a rather large number, if not all, would get sent to the Lake of Fire.

As for the First Resurrection souls over whom “the second death has no power”, they proved themselves worthy during their earthly lives, having lived in righteousness, and will have received Christ and their citizenship in the Kingdom, along with their rewards much earlier at the Judgment Seat of Christ prior to the Millennium. (20:5-6) But for the multitudes who did not live their earthly lives in righteousness and were thus denied entrance into the Kingdom at their First Death, the game is not over. They will have spent a lifetime in the spiritual realm, in their Afterlife, where they will have had plenty of time to reflect and repent from the deeds of their earthly lives, which were sadly lacking in some way, and even to show that repentance by their works and conduct in the Afterlife.

It may be a matter of speculation, but we might guess that there is plenty of activity going on in the Spirit Realm – whether in Heaven, Hell, or In-between. And souls will be busy working, playing, interacting, learning, reflecting. It only seems reasonable that if our earthly environment is so full of activity, then why should it not be the same, and even more so, in the Realm Beyond?

Now there are several Scriptures that refer to the dead as those who are “asleep” who, at the Resurrection, shall “awake”. This might lead us to think that the Afterlife existence is nothing more than a period of total inactivity, some kind of unconscious state. But this term “asleep”, used often in Scriptures in place of the word “dead”, probably should be understood as

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nothing more than a euphemism – a milder, more comforting way to refer to the painful and sorrowful event of death.

The “sleep” analogy carries with it the hope and expectation that the one who has died is not forever gone; if one is asleep, he shall “awake”.

And indeed, our former acquaintances and loved ones shall awake, not only in the spirit realm, but one day also, shall be resurrected, and with a new body, return to live on the Earth in the Millennium, or afterwards, on the New Earth.

To assume that our souls lapse into some kind of state of total inactivity or unconsciousness when we arrive in the World Beyond seems out of character with God’s nature. Is He so overwhelmed trying to handle all the influx of souls that He has to make them go into hibernation? Surely, God is quite capable and competent, a powerful God, the Almighty, and in His universe, whether on Earth, in Heaven, or in Hell, we should expect He will keep the souls of mankind very much alive, awake, and active.

And indeed, some of the findings in modern medical practice seem to confirm this reality. There are today a large number of well-documented cases of hospital patients who lapsed into coma, yet, while their bodies were “asleep”, their spirits had all kinds of experiences: observing their hospital rooms, meeting Christ, meeting angels (or demons in some cases) or former loved ones who had passed on, visiting Heaven, and so on.

From the Scriptures too, we know that departed souls can be engaged in work-like activities – such as helping to guide and counsel their fellow laborers on Earth. John the apostle recounts having met an (actively working) angel and was about to “worship before the feet of the angel” who had been guiding him, but the “angel” warned him not to, saying, “I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Revelation 22:8,9) There is also the example of Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration where “there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” (Matthew 17:3) Perhaps the best example is Christ’s answer to the secular Sadducees who did not believe in life after death: “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God… God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:29,32)

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So for those souls who must bide their time in the realm of Death and Hades, there will be plenty to do and learn, and presumably, opportunity to choose a better path than they had taken while in their earthly bodies.

According to Revelation 20:13, they will be “judged each one according to his works.” At this point perhaps it is less a matter of “faith” (belief in what can’t be seen); it will be easy there in Hades to behold the realities of the spiritual realm, which are mostly veiled now to us who dwell in the earthly realm.

But in Hades what counts will be “works” that show repentance.

Again, this final “judgment according to works” runs counter to the idea of the Hades realm being nothing else but a state of suspended animation; otherwise, how could the souls dwelling there have the opportunity to make any progress in their spiritual lives and eventually, merit the honor of having their names written in the Book of Life?

Then what about the “works” of their earthly lives, we may wonder? Should not their final judgment be based on those “works”? The problem here is that the whole reason they landed in Hades in the first place is because on Earth “their deeds were evil”, and so they were unable to “come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.“ (John 3:19-20, NIV) The Judgment Seat of Christ is meant for those who were privileged to participate in the First Resurrection. Those whose earthly lives did not gain them that privilege will have been transferred into the realm of Hades. They are known as the “rest of the dead” who “did not live again until the thousand years [in Earth time] were finished” – at which time they will receive their Judgment. So, are they to wait in Hades for a thousand years, only to be tossed into the Lake of Fire at the end of it?

If the Final Judgment is based only on their works on Earth, then everyone in Hades would get sent to the Lake of Fire. That would be the case if all activity had ceased. But if they are to be judged according to their works, then their lives must have continued in Hades. They would have opportunity to undo past mistakes, re-live their lives, make better decisions, and show by their “works” that they had changed for the better, or in some cases, changed for the worse.

Those who change for the worse seem to be the exception, and for them the Scripture would apply, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15, ESV)

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But as that Scripture suggests, multitudes, if not most, of Hades’ dwellers will end up finding their names “written in the Book of Life”. God’s purpose and plan – to restore the souls of mankind into fellowship with Him and reward them with lives of blessedness and peace – will not be defeated but will have made a great stride forward.

Hades appears to be a place where souls can re-orient themselves, learn whatever they need to learn, in preparation for the final Day of Judgment. Or maybe we should say, more optimistically, in preparation for their entrance into the Heavenly Realm. The Catholic Church has envisioned Hades as a sort of Purgatory, a time and place where souls can (if they so choose) shed the sins and wrong attitudes of the past. Although the Church misused the doctrine during the Middle Ages (to extract money from their congregations), that does not mean that the concept of Purgatory is not valid.

Although Scripture does not explicitly say so, we can deduce its existence, just by the fact that there is a gap between the First Resurrection (and First Death) of human souls and the Final Judgment. There is a space there, and since many souls will not go to the Lake of Fire (as implied in the “rest of the dead” phrase explained above), then it must be that they have, in that space, been purged of whatever was holding them back from entrance into the Kingdom of God. That there does exist a Purgatorial Realm is implied also in some of Christ’s statements. During His earthly ministry, for example, He warned those Pharisees and Elders who opposed Him, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell (Gehenna or the Lake of Fire)?” To others He said, “tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” According to these statements, a good many of Jesus’ enemies were destined for the Lake of Fire; some, however, would make it into the Kingdom – albeit after the “tax collectors and harlots”.

That is, they could not enter the Kingdom right away after their physical death but would be given opportunity some time after their First Death to repent and to escape their possible destiny in the Lake of Fire. Presumably, after a re-training period in Hades (Purgatory), they would be released, and ready finally, to join the “tax collectors and harlots” who had already entered the Kingdom of Heaven. And those too obstinate and proud to accept the “re-training” would end up in the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:15, Matthew 23:33, 21:31)

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Perhaps we could compare Hades to a “holding cell” in a prison, meant for inmates whose fate has not yet been decided. While awaiting trial and possible conviction or acquittal, accused persons are put into this neutral area of a prison, separate from the main prison where all the convicted inmates are held. Similarly, many of the souls who have died on earth and were not “counted worthy to attain that age, and the [first] resurrection from the dead” must bide their time in the “holding cell” of Hades, presumably until the day of Final Judgment. (Luke 20:35) But unlike the “holding cells” of earthly prisons, souls have opportunity, while in Hades, to re-orient themselves, to repent of their waywardness or, in many cases, to harden themselves and continue in their former evil way. We might compare future Judgment to the treatment of those who perished in the Flood and were given their opportunity for release when Christ “went and preached to the spirits in prison”. (1Peter 3:19) Why [have some denominations never told] us this when it’s so clearly in the Bible? Why did they never want to admit that there’s some other place to go besides Heaven and Hell? Why? Many an unsaved person or potential believer has been turned away by this false doctrine… and just couldn’t believe in a God Who would send everybody, including ignorant babies and children, into a fiery Hell! It’s terrible what some [denominations] are guilty of! Think how they’ve offended so many people’s understanding of God by their doctrines! – That “if you don’t believe just the way we believe, you are going straight to Hellfire, period! – No alternative, no in-between!” – When the Scripture makes it clear that there is an in-between! (from “Heaven, Hell, and In-Between!” by David Brandt Berg, Treasures, pg. 786) And at the end of their sojourn in Hades, these “holding cell” inmates shall “come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:29) For them it will be either a new lease on life in the Second Resurrection, or it will be a Second Death. Either they will enter what is called the New Earth (Heaven on Earth after the Millennium), or they will be sent to the Lake of Fire.

Purgatory is often thought of as a process of “unlearning”, a fiery purging of sin and unrighteousness. This may be true, but if we try to think of it also as a “learning process”, that can give us a broader understanding of Purgatory and can remove some of the dread often associated with it. The

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same could apply to “shame and everlasting contempt”, which can be thought of as a Purgatory of sorts (within the Kingdom of God) – in a heavenly environment, not a barren, desolate one. Hades and the Lake of Fire are also “purgatories” where souls may continue the “learning process”.

Now many Christians find it difficult to accept the Purgatory doctrine because they place much emphasis on the idea of one’s “perfection” in Christ – all sins forgiven and wiped away at the moment of Salvation. True enough. But we continue growing, for God is always moving in our lives. And there will be plenty to learn (or unlearn) in the Afterlife, and for some a stint in “shame and everlasting contempt” (Purgatory for Christians who need it) will be the next step required in their learning process. Life is a continual learning process and doesn’t stop just because we have entered the gates of Heaven.

Exhibiting the character of Christ doesn’t happen without inner conflict. Salvation doesn’t bring an end to the tendency to sin; it doesn’t automatically curb our sinfulness. Therefore we are told to “put off” some aspects of our lives and to “put on” Christlikeness.” (“More like Jesus” by Peter Amsterdam) What Protestants have trouble understanding is that there will be need for correction in the Afterlife – even for Christians – and that salvation is possible in the Afterlife for non-Christians. What Catholics have trouble understanding is that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace, not something that one has to work for by observance of rituals. Protestants and Catholics probably could learn a lot from each other.

So back to the question posed earlier: who qualifies for the Lake of Fire Judgment, spoken of in the concluding chapters of the Bible? From a general point of view, the answer is obvious; it is designed for those who didn’t do well during their earthly lives. For some (the world’s worst offenders and destroyers), their sentence begins right away (or at the Judgment Seat of Christ prior to the Millennium). (This we can infer from Revelation 19:20 where we learn that the Beast and the False Prophet get sent to the Lake of Fire right after their defeat in the Battle of Armageddon.)

For others less guilty, they are given opportunity to re-orient themselves during the Millennial Age. Then comes the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium, which will serve to sift out and

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separate the incorrigibly rebellious – those who, even in the Afterlife in Hades, continued in rebellion against God and His ways. They will join those already there, the Beast and the False Prophet and probably many other of the world’s worst criminals. This will also be the abode for Satan and his hordes.

B-2: Why Share the Good News?

A passage, oft-quoted in this study, states, “God… will render to each one according to his deeds… for there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:6,11) Several other Scriptures have similar themes, that Earth’s inhabitants will be rewarded in the Afterlife according to their works. If these be true, and if, as brought out in previous sections, souls may be granted a “second chance” in the Afterlife, then why bother trying to reach them now in this life with the Good News?

Some analogies from modern life may help to view this question from a better perspective and to avoid jumping to premature or complacent conclusions on this issue: refugees from a war-torn country finding citizenship in a prosperous, peaceful country; lucrative job openings given to desperately poor, unemployed people; scholarships granted to disadvantaged students.

Those on the receiving end of such opportunities are extremely grateful, and those engaged in helping such people also derive a great deal of satisfaction from their work; both sides benefit from these efforts and are blessed.

In a sense, all of humanity, without Christ, are like these destitute and deprived individuals. They are as thirsty travelers, wandering through the spiritual desert of this world. And when we share the Good News with others, we are giving them a priceless opportunity to find newness and abundance of life.

There is much joy and satisfaction to all parties involved, both for us and those who are reached. And not just here on Earth, but in the Heavenly Realm also, God and those who dwell there are greatly pleased. “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

(Luke 15:10, NIV) Sharing the Good News of God’s Love is a win-win-win situation.

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In the example of the refugees, upon entering their new country, they will find their lives becoming prosperous, safe, and abundant. But if they are denied entrance, then they must continue in a war-torn situation and may end up getting killed, or else continue to suffer deprivation and misery.

Many seekers are living in spiritual deprivation and misery. They are desperate for answers, and unless they get them, unless they find entrance into the Kingdom, will be left to wander in a spiritual desert for the remainder of their lives. They need urgently what Christ has to offer – not off in some distant future, but now in this earthly life.

And if they cannot get it now, then there is apt to be great loss and suffering. Perhaps someone on the verge of suicide will be pushed over the brink because no one went to the trouble to comfort him or her with the Good News.

There are countless testimonies of people who were desperate to know the Lord and were unspeakably grateful to have found Him – in this life (rather than having to wait for the next). Someone took the trouble to share the Good News in some form, and that saved someone from having to endure a lifetime of emptiness and sorrow. Or it saved someone from having to learn things in the next life that could have been learned in this life.

No one likes to fall behind, and we do a great service to others when we work to enrich and advance their lives by sharing with them the Good News. They can begin “storing up treasure for themselves, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” (1Tiimothy 6:19, ESV) They have the power to enact God’s will more energetically. As a result they have opportunity to lay a good foundation for the future and end up better prepared for life in the Heavenly Realm.

But when we fail to advance others’ lives, God’s Word warns us that we are apt to feel the guilt of having neglected to be the kind of guide to others that we could have been. (Ezekiel 3:17-21) People are responsible for their own choices, but providing God’s guidance is important. “He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:20) And of course, there is great reward when we do try to help and guide others in the way of righteousness: “those who turn many to righteousness [shall shine] like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)

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So, even though we may understand that there is such a thing as salvation in the next life, that should not minimize the urgency of reaching others in this life with God’s message for them, whatever it may be.

Jesus compared entrance into the Kingdom of God to that of being “born again”. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3,7) To be born again means entering into a new world, a new life. When this happens, a wonderful transformation takes place: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17) When we experience Salvation, God answers the seeking heart and, through the working of the Holy Spirit, gives our lives a boost in the right direction. Like some kind of magical experience, Christ’s presence in a life causes a person to graduate into a new reality. That touch divine frees the soul from its imprisonment in the material realm. The Holy Spirit supplies that contact with the supernatural that kickstarts a life, brings freedom from old ways, and sends it forward with new direction, purpose, and positive orientation.

Jesus taught that Salvation means one “has passed from death into life”. (John 5:24, 1John 3:14) A person gains that wonderful assurance that he or she is a citizen of the Kingdom of God – no more uncertainty of “what will happen to me when I die?” And in addition to Heaven hereafter, in the present also, we have a touch of that heavenly life to come in our hearts.

Another point to keep in mind: The very fact that a person recognizes who Christ is, is pleasing to God. When Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus answered, “Blessed are you… for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

And this is a big part of what pleases God – when one of His creations honors Christ and seeks to connect with Him through His Son, who is the Mediator between God and humankind. To the Father this is a grand step of faith from His creations in the earthly realm, showing both courage and submission, and in itself worthy of the reward of acceptance into the Kingdom. (Matthew 16:16-18) We may wonder, of course, why would anyone not want to engage with the Most High? But whoever is “practicing evil” and “hates the light” and

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doesn’t want that “his deeds should be exposed”, they have their reasons (John 3:20) Many in the world, however, have not come to Christ, not because of “practicing evil”, but simply because of not having the opportunity to find out about Him. Yet in a veiled sort of way, they have engaged with the Almighty – in a lesser way – by following the “true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 3:9), or by following their conscience (often described as God’s presence in man).

But God wants people to “have life… more abundantly” – in this life, not just the next. (John 10:10) And the fullest expression of God’s presence in a life comes from receiving Christ who also bestows the Holy Spirit to empower that life with guidance and overflowing love.

The Holy Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you,” Christ told His disciples. The Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, is that aspect of the “lofty” Godhead that has been made available to us “lowly” human beings. Through Christ the human-divine relationship is transformed so that human beings are no longer “lowly” sinners modeled after the first man Adam. We are reconciled to God; we can become true “sons and daughters” of God and “joint heirs with Christ”.

(2Corinthians 6:18, Romans 8:17) God is both transcendent – lofty and beyond our finite understanding, yet indwelling and personal. “Thus says the High and Lofty One… ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.’” (Isaiah 57:15) To have the honor of engaging in a personal relationship with such a Being is surely the greatest blessing and privilege imaginable.

How can we then not want to share this precious information with others? And by doing so, we not only bless them and society in general, but find that we ourselves also are blessed. These are the payoffs for making the effort to share the Good News. Why would we want to deprive anyone, and ourselves, of such a great blessing?

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B-3: What Purpose this Life on Earth?

Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.

That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about. (N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church) Life is a journey. When someone is “born again”, that simply marks the end of stage one in the journey. The search for God, His Incarnation, Ultimate Truth, Creator of the Universe, etc. has ended. And our souls can rest in that reassurance and knowledge. But the journey continues. God is ever moving and always has something new up His sleeve. And to stay vibrant and alive, we cannot afford to abandon that searching mindset of the seeker.

Our salvation is… just the beginning, the entry point. It’s what brings us into the kingdom of God, into relationship with Him—a relationship which encompasses our earthly life and then continues on throughout eternity…

That entrance into the kingdom means our eternal life starts now. We are becoming who we will be in eternity…

Life in the kingdom is not limited to our after-death future; it’s also relevant to today. Living in the kingdom of God means pursuing God’s reign in our lives, aligning our will with His, and endeavoring to trust Him for every aspect of our lives. Living the kingdom of God is being in deep, personal, and interactive relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—now and forever.

(Peter Amsterdam, “Jesus His Life and Message: The Kingdom of God”)

Jesus once said, “I am come that they might have life… more abundantly”. (John 10:10) Not a life of misery followed by an abundant life in Heaven, but abundant life in the here and now. His intention is for mankind to prosper during this life.

Nor was this abundant life confined to spiritual life, but it was to extend to physical life as well. We often think of that in terms of personal prosperity. But Jesus probably had in mind something more comprehensive; He expected His followers to work to bring prosperity to others – both spiritually and physically.

And so it is no surprise that, in most of the world’s trouble spots, dedicated Christian workers and organizations are leading the way to

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alleviate the sufferings of war, disease, poverty, and natural disasters. Godly men and women all over the world are working to establish better health and safety habits, to fight against environmental pollution, to bring peace to societies instead of war, to strive for the uplift of the poor and downtrodden, and the list could go on and on.

