Job 24:1-25
Every Old Testament burnt offering symbolized God's ability to cleanse sin by the use of His consuming fire. God cleansed Isaiah with His consuming fire when he appeared before Him in heaven. Isaiah 6:5-7. Jesus bore the sins of all mankind when He suffered on the cross. Isaiah 53:6. All humans who would become saved by grace, Christ cleansed with His blood and water that flowed from His body on the cross. I John 5:4-8. But Jesus still bore the sins of the rest of humanity when He descended into hell. Ephesians 4:9. Yet, Christ rose immaculate from the grave. Therefore, Christ had to have left all of the sins of the rest of humanity not saved by grace behind in hell when He rose from the dead.
The Word of God has to mean exactly that which it states. When the Apostles used the word "we" or "ye" in their epistles, they meant the Church; that is, those saved by grace. When the Apostles used the phrase "every man" or the word "world," they meant all of mankind. In I Corinthians 3:9-16, the Apostle Paul spoke about salvation by grace when he used the words "we" and "ye," and he spoke about salvation by God's consuming fire for the rest of humanity when he used the phrases "every man" or "any man." When those saved by grace face the judgment of Christ following their physical deaths, God may also cleanse their unconfessed sins by the use of His consuming fire. Since there can be no remission of sins without the shedding of Christ's blood, then God's consuming fire must also contain the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9:22. Hebrews 13:11-13 would seem to indicate this fact.
Christ alone provides for the salvation of all mankind through His sacrifice, descent into hell, and His resurrection. John 14:6. All those who believe that Christ's blood and water will cleanse them of all their sins receive salvation by grace while still alive in the flesh. The rest of humanity whom God must temporarily consign to one of the three regions of spiritual death because their images of God within them still remains soiled by sin when they die will be saved by God's consuming fire in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5. Christ's shed blood and water saved all who believe by His grace as it flowed from His cross, but the Holy Spirit does not make that salvation actual until the moment of the faith of the believer. In a similar way, Christ cleansed all of the rest of humanity of their sins when He descended into hell, but He does not make that salvation actual until the general resurrection of the living from the dead in the end of the world. I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 20:5. The difference between those saved by grace and those saved in the general resurrection will be that those saved by grace receive the gift of the righteousness of Christ Himself when they believe by which God will accept them to live with Him in heaven just as He accepts His own Son, and the rest of humanity God will recreate with only an earthly perfection, like that of Adam and Eve, to live on His recreated earth. II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:14-17; Revelation 21:1-5; I Corinthians 15:22; I Corinthians 15:35-49.
No salvation is possible without faith in Christ's power to save from sin and eternal spiritual death. John 14:6. For this reason, God will renew the measure of faith that He has put into His good and living image that He created in all humans. Romans 12:3. Isaiah 45:21-24 and Philippians 2:9-11 prophesy that one day all mankind still in their graves will return to faith in Christ as their Savior of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14 records the fulfillment of this prophecy when all of humanity in heaven and within the three regions of spiritual death will worship Christ as "the Lamb." Those within the regions of the dead would never be able to recognize Jesus as the Lamb unless God renews their dormant faith. God will renew their faith because they will become overwhelmed by God's awesome majesty and His Almighty Love for them when He reveals Himself to them. They could choose to look away, but God knows that they will all choose to look to Him for their salvation. In this way, God will prove that His gift of free will to man was not a mistake.
Satan recognizes that God's gift of free will contains a weakness that causes humans to sin, just as it did with him when he was Lucifer. Satan counted on using that weakness to completely overpower the good and living image of God in every human to the extent that he could annihilate that image and thus prove that God's Love is not Almighty. Satan believed that if he could ruin humans forever and torture them in hell forever, then he could prove that God's Love is not Almighty, gain a advantage over God, and eventually cause God's death. God gave him his chance when His Son was nailed to the cross.
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