Read Exodus 17:5-7 Numbers 20:7-13 I Samuel chapter 15 Acts 21:4 Acts 21:10-13 (KJB)
The above verses tell the stories of the disobedience of three great men of God, not because of their willfulness, but because of carelessness; because of inatentiveness and wrong assumptions. These stories indicate the important need for every believer to pay very close attention to the exact wording of God's Word when they read it.
The inner weaknesses of every believer causes us to bring the pressures of the teachings of our denomination, custom and tradition, and our own personal preferences into consideration whenever we read the Word of God. This condition causes us sometimes to read into the Word of God ideas which it does not state, and to ignore teachings which it does state. In other words, outside influences and inner preferences sometimes cause believers to misread the Word of God. Inner preferences sometimes cause us to read into the Word of God that which we we want it to teach, as well as sometimes to ignore that which it does teach, instead of that which it actually teaches. This condition partly accounts for the large number of denominations within the realm of Christendom.
These three great men disobeyed God because they failed to heed the exact instructions of God's Word, and not because of any willful desire to do so.
Moses simply assumed that because God had told him to strike the rock with his rod the first time, then that made it all right to strike it the second time. Because of his carelessness and inatentiveness to the exact Words of God, he failed to speak to the rock as God had instructed him. As a result of his disobedience, God punished him by not allowing him to enter the Promised Land with the rest of God's people. Neither Moses' greatness nor God's love for him were diminished in the least because of his disobedience. God's moral for this story was simply that error can occur if one fails to pay very close attention to God's exact Words.
King Saul disobeyed God because of his carelessness, his pride, and his weakness for giving in to the whims of his people. God had instructed Saul through His prophet Samuel to destroy the Amalekites and all that they possessed completely. But when Saul's soldiers began to spare some of the sheep and cattle for future sacrifices to God, Saul deferred to their wishes, no doubt rationalizing that they should have their sacrifices because the sheep and cattle would be killed in either case. Saul also spared the life of the king of the Amalekites probably as a trophy to his pride so that he could personally kill him later before the people in a ritualistic manner. Thus, Saul disobeyed God because of his indulgence and pride.
When Samuel arrived later and found that Saul had disobeyed God, Samuel gave Saul his strongest remonstration. Saul had proven that he was not the kind of leader that God needed. When Samuel told Saul in verse 22: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice....," he meant that sacrifice is useless when obedience is not exact. One of the lessons of life is that often success in some project requires an exact attention to every detail and a willingness to get all aspects of one's project right. Man's disobedience cannot thwart God's will, but disobedience can cause God to reject one person's service and choose another who will accomplish His will. But this condition causes grief to God when He must reject and punish one of His servant, and choose another.
The great Apostle Paul disobeyed God toward the end of his ministry when he was determined to go to Jerusalem when God had told him to go directly to Rome. We know that God had instructed Paul to go directly to Rome from his mission field by that which Paul wrote in Romans 15, and by the instructions of the Holy Spirit through the church to him in Acts 21. But Paul revealed his attitude in Acts 21:13 when he said that he was willing to die in Jerusalem for the cause of Christ. Apparently, Paul had allowed a little pride to enter into his thinking because he had forgotten that he was not allowed to decide where he would be martyred, but that was God's decision.
On the other hand, God knew that Paul desired to go to Jerusalem because of his great love for his fellow Jews. More than anything, the Apostle Paul desired to win his fellow Jews to faith in Christ. Perhaps, Paul thought that if his fellow Jews should kill him, then his martyrdom might be the catalyst that would cause his fellow Jews to turn to Christ. He should have known better since the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen and other fellow Christians had not turned his nation to Christ.
Despite his disobedience, God did not harshly punish Paul. God simply made sure that He would turn Paul around and send him back in the direction of Rome. Nevertheless, Paul had unnecessarily to suffer a beating, imprisonment and shipwreck before he got to Rome. But God did not replace the Apostle Paul with another Apostle because God honored the fact that Paul was at least partly motivated by his great love for his fellow Jews. By so doing, God honored His own Word in Proverbs 10:12. God verifies His own Word when He mitigates the punishment of those who are partly motivated by love when they sin. But no man is capable of being wholly motivated by love when he sins. Always, the weakness of original sin causes pride or some other sinful motivation to vitiate the motivation of love as in the case with Paul. However, God's punishment for sins at least partly motivated by love is usually fairly light.
The message of the stories of these three great men of God is that God's people must pay very close attention to the exact Words of God so that they may believe it and obey it exactly. One must pray fervently for the guidance of the Holy Spirit when one reads the Word of God, and strive mightily to put aside all outside influences and inner preferences.