In other words, they are doing what the Lord’s prayer exhorts, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) We are supposed to be preparing now for what’s coming – when Heaven and Earth will merge, when “the dwelling place of God is with man”, and “He will dwell with them.” (Revelation 21:3, ESV) So, even though we understand that mankind’s future will see a great new Age of Peace established on Earth, that doesn’t mean we can ignore the task of bringing that future Age into the present. It is already here in our hearts. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17) And God’s people should be laboring diligently, in whatever way they can, to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth.

Regrettably however, there are some misguided elements in the Christian world who are doing just the opposite – fomenting wars, promoting intolerance, persecuting less established religious groups. Jesus foresaw the rise of these distorted practices and teachings that would arise among those claiming, falsely, to be operating under His name: “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service… because they have not known the Father nor Me… But all these things [persecution] they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.” (John 16:2-3, 15:21) Some of these evildoers may have come to the Lord at some point in their lives but turned away, abusing the name of Christ to further their own agendas; they have their reward. And we will look more into that subject later – the “hell in heaven” feature mentioned in the title of this study.

Although Christ’s coming has brought salvation with its wonderful present joys and glorious hopes for the future, it is helpful to keep in mind the sober warnings that He gave on the need to maintain an active conscience toward God – rather than a lethargic, take-it-for-granted attitude.

Familiarity with God’s goodness can breed contempt and a hardening of the conscience.

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In Christian culture there exists a common pitfall of getting familiar with God’s goodness. We understand so much about the grace of God and forgiveness of sins. All well and good, of course, as long as that knowledge does not cause us to become self-satisfied or lethargic, failing to maintain our vigilance of spirit.

Christ exhorted His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… to labor for the food which endures to everlasting life.”

(Matthew 11:29, 6:33, John 6:27) God wants to use us as His instruments to provide guidance and leadership to the needy world around us, to “become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

(Philippians 2:15) But if we head off in the wrong direction, the Lord offers His word of warning: “take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man… watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Luke 21:34-36, Matthew 26:41) Whether it’s the final, tumultuous days prior to Christ’s return, or any period of history, the same wise counsel applies – to prepare during one’s lifetime and so be found worthy to stand before the Son of Man. Now we should not equate vigilance with frantic busy-ness. The Lord said, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” and promised, “You will find rest for your souls,” which is not lethargy. (Matthew 11:29-30) Elsewhere, we read, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest.” (Hebrews 4:11) This “rest” (katapausis in Greek) is defined by Joseph Thayer in these terms: The heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended. [Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testment, pg 335] As “persevering believers”, we are to “rest in the Lord” in the context of an active pursuit of godly living and God’s plan for our lives. (Psalm 37:7)

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B-4: Judgment Seat of Christ When mulling over issues like vigilance and self-discipline, we quickly bump into the wall of our lazy human nature, which finds it all too easy to neglect such things. And when we delve even further into the subject of judgment in the Afterlife, we may prefer to avoid thinking about that altogether. It’s like going to the doctor for a check-up. We’re afraid because of the bad news we might hear, even though in the back of our minds we know that it might contribute towards our future health and well-being.

So, rather than fearing the “check-up”, let us examine what the New Testament has to say on the subject of our personal judgment and inheritance in the Afterlife: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body… whether good or bad.”

(2Corinthians 5:10) A few years earlier, Paul had exhorted the Corinthian church to spend their earthly lives wisely: “Let each one take heed how he builds on it [the foundation of Jesus Christ]. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the Day [Judgment Seat of Christ] will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1Corinthians 3:10, 12-15) And Jesus also spoke of how important it is to build one’s “house” (or life) on the “rock”, that is, the solid foundation of obedience to His “sayings”; by so doing, one’s “house” will stand during the storms of judgment. (Matthew 7:24-27) A similar thought shows up again in 2Timothy 2: “the solid foundation of God stands… But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”

(2:19-21)

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And also, 1Corinthians 11: “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” (11:31-32) Here, to “judge ourselves” means having the wisdom to evaluate ourselves and let God refine us in whatever way is needed. In this way we become a better testimony – “that we may not be condemned with the world.”

Jesus made it clear that the refining process is just part of what it means to “abide in Me”: “every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2) This is not intended to make life miserable for His followers, but as He explains further ahead in the same passage, “You will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you… These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:2, 4,7,11) To further understand this subject, we could look at the Parable of the Talents. In the story the “servants” (i.e. God’s people) who diligently invested the money given to them to make more money, their “lord” gave reward. But to the servant who buried his talent, the lord called him a “wicked and lazy” and “unprofitable servant” and ordered him to be “cast into the outer darkness”, to experience “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. (Matthew 25:14-29) A similar fate awaited the servant who failed to take care of the master’s household and began to “beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards”. He wound up being appointed “his portion with the hypocrites” and also had to experience “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. (Mat 24:49,51) Sad tales these are, but a helpful reminder that, even though we might make it to Heaven, if we don’t spend our earthly lives wisely, there could be some regrets and tears that God will have to “wipe away”.

(Revelation 21:4) It may not be as drastic as the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” experienced by those who must enter the region of Hades or the Lake of Fire, but there can be some degree of it, even in the Kingdom.

Although believers have certain advantages that unbelievers don’t have – namely, their citizenship in the Kingdom – nevertheless, the same rules for earthly conduct apply to all. According to the Scripture oft-quoted in this study,

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“[God] will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:6-11, NIV) This region of “outer darkness” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” bears some resemblance, it would seem, to the “shame and everlasting contempt” that Gabriel mentions in Daniel chapter 12 in connection with the final deliverance and resurrection of the people of God. (12:2) Or to Jesus’ statement that He would have to say to those whose religion was a pretense, “I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.” (Matthew 7:23, NLT) Now does this mean that these unfaithful servants go to Hell or the Lake of Fire? Maybe some do and some don’t.

To shed more light on this question, we could look at a different version of the Parable of the Talents found in Luke 19. The story line is similar except that, in addition to “servants”, the lord (“nobleman”) also has “enemies”. As in Matthew 25, the unfaithful servant is punished, this time by being demoted and stripped of the money he had been given.

Nevertheless, he remains as one of the servants and did not fall into the same category as the nobleman’s “enemies”. They “did not want me to reign over them,” the nobleman said, so he ordered, “Bring here those enemies of mine… and slay them before me.”

The truly rebellious, the haters of God, symbolized in the parable as “enemies”, will receive the ultimate punishment of “death”, or separation from God. (Luke 19:11-27) But the “punishment” that some Christians will have to receive is of a different sort. It is not separation from God. Maybe it could be compared to being in a reformatory where there is a loving atmosphere in a “tough love” sort of environment, the kind that can help wayward teenagers rehabilitate until they are ready to enter society – comparable to believers being ready to enter in and enjoy more fully the blessings and privileges of the heavenly Kingdom.

So there seems to be a distinction here between those who belong to the household of Christ (both the faithful and unfaithful servants) and those

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who have rebelled and refuse to bow to the authority of Christ. The former are citizens of the Kingdom; the latter are destined for the “second death” and the “lake of fire” – separation from the Kingdom and fellowship in the not-sopleasant company of their fellow-rebels, the “devil and his angels”. (John 3:19, Revelation 20:14-15, Matthew 25:41) And those who find themselves separated from God in the Lake of Fire, well, who knows? Maybe that is just the medicine they need that will drive them into wanting to come to God. (More about this in the section “Deliverance from the Lake of Fire?”)

The obvious conclusion from Christ’s parables is that, in the Kingdom of God, there will be no escaping from having to account for our lives. And for those who fail to use what God has given them to further His Kingdom (like the unfaithful servant), or who misuse His benefits (like the servant who oppressed his household), then there will be a Day of Reckoning, known as the Judgment Seat of Christ. In Christ we are forgiven, of course, but that doesn’t mean that many of us won’t have to endure a painful process of realizing our errors before being forgiven or being granted full participation in the Heavenly Realm.

These crises of conscience, this shattering of old mindsets, this regret and remorse are symbolized in phrases like “weeping and gnashing of teeth” and “outer darkness”. We usually think of those phrases as referring to what happens in the domain of Hell. But as we go on, it will become clear that similar experiences can be felt, even in the Kingdom.

The parables where Jesus uses such expressions do not seem to distinguish clearly which realm He is referring to. And the reason may be, simply, that the experiences are common in all domains of Heaven, Hell, and In-between. The big difference, though, is that in Hell that comfort of love is missing. Fellowship with heavenly beings will be missing, and there is the bleak prospect of separation from God’s presence and that heavenly environment of His Kingdom.

We saw in the Parable of the Talents that the unfaithful servant was cast into “outer darkness” to experience “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Then in a different version of the Parable, the same unfaithful servant (who hid his lord’s money) is portrayed as continuing in the landowner’s estate and is not included among the landowner’s “enemies”.

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It seems logical enough then to conclude that some of the chastisements that we normally might think belong only to those in Hades or the Lake of Fire may bear some similarity to what many of us will have to go through at the Judgment Seat of Christ. In other words, it doesn’t matter what religion, race, nationality, earthly status or power one has, or even what kind of salvation experience one has had. The same rules apply to all. For He “will render to each one according to his deeds… For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:6-11) How a person lives his or her life will have a great bearing on what he or she can expect in the Afterlife.

Being “born again” is a wonderful thing and a step in the right direction and comes with its own great reward. But as followers of Him who is the “Light of the world”, Christians should not limit or define themselves as those who’ve been fortunate enough to find Hell’s escape hatch. (John 8:12) They should be known as those who are leading the way to bringing their families, schools, communities, workplaces, or nations out of the darkness of ignorance, poverty, destitution, pollution, injustice, and so on. “Among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15) So when will this Judgment Seat of Christ happen? The Scriptures seem to point to it as coinciding with or following soon after the First Resurrection. On that grand occasion of Christ’s Second Coming, many will hear the Lord’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:21) Others, however, will suffer the kind of fate that befell the unprofitable servant – “shame and everlasting contempt” as Daniel 12:2 puts it.

Perhaps this doesn’t jibe very well with our usual conception of what we think Heaven is supposed to be like. But it seems an inescapable fact that, even though we may be saved and know we’re headed for the Heavenly Realm, that doesn’t mean there’s no accounting for our earthly lives.

Yes, we’re given a free ticket into the Kingdom of God, but for many there may be a period of rehabilitation, to learn a new set of priorities and attitudes which hadn’t been learned during their earthly lives, and it probably won’t be so easy. Rehabilitation is always a difficult process – at least until the lessons are learned and release is granted.

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When a person has “passed from death into life”, that in itself is a wonderful thing for he or she “shall not come into judgment”. (John 5:24) “Judgment” comes from the Greek krisis, which was often used in the ancient language to mean “separation”. And when a person comes into “judgment” (sometimes translated as “condemnation”), he is being “separated”.

Several passages point to this idea of separation: “one will be taken and the other left.” (Matthew 24:40-41) The Parable of the Wheat and Weeds illustrates how in this life the two groups – the righteous and unrighteous – are permitted to dwell side by side. Then at the “close of the age”, the “wheat” (the righteous) will be freed, or separated, from the “weeds” (the unrighteous) who right now are busy polluting the Earth with their destructive ways.

(Matthew 13:24-30, ESV) Each will go off into different realms – either to places of heavenly reward and blessing or to areas of punishment and gloom. Most of the parables about Judgment and the Final Day seem to involve this idea of separation. “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just.” (Matthew 13:49) Now for those who land in God’s Kingdom at this first Resurrection when the “people shall be delivered” (at the Second Coming), there is no possibility of the judgment of separation from God, or from the Kingdom. But that does not mean that other forms of “judgment” will not be implemented – which in this case means “separation” from higher honors and greater rewards. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”

(2Corinthians 5:10) Not only will He separate the righteous from the unrighteous on the basic level; that is, those who must be sent to Hell will be separated from those who came to Christ, whose “deeds” were done according to “truth” and “done in God”, thereby gaining them entrance into the Kingdom. (John 3:21) But of those who enter the Kingdom, there will be another separation between those who land in “shame and everlasting contempt” and those who receive the rewards of “everlasting life”. (Daniel 12:2) And by these parables the Lord warns that our conduct during this earthly life will have a great bearing on our future standing in the Heavenly Kingdom. It is true that those who come to Christ have “passed from death into life”. (John 5:24) Salvation is a work of God’s grace and opens the door

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into the Kingdom of God. Judgment, on the other hand, comes later when our lives are over and determines what kind of reward we shall receive and has everything to do with works – works which, nonetheless, must be “done in God”. (John 3:21) That is, we allow God to work through us, to use our natural strength and wisdom to do or say as He wishes. This is “the answer of a good conscience towards God” out of which good works spring forth naturally.

(1Peter 3:21) Works done with the wrong motives won’t count for much, if anything. (The apostle Paul’s famous discourse on love in 1Corinthians 13 elaborates well on that subject.)

Whether this Judgment Seat of Christ happens at the time of our entrance into the Afterlife, or at the Second Coming, or at both times, is not altogether clear. But Scripture does seem to indicate that it will happen at the end of this Age at the start of the coming Age of Peace known as the Millennium.

At this crucial juncture or turning point in history, the Book of Revelation declares that “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” And it is to be a time of Judgment: “the nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:15,18) This may be speculation, but perhaps at the time of our passing into the Heavenly Realm we have a “private” judgment and receive then a good part of our “inheritance”. Then after the Second Coming a more public victory celebration will be conducted – the Judgment Seat of Christ in all its fullness and glory – with the handing out of rewards and honor and so on before a universe of souls, angels, and other created beings.

This Judgment includes the destruction of the present world system and of “those who destroy the earth”. In other words, the Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of the present Age appears to be comprehensive, affecting the entire scope of man’s world, and even the Celestial Realm to some degree.

For example, in our realm, one of the main features of Earth’s convulsions then will be “a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth… and the cities of

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the nations fell.” (Revelation 16:18-19) And in the Celestial Realm, Satan will be “cast [out of heaven] to the earth” and then “into the bottomless pit”.

(Revelation 12:9, 20:3) This grand turning point in history includes then such varied aspects as the Resurrection, the Marriage Supper, destruction of the Antichrist and False Prophet Beasts and their armies, judgment on the nations, imprisonment of evil angels (Satan and his demon hordes), distribution of rewards to those who are citizens in the Kingdom of God. Thus, when we speak of the Judgment Seat of Christ, it helps to understand it in the context of all the other judgments and events that are going on at this time.

As a final thought, we may consider these words of the apostle Peter: “For it is time for judgment to begin at 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?” The kind of “judgment” Peter had in mind might be called that refining or purging that would outfit Christ’s followers as better examples to the world and prepare them for life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And “if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1Peter 4:18-19, ESV) If Christ’s followers need to pass through a refining process during this life and/or in the Afterlife (in the Judgment Seat of Christ), how much more refining will be required for unbelievers and evildoers? (And it is better to see it as refining, not just punishment. This is a subject that will be addressed in upcoming posts.)

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B-5: Believers and Followers The Bible often speaks about rewards in the Afterlife. In the Old Testament there was a clear understanding about it: “The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever.” This “inheritance” was envisioned usually as coming on Earth after the Resurrection: “the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

(Psalm 37:18,11) Beyond this general understanding about future reward, we read in the Book of Daniel the words, often referred to in this study, of the angel Gabriel, speaking in more specific terms: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament [sky above]; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:2-3) The above Scripture refers to that great future event known as the Rapture, which leads into the “marriage supper of the Lamb”, a special victory celebration in the Heavenly Dimension for the people of God of all ages.

(Revelation 19:19) Of course, it is wonderful to know that there are victory celebrations in Heaven. But we shouldn’t forget there are also times of judgment – or perhaps this can be expressed better as “the review and consequences of our earthly lives”.

Now, regarding the statement in Daniel 12:2 about those who “awake to shame and everlasting contempt”, it is often assumed that this group of souls are non-Christians destined for the “lake of fire” (mentioned in Revelation 19:20, 20:10). But the “lake of fire” is not the same as “shame and everlasting contempt”.

Why? For one thing Daniel’s prophecy states that these who are “raised” at Earth’s final “time of trouble” are the “sons of your people”, whereas those who are sent to the “lake of fire” are anything but the “sons of your people”. The Lake of Fire is meant, first of all, for the demons, and secondly, for those human souls who were the rebellious enemies of God and destroyers of mankind.

For example, we learn in Revelation 19:20 that the Antichrist and False Prophet, who fought against Christ and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon, “were cast alive into the lake of fire”. Then in the next chapter

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we learn that “the devil… was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” (20:10) We can assume then that the Lake of Fire is meant for the rebellious enemies of God, a different class of souls from those who, even though they “awake to shame and everlasting contempt”, are, nevertheless, the “sons of your people”.

But the difficult question is, how could they be “sons of your people” who are “delivered” and yet it seems that some of them “shall awake… to shame and everlasting contempt”? Understandably, it is difficult for believers to see how this might apply to them, even though the passage’s context in this regard seems plain enough.

To answer this, we could start by trying to define who exactly are these “people” whom Gabriel declares will be “delivered”. On the most general level, it probably refers to those of whom Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out…

This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day… that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day… No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day… everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John 6:37, 39-40, 44-45) These, of whom Christ said He would “by no means cast out”, are the “overcomers” spoken of in chapters 2-3 of the Book of Revelation – those who would by no means be “hurt of the second death” and whose names He would by no means “blot out… from the Book of Life”. (2:11, 3:5) (For more information see Post “A-3: The Book of Life”.) They have God’s guarantee – their “names written in heaven… written in the Book of Life”. (Luke 10:20, Revelation 20:15) But then, what does the Lord mean here by “overcomer”. The apostle John explains it this way: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5) This is a fairly general level of overcoming, and Jesus expressed it in much the same way: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment [“condemnation” or “damnation” in some translations], but has

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passed from death into life [that is, their names have been written in the Book of Life and they shall escape the Second Death].” (John 5:24). That is all that is required to gain entrance into the Kingdom.

Now when Jesus speaks of “everlasting life”, does that exclude those who “awake… to shame and everlasting contempt”? (Daniel 12:2) If we compare this with the statement in 1Corinthians 3, that may help to clarify things: “each one’s work… will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is… If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (3:13,15) Those who build their lives with “wood, hay, straw… suffer loss”.

