On Truth and Falsity

       The Rapture and the General Resurrection

Many Bible scholars have conflated the Rapture of the Church with the General Resurrection in the end of the world. Some of the Old Testament prophets taught about a general resurrection in the end of the world. Isaiah 66:14-24; Daniel 12:2-4; Isaiah 26:19 (KJB). These prophets clearly taught that every living human will be resurrected to life in this general resurrection. Every individual human possesses both a living image created by God that He can never lose and a spiritually dead nature inherited from the fall of Adam and Eve. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Genesis 2:17; I Corinthians 15:22 (KJB). No matter how evil a particular human may be, that person will do some good in their lives that has been inspired by their living nature that God created. In the general resurrection, God will use His fiery wrath against evil to melt down all humans confined to the regions of death because they will all repent and believe in Christ when He appears to them, and He will separate their good and living natures for Him to recreate from their dead and evil natures which He will cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 5:11-14; Isaiah 66:14-18; Psalm 75:2-3 (KJB). Isaiah clearly taught that God will resurrect all living humans who will be able to look back at their own "worms," which means their dead, spiritual natures, squirming in the lake of fire. Isaiah 66:22-24.

Psalm 107:9-21 has been interpreted to mean that God will bring some humans out of darkness and save them by His grace. But a secondary meaning centers on the phrase "the shadow of death." In the Bible, the phrase "the shadow of death" sometimes means the regions of death that holds all humans who do not become saved by grace. Job 21:21-22; Job 34:20-22; Job 38:17; Psalm 23:4 (KJB). This interpretation can also mean that Psalm 107:9-21 teaches that God will one day cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent so that God can bring them out of the regions of death and save them. God will even save all who have rebelled against Him because all of their living natures has done some good. Psalm 68:18; Psalm 107:11 (KJB).

Jesus taught about a general resurrection from the dead. Luke 20:37-38; Matthew 22:31-32; John 5:28-29 (KJB). Jesus taught that all humans are alive to God. Their lives are in the image of God that He creates and loves. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8 (KJB). God's Love can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8 (KJB). Jesus never told a lost sinner in His entire ministry that He will cast him alive into an eternal lake of fire. Jesus did teach that human "worms" would be in the lake of fire, by which He meant that which Isaiah taught that resurrected, alive humans will be able to look at their own "worms;" that is, their own dead natures in the lake of fire. Mark 9:43-48; Isaiah 66:22-24 (KJB). In Jesus' parable about the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus never said that the rich man would be in Hell forever. Luke 16:19-31 (KJB). The great gulf between the rich man and Abraham's bosom that Abraham said no one could cross can be crossed by Christ. The rich man demonstrated compassion when he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to preach to his five brothers so that they would not be cast into Hell. His compassion demonstrated that he still retained his living image that God had put into him. Near the end of the world, Christ will cross whatever gulf that exists between Heaven and the regions of death, and He will preach to all His living humans confined there, and He will cause them all to repent and believe in Him as the Lamb of God so that He can use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve every one of their beings to separate their repentant, living natures from their spiritual deaths so that He can save their living natures for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth, and He will cast their dead natures into the eternal lake of fire. Revelation 5:11-14; Philippians 2:9-11; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5 (KJB). Jesus taught that even the smallest good work will have its reward, and He will fulfill that promise. Matthew 10:42; Revelation 22:12 (KJB).

After Jesus taught about human "worms" being in the lake of fire, He taught that He will preserve all of His living humans that He creates and loves. Jesus taught that "every one shall be salted with fire," by which He meant that He will use His fiery wrath against evil to preserve every living human that He ever creates. Mark 9:49; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:1-5; Psalm 75:3; Psalm 36:6; Acts 2:3 (KJB). The "cloven tongues like as of fire" that appeared above the heads of all those in the Church at Pentecost symbolized the fact that Christ had burned up their spiritual deaths. Jesus further taught that "every sacrifice will be salted with salt," by which Jesus meant that He would sacrifice Himself to save and preserve every living human that He ever created. Mark 9:49 (KJB). God commanded that salt be added to every sacrifice made in the Old Testament. Leviticus 2:13 (KJB).