The best example for why "obedience is better than sacrifice" adheres to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus always exactly obeyed His Father in every detail of everything His Father told Him to do. For this reason, Jesus led an absolutely perfect life. If Jesus had not done so, His sacrifice on the cross for the salvation of mankind would not have worked. If Jesus had ever failed to obey His Father, even in the smallest detail, He would have died for His own sins and not for others. His sinless perfection caused his sacrifice to effect the salvation of mankind because as the innocent Lamb of God He could die in the place of the guilty, taking their sin upon Himself and cleansing them with His holy shed blood.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Permanence and Change
Everything is real. All appearances are real as basic elements, whether these be sensory representations or solely mental representations. All of the basic elements of reality are useful, whether these are employed as abstract plans in the mind or as practical projects in the world. All that is useful must also be real. All basic elements are real whether they be abstract or concrete, universal or particular, subjective or objective, have a direct or indirect appearance, and even if the appearance were vague or clear. "Roundness" as an abstract idea in the mind is just as real as any round object observed in the world. Any abstract number in the mind is just as real as any number of objects measured in the world. "Justice" as an abstract idea in the mind is just as real as are laws and courts in the world.
The basic elements of reality can be combined into good combinations or false combinations. The good combinations always effect a useful and creative purpose. The false combinations always effect a uselessness and nothingness. Nevertheless, the basic elements of all true and false combinations always remain real. The falsity of any false combination always adheres to the nothingness inherent in the combination itself and never to the basic elements which are always real.
For example, if one adds 2+3=5 in one's mind, then one has put together a true combination of real basic elements that effects a useful result, even if that useful result only reaffirms the permanence of this useful combination. If one selects two oranges from one pile of mixed fruit and puts them together in a bowl with three oranges selected from another pile of mixed fruit, then one has put together a true and practical combination of five oranges that applies to the world. The results of this combination are useful whether one intends to make ambrosia or merely to reaffirm the fact that oranges are the same kind of fruit.
On the other hand, if one miscalculates that 2+3=6 in one's mind or as misapplied to the world, then one has put together a false combination even though all of the basic elements of the false combination are real. "Two," "plus," "three" "equals" and "six" are all real basic elements but, nevertheless, the combination is false. The combination is false because it is useless. The false combination really equals nothing because it has no usefulness or meaning.
The entire history of the human race consists of a process of inventing and discovering true and useful combinations of real basic elements, and usefully discarding false combinations of real basic elements. True and useful combinations are permanent and never change, just as 2+3=5 never changes. The only changes that occur, in the mind or in the world, are from one permanent combination to another permanent combination, or from a good combination to a false one or vice versa; and also from the inventions of good or false combinations using the basic elements of reality. Such changes may happen very swiftly or very slowly.
For example, Newton's law of gravitation consists of a permanent mathematical description of a good combination. Should the sun fail to come up in the morning, then this will happen only because this good combination of basic realities has changed to a false combination of basic realities. Perhaps the sun exploded in the night, and even though "sun" is a basic reality and "explosion" is a basic reality; the combination of these effect a useless and destructive result; that is, the removal of the law of gravity as it applies to the earth and the sun and its replacement with a false combination that effects the destruction of the earth and the sun. Nevertheless, the change from the good combination to the false combination never alters the permanence of the law of gravity itself. The law of gravity itself will work the same throughout eternity so long as other basic real elements are never added or subtracted from it. For this same reason, the miscalculation that 2+3=6 never changes the true permanent combination that 2+3=5.
For example, a man may invent a machine to accomplish some desired effect, only to find that the machine does not work. He has invented a false combination of basic realities. A woman may come along and look at the machine, and help the man out by subtracting certain parts and adding other parts until she causes the machine to work and produce the desired result. The new inventor has changed the false combination into a good combination. For the same reason, a teacher may change a student's false combination of 2+3=6 into a true combination of 2+3=5 by erasing the 6 and replacing it with a 5.
For example, Heraclitus said that one can never step into the same river twice, but Cratylus said that one can never step into the same river even once. Cratylus was right because in every fraction of a second a flowing river changes from one permanent system to another permanent system. Even though the positions of each molecule of water may change from each fraction of a second to another; nevertheless, the forces that determine the positions of every molecule of water in every fraction of a second never change. For the same reasons, one may quickly change the good combinations 2+3=5 to 1+4=5 to 0+5=5. But these quick changes from one permanent system to another never changes the good combinations 2+3=5 or 1+4=5 or 0+5=5 themselves. Should one reverse a film of a flowing river and rerun it, one will find that the positions of each molecule of water in each fraction of a second will be the same as in the first run.
