God possesses a third method of salvation, His consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29. Such scriptures as Psalm 21:8-10, and many other scriptures, reveal that God purges evil by devouring it with fire. Such words and phrases as God's "enemies" and "those that hate thee," and their "fruit," and their "seed" indicate that God will purge sin and evil with fire, but He will never purge humans. God never cursed the human race. Psalm 36:6 proves that God will preserve men forever. All of God's good works last forever. Ecclesiastes 3:14.
According to God's laws of physics which He created to govern the universe, the word "destroy" never means annihilation. Annihilation can only mean that something has been reduced to absolute nothingness. According to God's laws of physics, annihilation never happens. Whenever God destroys a false system, He merely reduces it to its constituent good and true elements. Lucifer stole some of these good and true elements and used them to invent false systems called "sin." Verses such as Psalm 145:20 and Matthew 10:28, which refer to God's destruction of the wicked in hell, actually mean that God will use His consuming fire to reduce false systems to their true and real elements so that He can recreate good systems from those recovered elements. The fires of hell serve this purpose. God never annihilates anything He has ever created. Numbers 23:19. God created the finite consciousness of man. Therefore, it must, from the time it was created, last forever.
All of this means that the lake of fire must serve a different purpose than the fires of hell. In hell, God separates the positive consciousness of each man there which is wholly good from his negative consciousness which is totally evil. In the lake of fire, God preoccupies these negative consciousnesses with torment forever so that they can never again invent false systems to infect His creations. In this way, God even turns the lake of fire into a good system.
All of the offerings of the Old Testament priests symbolize God's three methods of salvation. The priests and Levites symbolize God's highest level of salvation, the saints saved by grace. The blood of the slain animals symbolize the shed blood of Christ applied to cleanse all repentant sinners. Leviticus 1:5. The washing with water of the animals inwards and legs symbolize the daily need of the saints saved by grace to be wholly sanctified in their fleshly natures in preparation for their resurrection to live in heaven forever. Leviticus 1:9&13. The burnings of the animals symbolizes God's complete separation of all His good elements of every person He has ever created from all false systems which infect those persons. The "sweet savour unto the Lord" of verses 9, 13, and 17 symbolize God's recovery of every good thing He has ever created. Romans 11:36.
In Leviticus 6:8-13, God presents a definite purpose for the burnt offerings. In verse 11, the priest takes the ashes of the burnt offering to a "clean place." The ashes symbolize the good elements reduced from the sinful system destroyed by fire. The clean place represents the recreated earth where God will recreate His recovered good elements into new, good systems. In verse 13, God commands that this fire never be allowed to go out. This command symbolizes the lake of fire. In Leviticus 7:8, God commanded the priest to keep the skin of the burnt offering. This command symbolizes the fact that God uses fire to burn sinful systems in order to recover their good elements. In Leviticus 9:7, God reveals that the burnt offering is just as efficacious for the atonement of the people as is the sin offering.
Numbers 16:30-40 records the rebellion of Korah and his followers against Moses and God. God destroyed Korah and his followers with fire, and while they were burning but still alive, God caused the earth to open and swallow them. This story shows that God always sends the rebellious to a fiery hell. But this story also symbolizes that God uses the fires of hell for a purpose. Verses 36-40 records that God commanded Moses to tell Eleazer to recover from the fire the brazen censers that these rebellious men had used to offer strange incense which God could not accept. These hallowed censers were then used to make a covering for the brazen altar where the priests offered the animal sacrifices for the atonement of the people. This story symbolizes the fact that God uses the fires of hell to destroy rebellious systems in order to recover the good elements of those systems that He created in His own image. God then uses these good elements to recreate good systems; that is, new men reconciled to Him who live on His recreated earth. The brazen censers symbolize these good elements which were made a part of the brazen altar where sacrifices were made to atone people to God.
Numbers 31:21-24 records that God uses both fire, which symbolizes His means to destroy sinful systems, and water, which symbolizes the power of the Holy Spirit's use of His Word to cleanse. God uses holy fire to separate and cleanse His good elements, represented by precious metals, from their being tainted by sinful systems. God cleanses His good systems which He does not submit to the fire by the power of the Holy Spirit using the eternal Word of God symbolized by water.
Deuteronomy 4:24 informs us that God's consuming fire directly connects to His jealous protection of His people. This fact demonstrates that God uses His holy fire as the third means by which He destroys sinful systems in order to cleanse and recover His good elements which He uses to create new, good systems; that is, new men. The first and most powerful method God uses to save and cleanse men from sin issues from the shed blood of Jesus. The second method comes from the Holy Spirit using the cleansing power of God's Word represented by the water that flowed from Jesus' riven side. The third method involves God using His consuming fire, which is the fire of hell, to destroy false systems; that is, sin, in order to recover the good elements of those false systems which He then uses to recreate new, good systems; that is, new men living on a recreated earth. Many scriptures support these interpretations including Deuteronomy 32:22; Ezekiel 24:11-12; Job 38:13; Psalm 37:27-29; 90:3; 119:89-91; Isaiah 6:5-7; 45:22-23; Jeremiah 23:28-29; Mark 9:49; Luke 3:6,9,17; 17:21; 20;38; John 5:21-29; 1:9; 3:35; 6:33; 12:32, 47; Acts 15:16-18; 3:25-26; 10:34-35,42; Romans 8:19-23; 11:26-36; 14:9; 12:3; 2:9-10; II Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 1:10, 21-22; Philippians 2:10-11 with Isaiah 45:22-23; Colossians 1:15-20; I Timothy 2:4-6; 4:10; 6:13, 17-19; II Timothy 4:1; 1:10; Hebrews 1:2; 12:29; 11:20; I John 2:2; 3:8; 4:14; III John 1:11; Revelation 20:12-13, 15; 21:3; 4:11.
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