Nevertheless, they are “saved”. They do not lose their salvation; they are citizens of the Kingdom. As overcomers who have come over to Christ, they “shall not be hurt by the second death” in the Lake of Fire, as Jesus promised.

(Revelation 2:11) However, although they have escaped the Second Death, that does not mean they have escaped the “fire” altogether. “Fire”, as we shall learn further ahead, is symbolic of purging. And for some souls (or maybe all of us to some degree or another) will need some purging of some kind. And that is what happens in the Judgment Seat of Christ; we “receive a reward” for those works built with “gold, silver, precious stones” and “suffer loss” of whatever was built of “wood, hay, straw”.

In the Revelation Book also, we find there are different levels of dedication and reward, different levels of overcoming. For example, Christ seems to make a distinction between “overcomers” who will escape the Second Death and have their names in the Book of Life and those who not only “overcome” but “keep My works until the end.” To them Jesus said He would give “power over the nations”. (Revelation 2:26) During His time on Earth, there was a clear distinction between those who had come to Him but later, because of a “hard saying… walked no more with Him” and those disciples who wanted to “continue in His Word”.

(John 6:60,66, 8:31 – KJV) This principle of enduring faithfulness with its accompanying reward is conveyed also in the Scripture, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” This statement is made from a positive viewpoint,

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throwing out the challenge for believers (overcomers) to aim for maximum return on their life’s investment.

Then comes the statement – “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” – which is followed by the basic guarantee, the minimum that believers (overcomers) can expect. It is a negatively worded statement which, nevertheless, promotes the great reassurance for believers that “he who overcomes shall not [by no means] be hurt by the second death.”

(Revelation 2:10-11) The idea here seems to be, it is one thing to “overcome” and escape the “second death”; coming to Christ is in itself a measure of great courage and submission to God. But greater yet is it to “be faithful unto death.” That is, to keep going for God till the end of one’s life – either by natural death or, in some cases, by martyrdom. The reward for such faithfulness goes well beyond the reward of escaping the “second death”, but includes a “crown of life”.

Hebrews 11:6 conveys a similar idea; it is one thing to “please God” and “believe that He is”, but the kind of faith that pleases God even more goes further and believes “that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” (Hebrews 3:14) The whole Book of Hebrews, in fact, is an exhortation against falling away, against throwing away one’s confidence in God – to persevere, to be faithful to the end, to accept discipline from the Lord, to aim for a better resurrection, to seek diligently after God, knowing that He will reward our efforts.

And Jesus said much the same thing in His several parables. He taught that there is a difference between those who are saved and those who are saved but manifest a great deal of faithfulness during their lifetimes.

There are “in a great house… vessels for honor and some for dishonor.” (2 Timothy 2:20) What we need to keep in mind, though, is that all are vessels who have a special and treasured place in God’s “great house”.

Nevertheless, there is this obvious general division amongst believers – comparable perhaps to that in the sporting world, between the players on the field and the cheering crowds in the stands. They are all on the Lord’s

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side, but obviously, the ones doing battle on the playing field deserve more honor and reward.

Where or how God draws the line we don’t really know. But perhaps the following Scripture offers a helpful guideline: “You have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” (Revelation 3:8) Now the thing to keep in mind is that, regardless of where we end up on the scale, our hearts will be so overjoyed to be united with our Savior and our minds so overwhelmed to have entered that glorious Heavenly Realm that nothing else will seem to matter at all.

And although there are different classes in the Heavenly Kingdom, it is not the same situation as on Earth where, because of injustice and lack of mobility, there is much dissatisfaction and rivalry. In a just heavenly society, where everyone’s needs are met and there is general contentment overall, that envy between classes won’t exist – a difficult concept for us in this life to grapple with perhaps. But surely, in God’s glorious Heaven there will be overall a spirit of happiness and satisfaction that all of its citizens will experience.

And yet we may conclude from His several parables that Christ did establish two broad categories of reward, making it clear that there would be a difference between believers and followers.

Believers accept Jesus’ teachings as true; they believe in Him, believe that He is their Savior, and they are saved. Jesus made it clear that beliefin Him is sufficient for salvation when He said in John 3:16 that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s a wonderful thing to be a believer! It brings with it everlasting life, eternity with God. Walking the path of discipleship means that someone makes the choice to add action to belief. It’s going beyond the acceptance of the teachings and involves choosing to followthe teachings, to apply them in daily living. (“At the Heart of Discipleship” by Peter Amsterdam.)

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B-6: Heaven’s Class Structure – No Envy or Comparing At this point a big question that may come to mind is, “How will I know if I have attained that elite ‘discipleship’ status? Will I wind up in that privileged group?” This can be a difficult issue and perhaps even a cause for anxiety among believers.

To be sure, if a person focuses too much on the “reward” angle, then that probably means he or she is getting off on the wrong track in their thinking. It can lead to worry on the one hand (which is lack of confidence in God) or lead to getting lulled into a false sense of security on the other hand (over-confidence in one’s so-called “elite” status).

But when the heart and mind are truly focused on God, all thought of “reward” or “status” becomes secondary, even vanishes. A soul that is in love with its Maker has an overriding concern to honor and please God, which includes unselfish and loving conduct towards others. And nothing else really matters.

This doesn’t mean to say that the thought of “reward” in the Afterlife should be ignored. It helps to remind ourselves of that from time to time. It comforts us to know what awaits us once our earthly troubles are over; and it acts as an incentive to keep going during rough times, and also, as a guide to making smarter life decisions which will pay off in longer-term dividends in the Afterlife.

But it is not wise for an individual or group to dwell too much on what they may think is their “elite” status. If one is over-confident, this can lead in the wrong direction – towards complacency, self-righteousness, and that dangerous feeling of “I’ve arrived”, thus hindering a person from moving forward in his or her spiritual life. Or it can work the other way – towards discouragement and the temptation to give up, thinking one is not eligible or can’t make it into that special category.

This sense of “eliteness” may have been one of the underlying problems in the churches that Christ was addressing in Revelation 2-3. For example, Christ said of the Laodicean church, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.’” (They thought they were “elite”

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because of their wealth.) But in reality they were “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) Some of them weren’t living up to their full potential, allowing certain ungodly practices and doctrines to flourish within their spiritual walls.

These churches may have thought they were doing okay, but Christ warned them that they could lose some of their “elite” status if they didn’t shape up.

They were still the “elect” and “chosen”, but the destiny and plan that God had laid out for them or for individual members might not unfold as much or as well or not at all unless they repented and made some needed changes in their mindsets, attitudes, and practices.

As the “elect”, they had that privileged status, which Jesus expressed in this way: “many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14) Out of the multitudes who hear the Gospel, only a few respond. These who are “chosen” are also known as the “elect” (from the same Greek word eklektos). But even these “few” are a very large group. This is the picture we are given in Revelation 7. Here is described John the apostle’s vision of “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”

An angel explained to John, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (7:9,14) Evidently then, these were the “elect” who were living during “the great tribulation” prior to Christ’s Second Coming and were resurrected at the Last Trumpet. (Matthew 24:31) And what John saw did not even include all the other “elect” who had died in ages past and were resurrected also at this time. (For more information see Footnote.)

So from this we may conclude that the “elect” are not some kind of exclusive club of a few extra-special elite members, but the “elect” includes a wide range of multitudes of people. And a wide range of levels of dedication and reward. But where God draws the line and how He judges between different classes of “elect” souls is impossible to answer. God knows the hearts of men, and so He certainly knows. But if we try to define who is higher or lower on the scale, whatever our measuring stick might be, our estimation is sure to be skewed and inaccurate.

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And perhaps God prefers to keep it a mystery. He would rather we focus on engaging with Him personally as we “diligently seek” after God and His plan, rather than focus on working our way up on what we might think is some ladder of spiritual merit or accomplishment or get embroiled in comparing ourselves with others. (Hebrews 11:6) Oh, brothers and sisters, I think we can serve God from some other motive than that base one of trying to be greater than our brethren in heaven!…

Surely, brothers and sisters, if any of you can have brighter places in heaven, and more happiness and more joy than I, I will be glad to know it.

The prospect does not excite any envy in my soul now, or if it did now, it certainly would not then, for I should feel, that the more you had, the more I should have!…

I believe that our union with each other will be so great that distinctions will be utterly lost, and that we shall all have such a joint communion, and interest, and fellowship, that there will be no such thing as private possessions, private ranks, and private honors—for we shall there, to the fullest extent, be one in Christ! (“Grace Exalted – Boasting Excluded” sermon by Charles Spurgeon)

Among the “elect”, there are, in all likelihood, many degrees and diversities of reward, but to venture into any further detail on this subject would be a matter of conjecture. But it is safe to say this much: as our earthly lives were lived according to God’s rule of love, such will be our inheritance when we reach those heavenly portals.

And although there will be “status”, status won’t matter. Everyone, from the lowest to the most exalted, will experience fulfillment, acceptance, reward, and happiness. There will be “grades” in Heaven, yes, but at the same time, because of Christ’s personal love for each of his children, no one will feel unimportant or excluded, and any feelings of arrogant superiority will find no place There whatsoever.

This peculiar paradox of equality in Heaven co-existing with varying levels of honor can be understood from the various parables that Jesus told… such as the one about the landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard at different times – “early in the morning… the third hour… the sixth and ninth hour… the eleventh hour” [6 am, 9 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, 5 pm]. In the story all

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were paid the same wage, regardless of when they started working and in spite of the objections of the early starters: “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive’…

And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered ‘… I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.’”

(Matthew 20:6-14) In this parable Christ seems to be saying that, as far as general salvation is concerned (entrance into the Kingdom), there is no partiality with God; everyone who comes to Christ enters the Kingdom, “has passed from death into life”. (John 5:24) They are citizens of the Kingdom, and like citizens of an earthly kingdom, there are all kinds of different types and levels and classifications of people. But all are citizens and eligible for the same wage of basic rights and privileges.

The parable ends with an interesting conclusion: the landowner says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15, ESV) Christ seems to indicate here that there will be “eleventh hour” salvations, late-comers who don’t receive Him until their deathbed, or even afterwards in the spirit realm. Why? “Because no one hired us.” They had not heard the Gospel message during their lifetimes.

Then we hear the landowner’s reproof to the early laborers. It is as if the Lord was saying, “Am I not allowed to bring salvation to these ‘latecomers’, just as I have to you who were Christians during your earthly lives?” And “do you begrudge my generosity?” - meaning “would you oppose My plan (with doctrinal barriers of exclusivity) when I am a benevolent Savior who would extend My gift of salvation, even to those whom you feel aren’t supposed to have it?”

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Then if that reproof didn’t get the point across, the Lord concludes by saying, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” Jesus had said the same earlier, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 20:16, 19:30) That is, “many” of the latecomers could wind up being more highly honored than some who thought they were supposed to be higher on the scale.

We see the same principle at work in other parables: the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”; and the Parable of the Two Sons – “tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you [chief priests and elders who act as if you’re supposed to be first].” (Luke 18:914, Matthew 21:28-32) The gift of salvation is open to all; they are “chosen” because they have chosen to accept Christ, whether that happens early in life, late in life, or in the next life. However, the privileges of honor and reward will depend on other choices one has made in life, choices that were guided by whatever “Light” was given to a person during his or her lifetime.

And as a further note to the possibility of “eleventh hour” salvations after death, it might very well be that many of these, who were about as “last” as it is possible to get as far as salvation is concerned, will wind up “first” highly honored in the Kingdom because of their other life choices made in accordance with whatever “light” they had and the dictates of their conscience.

A lifetime of being kind and concerned for others would count as “deeds done in God”; in other cases, those “deeds” may be nothing more than a repentant heart (“he who does the truth”)after a lifetime of sin – like the thief on the cross, or king Manasseh. (John 3:21, 2Chronicles 33) Footnote: Who then was this “great multitude which no one could number” whom the elder reveals to John will have “come out of the great tribulation”?

(Revelation 7:9,14) Going back a few verses, John the apostle describes the scene of 144,000 Jewish saints. The judgment angels were about to blow their trumpets in preparation for the Second Coming. But before doing that, they are

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instructed to wait until the servants of God are marked with their seal of God’s protection against the upcoming plagues.

It seems the Lord was giving John, who was Jewish, some reassurance that, despite the falling away of the majority of the Hebrew nation at that time, there would in the End emerge this group of 144,000 who will have turned to Christ during that final era of history.

Then the scene shifts dramatically. From the close-in view, God’s “camera” zooms out for a wide-angle view – of “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations [not just the Jewish nation], tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (7:9) This seems to reveal that the 144,000, who also appeared “before the throne”, are only one small branch in the great family of God’s people to emerge out of and through that final era known as the Great Tribulation.

(14:3) As to how there happen to be 12,000 Jews in each of 12 Hebrew tribes is difficult to fathom. The Jews dispersed after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and have become hopelessly intermingled with each other and with other non-Jewish nationalities.

One possible answer is that, in the Kingdom of Heaven, as part of our inheritance, God gives His children reminders of the features and experiences that we enjoyed during our earthly lives. For Jewish people the 12 tribes of their patriarchal history is a treasured memory that God perhaps will allow them to retain.

Anyway, that is one theory (and there are many others) to explain this puzzling passage about the 12-tribe organization of these 144,000 Jewish saints in the Heavenly Realm.

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B-7: Life – a Continual Learning Process “The Lord says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will abundantly pardon. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 55:7, 1:18) You can start from scratch with the Lord, for when you receive Jesus as your Savior you are spiritually “born again” and are a “new creature in Christ Jesus.” God says He will “blot out thy sins as a cloud, and as a thick cloud, He’ll put them behind His back, and will remember them against you no more.” (John 3:3,7; 2Corinthians 5:17; Isaiah 44:22, 43:25) (“Born Again—Are You?” by David Brandt Berg) It is true that when one is “born again”, the slate is wiped clean; past sins, done in ignorance of the reality or will of God, are forgiven, and the believer has a new start in life. “The times of this ignorance God winked at.”

(Acts 17:30) That new start, however, is not the end of the road. The apostle Peter exhorts believers to “supplement your faith” by continuing to grow and be “diligent to make your calling and election sure.” (2Peter 1:5-11, ESV) The apostle Paul says much the same: “[God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing… glory and honor and peace… tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil.” (Romans 2:6-11) This general rule should apply to anyone, whether Christian or nonChristian.

Although we can understand that God will extend great mercy towards those who have not had opportunity to know Christ during their earthly lifetimes, it should also be understood that those who do come to know Christ during their earthly lives are greatly advantaged.

His overpowering love is able to motivate their minds and spirits and enhance their efforts as they labor to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth during their lifetimes. And they can look forward to being “richly provided for” upon their “entrance into the eternal kingdom”. (2Peter 1:11) They have the advantage and opportunity to go beyond the basic entry-level reward of entrance into the Kingdom.

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Or they may also go the other direction, ending up with very little, and instead of hearing the Master’s “Well done, good and faithful servant”, they may wind up feeling ashamed before Him. Instead of being “first” as they may have thought was their right, they wind up coming in “last”.

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” (Hebrews 2:1-3) When one comes to Christ, the past is forgiven and forgotten by the grace and mercy of God. But life is a continual learning process. And just because our sins are forgiven when we come to Christ, this doesn’t give us the license to go downhill into a state of corruption. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1-2) It’s as if the slate is wiped clean for the born again believer; he gets a new start. But after that much depends on how he or she advances, continues the learning process. And if they go back, become a bad example, lead others astray, etc., then there is a place for them – a kind of reformatory in Heaven called “shame and everlasting contempt”. (More on this subject later.)

To be one of God’s chosen requires being ready for life in a Realm where truth, sincerity, honesty, fairness, love, and other such godly virtues reign supreme. Now what kind of people would this include? Well hopefully, most of those who call themselves Christian.

But does that have to exclude people who are not yet Christian?

There are probably many sincere folks in our world today who are living their lives according to the same godly principles, which the apostle Peter exhorts believers to practice: “to supplement your faith with virtue… knowledge… selfcontrol… steadfastness… godliness… brotherly affection… love.” Peter goes on to say, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2Peter 1:5-8, ESV) And if non-Christians practice these virtues, they would be as those Gentiles whom Paul says “show the work of the law written in their hearts”.

(Romans 2:15) And for all we know, in God’s eyes, He would be happy to

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welcome them into the Kingdom, or at least make it easy for them to enter the Kingdom.

But if believers do not keep growing (“increasing”), Peter says, “Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” But then he promises that if they are “diligent to make your calling and election sure” and “if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2Peter 1:5-11, ESV) There is no complex method to follow by which one may stay faithful and reap a full reward. It is nothing more than a simple matter of continuing to stay close to the Lord. From the parables we see examples: to the five foolish virgins locked out of the groom’s chamber, the bridegroom declared, “I do not know you”; and to the ones who appeared to have done great works, but out of the will of God, Christ will have to say, “I never knew you; depart from Me.” (Matthew 25:1-13, 7:21-23) The common factor in these cases was that the Lord did not “know” them; it was the loss of that intimate connection with the Lord. And it was one of the last things that Jesus, near the end of His earthly life, taught to His disciples: “abide in Me” for “he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” (John 15:4-5)

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HELL IN HEAVEN? HEAVEN IN HELL? Part C

By John Lyall

- http://endtimeupgrade.org

10 May, 2016 C-1: Fate of Judas C-2: Rewards, Rehabilitation, or Both?

C-3: A Word of Comfort C-4: What Does the Bible Really Mean by “Everlasting Punishment… Forever and Ever“?

C-5: Deliverance from the Lake of Fire? Society of the Future!

C-6: Lake of Fire – What Is It For? C-7: Conclusion

C-1: Fate of Judas As several of Jesus’ parables pointed out – the parables of the two servants, the foolish virgins, the talents and the minas – there is the possibility of what Gabriel had pointed out long ago: many of those who have come to Christ, although members of the Kingdom, will, nevertheless, have to endure something called “shame and everlasting contempt”.

Likely, this is reserved for the worst offenders: the Judases and betrayers, the hypocritical persecutors of the true Christians, those who have fought unjust wars in the name of Christ, those who have led others astray, and so on. Not only will they be deprived of the honors and rewards given to those who “shall awake to everlasting life”, but they will have to undergo the painful and shattering realization of their errors – agony of spirit as suggested in the phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Daniel 12:2, Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 24:51, Luke 13:28) How much better, in our earthly lives, to follow the apostle Peter’s advice to remain vigilant in spirit: “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never

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stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2Peter 1:10-11) A similar thought is expressed in Hebrews 11: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (11:6) In more ways than we can imagine, it is rewarding to “diligently seek” for God’s will and plan for our lives.