For example, if one should view a coin from a perpendicular angle, the coin will appear to be round. If one should change to another system by subtracting the perpendicular angle and adding a horizontal angle from which to view the coin, then the coin will appear to be elliptical. All of the elements of both combinations are real. Yet, the first combination is a good one and the second is false. The world uses round coins, not elliptical ones. For these same reasons, 2+3=5 has proven to be useful in the mind and in the world, whereas 2+3=6 has proven to be completely useless.
For example, the idea of "justice" in the mind may evoke a good combination of real ideas that results in an ideal system that always effects "justice." But as practically applied to the world, the ideal system of justice sometimes fails because the laws and the courts have become infected with false systems. For the same reasons, 2+3=5 is always true in the mind, but when applied to the world it may prove to be part of a false system because a measured 5 may prove to be too much or too little to solve a particular problem.
In summary, reality consists of the useful and permanent good combinations of the basic real elements as well as the basic real elements of false combinations. Change consists of shifts from permanent combinations to other permanent combinations, or from good combinations to false ones and vice versa, or from inventions of good or false combinations using the basic real elements. This means that everything is real, and that falsity always equals nothingness. But since our minds can recognize this good combination, then the idea of nothing must also be a basic element of reality. Reality also consists of using the good combinations that have been invented or discovered, and usefully discarding the useless and destructive false systems.
God created the world as a highly complex interconnection of good systems. But when sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, all of creation became subject to the law of entropy which is a false system even though all of its basic elements are real. However, God has invented a plan by which sin and entropy can be eliminated and He can recreate the heaven and the earth.
The basic elements of reality can be combined into good combinations or false combinations. The good combinations always effect a useful and creative purpose. The false combinations always effect a uselessness and nothingness. Nevertheless, the basic elements of all true and false combinations always remain real. The falsity of any false combination always adheres to the nothingness inherent in the combination itself and never to the basic elements which are always real.
For example, if one adds 2+3=5 in one's mind, then one has put together a true combination of real basic elements that effects a useful result, even if that useful result only reaffirms the permanence of this useful combination. If one selects two oranges from one pile of mixed fruit and puts them together in a bowl with three oranges selected from another pile of mixed fruit, then one has put together a true and practical combination of five oranges that applies to the world. The results of this combination are useful whether one intends to make ambrosia or merely to reaffirm the fact that oranges are the same kind of fruit.
On the other hand, if one miscalculates that 2+3=6 in one's mind or as misapplied to the world, then one has put together a false combination even though all of the basic elements of the false combination are real. "Two," "plus," "three" "equals" and "six" are all real basic elements but, nevertheless, the combination is false. The combination is false because it is useless. The false combination really equals nothing because it has no usefulness or meaning.
The entire history of the human race consists of a process of inventing and discovering true and useful combinations of real basic elements, and usefully discarding false combinations of real basic elements. True and useful combinations are permanent and never change, just as 2+3=5 never changes. The only changes that occur, in the mind or in the world, are from one permanent combination to another permanent combination, or from a good combination to a false one or vice versa; and also from the inventions of good or false combinations using the basic elements of reality. Such changes may happen very swiftly or very slowly.
For example, Newton's law of gravitation consists of a permanent mathematical description of a good combination. Should the sun fail to come up in the morning, then this will happen only because this good combination of basic realities has changed to a false combination of basic realities. Perhaps the sun exploded in the night, and even though "sun" is a basic reality and "explosion" is a basic reality; the combination of these effect a useless and destructive result; that is, the removal of the law of gravity as it applies to the earth and the sun and its replacement with a false combination that effects the destruction of the earth and the sun. Nevertheless, the change from the good combination to the false combination never alters the permanence of the law of gravity itself. The law of gravity itself will work the same throughout eternity so long as other basic real elements are never added or subtracted from it. For this same reason, the miscalculation that 2+3=6 never changes the true permanent combination that 2+3=5.
For example, a man may invent a machine to accomplish some desired effect, only to find that the machine does not work. He has invented a false combination of basic realities. A woman may come along and look at the machine, and help the man out by subtracting certain parts and adding other parts until she causes the machine to work and produce the desired result. The new inventor has changed the false combination into a good combination. For the same reason, a teacher may change a student's false combination of 2+3=6 into a true combination of 2+3=5 by erasing the 6 and replacing it with a 5.
