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| When the earth and the heaven fled away!!! |
October
21, 2014
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/10203036255042787
When
the earth and the heaven fled away!!!
Rev
20
11
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is
the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works.
13
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up
the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works.
14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
Some
observations:
i.
The passage describes the general judgment on the last day:
-
it will be the end of the present world as we know it... "the earth and
the heaven fled away." "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Gen 1:1
ii.
The whole of humanity stands before the great white throne:
- all those whose names were written in the Book
of Life (that is the reason the Book of Life is mentioned twice), together with
all the rest of the human race.
iii.
And death and hell delivered up the dead which was in them:
-
at the command of Him who holds the keys of hell and of death, Rev 1:18.
-
hell would be emptied of the dead then. NONE would be found in hell anymore.
- That hell is eternal is a popular myth! The Lake of Fire after the general
resurrection is eternal!
iv.
Both death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire.
-
The purpose and intent of this statement are to comfort the children of God,
i.e. death and hell shall never trouble God's children anymore.
-
None of those whose names were written in the Book of Life will be in the lake
of fire. Death and hell were absolutely and completely removed from them at the resurrection to eternal glory.
-
Hell (emptied of the dead) was cast into the lake of fire; THEREFORE hell and the lake
of fire are DISTINCT. The former is up to the time of the general resurrection
only, the latter is for eternity.
v.
Whosoever whose names were not written in the Book of Life were cast into the
lake of fire.
-
The corollary: whosoever whose name was written in the Book of Life entered
into their glorious inheritance of eternal blessedness!
-
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
-
Christ's redemptive work saved His people from the Lake of Fire. It is a work
most assuredly finished, and accomplished its goal.
That explains why Christ never warned His disciples against the Lake of Fire. But He constantly and solemnly warned them of the reality and danger of hell, and they must take drastic measures to avoid it.
"And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.
This
is a plain statement of truth, sovereign grace truth!
i. The bottom
line:
-
Christ redeemed His elect from the Lake of Fire. This is eternal salvation.
-
Christ never once warned them against the danger of the lake of fire. He HAS
redeemed them from it, thus no more such danger.
-
Christ constantly warned His disciples against hell, a real danger to be
avoided. Why? He didn't redeem them from hell. Hell is to be avoided with
drastic measures taken by the redeemed.
ii. A
few examples of such solemn warnings addressed to His disciples:
- Mat
5:22 "But
I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell fire."
- Mat 5:29 "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
- Mat 5:30 "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
- Mat
10:28 "And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
See
the point?