The implication here from Peter’s epistle is that it is possible for believers to arrive in poor shape upon their “entrance into the eternal kingdom”. Conversely, what about those who practice these virtues to the best of their ability but have not heard Christ’s message in a way that they could properly understand or receive? Would they not be deserving of a place in the Kingdom?

In Romans 2 Paul makes a strong case along this line about the people who didn’t happen to know what the Jewish people knew about the law and the ways of God. “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.”

Then Paul goes on to say, “And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?… For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:14-15,27,11) There almost seems to be an intersection here between the realms of believers and unbelievers. That is, there’s not much difference between the person who comes to the Lord but falls away and the person who never came to the Lord but tried to live a decent life. Both Jew and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, have things to learn.

The lapsed believer, who is already in the Kingdom, must shed the wrong attitudes that led him astray before he may continue his journey further into the Kingdom. The unbeliever also has things to learn; first and foremost is the issue of accepting the authority of Christ. This probably won’t be very difficult once earthly traditions and customs and culture have been stripped away at the time of death. The only ones who will find it difficult to

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“come to the Light” would be those who are “practicing evil” and don’t want that their “deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20) Paul is making the case that some of the Jews who knew the law and were hypocritical were “lower on the scale”, so to speak, than those Gentiles who, even though ignorant of the law, were obeying it from their “hearts”.

And might not the same principle apply to those who know Christ?

If they are being hypocritical, while many who don’t know Christ are trying to live godly lives, should not these latter receive a place of honor in the Kingdom, even though not officially saved at the time of their passing into the Realm Beyond? And would not this fulfill what Jesus meant when He said, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first”?

It is an undeniable truth that, within the general category of those who come to the Lord, there exist many who do not walk “worthy of the calling”. (Ephesians 4:1) (In fact, none of us can claim to have a perfect score in the “worthiness” department.) But some have lived lives that were a poor testimony, causing too many to stumble into unbelief and discouragement.

This should be no surprise. From the passage in Romans 2 above, we learn of Paul’s issue with hypocritical Jewish teachers, probably certain members of the Early Church, of whom he said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24) Peter also spoke of “false teachers… who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them… because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” (2Peter 2:1-2) If the Lord had “bought them”, then they must have come to the Lord at some point in their lives; they became part of the family of God and so would not be “cast out”.

But as in many a family, often there is a wayward son or daughter who causes the family no end of trouble and grief.

In Jesus’ own “family” of disciples, He had His “Judas”, who committed the grave sin of betraying the Master. It was a foolish mistake, and he repented of it later. “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’”

(Matthew 27:3-4)

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Now certainly, Judas had come to Christ; he was one of His disciples. This then would have been enough to grant him entrance into the Kingdom. But at what level? “Shame and everlasting contempt” would seem his likely destination.

But Jesus did make this unusual statement about Judas: “none of them is lost except the son of perdition (or “destruction).” (John 17:12) And it almost sounds as if Judas was destined for the Lake of Fire. But more likely, the Lord was foreseeing that Judas would commit suicide. He would become “lost” as a disciple, and he “lost” what could have been his place of honor in the Kingdom of God. We might compare this with another statement where Jesus, explaining about conditions of persecution in the very End Time, said, “He who endures to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) He was not talking here about the gift of general salvation, which does not require any precondition of a lifetime of faithfulness. But rather, the subject is about a time when many will be tempted to “betray one another” and, like Judas, defect over to the side of the enemies of God. (Matthew 24:10) So what does He mean here? What is it that those “who endure” will be “saved” from? Well, here is where it will help to realize that within the Kingdom of God there exists this “shame and everlasting contempt” domain, where the faithful will not have to go. The implication is there too that, for those who do have to go there, conditions in that domain will be tough. (More on this later.)

Jesus once spoke to Peter in terms similar to what He said about Judas: “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’”

(Matthew 16:23) Jesus was not calling Peter a devil, but he was addressing the evil spirit who was influencing him.

Like Peter, Judas had become a “son of perdition” temporarily because he was allowing himself to be influenced by the Devil – and so much so that he committed the grievous crime of betraying the Son of God. Nevertheless, it was a temporary aberration, as evidenced by his remorse and repentance afterwards. In a sense it was no different to Peter’s blunders: trying to stop Jesus from following the path of sacrifice and death, or later when he denied knowing Jesus.

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The difference between Judas and Peter, however, was that Peter, despite his anguish over his failure – “Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62) – he didn’t abandon his hope and trust but persisted; he kept on believing in God’s powerful saving grace and mercy.

Who knows if Judas, instead of committing suicide, had had more faith in God’s saving mercy and been willing to face the music – the shame that his actions brought him – he might have continued, found forgiveness, and had a fruitful life in God’s service and final reward at the end?

Some translations say that Judas “changed his mind” (instead of “was remorseful”). Both are probably right. Judas was much like king Saul, who also was afflicted by an evil spirit. His jealousy over the future king David prompted him to spend years trying to find and kill him. When David confronted Saul about his behavior, Saul felt remorse for a time. Saul’s lack of humble faith, however, led him back into the same vengeful pattern as before.

Both Saul and Judas were like a “double-minded man” whom James says is “unstable in all his ways” – unstable because of his “doubting” God’s “wisdom” or for not seeking it in the first place. (James 1:5-7) The lives of both Saul and Judas ended the same – by committing suicide.

If nothing else, Saul’s life was a dandy bad example of what not to do. Yet David continued to call him the “Lord’s anointed”, for Saul had been chosen by God at the beginning of his reign. For this reason it’s hard to imagine that Saul would have been sent to Hell at his death. But to go to a realm like “shame and everlasting contempt” within the Kingdom of God would seem the appropriate place for him. And we could probably say the same for Judas Iscariot as well.

It was mentioned earlier that certain elements in the Christian world are guilty of fomenting wars, promoting intolerance, persecuting less established religious groups. These are they of whom Christ warned, “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” (John 16:2-3, 15:21) There are those who use God’s name for their own ends.

If in rare instances, such persons had once come to Christ, then they certainly have gone far, far astray. So what happens to them? Knowing that such glaring hypocrisy can exist, even among believers, we can

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understand why the provision of “shame and everlasting contempt” is mentioned by Gabriel; it is the fate awaiting some of the “sons of your people” who are badly in need of correction.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made this startling observation: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) From this we might figure that these people whom Jesus talks about never came to Him at all. And what He says to them would be true, “I never new you.” They would be like the “sons of Sceva” in Acts 19 who tried to make lucrative use of Christ’s name to prosper themselves in their exorcism trade.

Such “works” are nothing but an empty show, a going-through-the-motions exercise to impress audiences or elicit funds; such imposters and con artists would hardly be worthy to enter the Kingdom.

To them, the “depart from Me” phrase would mean “go to Hell”.

Among these are many who “think that they offer God service” by killing the true followers of Christ “because they have not known the Father nor Me.” (John 16:2-3) But there may be some who did come to the Lord at some point in their lives, but later their relationship became distant, and they strayed off into that kind of pretentiousness that Jesus was giving examples of. It would seem that some of these will “depart”, not into Hell, but into what we could call Hell in Heaven: “shame and everlasting contempt” – exile into the outer fringes of the Kingdom.

Many of these may have thought they deserved to be “first” in the Kingdom – “have we not done many wonders in Your name?” - but wake up at the end of their lives to the rude shock of finding themselves bumped down into the “last” category. In such cases, the “depart from Me” phrase means “go to shame and everlasting contempt”. They are still in the Kingdom but locked out of its full blessings and privileges.

As mentioned before, the same basic rules apply to believers and unbelievers. And if believers disobey God’s rule of love (“practice

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lawlessness”), then it should be no surprise if they wind up experiencing similar things to what unbelievers do who also “practice lawlessness”.

Members of the Kingdom they may be, and no doubt happy to have landed in that wonderful heavenly environment. However, their landing place may be rather close to that boundary separating Hell and Heaven.

Fortunately, as far as human souls are concerned, any movement across that boundary only goes in one direction – from the Kingdom of Hell to the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ’s guarantee remains in force: “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” (John 6:37) But in the case of those who “practice lawlessness”, they will be “saved, yet so as through fire.”

(1Corinthians 3:15) Heaven is by no means a classless society, and whoever happens to land in the basement category will, of course, be glad to be in Heaven but will have to live with the memory of how he shamed the Gospel of Christ during his earthly lifetime. The Scriptures do speak of God being “ashamed” of some of His people: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed.” (Mark 8:38) And “not ashamed” of others, such as those who “obtained a good testimony” during their earthly lives: “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them”. (Hebrews 11:2,16,39) Regarding those whom Christ was not happy with, even some who, it seemed, had done great works for God, the apostle Paul expressed it well when he wrote that without love our works will mean nothing. No amount of spiritual gifts, understanding of mysteries, faith to move mountains, sacrificial actions will suffice if they are not accompanied with the right motive – of loving God and others. (1Corinthians 13:1-3) Although believers’ names have been “written in the Book of Life”, some are bound to end up like Judas Iscariot. Because of their waywardness, they even turn into enemies of Christ and His true children. Yet they are forgiven; the path to full restoration may be a rocky one, but they are forgiven.

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C-2: Rewards, Rehabilitation, or Both?

From what we have seen so far, two features about the Resurrection stand out: 1) all who come to Christ will be resurrected, but 2) not all will be ready for life in Heaven… and for the grand celebration, known as the “marriage supper of the Lamb”.

On this latter point the Parable of the Ten Virgins is revealing.

Jesus relates the story of how those virgins who were “wise”, whose “lamps” were “ready” were accepted by the “bridegroom” into the “wedding”. But those who were “foolish” were caught unprepared and were locked out of the bridegroom’s chamber and heard the bridegroom’s explanation, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” (Matthew 25:1-13) In the Parable of the Wedding Garment, the man who came to the wedding feast without a proper garment appears to symbolize those who had not actually come to Christ and donned His robe of righteousness but were trying to associate with believers out of some political expediency or desire for gain. In the Parable the man, wearing his own garments of self-works, was tossed out of the wedding feast, his misplaced honor transformed into shameful dishonor – the “outer darkness” of error, ignorance, and hypocrisy.

Whether this symbolizes his getting barred from the Kingdom altogether and sent off to Hades, or merely barred from the Marriage Supper, is not altogether clear.

Anyway, the fact that the man was forced to dwell in “outer darkness” where there would be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” could represent the kind of remorse that a soul might experience in either domain of “shame and everlasting contempt” or that of Hades. (Matthew 22:13) Whatever the case, the parables portray the sad fate of those who lose the inheritance that could have been theirs, and naturally, the realization of this would become a source of great anguish. A sober warning to be sure.

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away… how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” (Hebrews 2:1,3) From these parables it is evident that some who have entered the Kingdom will have to be excluded from some of its greatest blessings. Like the “foolish virgins” their lamps had gone out; or like the imposter at the feast,

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they don’t have a “wedding garment”. Whereas it is said of Christ’s bride, “His wife has made herself ready.” She has the wedding garment – “arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints”.

(Revelation 19:7-9) But sadly, others will not have the needed garments (“righteous acts”). Their faith was not “completed” by their works. (James 2:22, ESV) In the parables they are pictured as “unprofitable servants” who “hid their talent”, having succumbed to disobedience, laziness, fearfulness. So, although blessed to be in the Kingdom, they are shut out from some of its greatest blessings and privileges, symbolized, it would seem, as exile into “outer darkness” – the outer fringes of the Kingdom.

[Cast him into outer darkness] The Jewish marriages were performed in the night season, and the hall where the feast was made was superbly illuminated; the outer darkness means, therefore, the darkness on the outside of this festal hall; rendered still more gloomy to the person who was suddenly thrust out into it from such a profusion of light… (from Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, 1831) Now of course, we’re all guilty of some of these shortcomings, but the crux of the matter lies in whether or not we continue on the wrong path.

That was the big difference between King Saul and King David. Saul, when confronted with his errors, never changed. David, on the other hand, out of his love for God, did repent and did change.

“No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning.” (1John 3:6, ESV) But “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8, KJV) And that’s how it was with king Saul. He would briefly recognize his failings but then later would return to the very same way he was before – jealous of David and seeking to kill him.

What place or function these folks will have in the coming Kingdom, we don’t really know. Judging from some of Christ’s parables, they might not have the privilege of attending the Marriage Supper. And they might not be commissioned to fight in the Battle of Armageddon either, the armies of which are “clothed in fine linen, white and clean”. (Revelation 19:14). Nevertheless, and it is important to understand this, they will be blessed to be a part of the Kingdom in some way or another.

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In earthly society, many a royal court or civil administration has had to send its rebellious members into exile to prevent them from hampering government activities. And as many of Christ’s Parables seem to indicate, those who are not ready to enter into the Kingdom’s full glory are proscribed into a sort of exile into its outer fringes. And some who were only faking it, pretending to be a follower of Christ for the sake of some earthly advantage, may get sent to Hades or the Lake of Fire.

Now in our world there is often great injustice in this practice, but in God’s administration, any such measures requiring exile into “outer darkness” will be carried out with perfect justice and mercy.

One interesting example we can learn from is king David’s banishment from the throne of Israel. (2Samuel 12, 15-19) God had to send David into exile for a time because of his sin of causing Uriah, husband of Bathsheba, to be killed. To his credit David did not complain against God and was sorry for what He had done. As a result of his sincere repentance, David was granted mercy and returned to his throne, a humbler and wiser king.

Similarly, we might expect that those who are sent into that exile known as “shame and everlasting contempt” can also be granted pardon, according to how they respond to their chastisement (or rehabilitation program).

As far as rehabilitation goes, we all may have to experience that to some extent; none of us are perfect or exempt from some kind of re-training; we all have blind spots – some past negative attitudes or bad habits to unlearn or wrong decisions we were so determined to make during our earthly lives.

Even the great prophet Isaiah, when he “saw the Lord sitting on a throne… said: ‘Woe is me for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”’ (Isaiah 6:1,5) Daniel too had a similar reaction when he stood before the Lord: “my comeliness was turned in me into corruption.” (10:8, KJV) In both cases, the Lord quickly restored his prophets to a state of well-being. To Isaiah an angel said, “your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:6) From this we could suppose that no one, not even the greatest of saints, is exempt from some degree of re-training.

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But God is merciful and more than willing to forgive and restore those who embrace repentance. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness… And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (1 John 1:9, Revelation 21:4) Our entrance into the Kingdom (our Salvation) means we have escaped the “second death” (20:5,14) But to enter into the full glories and blessings of the heavenly life, many of us who are “saved” will not actually be ready. If we haven’t been working to “diligently seek him”, if we kept thinking, “My lord is delaying his coming”, then chances are we will be in need of some rehabilitation. (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 24:48) As a result many of us will land in the heavenly equivalent of what on earth might be called a reformatory or rehabilitation camp. It will be a beautiful and loving environment, of course, but far removed from the glories and splendor of other regions in the Kingdom.

Even though “saved”, if we are still full of prejudices, bad habits, unloving attitudes, then a certain amount of time will have to be spent in the “waiting room” so to speak. We might call this waiting time a sort of “heavenly purgatory”, or God’s “correctional center” or “re-orientation program” – a necessary step to instill in us the kind of spirit we would need to have before we can enter into the full glories of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Jesus makes no promise that in the blink of an eye we will suddenly become totally different people who have vastly different tastes, attitudes, and perspectives. Paul makes it very clear that we will have our true selves revealed and that once the sins and habits and bigotry and pride and petty jealousies are prohibited and removed, for some there simply won’t be much left. “As one escaping through the flames” is how he put it.

It’s very common to hear talk about heaven framed in terms of who “gets in” or how to “get in.” What we find Jesus teaching, over and over and over again, is that he’s interested in our hearts being transformed, so that we can actually handle heaven. To portray heaven as bliss, peace, and endless joy is a beautiful picture, but it raises the question: How many of us could handle it, as we are today? How would we each do in a reality that had no capacity for cynicism or slander or worry or pride?

(Love Wins by Rob Bell, pg. 50)

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But how much better to enter that Realm in a state of readiness.

The Lord gave that advice to His followers, after relating the Parable of the Rich Fool who laid up “treasure for himself”: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. (Luke 12:21, 35-37) We can relate to what Christ was talking about here by calling to mind how it feels when we have labored diligently in a work situation. There is a feeling of satisfaction for a job well done. This in itself is a reward, which often comes with further rewards: pay raise, promotion, perks. If we can get fulfillment during our earthly lives for jobs well done, how much more fulfillment shall we receive for a lifetime that is lived well according to God’s purpose and plan for our lives.

Of course, no one can ever be perfect, and no one can escape having to own up to some mistakes and missteps from their earthly lives.

Thankfully, the Lord is more interested in our desire to please Him; that is what He rewards more than the outward achievements and works that we may accomplish in His service.

We can also consider the analogy of school enrollment. (We are “enrolled in heaven” according to Hebrews 12:23 – ESV.) A student starts in grade 1 and works his way up. At the time of salvation we enter God’s “school”, and we can grow and move to more advanced levels. Or we can stay in grade 1, but that is not very advantageous for us, nor for those around us, who could benefit if we had a better, more expanded knowledge of God’s ways.

Now on a more basic level, regarding some of His religious enemies, Jesus told them, “Tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31) The implication here is that, before one can enter the Kingdom (or the full glories of it), one must be ready. One has to prepare. And if that did not happen during one’s earthly lifetime, then it will have to happen afterwards.

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To His faithful followers, Christ promised that He would “open [the door] to him immediately”. (Luke 12:36) For others that door will open rather slowly as needed changes in attitude and thought patterns are given time to take root and grow.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus encountered some folks who were far from ready – like “the chief priests and the elders of the people” (who brazenly “confronted [Christ] as He was teaching”). Their pride had led them to become false guides. Having set themselves up as authorities “in Moses’ seat”, their reputations and influence were leading the people astray through their false teachings. Not only were they not ready for Heaven, many of them would not even be allowed entrance. (Matthew 21:23, 23:2) Christ did them a great favor by trying to wake them up out of their spiritual stupor with some strong rebuke: “But woe to you… hypocrites!

For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in… Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:13,33)) The religious leaders whom Christ was addressing would have to show fruits of repentance before being allowed entrance into the Kingdom.