For example, Heraclitus said that one can never step into the same river twice, but Cratylus said that one can never step into the same river even once. Cratylus was right because in every fraction of a second a flowing river changes from one permanent system to another permanent system. Even though the positions of each molecule of water may change from each fraction of a second to another; nevertheless, the forces that determine the positions of every molecule of water in every fraction of a second never change. For the same reasons, one may quickly change the good combinations 2+3=5 to 1+4=5 to 0+5=5. But these quick changes from one permanent system to another never changes the good combinations 2+3=5 or 1+4=5 or 0+5=5 themselves. Should one reverse a film of a flowing river and rerun it, one will find that the positions of each molecule of water in each fraction of a second will be the same as in the first run.
For example, if one should view a coin from a perpendicular angle, the coin will appear to be round. If one should change to another system by subtracting the perpendicular angle and adding a horizontal angle from which to view the coin, then the coin will appear to be elliptical. All of the elements of both combinations are real. Yet, the first combination is a good one and the second is false. The world uses round coins, not elliptical ones. For these same reasons, 2+3=5 has proven to be useful in the mind and in the world, whereas 2+3=6 has proven to be completely useless.
For example, the idea of "justice" in the mind may evoke a good combination of real ideas that results in an ideal system that always effects "justice." But as practically applied to the world, the ideal system of justice sometimes fails because the laws and the courts have become infected with false systems. For the same reasons, 2+3=5 is always true in the mind, but when applied to the world it may prove to be part of a false system because a measured 5 may prove to be too much or too little to solve a particular problem.
In summary, reality consists of the useful and permanent good combinations of the basic real elements as well as the basic real elements of false combinations. Change consists of shifts from permanent combinations to other permanent combinations, or from good combinations to false ones and vice versa, or from inventions of good or false combinations using the basic real elements. This means that everything is real, and that falsity always equals nothingness. But since our minds can recognize this good combination, then the idea of nothing must also be a basic element of reality. Reality also consists of using the good combinations that have been invented or discovered, and usefully discarding the useless and destructive false systems.
God created the world as a highly complex interconnection of good systems. But when sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, all of creation became subject to the law of entropy which is a false system even though all of its basic elements are real. However, God has invented a plan by which sin and entropy can be eliminated and He can recreate the heaven and the earth.
Friday, April 26, 2013
THE GOOD versus THE EVIL chapter 9
The Recreation
Revelation chapters 20&21 Psalm 147:5 Ezekiel 39:2
Since the Bible teaches that God's "understanding is infinite, " then it seems quite unreasonable to believe that God could do anything unreasonable. Everything that God does must have good and creative purposes. God may act in mysterious ways that He does not explain in His Word, but these actions always effect good and creative purposes. God's actions always conform to His Infinite Love and Reason.
Despite the nature of God's Being, some Christians resort to superstitious beliefs about God's nature such as that God would send an infant to hell simply because it died without being baptized. All such unreasonable beliefs are basically idolatrous, even if believed by Christians. All beliefs which depict God as being unreasonable or uncompassionate can only be idolatrous because they display false ideas about God's Being. "God is Love." Read I John 4:8.
On the other hand, God hates evil and He will judge sin and cleanse His universe of all evil when He recreates the heaven and the earth. This means that God will demonstrate His great Compassion and Love when He recreates, because sin is a misuse of God's Ideas in that sin consists of false combinations of His Ideas. God's Infinite Ideas themselves cannot be misused, but limited copies of His Ideas can. Even so, sin is a violation of Love itself. God must cleanse His universe of sin because it is always destructive whereas God is always creative. God cannot allow sin to remain in His universe because it would always constitute a threat to the absolute joy and peace which He intends to give to His future creations, as well as being a constant threat to the very Being of Love itself.
God's judgment of pure evil will be quite harsh, and for good reason. Revelation 19:20 and 20:10 reveal that the Devil, the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire where they will be tormented in full consciousness forever. Revelation 14:9-11 also reveals that those humans who receive the mark of the beast will also become so fully demonic that they also will be tormented in the lake of fire forever. On the other hand, Revelation 20:11-15 reveals that all of the human dead will be raised to be judged by Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment according to their works. Since the works of all those who receive the mark of the beast can only become completely evil after having received the mark, then only that part of their consciousnesses which completely adheres to evil will be tormented forever. That part of their consciousnesses which adhered to ordinary sinfulness and goodness before they received the mark will be part of the dead that are raised to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. This division of consciousness rests on the premise that since man was created in God's image and God's Consciousness is one with His Word, then the being of man has to be, at all times, one with that of which he is conscious and of that which he chooses to do. In fact, the very fall of man into original sin effected a division of his consciousness into a consciousness of good and a consciousness of evil. Hence, the consciousness of man has been divided into that evil which he chooses to do, and that good which he chooses to do.
