The World and the Word

            The Difference between Sin and Evil

Jesus illustrated examples of His higher and lower forms of salvation in a short parable that He related in Matthew 5:25-26. Jesus taught that a person in trouble must agree with his "adversary" in order to stay out of "prison." In this part of His parable, Jesus used symbolic language to indicate that sinners saved by His grace agree with Him, and because they do, He will never cast them into "prison;" that is, one of the regions of death to the extent that they lose their salvation by grace. Jesus will cast unrepentant believers saved by grace into the bottomless pit at the Rapture of the Church because they will have failed to agree with Him that they should live clean lives. But when they all suffer anguish and repent, Jesus will then recover their souls and spirits and translate them to Heaven to receive their spiritual bodies. Ephesians 5:25-27.

Jesus also happens to be a kind of "adversary" to those who refrain from putting their faith in Him while still alive in the flesh because He must judge them after their physical deaths and consign their souls and spirits to one of the regions of death. Hebrews 9:27. But in verse 26, Jesus taught that all who stay in the "prison," which refers to the regions of death, will come out after they have thoroughly suffered for all their sins and evil. Human suffering for their sins and evil always happens to be only temporary. Jesus suffered their eternal penalty for sin and evil on the cross and by His descent into Hell. Hebrews 2:9. Since God must make His Word good, then Jesus' "taste of death for every man" must be effective for the higher and lower forms of salvation for all humans. Numbers 23:19; I Timothy 6:13; I Corinthians 15:22; I Corinthians 15:26; Luke 20:38.

Jesus taught that He will cast unrepentant sinners into one of the regions of death, but He never taught that He will ever cast any living human whom He created in His image and loves into an eternal lake of fire. According to Revelation 20:11-15, Jesus will cast only dead humans into the eternal lake of fire. All of the Apostles agree with Jesus. Jesus will cast the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Devil alive into the lake of fire, but He will cast only dead humans into the lake of fire. Revelation 19:10; Revelation 20:10; Revelation 21:15. God calls the lake of fire "the second death" because it adds eternal death to temporary spiritual death. Revelation 21:8 describes total evil and spiritual death itself, not living humans whom God created to be good. Genesis 1:31. I Corinthians 15:26 relates that God will destroy death itself in the lake of fire. God must make His Word good. Numbers 23:19. Since God casts only dead humans into the lake of fire, then He must raise all living humans back to life. Revelation 20:5; I Timothy 6:13; Revelation 21:5. Dead humans in the lake of fire will possess a small amount of negative consciousness similar to devils and to "worms" squirming near a fire. Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Isaiah 66:24.

In the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6:10, He had them pray that the Father's will be done on earth to the same extent that He will do it in Heaven. Jesus could only have meant that God must cleanse the earth with His fiery wrath and recreate it to be righteous along with all of His recreated humans whom He raises from the dead. II Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 21:1-5. God will purify His creations and all living humans. Romans 8:18-25. The main difference will be that humans in Heaven will possess the absolutely perfect righteousness of Christ Himself which will allow them to live in Heaven whereas God will recreate the living humans on earth with His good image like Adam and Eve had before they sinned. Revelation 22:11-12.