Their prejudice and animosity and religious pride would have to be purged before such divine favor could be granted.

Whereas those, like the “tax collectors and harlots”, were at least humble before God and gladly received His Christ. In God’s eyes, they were righteous and ready for the Kingdom, whereas those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” were not ready. (Luke 18:9) The elders of the land who rejected Christ, fought against Him, and brought about His crucifixion were the ones destined for Hell; whereas the “sinners” whom they looked down on were destined to enter the Kingdom.

It is hard to fathom the great love and mercy of God that would allow entrance into the Kingdom, even to some of these who were enemies of God’s people – although in the process of that, they would have to undergo no small amount of repentance and rehabilitation.

As an example, we can look at what happened with the ancient king Manasseh, who “caused his sons to pass through the fire… used witchcraft and sorcery… did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger…seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the

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nations.” But when the king of Assyria invaded Israel, he “took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.”

Then began the restoration process. “Now when he [Manasseh] was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” (2 Chronicles 33:6,9,11-13) Repentance and restoration are always possible in the great love and mercy of God. Now it seems Manasseh did not know the Lord until he got into hot water with the king of Assyria. His sufferings were a picture of what a soul might go through in Hades or the Lake of Fire – the kind of chastisement that would turn the rebellious soul towards repentance and reconciliation with God. Presumably, in the domain of “shame and everlasting contempt” (for those who do know the Lord, or did know Him at some time in their lives), the chastisement is designed differently, probably not so drastic, with the aim in mind to bring souls back into fellowship with their abandoned Savior.

With Manasseh, repentance came near the end of his life; with others it comes in their youth and the rest of their lives are spent going against God’s ways. But whether repentance happens at the end or at the beginning, it is still repentance, and it is enough, at least, to gain entrance into the Kingdom. These who enter this way, more or less by the skin of their teeth, may well have to spend some time in “shame and everlasting contempt”. And as it was with Manasseh’s rehabilitation program, it could be difficult at first – that shocking, painful realization of error.

Even though Jesus promised that “all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out“, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any accounting for the life one has lived on Earth. (John 6:37) In the Kingdom one enjoys the presence of God and His heavenly beings, and past sins are forgiven. Nevertheless, part of the reconciliation process would require that we acknowledge past errors that we were blind to, which could result in feeling conscience-stricken for a time.

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For some people it may almost be like hell in heaven, at least for a time until their rehabilitation period, or whatever it may be, is complete. But at least they will be in Heaven, not in Hell separated from the presence of God. But to partake fully of life in the Heavenly realm, it will be necessary to shed the wrong habits and mindsets that have been picked up during the earthly life.

No one is perfect, of course, and no doubt we all will have something from the past to own up to. But for these wayward ones in “shame and everlasting contempt”, that process will take longer. But eventually, even they will be restored, freed from the guilt and shame of the past.

In a nation there are many social levels – from the prisons and reformatories to the highest levels of elite rulers. But regardless of anyone’s station, all are citizens of that nation. Likewise, all who come to Jesus receive the right of citizenship in God’s Kingdom, and that in itself is a wonderful blessing.

And even those who land in the “reformatory” level will be glad to be there, rather than have to dwell as non-citizens cast out of the Kingdom – in what the Revelation Book refers to as “Death and Hades”, or even worse, in the “lake of fire”.

But like convicts or criminals, those who land in the “basement” of Heaven will have to be restricted and denied freedom to participate in much of the Kingdom’s affairs and activities. Citizens they are, as Christ has promised, but unable to enjoy many of the blessings and privileges that could have been theirs – at least until such time as they are ready to move on to a new stage in their celestial journey.

Thus we see the reason for part of the title of this study – “Hell in Heaven?” It’s not really Hell or the Lake of Fire, but for those who must spend some time in “everlasting shame and contempt”, it might almost feel like hell. But they are still in the Kingdom, and wherever one is in the Kingdom, there is always hope. In the earthly realm, a convict in jail may experience hope – eventual release and a new start in life.

How much more would this be true in God’s Kingdom. And even though a soul may have to experience a difficult time of correction and chastening, there will be constant reminders and tokens of mercy. In God’s

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Kingdom love is the prevailing atmosphere, even in those situations where severe chastening (in modern terms, “tough love”) needs to be administered.

Unlike those who get sent to the Lake of Fire, those who land in “shame and everlasting contempt” will not have to keep company with Satan and his demons; and unlike those who must dwell in Death and Hades, they are still in the Kingdom, and under the loving care of Christ, His angels, and His people. Unlike those who must be sent to Hell, they can enjoy living in a heavenly environment.

Regarding this “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”, it would appear that unhappy destination is meant primarily for the demons. (Matthew 25:41) Mankind is less accountable. The reality of God’s presence and the Heavenly Realm are somewhat invisible to human beings.

Plus we are bombarded with evil influences from the Devil and his minions.

For these reasons, we humans are less accountable, and as a result great numbers of Earth’s inhabitants probably will be spared from having to enter the “lake of fire”; except for the stubbornly wicked and rebellious, it is not likely to be their destination.

God is fair in His judgments. “The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” (Psalm 19:9) Jesus taught this principle of accountability in Luke 12: “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.” (12:47-48) As the ignorant Roman soldiers were going about their business of crucifying Him, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) But the chief priests and elders, who knew the Scriptures and knew of the mighty works Jesus had done, were not so ignorant. Pilate “knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.” They had even “plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” (Matthew 27:18, John 12:10-11) No surprise then that Jesus had warned them once of “many stripes” to come: “how can you escape the condemnation of hell?”

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The accountability principle means that everyone will receive whatever it is he or she deserves and will be judged according to their knowledge of God’s ways and words. The more we learn from God and put into practice what He shows us, the more we are blessed. It was said of Abraham that he “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3) Regarding the subject of rehabilitation, it should be safe to conclude that, even though we may have “passed from death into life” by coming to Christ, there will be no escape from having to account for our earthly deeds. (John 5:24) And if we have too much backlog of misdeeds, then chances are there will be need for some re-training.

Let us say, for example, a person, during his or her earthly life, was in the habit of gossiping and speaking negatively about their next door neighbor. And upon entrance into the Kingdom, who should happen to be there on the welcoming committee, but that next-door neighbor? It would, of course, be necessary to humbly make things right with that person before advancing to the next stage of blessing in that Heavenly Realm.

Doubtless, all of us will have something or other to unlearn or undo from our past lifetime. Better though to recognize and repent of those things now, as much as possible, than to wait till we get to the Other Side.

Coming face to face with our errors is not an easy process. “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful.” (Hebrews 12:11) Repentance is a shattering experience, a crumbling of one’s self-image, the hardest words in any language to say (“I was wrong”). But once a person manages to get that far, he will find the door thrust open to greater blessing and salvation.

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C-3: A Word of Comfort After all this talk so far about judgment and punishment, it might be easy to get rattled or fearful – and to lose one’s perspective about the nature of God. Much of the focus in this study has zeroed in on the “tough love” side of God’s nature. But it is well to keep in mind His tender, merciful side: “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:1314) Christ exhorted His followers, “Come to Me… I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light… “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 12:32) “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) For those whose hearts and deeds are right, there is no need to worry. For any of us whose hearts and deeds are not right, even then there is no need to worry or fear. But yes, to feel a little uncomfortable is helpful – or convicted might be a better way of saying it.

For that nagging feeling that something is amiss can be our lifesaver, prodding us towards repentance and restoration – now in this life rather than having to experience it in the next. When life seems to go awry, this could be our lifesaver, a warning signal that we may be going off track in some way.

But no matter what we think about ourselves or how poorly we think we may have scored, it is helpful to keep in mind that each one of us is loved individually by God; each of us is extraordinary and special to Him. (Message from Jesus:) You are the reason for My existence. I love you as if you were the only one. You’re not lost in a faceless crowd called humanity. You’re not just one of the billions, but you are special and unique to Me. I know and love you as an individual. I died for you personally, so that you could experience My love, so that we could be forever one. (“True Love – Forever Love!” publication of The Family International)

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Knowing how much Christ loves us, His creations, we can be confident that whatever correction we may have to endure in the Afterlife will be carried out in a loving atmosphere. No doubt, there will be many souls who once came to Christ at some point in their lives but then went back and did not “live a life worthy of the calling” (Ephesians 4:1) They became hypocritical, lazy, or unprofitable servants, and disobedient to God’s ways.

They are not thrown out of the Kingdom, for Christ has promised: “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” (John 6:37) But they may have to spend time in the outer fringes, in the “detention houses” of the Kingdom… which might even seem like hell in heaven – for a time at least.

The comparison was made earlier that certain levels in the Kingdom could be like reformatories on Earth – environments where a “tough love” atmosphere is maintained and designed to help wayward teenagers rehabilitate from their waywardness. Eventually, they are ready to enter society as responsible citizens; or in this case, to enter the heavenly Kingdom and partake more fully of its blessings and privileges.

Even in this life we may recall such experiences. When we are undergoing a period of re-training, correction, or rehabilitation in our personal lives, it is difficult. But when we know the Lord, we can always sense the comfort of His presence… and the knowledge too that it is “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” and that “afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:10-11) And likely, none of us will be exempt from some correction in the Afterlife; we all have things to learn. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) But “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 21:4) So these Scriptures about shame and contempt (and to some extent “outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth”) can be applied to God’s people. But they are meant as a warning, just as a loving father warns his children against bad behavior and the consequences. This inspires a healthy fear and respect, knowing that our Heavenly Father loves us enough to chastise us when we need it.

In our earthly penal systems, the threat of jail and punishment has deterred many a would-be criminal from wandering down the wrong

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path. And would not God in His great love also seek to deter His people from unfruitful paths of lethargy and disobedience? He offers them the blessing of chastisement – not to make life difficult, but to make their lives, both now and in the Hereafter, happier and more blessed.

A little note here about this word “chasten”: As used in both Old and New Testaments, it emphasizes the instruction and training aspect of correction, not just the punishment side of it and can be translated as “instruct, teach, correct”. When our children are naughty, we don’t throw them out of the house. We love them, and they are still our children.

But of course, when our children are naughty, then we, as responsible and loving parents, have to discipline (or chasten) them. We make them sit in a corner, deprive them of their privileges or rewards. In other words, we “punish” them – but the punishment is for a purpose, and the aim is to restore the child to a pattern of good behavior and acceptance into our fellowship.

If we in the earthly realm have the wisdom, capacity, and compassion to properly discipline our naughty children so that they will turn into law-abiding future citizens, how much more is God willing to go to the trouble to discipline His wayward children and bring them into a state of blessedness. “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:13) So even if we have to “sit in the corner” for awhile and endure “shame and everlasting contempt”, this need not be as permanent a condition as the English translation would suggest. (And this will be the subject of the next chapter.) It is “everlasting” in that it happens in the Unseen Realm and will last for an unknown period of time. Once we can accept and learn whatever is needed, then God in His mercy will restore us to a state of wellbeing and peace (even if it seems to take “forever” for that to happen).

But how much better to arrive into the Kingdom and hear the Lord’s, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. (Matthew 25:21,23) It is certainly a goal worth aiming for – to “obtain a better resurrection” and “receive a full reward.” (Hebrews 11:35, 2John 8) As an incentive, the angel Gabriel, in Daniel 12:2, holds out the promise of heavenly reward and honor.

The “wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

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To achieve such reward is not something that can be worked up in the energy of the flesh, nor is it wise to judge one’s efforts by human standards which are apt to differ from God’s standards. (“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” – Isaiah 55:8.) We should strive and work hard towards godly goals, yet at the same time carry the spirit of rest and trust in the Lord, remembering that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

C-4: What does the Bible Really Mean by “Everlasting Punishment… Forever and Ever”?

In our language the word “everlasting” means “time without end”.

And it can sound foreboding – especially if we hear it in phrases like “everlasting punishment” or “everlasting torment”. The time-without-end concept is not the most accurate way to understand this word however. And it might be better to substitute in its place words like “supernatural” or “in the Realm Beyond”.

In the New Testament there are two Greek words used to express a stretched-out concept of time: aion and aionios. The words are obviously related to each other; aion is the noun and means “age”, while aionios is the adjective and, according to strict grammatical rules, means “age-lasting”.

The word aion in most Bible versions is translated as “age” or “world”. Or when combined with eis (meaning in/into), it is translated as “forever”. Aionios is usually translated as “eternal” or “everlasting”. Aion, when used by itself, is found in expressions like “this present evil age” or“end of the age” or“age to come”. (Galatians 1:4, Matthew 24:3, 28:20, Mark 10:30) Aionios, on the other hand, points more to the supernatural Realm – that which lies beyond the physical environment and our physical senses. The expression “everlasting (aionios) life” could be rendered as “agelasting life”. But “life” which lasts for an “age” stretches far beyond our short earthly life span. And where else can such “life” exist but in the spiritual

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realm? So instead of “everlasting life”, we could word it as “beyond-earthlyreality life”.

The question will come to mind: Should these words be used to express a long span of time that has an end as the more literal and strict definitions would suggest (“world/age” for aion and “age-lasting” for aionios)? Or can they be used to express a span of time that is absolutely never-ending as suggested by the translations of “forever” (for aion) and “eternal/everlasting” (for aionios)?

The following Scripture offers a helpful clue (both words are used in the same passage): “there is no one who [has sacrificed]… for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now… and in the age [aion] to come, eternal [aionios] life.” (Mark 10:30) The future “age” (aion) is an era of physical time in our earthly environment, and the phrase “eternal [aionios] life” simply means “age-lasting life”; but more than just physical time, it points to the spiritual reality – the supernatural peace and blessings of God that will one day merge with us and our earthly environment.

Another helpful Scripture: “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) In this passage, the word “eternal” (aionios) points to that which lies beyond our realm of space and time (“the things which are not seen”). And finally, here is a revealing note in Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: “Aionios accordingly is especially adapted to supersensuous things.” (pg. 21) In the strictest sense aionios means “age-lasting”. But in most Scriptures where it appears, aionias transcends this literal meaning – not in the sense of adding infinitely more time (as suggested in the translations of “everlasting/eternal”). Rather than it being a question of length of time, aionias is used to express the idea of beyond time. Rather than describing passing earthly reality, aionias is used to refer to the enduring realm of spiritual reality (“supersensuous things”).

When referring to the earthly realm, the Greek word aion is normally used. When referring to the celestial realm, the word aionios is used and is translated as “eternal” or “everlasting”. This celestial region exists

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beyond the boundaries of time and space and is a realm that our finite, timebound minds cannot easily grapple with.

When Paul was counseling Timothy, he wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil… But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal [aionios] life.” To those “who are rich in this present age [aion]”, Paul exhorts “that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1Timothy 6:10-12,17-19) It is so easy to chase after what we can see (like money and what it can buy). But the man of faith aims for what is not so visible – the virtues of righteousness, etc. – and ultimately for “eternal life”. He “lays hold” on the unseen, which is more difficult but in the end more enduring and rewarding – that which is “everlasting” (aionios).

In the Gospel of John we learn that Jesus exhorted his followers to drink of His “water” as it would become “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting [aionios] life.” (John 4:14) He also said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting [aionios] life.”

(John 6:27) Normally, we drink water and labor for food that we can see, in order to keep our bodies alive and healthy. But here Christ is pointing to unseen realities and encouraging His followers to pursue this very real nourishment.

Although this nourishment exists beyond the reach of our physical senses, it does quench the thirst and feed the hunger of our spirits, and it stays with us into the next life. So with this word “everlasting”, Christ is not really pointing to a long age of time, but mainly, is directing His followers to labor for “life” that is unseen and spiritual, yet permanent and enduring.

We may conclude then that the New Testament authors used the word aionios to mean “beyond time”, pointing to the eternal realm whose time boundaries are different from what we know in our earthly realm.

When we enter that Eternal Realm at the time of death, we cannot bring with us our earthly possessions – our physical baggage; but we do carry with us the spiritual baggage of weights and sins from the past, along with, of course, our good deeds and positive influence from our earthly lives. For those who have a lot of the wrong kind of baggage, it may seem to take “forever”

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before they can ditch that baggage and find release from the “shame” of having it in a heavenly environment where all is perfection and beauty and freedom.

But, as a prisoner who learns repentance and rehabilitation and is released, in a similar way many who land in that reformatory known as “shame and everlasting contempt” will, as they repent and reject their sinful habits and attitudes, eventually enter a state of greater freedom and privilege.

And that, after all, is God’s aim through “punishment” – training.

It’s not just to make us feel bad and that’s the end of it. God’s universe is far from static; it is ever-moving, flowing, and changing. And His goal and desire is to make us better and happier individuals. If they seek and desire change, human souls will not find themselves trapped forever in some less-thandesirable station in the Afterlife.

When Jesus spoke of “everlasting punishment” (in Matthew 25:46), the terms used in this statement reflect God’s viewpoint of punishment as correction or training for the individual concerned. The translation of “punishment” (for the Greek kolasis) does not convey the full meaning, which is better expressed in the following definitions:  

“Pruning, restraint, restraining” (Young’s Analytical Concordance) Correction, punishment, penalty… [SYN. kolasis, timoria: the noted definition of Aristotle which distinguishes kolasis from timoria as that which (is disciplinary and) has reference to him who suffers, while the latter (is penal and) has reference to the satisfaction of him who inflicts…](Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament)

The above definition mentions the Greek word timoria (to punish), which emphasizes the satisfaction of the one inflicting punishment (as when Paul, before his conversion, was “punishing” Christians). But Jesus’ concept of punishment was not a vengeful thing (timoria) but was kolasis – the kind of “punishment” that restrains evildoers while at the same time providing them with the correction and pruning they need to cause them to change and grow in the right direction.

So if we combine kolasis (God’s view of punishment) with a truer understanding of the word “everlasting”, we might re-phrase “everlasting punishment” as “a period of training upon entrance into the Afterlife for those whose earthly lives were not lived in accordance with God’s ways”.

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So, if “punishment” means “restraint and correction”, and if the training has its desired effects, then God, whom we know is fair, just and merciful, will surely release repentant souls into a state of greater blessedness.