God's eternal torment of pure evil will become quite necessary in order to occupy the demons' minds with absolute pain so completely that they will never be able to concoct any more false combinations forever. This condition will constitute a good, creative and compassionate combination of God's Ideas since it will forever eliminate any possibility that evil can ever cause any pain and sorrow to God's future creations. God will create a way to neutralize the harmful effects of evil forever, and thus create a good combination that will ensure that only joy and peace and love will prevail in all of His future creations. God holds the eternal power to turn even evil toward the good.
Consciousness becomes that of which it is conscious. Demonic minds totally given to evil must be neutralized by eternal torment so that their consciousnesses will become eternal torment and will thus no longer be able to concentrate on inventing evil. This is the good system that God will use to turn evil toward the good.
Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39 Revelation 20:1-3
Immediately following the battle of Armageddon, Christ will begin His thousand year reign over earth. Revelation 20:1-3 records that God will send an angel to capture Satan, bind him with a great chain, and cast him into the bottomless pit. Satan will be prevented from having any influence over mankind during the thousand year reign of Christ. After the thousand years, the Bible teaches that Satan "must be loosed a little season." God's Word does not exactly explain why this must happen. One speculative reason emerges from Ezekiel's prophecy about the battle of Armageddon. Ezekiel 39:2 prophesies that one sixth of the beast's evil armies will survive the battle. These evil men will return to their countries, and outwardly they will force themselves to accept the rule of Christ. But some consciousness of their evil will remain within them and foment a secret resentment and rebellion against Christ. Their condition will show that evil will not have been entirely eliminated from the hearts of some men even under conditions in which Satan has no connection to them. Their condition will serve to prove that men's hearts can only be fully changed to a consciousness of goodness by a complete repentance of their sins and a total submission in faith to Christ's rule in their hearts and in their world.
Revelation 20:7-10
Revelation 20:7-10 records that after the thousand year reign of Christ, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will go out into the world to inspire all who harbor secret evils to rebel openly against the rule of Christ. Satan will lead this evil army against Jerusalem but God will completely devour them with fire from heaven. Perhaps, one of the purposes of the thousand year reign of Christ will be for God to prove that evil cannot be completely controlled by any outward rule of Goodness, but that evil can only be eliminated from creation either by a recreation of the hearts of men through salvation by God's grace, or by its absolute destruction. After this final war, Satan will then be cast into the lake of fire where his consciousness of evil will be expunged by his consciousness of his eternal torment.
Revelation 20:4-6
Revelation 20:4-6 relates the story of the resurrection of all who remained faithful to Christ during the Tribulation period, and who were martyred for refusing to worship the beast. This first resurrection is not the same as the resurrection at the Rapture of the church. God's Word calls this the first resurrection simply to distinguish it from the second resurrection of the dead at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ.
Revelation 20:11-15
Revelation 20:11-15 records the story of the resurrection of the dead and the Great White Throne Judgment that follows the final war. Great significance adheres to the revelation that those in the first resurrection are raised to life, while those of the second resurrection are recorded as still being dead even as they stand before God for their judgment. Even so, they must retain some form of consciousness, for otherwise their resurrections would mean nothing. God must consider them to be dead because they have no consciousness of Eternal Goodness, but whatever consciousness they do possess will be concentrated solely on limited goodness and evil only. To God, death is a loss of fellowship with Him. Adam and Eve died spiritually when they disobeyed God and lost their daily fellowship with Him, and limited good and evil became a part of their consciousnesses. For a short time, Adam and Eve were completely depraved and lost because their limited goodness could never be enough to overcome their limited evil. But God restored them to limited fellowship with Him through prayer and worship when He shed the blood of an animal and clothed them in its skin. This prophecy demonstrated that God would provide a way for all future humans to be thoroughly cleansed of their depravity and restored to an eternal fellowship with Him through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son.
Colossians 1:15-23 Revelation 21:1-8 Mark 9:43-48 Isaiah 66:24
When the above verses are compared, a great but hidden truth emerges from God's Word. Colossians 1:15 reveals the Diety of Christ which is an open revelation of scripture. Verse 16 relates that Christ created "all things" defined as "in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,......" This teaching can only mean that Christ has created absolutely everything that exists; all material things that are visible, as well as all invisible things such as ideas, feelings, forces, and information. This means that absolutely everything that can be felt or thought or experienced in any way, physical or mental, must be real. God always meant for the elements of this reality to be used in good and creative combinations. Sin amounts to the misuse of the elements of God's creations; that is, the false combinations of His ideas that have destructive effects.
Colossians 1:20-23 reveals that Christ will "reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." When combined with the revelation that Christ has created "all things," then the unavoidable conclusion must be that Christ will one day recover, reconcile and recreate "all things" that He has created including all of His elements that have been misused in false combinations. Revelation 21:5 reinforces this conclusion where Christ states: "Behold, I make all things new." Colossians 1:21-23 refers to all who accept Christ as their Savior while still living on the old earth. God will recreate the souls and spirits of these believers the moment they believe. They will be "born again" at the moment they repent and believe in Christ. Read John 5:24 and Colossians 3:10. Their sins will be washed away by the blood of Christ and they will receive the eternal life of Christ Himself and they will be destined to live with Christ in heaven forever. Read Revelation 1:5.
Revelation 21:3-5 reveals that recreated men will be living on the recreated earth after God has destroyed the old earth and heaven and has recreated them. Since "all things" that God has created are good and belong to Him, then God can only recreate these new men from all of His good elements which He will recover from the resurrected dead when He judges them. These recreated men will never be allowed to go to heaven, but will remain on earth forever. The saints in heaven who were recreated when they were "born again" on the old earth, will enjoy a special relationship with God because they will be His sons and daughters who will enjoy an inheritance equal to that of Christ Himself. Read Romans 8:16-17.
Revelation 20:11-15 Revelation 21:5 Revelation 21:8 Revelation 22:14-15
The above verses, read in conjunction with each other, reveal a hidden truth in God's Word. This message begins with the Great White Throne Judgment where God begins His recreation of heaven and earth and also "makes all things new." At this Judgment, God resurrects the dead who stand before Him to be "judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." This must mean that all of the works of the dead have been recorded in heaven, and that God will judge both their good and their evil works. Revelation 20:14 relates that death and hell will be destroyed in the lake of fire. The "whosoever" of verse fifteen refers to these dead whose deaths will be destroyed in the lake of fire. Only their deadness will be destroyed, not their good works. Their good works can possess no deadness since they were created by God in the first place.
Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 reveal that the lake of fire and the second death are the same place. These verses also relate that the deadness of the dead will "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Clearly, the second death has to be quite different from the first death since the second death destroys the first death. From Genesis throughout the Bible, death always means a personal separation from fellowship with God. Since this first death will be destroyed by the second death, and since God has promised in Revelation 21:5 that He will "make all things new," which can only mean all of the good things which He has created; then all of this taken together can only mean that God will recover all of His good works from the dead and use them to recreate a new human race to live on His recreated earth. Read Revelation 21:3-5.
Therefore, as Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 taken together relates, only the deadness of the resurrected dead, which is the same as their sins which separate them from God, will be destroyed in the lake of fire. God will separate His good works from the resurrected dead for recreation, and consign their dead works to be destroyed in the lake of fire. Revelation 22:15 refers to these dead as being "dogs." A dog is less than human, and so these sinful dead can only be less than human. Since the Bible teaches that the lake of fire will burn forever, then these dead must burn forever but how much consciousness will they possess since they are less than human?
Mark 9:43-48 Isaiah 66:24
When Jesus taught in Mark: "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" He meant exactly that which He said. He did not mean that complete humans would suffer in the lake of fire, but only their "worms." Jesus' reference to "worms" can only mean that only the nasty parts of the dead with their consciousnesses of their sins will be consigned to the lake of fire. In other words, God will reduce the consciousnesses of the sins of the dead until they equal that of worms. This means that the fully conscious suffering of the dead in the lake of fire is not taught in scripture.
Other scriptures may also indicate the truth of this hidden message. In John 10:10, Jesus seems to be teaching that those whom He came to give life may constitute a different group from those whom He came to give the abundant life. The first group may refer to those recreated humans who will inhabit His recreated earth, and the second group may refer to those who hear the gospel, repent and believe in Jesus, are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and whom the Spirit of God recreates in soul and spirit while they still live on the old earth. Read John 5:24.
I Corinthians 15:22 seems to teach that the entire human race who died in Adam will also be made alive by Christ. Verse 23 refers to the resurrection of Christ which will also result in the resurrection of His saints at the Rapture of the church. But then, verses 24-28 refer to the time of the end when Christ will recreate all things. At this time: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." The dead in the lake of fire cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. This condition can only mean that God will destroy their deadness in the lake of fire; while, at the same time, God will recover all of their good works, which have always belonged to Him, to be recreated as men living on a recreated earth. If the dead suffer fully conscious in the lake of fire, then this would not be much of a life. This kind of life would be more like a living death, but God has promised that He will destroy death.