Thus, a better translation of “everlasting punishment” might be “correction/chastisement/refining in the Realm Beyond”; and “everlasting life” might be “life and ecstasy in the Realm Beyond” In the Old Testament the Hebrew word olam covers several ways of expressing a long span of time – from something as short as a man’s lifetime (“he shall be your servant forever” - Deuteronomy 15:17) to an age of history (“remember the days of old” – Deuteronomy 32:7) and to the realm existing beyond time (“everlasting life”, “Him who lives forever” - Daniel 12:2,7). And here is one general definition of the word olam: “What is hidden; specially hidden time, long; the beginning or end of which is either uncertain or else not defined; eternity, perpetuity.” (Gesenius’ HebrewChaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, pg 612, by H.W.F. Gesenius) Time that is “hidden” and “not defined” doesn’t have to mean “time without end”, which is what our English translations generally imply by using the word “everlasting” or “forever” or “forever and ever”. “Time without end” would apply to God Himself, but for other things, the idea of “not defined” is more applicable.

That leaves the matter open-ended, and leaves room for any number of correctional regimes and time spans – all tailored to suit the needs of the soul for whom they are designed. The “punishment” that some will have to endure is not “forever”; it is just not known how long it will be. That “not knowing” aspect may make it seem like “forever”. The actual length of time would depend, though, on the attitude of the soul undergoing the re-training process (or “punishment” if we want to call it that).

Indeed, we can all relate to that feeling – a time of distress that seems to last “forever”. As fallen human beings, it is impossible for us to avoid at some point in our lives the need for some correction. The peculiar thing about these experiences (and we’ve all had them) is that, while in the middle of them, we think it’s going to last forever. In our shortsighted view we see no hope for change or release. It seems like time without end.

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As a result, especially for those who don’t know God and His power and love, it is easy to fall into a state of total despair. So in that particular sense,the word “forever” is accurate. But when faith enters the picture, that changes things. Faith knows there is a loving Creator, and He can change things. “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13) In our language the “forever and ever” phrase evokes no small amount of dread when applied to punishment in the Afterlife for evil-doers.

The Greek phrase, eis tous aionas ton aionon, in its most literal sense, means “into the ages of the ages”. (Both aionas and aionon derive from aion, not aionias.) This phrase is akin to other phrases like “holy of holies”, “King of kings”, “Lord of lords”. It points to an ultimate future “Age” which is superior to all past ages.

And since the word aion is used (not aioinias), this points, not to a vague “forever and ever” future somewhere in the spiritual realm, but to a definite future era in Earth’s history – or rather, the two eras of the 1,000year reign of Christ and His saints, followed by the Age of the New Heaven and Earth (as outlined in Revelation 20-22). This is the final goal of human history (or final enough as far as we need be concerned).

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Without going into a lot of detail, following is a brief explanation about these future Ages. After Christ’s Second Coming begins the Age of the Millennium when Christ and His saints shall rule in an Earth inhabited by those who survived the convulsions that rocked the Earth at the end of our present Age. Then after the 1,000-year Age of the Millennium, another “end of the world” cataclysm will take place: “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (2Peter 3:10) God will re-create the surface of the Earth and its atmosphere to establish “a new heaven and a new earth”; in addition, the Heavenly City will come “down out of heaven from God”.

(Revelation 21:1-2) At about the same time, the Great White Throne Judgment will take place, and all souls who were not part of the First Resurrection at the end of our present Age will be judged at this later time; they will be sent, either to the Lake of Fire or to a heavenly destination (probably the New Earth). And

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thus begins that unimaginably glorious Age of the New Heaven and Earth when “God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3) So how are we to understand these forbidding phrases in the Bible: “the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night” and “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”?

(Revelation 14:11, 20:10) First of all, we need to understand that “forever and ever” (eis tous aionas ton aionon) refers to definite future ages of Earth’s history. Secondly, the Greek preposition eis, which means something like “into” or “in”, means that the punishment is destined to take place during those future Ages, not some vague and timeless infinity. The “forever and ever” phrase is supposed to tell us the “when” of that future punishment, not the “how long”.

And when those Days of Judgment come, the “meek” who are destined to “inherit the earth” will, of course, be spared from condemnation and will have the privilege of entering those glorious future Ages of Peace.

(Matthew 5:5) The evildoers and unrepentant, on the other hand, will find themselves locked out and herded, with Satan and his demons, to their unhappy fate in the Lake of Fire. And as there are two Ages of glory and peace for the righteous, it seems there will also be two ages of misery for evildoers.

At the beginning of the Millennium, we learn that “the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet… These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Revelation 19:20) This may include also a good many of their followers, as Revelation 14:9-11 would indicate about those who worshiped the Beast. Then again, at the start of the Age of the New Heaven and Earth, at the Great White Throne Judgment, the Lake of Fire receives a new influx of inhabitants, including Satan and probably the rest of his demons who are not already there.

When Jesus confronted the demons in “the country of the Gergesenes… they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?’” (Matthew 8:29) Evidently, they knew their time had not yet come. The Son of God was there “in the likeness of men”, but control over Earth’s government had not yet passed into His hands. (Philippians 2:7) So the demons insisted that they should not be tormented “before the time”.

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But when the Kingdom of God does come, when the “ages of the ages” is established on Earth, then will their punishment begin. It will start with Satan being driven out of heaven and “cast to the earth”, then incarcerated – “cast into the bottomless pit.” (Revelation 12:8-9, 20:3) And presumably, his angels also, who were “cast out with him” onto the earth, will follow him there. Finally, “when the thousand years have expired,” Satan, not having shown the slightest bit of repentance, will reach his final destination and punishment and be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” (Revelation 20:7,10) The region known as the “lake of fire” may already be functioning. We know that the Antichrist and False Prophet will be sent there after their defeat in the Battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 19:20) Since that Battle looks like it will be coming in the near future of man’s history, then probably the Lake of Fire has already been prepared. We might conclude then that some of the very worst of this world’s criminals have already been sent there.

As for the demons, like many a criminal in our earthly justice system, they seem to view the prospect of future incarceration or punishment in the Lake of Fire as nothing more than an occupational hazard; they are not at all like the repentant thief on the cross, who said, “We receive the due reward of our deeds”. (Luke 23:41) From the example of the demons whom Jesus encountered in the Gergesenes’ country, it is clear that the thought of repentance or rehabilitation was the furthest thing from their minds.

But who knows? Perhaps the “lake of fire” will be the medicine that will change their attitude; instead of seeing it as an “occupational hazard”, some may see their punishment as the doorway towards rehabilitation. Whatever the case, if the demons, whose rebellion must be very deep-seated, can’t humble themselves once they find themselves in the Lake of Fire, hopefully, many of the human souls who have landed there will come to repentance and find restoration.

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C-5: Deliverance from the Lake of Fire?

Society of the Future!

A big question now: Is there any actual evidence from the Scriptures that those who land in the Lake of Fire may get released from it?

There is a hint of this in the last two chapters of the Revelation Book: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. 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.” (21:7-8, KJV) Here the passage elaborates on what the previous chapter 20 had revealed about those evildoers, whose final destination was the Lake of Fire, describing them in contrast against those whose names were “written in the Book of Life”. (20:15) Now regarding those who are sent to the Lake of Fire, the passage states they “shall have their part”. It’s a little difficult to pinpoint the exact meaning of the Greek word used here, but it doesn’t sound as if their “part” in the lake of fire has to be permanent.

The same is conveyed in Christ’s assurance to the Smyrna church: “he who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death” (Revelation 2:11, NIV) …which means that those who are not believers (or overcomers) will be “hurt… by the second death.”

But to be “hurt” (harmed or injured) does not have to mean a permanent condition. After getting “hurt”, normally there follows a period of recovery and healing. If their sojourn in the “second death” region produces a change of heart and repentance, would not God want to reward them with release from their imprisonment into a realm of blessing and acceptance?

Something similar is implied in the phrase, “Over such the second death has no power.” (Revelation 20:6) For those who are part of the First Resurrection, they have escaped the Second Death completely; it has “no power” over them.

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But for those who are not resurrected, that Second Death will have power. But how much power? Is it an all-or-nothing-at-all kind of verdict? Among those who are not resurrected, we could imagine that there would be varying degrees of mischief, error, and evil-doing to account for.

Could it not be then that there are varying degrees of punishment, refining, and prison terms, depending on the severity of the crimes and attitudes of the souls who are dwelling in Hades?

They are there, awaiting the day of Final Judgment and a possible “second death” and incarceration in the Lake of Fire. However, since Death and Hades may be more of a “holding cell” type of situation, they still have opportunity to repent from their sinful orientations, which might yet permit them to have their names “written in the Book of Life”. (Revelation 20:15) Thus, it could be said of those who are in Death and Hades, the Second Death has varying degrees of power – total power over the incorrigibles, but only some power over those who move towards repentance.

Further ahead in the Revelation Book we read, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.” (Revelation 22:14-15 – RSV) Here the description of the wicked mirrors pretty much that of the previous one (21:8) of those who are supposed to be in the Lake of Fire.

We learn also that they are not allowed into the Heavenly City. But why would that be of any concern if those souls had been safely imprisoned in the Lake of Fire (at the Great White Throne Judgment)?

Could it be that these “dogs and sorcerers, etc.”, or some of them at least, are not in the Lake of Fire anymore but are dwelling on the New Earth (“outside” the gates of the City)? So what has happened? Could it be that some of the Lake-of-Fire inmates have been released and allowed to dwell on the New Earth?

But isn’t the New Earth supposed to be pristine and unpolluted, we may wonder? So what are these characters doing in that environment?

Well perhaps they are those souls whose purging time in the Lake of Fire was

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completed; they repented, made restitution, and are trusted enough to be released.

And now on the New Earth, no doubt they will be glad to be there, even if not allowed entrance into the City. Compared to the Lake of Fire, it would be heavenly enough for them. But they would remain on probation, and restricted from entering the Heavenly City. “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27, ESV) Again, we have here the suggestion that the New Earth will be inhabited by a mixture of righteous and unrighteous citizens.

Here is another Scripture that seems to point to the idea of release from punishment: “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie – indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” (Revelation 3:9) Whatever punishment “those of the synagogue of Satan” had to endure – be it the Lake of Fire or something else we don’t know – it is apparent that they were forgiven and released. That must be the case if they are in a position where they can come and worship before the feet of those whom they had once persecuted.

We may speculate too that, if Satan will be granted release from the “bottomless pit” at the end of the Millennium, then why could not some of the Lake-of-Fire inmates also be released? (Revelation 20:7-8) Satan, when given his freedom, will show no signs of remorse, change, or repentance. God is only using him, at the end of the Millennium, to test the loyalties of Earth’s inhabitants.

Anyway, the point here is, if Satan, who is the worst of all criminals, can be released for a time, then why could not human souls, who are far less dangerous and influential, be released at certain times? Especially if they have shown signs of repentance, it would seem the reasonable and compassionate thing to do.

This may be speculation, but perhaps, after being tested in the Lake of Fire for some time, these inmates will be allowed onto the New Earth.

And similar to our earthly prison systems, they would be on a sort of probationary period – kept under controlled conditions to see if they are ready to handle their new freedom. Whether they will ever be written in the

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Book of Life and thus allowed entrance into the Holy City, however, is not known; that issue is not addressed in the Book of Revelation.

Anyway, that is a possible explanation for this paradoxical situation where, apparently, there are these criminal-types dwelling in the perfect environment of the New Earth. One thing that is clear from Scripture, there will be “nations” and people living on the New Earth who will need healing because they don’t have immortal bodies.

“By its light [of the Holy City] will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations… The leaves of the tree [of life] were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 21:24-26, 22:2 – ESV) And who are those “nations”, dwelling outside the City, and where do they come from? This can be a perplexing question if we were to follow the opinion that those who turn to Christ in this life will be the only ones to inhabit the Eternal Heavenly City while those who don’t turn to Christ in this life will have no other place to go but to the region of Hell. That kind of thinking excludes any population of inhabitants for this in-between region of the New Heaven and Earth. However, as was brought out in the Post B-1 (“What about the Unsaved?”), there is a sensible explanation of where these “nations” came from.

Revelation 20 describes what happens at the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium and just prior to the creation of the New Heaven and Earth: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it… 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. 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.”

(Revelation 20:11,13-15) This should mean that there will be vast multitudes (from all ages of mankind’s former history) who will be spared from the “lake of fire” judgment. As stated in a previous verse, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.” (Revelation 20:5, ESV) One could read this in different ways, but the statement that the “rest of the dead” would

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“come to life” suggests that they are emerging from their First Death (in Death and Hades) to enter a realm of blessedness and peace.

That is, the majority of the “dead” will have their names “written in the Book of Life”, and there will remain but a few exceptions whose names won’t be there and will have to be “cast into the lake of fire”. “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15, ESV) The “if anyone” phrase, a newer translation, is closer to the original Greek and suggests that those who get “cast into the lake of fire” are comparatively few.

So if there is no more “Death and Hades”, then those whose names are now “written in the Book of Life” will have to be shifted into a new (heavenly) environment. Where will they go then? The old heaven and earth of the Millennial Age will be gone. “The earth and the heaven fled away” before the face of “Him who sat on” the “great white throne” and the “first heaven and the first earth had passed away”. But John the apostle’s next revelation describes God’s creation of “a new heaven and a new earth”.

(Revelation 20:11, 21:1) Presumably then, these newly released souls will enter the newly created Kingdom of God – the New Heaven and the New Earth – which, we might speculate, will be designed to accommodate vast numbers of inhabitants, those “written in the Book of Life”. These new citizens, registered now in the Book of Life, will also be granted entrance, or visiting rights at least, into the Heavenly City (as mentioned in the passage quoted above, Revelation 21:24-27).

They were judged according to their works and found worthy and so emerged from the Great White Throne Judgment into a new realm of blessedness and peace. They did “wash their robes”; (Revelation 22:14, RSV) they showed positive character changes by their conduct in the purgatorial realm of Death and Hades.

Even though they had to miss the first Age of the Kingdom of God on Earth (the Millennium), they were found worthy to have their names “written in the Book of Life”. And so they will become the founding citizens of the second Kingdom of God on Earth with its glorious, newly created environment of the New Heaven and Earth.

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Of these souls, it is said of them, they “did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.” (Revelation 20:5, ESV) This does not mean they were in a state of suspended animation all that time. It only means they had been living in a state of spiritual “death” (thanatos – life without the joy, blessings, and privileges of Heaven). But at the end of the Millennium, heavenly life will be restored to them, and along with that, as implied in the “come to life” phrase, they will live again in earthly bodies on the Earth in the post-Millennial Age known as the New Heaven and Earth.

But not all. Some will not have their names “written in the Book of Life”; they will be shunted off into the “lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”. (Revelation 20:15, 21:8) At this stage in history, since there will be no more “Death and Hades”, then the only two places left where human souls can reside will be either in the Lake of Fire or on the New Earth. And since the “tree of life” is available for the “healing of the nations”, then there “shall be no more death”, and therefore no more need to send anyone to a “Death and Hades” region (which was the “place of the dead” in the former age). (Revelation 22:2, 21:4) And whoever has done his/her time in the Lake of Fire, where else can they go except onto the New Earth? If this is the case, then that may explain why there might be anyone who “defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie” and why there is some concern that no such persons should gain entrance into the Holy City. (24:27) We may speculate even further that, if there is no more “Death and Hades”, then the functions of that former domain will be carried on in the New Earth. Even in a perfect Earth, with the Heavenly City located on it, there may yet be those who are dissatisfied and in need of training and rehabilitation.

In the past, such persons would land in Hades at death and hopefully learn there what they hadn’t been able to learn during their earthly existence. But in the New Heaven and Earth, there is no more death, so the operations and functions that used to take place in “Death and Hades”, presumably, will have to be taken care of by the Earth’ s inhabitants themselves.

And by this time too, they will be spiritually mature and strong enough to handle whatever population of former rebels or criminals may be

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permitted to inhabit the New Earth. Not only that, there will be the inhabitants of the Holy City who will also be of service in helping to manage operations and activities on the New Earth.

It will be a different environment then, one in which there will be no great separation of physical and spiritual realms as in our present environment – perhaps more interaction between angels and human beings. The Book of Ephesians mentions this intriguing aspect about the future: “to bring everything together… in heaven and on earth” “He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us His mysterious plan… And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.” (Ephesians 1:8-10, NLT) How this uniting of Heaven and Earth will affect the way human society functions and operates is difficult to imagine right now. And besides this, with no more “place of the dead” (Hades), then we can imagine that the social order will carry on in a very different manner to the way it does now.

There will be also the population of those who took part in the First Resurrection. As certain Scriptures explain, these people will have a type of body that can function in both physical and spiritual realms. (Whether or not, or to what degree, this privilege is extended to those who landed in “shame and everlasting contempt” we don’t know.)

The bodies of these First Resurrection saints will be similar to what Jesus had during His Resurrection appearances. “The Lord Jesus Christ… will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21) Such bodies will enable those who have them to function easily in both domains. And they will need to as “kings and priests” who “shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10) They will need to be able to harness the power of Heaven while at the same time function in the earthly environment.

And for all we know, the New Earth’s population, those who have mortal bodies, may be gifted with greater spiritual faculties. In an environment where Earth and Heaven have merged, when God will dwell

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with man, we can imagine that there could be many such changes – changes about which we have for now only a dim understanding.

The Bible teaches that time and eternity collided when the Godman came among us, born of a virgin. The creator of time and Lord of eternity became a human being. Humanity and divinity collided (they did not become identical), and history would never be the same again!—Michael Suderman, RZIM The above quote applies well to our present Age. When Christ came, that marked the beginning of the Kingdom of God on Earth – a fact to which He pointed many times. And as His parables of the leaven and of the seeds reveal, the Kingdom, even though it starts small, as a tiny bit of leaven (yeast) or as a small seed, it is destined to grow – slowly but inexorably – until it finally becomes the full, mature reality in the New Heaven and Earth.

(Matthew 13:31-33; Mark 4:26-29, 30-32; Luke 13:18-21) We experience “divinity” or spiritual reality on a small scale now compared to how it will be experienced in the Ages to come.

Regarding the apparent rehabilitation of former Lake of Fire inmates, we could speculate that a society where there are some of these lessthan-desirable elements may be just what is needed for its citizens to learn to exercise compassion, wisdom, and understanding towards outsiders. Those who are ready to flee the Lake of Fire will make what may seem to them like a perilous journey (crossing the borders of their own rebellious state of mind) to enter a new state of reconciliation with the Almighty. And in the process they will certainly need lots of care, instruction, and guidance.