I Timothy 4:10 plainly teaches that God is "the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." This seems to teach that God will restore life to all men. Those who believe the gospel while still living on the old earth will enjoy a special relationship with Jesus in that they will be the recreated children of God who will live in untold bliss with God in heaven forever. God will recover and recreate the good works of the rest of humanity as new men living on a new earth.
This hidden message of the Bible (KJB) could also shed light on why Jesus stated in Revelation 3:15-16 that He preferred that the Christians be either hot or cold and not lukewarm. He literally said that lukewarm Christians made Him sick to His stomach. People who are spiritually cold are probably not saved at all, but that did not disturb Jesus because He knew that He would recreate them to live on the earth in the end. He also knew that the hot or fervent Christians would immediately be welcomed into the bliss of heaven when their bodies died. But the lukewarm Christians would be the backslidden ones, living worldly lives. Jesus knew that in accordance with Hebrews 10:29-31 and II Peter 2:20-22, He will punish backslidden Christians to a much greater degree than He will punish even the spiritually cold. This was the knowledge that so grieved Him and made Him feel sick. The punishment of the backslidden Christians will be temporary and for their correction only. This punishment will be worse than that of the unsaved because of the terrible remorse that they will feel; the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" as the Bible describes it, because of their knowledge of the grief that they have caused their Savior. Jesus came into the world to save sinners from the tyranny of Satan and from eternal punishment for their sins. He did not come to save mankind from any temporary punishment for their sins. Eventually, according to the judgment of God, the backslidders' punishment will cease, and He will bring them home to heaven to live in bliss with Him forever. True Christians never lose their salvation. Read Philippians 1:6.
This hidden message could also account for the meaning of Jesus' cry from the cross in Luke 23:34: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Jesus' cry was a prayer to His Father that He should forgive everyone who was responsible for His crucifixion, which means the whole human race since all men are sinners. It does not seem reasonable that God would have ignored Jesus' plea, and refuse to forgive even those who would never repent. Surely, God would have granted His Son's request that He should forgive the entire human race for His Son's crucifixion. But God would fully answer Jesus' prayer if He forgives and recreates His repentant saints the moment they believe and brings them home to heaven when they die, except for the temporary punishment of the backslidders; but also forgives and recreates unrepentant sinners to live on His recreated earth, after they have served their time of punishment in hell.
Colossians 1:20 further reinforces this view where it states: "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself;....." This phrase teaches that through the cross of Christ, God will "reconcile all things unto Himself." Since Colossians 1:16 teaches that God has created absolutely everything that exists, then the ineluctable conclusion of verse 20 must be that God will reconcile and recreate "all things" that He created in the first place that have been soiled by their misuse in sinful combinations. The second part of verse 20 states: "by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." This clearly demonstrates that God will "make all things new," as recreated men on a recreated earth, and as recreated saints living in a recreated heaven.
Revelation 20:13 Revelation 21:1
Revelation 20:13 records that these dead, whose good works will be recreated, will be raised from the sea, from death and from hell. These must be three separate places since the beast rises from the sea which contains the bottomless pit, the false prophet rises from the earth which contains hell and the Devil was the lord of death until Jesus took the keys of death and hell from him when Jesus descended into hell after his crucifixion. God judges these dead "according to their works." This can only mean that God judges them according to both their good and evil works when they lived as men on the earth.
Verse fourteen relates that death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire which is the same place as the second death. Revelation 21:1 also records that God will eliminate the sea which contains the bottomless pit. All of this put together can only mean that the second death must be a completely different place or condition from the first death since it destroys the first death. Verse fifteen further relates that those not found in the book of life; that is, the dead, will be cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed.
Keeping in mind that God has created all things and that in the end He will recreate all things, then His judgment of the dead can only indicate that God will divide the consciousnesses of the dead into that of their good works which are based on Ideas that belonged to God in the first place, from their consciousnesses of their evil works which is their deadness. God will recover His goodness from the dead in order to recreate new men to live on His recreated earth. Read Revelation 21:3-5. God will also cast their separated consciousnesses of their dead evil works into the second death so that the dead will forever be conscious of their eternal destruction by the flames of the lake of fire. In this way, God will create a good system that will forever neutralize the evil effects of sin that comes from the hearts of men. Read Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15.
Revelation 21:1-8
Revelation 21:1-8 describes God's recreation of the heaven and the earth. The key to understanding this portion of scripture inheres in God's statement in verse five: "Behold, I make all things new." As Revelation 4:11 and John 1:3 and other scriptures teach, God literally created all things; not just all physical things but all thoughts, ideas and emotions. God literally created everything that can be an object of consciousness. In the recreation, God recovers and reclaims absolutely everything that He has created and recreates the heaven and the earth, and men as well, so that no trace whatsoever remains of any sin and evil.