We might compare them in our world to foreign refugees. After deciding not to continue residing in their own conflict-ridden countries, such refugees are like the prodigal son “when he came to his senses”. They are ready to make desperate attempts to flee to those nations where there is peace and opportunity for a better life. (Luke 15:17, NIV-1984) To receive such newcomers requires sacrifice and compassion on the part of the host nations, and watchfulness against any undesirable elements or attitudes that may creep in.

This refugee analogy also applies well to God’s people in the present Age: they are dissatisfied with what this world has to offer. Like Abraham, they recognize that they are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth…

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they seek a homeland… they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.”

(Hebrews 11:13-16) How much better to be a seeker for the Kingdom of Heaven and its rewards in the Afterlife than to be a seeker after the temporary satisfactions of this life.

(Disclaimer: The above conclusions about mankind’s longdistance future, it will be admitted, do involve some guesswork. How people get into the New Earth and Heaven, or who gets there, or why they get there, is difficult to pinpoint at this stage in human history. The best we can do is come up with some general conclusions… and some amount of speculation.)

C-6: The Lake of Fire – What Is It For? Most Bible translations express the fate of those who enter the Lake of Fire in rather forbidding terms: “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone… and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever… they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (14:10-11, 20:10) Admittedly, these are not easy passages to digest. There is a certain amount of symbolic meaning, and to get a better idea of what they are saying, it will help to examine them more closely.

In the End Time we do know that those who worship the Beast (the Antichrist) “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone”, that is, enter the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 14:10) That could include a lot of people. However, there may also be an in-between category – those who don’t like the Antichrist and don’t worship him in their hearts but end up taking the mark, for the sake of survival or for other reasons.

True enough, it is a compromise and a poor testimony. Nevertheless, the Lord “looks at the heart” and not the “outward appearance”. (1Samuel 16:7) So it seems reasonable to suppose that many people in this in-between category would not be sent to the Lake of Fire, although they would have to endure correction in the Afterlife in a “Death and Hades” purgatory, or in some sort of “shame and everlasting contempt” situation.

Indeed, the Scripture seems to lay down two conditions: number one – “if anyone worships the beast and his image”; and number two –

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“receives his mark” (Revelation 14:9) Worshiping the Beast would be the main reason for someone to get sent to the Lake of Fire. Receiving the mark is the secondary reason, the outward action which may or may not correspond to the state of a person’s heart.

Christians, in their heart, cannot worship the Antichrist; however, as we know from Matthew 24:24, the influence of “false christs and false prophets” in the End Time is so strong that it will be difficult, even for the elect, not to be deceived by them. This implies that there will be a lot of decent people, and probably even Christians, who will be overwhelmed by the Antichrist and the False Prophet into compromising and receiving the “mark” – even though in their hearts they do not “worship” the Antichrist.

The elite of the “elect” are the super-overcomers who manage to resist the temptation to give in to the new world leaders and their system.

They are “faithful unto death”, and although they “have little strength”,yet they have kept God’s Word and “not denied” His name. (Revelation 2:10, 3:8) They are the ones “who had not worshiped the beast or his image, AND had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.” (Revelation 20:4) By refusing the “mark”, their inward belief matches with their outward actions.

Now, let’s look at this nasty word “torment”. It comes from the Greek basanos: a touchstone (also called basanite or Lydian stone); it was used to test the purity of gold and silver metals by the kind of streak the metal would leave when it scratched the stone. Because it was used for testing purposes, the word came to be applied to the practice of torture or the experience of torment. But the fact that the original word had to do with testing for purity suggests, by way of association at least, that the “torment” in the Lake of Fire has a certain useful, even benign, purpose.

In addition to the touchstone method, if a goldsmith was unsure of a metal’s purity, then he would resort to using fire to burn out the dross from the metal. Elsewhere in the Scriptures, the word “fire” is associated with the idea of purification. “The fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it [the foundation of Christ] endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1Corinthians 3:13-15) The purpose of the fire is not punishment only (although it might seem like it to the person being purged). Rather, it goes beyond punishment; it

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cleanses and gets rid of the trash from a person’s life, and so prepares him or her for life in the Kingdom – with the end result that “he himself will be saved.”

Jesus told His disciples, “Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” He was advising His followers that it was smarter to “abide in the vine”, to allow God to prune, during our earthly lives, the unfruitful branches and so “bring forth more fruit” and “have treasure in heaven” than to postpone it till the Afterlife. (John 15:2,4; Matthew 19:21 – KJV) Now the above Scriptures were directed to those who were building on the foundation of Christ. But then what about those who never came to Christ during their earthly lives and refused to “come to the Light”, even in the Afterlife, because of their continuing waywardness and rebellion?

They would end up in the “lake of fire”.

But what is the “fire” for? Is it only a dead end – punishment and nothing else? Is it only to make people feel miserable? If that’s all it is, then it would be like saying God has come to His wits’ end and doesn’t know what to do anymore. The skeptic would be right in thinking God isn’t all that He’s cracked up to be.

But if God is who He is supposed to be – all-powerful and perfect in His love – then we can rest assured that He does not give up so easily on His creations; He is tireless in His endeavors to reconcile the souls of mankind to Himself. Surely then, the fires of Hell are there for a purpose, that of purification and reconciliation: to use the misery of Hell and the uncomfortable feelings of guilt over sin and destructive behavior that will guide and prod souls towards repentance and restoration.

Some other examples in the Bible where fire symbolizes this process of refining and purifying: The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts. (Proverbs 17:3) “When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.” (Isaiah 4:4) Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)

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“I will… refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.

They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:9) “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:2-3) “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire.” (Revelation 3:18) Finally, it may be helpful to note that the Greek word for “fire” is pur. It forms the base for the English word “pure” and “purify” and for things to do with fire (“pyre, pyro-”). It is thought that the word may share a common derivation with the ancient Sanskrit word pu: “to purify”. Fire and purification were often associated together in ancient cultures, e.g. the Zoroastrians’ worship of the fire god Ahura Mazda.

Knowing how the Bible treats fire as a symbol for purification should help us then to understand this phrase “lake of fire” in a better light.

We can see it from a less dreadful point of view, not as punishment only, but as God’s furnace where He refines the souls of those who have caused great destruction in the Earth – with the end in view of turning around even those incorrigibly rebellious ones to the Light.

The apostle Paul once said, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22) Having come to the Lord, our lives experience great joy and fulfillment. This is one side of the picture, and a beautiful and uplifting one it is. But in this life we are tested to some degree, so that by the time we reach our earthly end, we are as valuable, pure gold metal and well prepared for life in the Heavenly Realm.

And if we’re not prepared, what happens then? The testing will just have to come later: perhaps some will land in “shame and everlasting contempt” as “unprofitable servants”; others in “Death and Hades” as evildoers; and yet others in the “lake of fire”, as evildoers who are enemies of God. Impure metal results from a lack of refining. When souls are not willing to submit themselves to God’s way, then they are in need of some refining. Having surrendered to the forces of Darkness and temptations to

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take the “selfish way” or the “easy way” or the “rebellious way”, they have become corrupt and less prepared for life in the Heavenly Realm. So of course, they must undergo the “fires” of refining before they would be ready to move on towards the Kingdom, or the Kingdom’s full glories and privileges.

Now besides the “fire” often mentioned in Scripture, there is the other purifying agent: “brimstone” (theion in Greek). For this substance, we find a helpful definition in Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pg. 284: Theion, -ou, to, (apparently the neut. of the adj. theios [divine] i.q. [equivalent to] divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify, and to ward off contagion)… brimstone.”

The poisonous, sulphurous fumes and the burning quality of brimstone kill bacteria and infection. The word theion suggests “brimstone” can be something pure and holy, not just a messy agent of destruction as we usually think of it. Thus, from what we have learned so far, the phrase “tormented with fire and brimstone” is symbolic language and might be translated as “tested, tried, purged (“tormented”) through the agents of spiritual purification (symbolized as “fire and brimstone”).

We may speculate on the method of purging; perhaps souls in the Lake of Fire will be confronted with the fruits of their sinful ways by having to see and even feel the results of the destruction and mayhem they were responsible for – a painful process, to be sure. The warmonger, for example, would see the misery and bloodshed he has caused, maybe even feel what it is like to be grievously wounded. That sounds rather drastic, but for some that is not only the shock treatment they deserve, but also the medicine they need that will spur them on to repentance and reconciliation with their Creator.

We can understand then that the reason souls are sent to the Lake of Fire extends beyond mere punishment; their sojourn there is meant to purge and purify them of the evil that their souls have become infected with.

(Hence the “fire and brimstone” symbolism.) Certainly, this will be a painful process for them. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) But at least there is a purpose and an end in view.

We could imagine, let us say, a character like Adolph Hitler. Most of us would agree that someone like him deserves plenty of punishment. But

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then we might also feel a shred of mercy and say, “Well, if he does truly repent and if he has suffered a good amount, why then maybe he could be released… on probation of course. After all, I do recall (although I’d rather forget it) there was that one time in my own life when I acted a little bit like Hitler myself.”

To get an idea of what the Lake of Fire is like, the following quote provides some insight. This was the result of a visionary experience of a man of God whom the Lord allowed to get a glimpse of that Nether World: It was almost like a hospital, because it had very nice polished floors…

And in each room there were different people doing different things, all very busy.

It seemed like everything everybody was doing was totally futile and useless and just a waste of time! They were all very, very busy accomplishing nothing! The scientist was conducting endless experiments that never bore any results, and they were shooting rockets and more rockets into space that either never got off the ground or that never went anywhere! The soldier was on the battlefield and bombers were zooming overhead and shells screaming and landing all around him, and he just seemed to be going through the endless hell of war just like he had been on earth.

Each one was continuing in his own little private hell of his former existence without any relief, no surcease, no hope of it ever ending, and yet absolutely all useless…

I never thought of Hell being like this! This is about the worst possible thing I can imagine! – Not just burning up with literal flames, but constantly burning with that fruitless fire of endless, useless endeavour, ceaseless struggle, pointless pain, and seemingly endless sorrow and suffering! …

All these endlessly lighted corridors and rooms! … even out[side] there was nothing but battlefields and hellish wars and all kinds of funny mechanical noises like machinery and factories and industries and refineries and endless conveyor belts and assembly lines and that horrible acrid, burning sulfuric smell, those choking foul fumes!

Hell is the extension, multiplication, amplification, continuation, endless continuation of the same monotonous, humdrum drudgery… Useless existences, fruitless, absolutely purposeless existences – never getting anywhere, never accomplishing anything, never improving anything or making any progress or helping anybody – just totally useless, only endless, non-stop, even when you’re weary you couldn’t quit! …

Wouldn’t that be a Hell! Goodnight, it seems to me like living in some

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kind of a hot place with just literal flames would be almost a rest and a relief considering what they were going through! Maybe flames are symbolic of the torture and endless torment of the damned. It’s just like endless dissatisfaction, endless unsatisfied desire, always going, never arriving, always working and never finishing, always desiring and never getting – it’s horrible!

What a horrible, terrible conception of Hell! It was like a magnified extension of this life of hell on earth! That’s the best explanation of Hell I ever heard! The prostitute continues to be a prostitute, but she is no longer under her own control and there is no escape. The soldier continues to relive his battlefield experiences and all of that hell! And the politician continues to suffer the agony of shame and scandal and reproach and disgrace…

It was almost like there was no truth there, because you didn’t know what to believe! You didn’t know what was fact and what was fancy…

There was this strange extension of each life under total control in that polished Hell! All the people were prisoners or inmates…

(From lecture by David Brandt Berg, transcribed August 29, 1973) The above revelation pictures Hell, or the Lake of Fire, as a place of endless dreariness, and likely, that is how it will feel to those who must dwell there. This utter lack of hope differs from the kind of treatment given to those who are under God’s care in “shame and everlasting contempt”.

Regardless of where one is in the Kingdom, one will always feel useful, as opposed to the utter futility of Hell’s activity.

Those who have come to the Lord will benefit from God’s presence and a loving atmosphere, even if it must be in the midst of rehabilitation. In the Lake of Fire however, going by the above revelation, there is an atmosphere of hopelessness; its inmates are lost and confused, feeling as if there is no end in sight, trapped with no way out.

Yet this may be the very medicine needed at this stage – learning what it is like to dwell apart from God and outside of His Kingdom, so that eventually, they will be willing to submit and turn to Him, their Creator. The Lake-of-Fire treatment is designed, surely, to prepare these corrupted souls to turn onto the path of restoration.

And when the opportunity finally comes along, like the Prodigal Son, they will at last be willing to swallow their pride, make better life decisions, and restore their relationship with the Almighty. Like refugees in a

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war-torn land, they will be desperate to escape and do whatever it takes to return to the Father’s house.

If punishment was really meant to last “forever and ever” – timewithout-end as most translations would suggest – then why not just annihilate those souls, bring an end to their existence? It would seem pointless to keep the punishment going on and on forever if there is no possibility for escape or rescue. Those incorrigible souls may deserve quite a bit of suffering, but without any avenue for release? It doesn’t make sense.

Some souls may prefer to keep on in their rebellion and torment; that’s possible too, of course, but it would be their decision, not God’s. The fire is there to burn away the dross of rebellion and waywardness and sin. But such purification depends also on the yieldedness of the souls who are undergoing the purging.

The very fact that God doesn’t just annihilate the souls of the wicked at the time of their First Death but sends them instead to the Lake of Fire shows that He is allowing them the option of deciding to turn in the right direction. He has hope and the desire to reconcile even the rebels; for He is “Lord of both the dead and the living.” (Romans 14:9) They are His creations, after all, just as much as the righteous are who inherit eternal life, just as much as the “meek” are who “shall inherit the earth”… while they, the wicked, are having to suffer for their sins.

Up to this point, their self-righteous view of themselves as having done no wrong has gone unchallenged. But the Lake of Fire, however it works, will serve the purpose of waking them up to reality – to see and feel the damage done by their terrible crimes.

Perhaps it could be compared to what often happens in this life; before one is ready to receive Christ’s salvation, he or she usually comes to the end of their own ways and to a realization of their inadequacy, shortcomings, and wrongdoings. Otherwise, a person, feeling sufficient in him/herself, thinks they don’t need God. One of the words used for “Hell” in the New Testament is Gehenna. This word originated from the name of a place outside Jerusalem – the city’s trash dump. Fires were burning there constantly to get rid of the garbage and to eliminate the danger of infection and spread of bacteria. And

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that is what the “fire and brimstone” is for – to cleanse and purify souls that are riddled with the infections of sin.

And another feature of Gehenna: its trash-burning operation had to be carried on outside Jerusalem. In like manner, the Lake of Fire will be located outside the Kingdom.

The idea of Hell and the Lake of Fire as a sort of last-ditch purging ground finds a parallel in the story of the Prodigal Son. It was the son’s misery in a “far country” (like being outside the Kingdom) that brought him back to his senses and to reconciliation with his father. And as far as the father was concerned, mending the broken relationship with his son was more important to him than the damage caused by his younger son’s foolish behavior. And that is God’s desire: to mend the broken relationship with His creation that has existed ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Those who are “not found written in the Book of Life” are like the Prodigal Son; their relationship with the Father is broken; they have brought losses to the Father’s estate. While in the “far country”, the prodigal son did not choose to return to his father until at last he wound up in the swine pit.

Likewise, those, who have broken their relationship with God the Father, enter a “far country”. And even when invited to return to the Father (either during their earthly lives or in the Afterlife), they refuse.

So finally, they wind up in the “swine pit” – “cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) At this bottom level, these souls, at last, may be willing to turn in the right direction. (Luke 15:11-32) And a question we could ponder: which of us has not acted like a prodigal son or daughter at some point or other in our lives?

We learn in Revelation 14 that those who turn against God in the End Time “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:10) This sounds grim, but it is noteworthy that Christ and the angels are present. Now why is that, we may wonder?

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind might be something like this: “OK, you guys have gotten away with your nonsense long enough, but here you are, surrounded by the Big Guns; the jig is up, and you’re really going to get it now!” To a certain extent this is true, but there is more to the picture.

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At this stage in human history, Satan will have lost whatever dominion or control he had over the lower regions of Death and Hades. Prior to this time, that realm seems to have been his domain. “Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14) Since it was the serpent, the Devil, in the Garden of Eden who beguiled Adam and Eve to disobey God and thereby bring upon them the sentence of death, it seems this earned him a certain degree of authority to cause death amongst human beings and/or to have some measure of influence over the souls of disobedience in the Afterlife.

In Revelation 6 we see the “pale horse”, causing death to Earth’s inhabitants. “The name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.” (6:8) The Horses in this chapter are symbolic of forces that function and rule the Earth from the spiritual realm.

The Pale Horse of “Death” and “Hades”, along with the Red and Black Horses of war and greed, dominate the world of mankind in this present Age. However the White Horse, symbolic of Christ and His forces, has also entered the stage of human history.

After His death on the Cross, Christ infiltrated the domain of the Pale Horse. There in that Dark Kingdom, He preached to the Pale Horse’s prisoners and liberated those who were receptive to Him (which may well have included the majority of them). “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25) “For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” (Romans 14:9) “He Himself likewise shared in the same [our flesh and blood nature], that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14) “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26) The destruction of this “last enemy” – the conquest of Death, Sin, and Hell – began with Christ’s glorious Resurrection from the dead.

Stage two of this conquest begins at the Judgment Seat of Christ, which marks the beginning of the Millennium. Satan’s power over the Earth and its inhabitants will be removed. “And [an angel from Heaven] cast him [Satan] into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more.” (Revelation 20:3)

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And in the final stage, at the end of the Millennium, “death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire,” and Satan also “was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14,10) And there we could assume that his influence will have come to its end.

For who presides over the Lake of Fire? Those fires of refining are carried on “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”.

(Revelation 14:10) Christ and the angels will watch over what will then become a purging process for the wicked and the enemies of God. No more escape from having to face up to and own up to their past lives of corruption.

There is a common conception that the Devil is to blame for all of our troubles and difficulties. He certainly is to blame for many of them, true enough. The Lord may even use the Devil to afflict His wayward children as a means to bring them back on track.

However, He does not have to use the Devil; He is quite capable of doing it Himself. There are many examples in the Scriptures where God Himself (or His angelic messengers) brought the plagues or the troubles or the lessons to His own people or to their enemies.

This is called “chastening” in Hebrews 12. And some of what we may think of as “hell” may actually be God’s chastening (done in love, of course). And it is wise for any person under God’s care (of chastening) not to take offence but to accept it as a sign of His great love for us. “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” (Hebrews 12:6, Revelation 3:19) It also helps to remember that “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” His correction, whether it happens to God’s people in this life or to the Devil’s people in the Lake of Fire, is “more to be desired… than gold… sweeter also than honey… moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.” (Psalm 19:9-11) It is well to keep in mind that God’s chastisement is the complete opposite of what the Devil’s torments bring. Instead of purpose, the Devil only brings futility; instead of strengthening, only weakening; instead of love, hatred; instead of discipline, confusion; instead of victory, defeat; instead of profit or blessing, loss; instead of restoration, degeneration.

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So, even though it can be “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” at least those “hands of the living God” are capable of moving a person forward into realms of greater blessing and peace. (Hebrews 10:31) As mentioned above, Christ will preside over the Lake of Fire.

Interestingly, He is referred to as the “Lamb”. We might have thought “Lion of the tribe of Judah” would be the more appropriate title in this situation.

(Revelation 5:5) But “Lamb” is the word used.

So, getting back to the question: why is Christ there, and the angels, presiding over the Lake of Fire? It seems that even though the Lakeof-Fire inmates are dwelling outside of God’s presence, yet they have not been totally forgotten or abandoned.

Apparently, even in the throes of severe punishment, the mercy of God is not far away. If those souls can bring themselves to “call upon the name of the Lord”, then He is right there to guide them onto the path of restoration.

(Romans 10:13) Most commentaries interpret Christ’s presence to mean that He is there to add to their misery by reminding them of whom they have rejected and what they are missing. This seems more of a human reaction (bordering on the petty and vindictive), not befitting the nature of God. It would seem more reasonable to suppose that He is there to see to it that Hell’s evil spirits are being kept in line, to make sure the Lake of Fire is being managed properly, and to look out for anyone there who might be on the verge of repentance.

The love of God is unfathomable. In the words of an old song, It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell.

—Frederick M. Lehman (from song “The Love of God”) This peculiar feature of God’s omnipresence, even in the depths of Hell, was expressed long ago in Psalm 139: “If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, you are there.” (139:8) So far we have conceived of the Lake of Fire as a region where souls find out what it is like to be separated from God. And that would be hell.

And yes, being His enemies, those in the Lake of Fire will be separated from

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God, but only because they have separated themselves through their own choice.

To those in the region of “shame and everlasting contempt”, the loving presence of heavenly beings are there to comfort, instruct, and bring restoration into God’s favor. But in the Lake of Fire, that horrible feeling of separation from God’s presence would be all-pervading.

The imagery of a fiery furnace and a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth used within both of these parables [“Wheat and the Weeds” and “Dragnet”] is just that—imagery. It shouldn’t be taken literally that the afterlife for those who reject the message of the gospel will be one of flames and burning. However, whatever the exact circumstances will be, it will be a separation from God and from those who love God. When we consider all the things that God is—love, beauty, goodness, mercy, holiness, kindness, justice, righteousness, trustworthiness, and so much more—thinking of being in a place where the things that God is are not present because He is not present is harrowing. (“The Stories Jesus Told: The Wheat and the Weeds, Matthew 13:24–43” by Peter Amsterdam) Yet in a sense, souls in the Lake of Fire are not abandoned totally.

If they turn to Him, He will not refuse them. And although they are outcasts from the Kingdom, even here, if they turn towards the Light, they may yet find the path, leading out of Hell’s barren desolations towards regions of peace and serenity and on to the gates of the Kingdom. This would be a reasonable conclusion if, as Revelation 22:15 suggests, there are former Lakeof-Fire inmates dwelling on the New Earth.

It also seems reasonable to suppose that, if souls are being tested “in the presence of the holy angels and… the Lamb”, then those heavenly hosts are at least keeping an eye on them to see who might be having a change of heart and moving toward genuine repentance. The Lake of Fire is designed for the enemies of God, no question. But the command that Jesus gave to “love your enemies” remains in force. (Matthew 5:44) It is a tough kind of love, no doubt, but love all the same.

God does not override human will and choice. But He does try to guide His created angels and humans to move in the direction that will bring them joy and satisfaction. By the time those souls, who have been too proud, stubborn, and God-hating, reach the Lake of Fire, that “guidance” will have

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run its course pretty much. By this time, whoever is so hardened and incorrigible that they still rebel against God’s authority, still cannot bring themselves to go God’s way, then they will have to go their own way into the Lake of Fire.

Let me tell you, for those who finally do end up in Hell, the Lake of Fire, it will be because they fought their way there every step of the way over everything God could possibly do to keep them out of Hell! They will have insisted on going to Hell and will have fought their way into the Pit of Hell itself! – Determined to go to Hell despite every merciful, loving opportunity God gave them to be saved and repent! (from David Brandt Berg lecture, “Heaven, Hell, and In-Between!” Treasures) What happens to souls when they get to this stage, we may wonder? Perhaps they are just left on their own – wandering in aimless futility and emptiness; perhaps they find themselves tormented by cruel demons; perhaps punishment is meted out that will make them endure the same kind of pain they had caused others during their previous lifetime.

Whatever happens there in that infernal region, is a subject on which we can only speculate.

But if nothing else, souls imprisoned there will find out what it is like to live outside the presence of God. At this point, being stuck in the swine pit of Hell is almost the only “guidance” left that may yet shepherd them back towards the Father’s house.

Even so, as the title of this study has suggested, there is a bit of “Heaven in Hell”. That is, there is hope for souls who are incarcerated there to be rescued if they choose to turn away from the Darkness and towards the Light. Such a view may not seem to jibe with the customary way certain Scriptures have been translated or understood.

However, after fine-tuning our understanding of key phrases like “everlasting [age-lasting] punishment” and “forever and ever”, we have learned that they do not have to imply a time-without-end scenario, as most translations would suggest. In particular, the “forever and ever” phrase simply tells us the “when” of that punishment, not the “how long” – “in/into the ages of the ages”. This leaves the “how long” aspect open-ended – dependent, we might presume, on the attitude of Hell’s prisoners themselves.

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Hell and the Lake of Fire are God’s creation, a place of habitation for evil spirits – a prison to separate and prevent them from causing any trouble in the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, if Hell is God’s creation, then it is not totally separate from Him. And as the example of Christ’s visit to the “spirits in prison” would indicate, God could descend there if He wants to, or send His emissaries, to see what is going on and/or to arrange the rescue of whoever is worthy.

Related to this, we can recall the example of the three angelic messengers who were sent to Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue Lot and his family: “[God] delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (2Peter 2:78, KJV; Genesis 18-19) Who is to say that someone, dwelling in the Lake of Fire, might not get so “vexed” and disillusioned that he or she might qualify for deliverance and rescue from that infernal region?

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C-7: Conclusion Following are the main concepts this study has tried to clarify and bring forward: 1) A more flexible and inclusive view on who are God’s people.

2) A better understanding about the Afterlife, in particular, the possibility of salvation in the Afterlife.

3) The urgency and responsibility of believers to bring the Good News message and way of life into the world of mankind.

4) The realization that salvation does not automatically preclude any form of correction or chastening in the Afterlife.

5) The understanding that Hell and the Lake of Fire are there for the purposes of refining and correction and are not necessarily permanent abodes.

Whether these conclusions are right, or whether the reasoning behind them is sound, the reader can decide. But at the very least, it is hoped the reader will have gained a perspective of the Almighty as a Being who is benevolent, just, and merciful, always teaching and leading His creations into realms of greater maturity and blessing… and that His great concern extends, not just to those who know Him, but also to those who don’t know Him, and even to those who are His enemies.

When we look at a mountain range from a distance, it looks like one big monolithic wall of stone. Then as we approach the mountain range, we discover plenty of foothills and different gradual stages prior to getting to the highest peaks.

Likewise, when we consider the Afterlife, we, who do not dwell yet in that Celestial Realm, are apt to view it in over-simplified terms as a scene of two broad ranges, or categories: Heaven and Hell. But we should understand that there are in-between stages and much diversity in the Afterlife that the basic Heaven-Hell distinction cannot properly account for.

In this study, four broad categories are outlined: everlasting life, shame and everlasting contempt, Death and Hades, the Lake of Fire. But even this probably falls far short of the reality. It should be no surprise, when we get to the Other Side, to find there a great diversity of “foothills”, much more

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than we can imagine – many different stages of ecstasy, blessing, reward, correction, chastisement, or punishment.

Another point to keep in mind: When a soul enters a certain region, he or she won’t be thinking, “Oh great, I’ve made it to Heaven”, or “Oh no, I’ve landed in Death and Hades”. They will be thinking rather in terms of their relationship to the One who created them.

In the earthly realm we experience a great deal of concern about status and our station in life. But in the World Beyond those concerns are swept away by the overpowering love of God. The soul who arrives in Heaven will find supreme joy in being fully united with his or her Savior and Creator.

The one in Death and Hades will feel a longing to find the One from whom he or she long ago rejected and now feels the pain of separation; or souls may turn the other way and feel bitterness against the God whom they are convinced has treated them unfairly.

One often hears the idea that once a soul is in Hell, then it’s curtains for that person – no hope of escape from never-ending torment. Some people deserve and need much punishment, it is true. But to believe that there is no hope at all of release makes God into something that common sense tells us cannot be true.

God is to be feared and reverenced, of course, but, unlike some human rulers, He is not an arbitrary, merciless tyrant. The Bible declares just the opposite – that “God is love”. (1John 4:8) God’s long-range plans call for reconciliation, not exclusion.

True, the souls of the wicked must at some point be separated from the righteous in the Day of Judgment. But God, in His love, is always reaching out, always searching for even the faintest glimmer of repentance from those who have been cast aside.

And we can be sure that the punishment He does have to dispense is tailor-made for each individual according to what they have done to deserve it and what will lead them towards repentance. This concept of personalized attention is implied in the passage, “And they were judged, each one according to his works.” (Revelation 20:13) So where did this idea of never-ending Hell-fire and damnation come form? As we have learned, the reason is rather trivial – nothing but a

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mistranslation of certain words in the Bible. But also, not so trivial, for it has a lot to do with the fact that religious leaders sometimes exploit the fear of “eternal hellfire” as a way of exerting more control over their congregations.

In the Middle Ages before the Reformation, sadly, the practice was rampant where church leaders played on these fears in order to extort money from the people they were supposed to be caring for. And this sort of mindset among church rulers had a lot to do with how the Bible was translated then and continues to create misconception in our minds even today about God’s true nature.

Whatever the origins of the merciless-tyrant view of God were, when we understand the true meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words, then we can better evaluate phrases like “everlasting shame and contempt” or “everlasting punishment” or “tormented forever and ever”.

We are liberated from the nagging concern of having to imagine a time-without-end Hell or punishment for those who are not “saved”. The usual English translations convey a bleak hopelessness about “eternity”: the idea that whoever’s not saved, or whoever winds up in the “lake of fire”, is destined to remain there with no hope of release.

For those who find themselves in that situation, they may feel pretty hopeless and like there’s no end in sight to their punishment. But the reality is, it would not be consistent with the nature and character of God to disallow any possibility for redemption in the Afterlife. He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Certainly, there are many who deserve and need what Hell has to offer. But surely, God’s preferred goal is to use the punishment to bring souls to repentance.

Our own prison systems have this goal in mind – to help criminals come to their senses and stop committing crimes, and eventually, to grant release once they are ready to become law-abiding citizens. Our judicial and prison systems are notoriously unfair and incompetent, yet they still manage to rehabilitate many of society’s wayward citizens. Imperfect as our justice systems are, nevertheless, they do work with some degree of success.

Rehabilitation, probation, restoration into society are their professed methods and goals. The system works in an imperfect way, but at least it is there, and

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there is recognition that criminals can become law-abiding citizens, and allowance is made for that.

Surely God’s “correctional system” (whether in “shame and everlasting contempt”, “Death and Hades”, or the “Lake of Fire”) is capable of doing the same, and doing it much better, with perfect justice, fairness, and mercy. And if so, then souls should be getting rehabilitated and released from their incarceration in the spiritual realm, not just left to suffer in some kind of hopeless infinity of never-ending punishment.

This concept of reconciliation for God’s created souls during the Afterlife is known as the doctrine of Universal Reconciliation. It includes the belief that Christ will manifest Himself to many worthy souls as they enter the Spirit Realm at the time of death. Although they never had a genuine opportunity to receive Him during their earthly lives, they obeyed their conscience and made wise and loving choices during their lifetimes. And so they pass from Death into Life and are spared from the realm of Death and Hades.

Universal Reconciliation has been a controversial doctrine in mainstream Christianity. The reasons for its unpopularity are probably similar to how Jews in the Early Church days reacted; they found it hard to swallow the doctrine of acceptance of Gentiles into God’s favor.

The new move of God’s Spirit in those days undermined their selfrighteous religious pride, the privileged status they thought they had, and put them on the same level as those Gentiles whom they had always despised and felt superior to. It meant that they were obliged to reach out and accept them into their ranks as fellow members in the family of God, and as fellow laborers in the cause of God. To know Christ as a born-again son or daughter of God is a great honor, privilege, and blessing. But we can make ourselves unworthy of such status if we entertain a smug, self-righteous attitude that projects a lack of understanding and empathy towards those who have not yet entered into that charmed circle.

And whether or not people are officially “saved” in this life, the same rule applies to all, according to the Scripture oft-quoted in this study: “God… ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and

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immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness–indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 2:5-10) Emphasis here is on works, not belief system. Paul was writing about teachers who thought that their Jewish background and superior understanding gave them special status and favor from God; but he makes it clear that Jews and Gentiles all share the same playing field. “For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:11) In today’s world there exists a similar problem: too much division between those who are “born again” and those who are not. Nevertheless, many in this latter group are following their conscience: “who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” They are following “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (Romans 2:15, John 1:9) We who are “born again” have a special advantage – a closer connection to the Spirit, power, and life of God; a superior understanding; plus the comforting assurance of salvation and the certainty of knowing that we have “passed from death into life”. (John 3:7, 5:24) But we shouldn’t let that knowledge cloud our realization that the playing field may be more level than we think. It may be that many of those who have not yet come to Christ and may never come to Christ in this life, could very well be shown the same divine favor as we who have come to Christ in this life.

Just as the Jews in the days of the Early Church thought that they had a special edge over non-Jewish Christians – and in some ways they did because of their religious training and knowledge of the law – nevertheless, this did not grant them any special favor in the eyes of God. In the same way, born-again Christians can sometimes over-emphasize their advanced status as the sons and heirs of God and forget that God may look through that lens a little differently.

Besides the issue of exclusivism, another aspect about Universal Reconciliation that is difficult for many to swallow has to do with God’s justice. On the one hand, we like to hope that universal, or almost universal, salvation is true because it goes along well with God’s love for His human

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creation. It jibes well with what we know and have experienced of the love, the grace, and the mercy of God. On the other hand however, when we look at those attributes of the Almighty, pertaining to righteousness, holiness, justice, etc., then it’s a little more difficult to reconcile how God would forgive some who so defiantly go against His wishes – people like serial killers, Hitler, mass murderers, etc., and in fact the Devil himself. So, it is understandable that many Christian thinkers find it difficult to fully accept the doctrine of Universal Reconciliation.

At any rate, regardless of where one stands on the idea of reconciliation for extreme evildoers, the central theme or intent of this study has been to promote a broadened perspective about life in the Afterlife – not just for evildoers and the unsaved innocents, but also for those who have come to Christ during their earthly lifetimes.

Especially relevant along this line are the words of the angel Gabriel in Daniel 12:2 about God’s people – that they “shall awake, some to everlasting life” and “some to shame and everlasting contempt”. From this and other Scriptures, we realize that, within the general category of those who have “passed from death into life”, there are many levels of reward, or lack of reward. (John 5:24) Those whose lives were a credit to God’s glory will be rewarded, and those whose lives were a discredit will have to bear the shame of their misspent lives.

In our present world we have reformatories and rehabilitation centers for wayward youth and citizens – which provide a sort of analogy to illustrate what “shame and everlasting contempt” could resemble. And this, by the way, is what was meant by the “Hell in Heaven?” phrase in the title of this study. It’s not really Hell, but it will be a time of training and purging to prepare wayward Christians for entering more fully into the Heavenly Realm.

And as they come to terms with their past errors and wrong attitudes and learn what the heavenly existence is all about, eventually, they will find the path to restoration and rehabilitation. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4) And all will be happy to have found their place in the Kingdom of God. So that is the outlook for wayward Christians (and who knows, we all may have to account for some bit of unconfessed “waywardness” from our

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former lives). As for wayward unbelievers, presumably, they will be sentenced, for whatever time is necessary, to the realm of Death and Hades or into the Lake of Fire. But even in those depths, as this study has tried to point out, there is possibility for rescue if and when they can ever bring themselves to turn away from the Darkness towards the Light. And that is what was meant by this study’s title phrase “Heaven in Hell?”

When the Bible touches on the subject of “judgment”, it is easy to jump to fearful and wrong conclusions. Judgment happens, not because God is being cruel; He is actually trying to help His creations along on the path to blessedness.

And furthermore, knowing that there is judgment to come gives meaning and purpose to our present lives. Without such knowledge life becomes shallow and barren. “Eat, drink, and be merry” is the only rule worth following then because after this life, nothing. That is a lie, of course.

But when we understand that judgment will come, then we are motivated to aim for higher goals and purposes; in addition, our lives benefit from more enjoyment and fulfillment.

And when the Day of Judgment does arrive, the righteous will be freed at last from the burden of having to contend with the wicked. And they will see the reward of having lived their earthly lives justly and responsibly with a concern for the needs of others.

For the evildoers, of course, their future will be unpleasant, but their “judgment” will also be a blessing (in disguise). For it will serve to purge them of their wrong attitudes and habits. Through God’s refining fires (and their yieldedness and repentance), they too can be reconciled and brought into God’s favor and a state of blessedness.

For this has been God’s desire throughout the ages – to mend the broken relationship with the human race that began all the way back in the Garden of Eden.

We cannot presume to fully understand the mind of God. Should we not be open then to the possibility that God’s long-range plan and desire for His creations – and it may take a long long time – is nothing less than to reconcile every human soul, even every fallen angel, to Himself? ~ THE END ~

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