Revelation 21:2-3 relates that God's recreated Jerusalem will descend to earth and become the capital of the new earth. God will reside within this holy city and will rule the earth from there. God will rule over a recreated earth as well as His saints in heaven and in His new city. These new humans will be recreated from all of God's good things which He will recover from the dead at the Great White Throne Judgment. These new humans will not be the same persons as the dead who are judged, but will be recreated from a pool of good works that God will have recovered. They will retain no trace of sin or any possibility of inventing any sin in the future. Many of these new people will be Jewish people living in Israel which will be the only nation left on earth. God will thus fulfill His promise to the Jews that they will inherit the earth. Verse four teaches that these new people will live in a state of joy and peace forever. This shows that God will renew His original purpose for creating the earth, that humans should live in a paradise forever.
Revelation 21:5 constitutes a promise that God will recover absolutely all of His good things that have been misused in false combinations. and that He will reuse them to recreate the heaven and the earth and a new human race. God will have no reason to recreate His saints for they will have already been recreated in spirit and soul when they were born again, and their bodies will have already been recreated in the Rapture of the church. Since the old earth, and even heaven itself, have to some extent been touched by traces of evil; God will break the whole of it down and recreate it all so that no possibility of any traces of evil can ever be found within any of His recreations.
In Revelation 21:6, God affirms that He was the beginning of the test of His Love when He initiated the history of the earth for that purpose, and that He will be the successful end of that test in His recreation. He further affirms that the "water of life" which symbolizes the Holy Spirit will be freely given to all of His recreated humans as it has already been given to His saints. Eternity consists of an endless series of beginnings and endings, but God's test of His Love amounts to only one beginning and ending within an infinity of beginnings and endings.
In Revelation 21:7, God speaks about His saints and not about the recreated humans. Only God's saints are His sons and daughters. Read John 1:12. Only God's saints have "overcome the world" by their identification with Christ through faith in Him. Read John 16:33. Only God's saints "inherit all things." Read Romans 8:14-17. The main difference between God's saints and the recreated humans is that His saints retain their own individual personalities and consciousnesses forever. God never divides the consciousnesses of His saints, but He does separate their sins from their lives at that time during their earthly lives when they repented of their sins, put their faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit washed them in the blood of Jesus. God recreates the souls and spirits of His saints when they are born again, and He will recreate their bodies at the Rapture of the church. Read Mark 8:35. The saints are the ones who proved the great value of God's Love when they freely chose to accept His grace. One of the results of this difference is that the saints will be allowed to travel anywhere within heaven and on earth that they wish to go. However, backslidden saints will not be allowed to enter the City of God because they failed to live clean lives on the earth and thus dishonored God's grace that saved them. God's reward for some of the best saints will be that they will be allowed to attend schools of higher learning in order to learn any truths that they will be able to understand. The saints will be allowed to create any good combination of ideas that they wish. The saints will enjoy many privileges denied to the recreated humans. The saints will truly "inherit all things." The recreated humans will be restricted to lives on the new earth. They will each be different people than their former selves on the old earth. Some of them may retain parts of their former personalities because they did a lot of good works on the old earth. God will reward all good works, but His rewards for His saints' good works will be far greater than any of those given to the recreated humans. The saints receive the grace of God, but the recreated humans will receive only the mercy of God.
The wording of Revelation 21:8 is quite significant in that it does not seem to indicate that whole persons will be cast into the lake of fire, but instead seems to state that only each sinners' consciousness of their sins will be so cast into the second death. Even the worst person has some good in them. But verse eight only refers to the totality of evil within each person, and does not mention any goodness. This condition would seem to indicate that the consciousnesses of the dead will be divided, with God retaining their good works which were originally created by Him, separated from their consciousnesses of their evil works which God casts into the lake of fire. In this way, the lake of fire becomes a good system which serves a good purpose in that it neutralizes the effects of sin by an eternal consciousness of its burning. Thus, by the means of the eternal torment of the Devil and his demons, and by the neutralization of the effects of sin by its eternal burning in the lake of fire; God will create two good systems that will totally eradicate all evil, and any possibility of evil, from all of His future creations. The main difference between the first and second deaths would seem to be that the first death separates the sinner from God temporarily, and the second death separates the consciousness of sins from God's creations forever.
In Revelation 21:9-26, the Apostle John attempts to describe the tremendous beauty of the City of God. John states that this City is the bride of Christ because many of God's best saints will be allowed to live there. All of the saints of God's church will eventually get to heaven which is a much larger place than just the City of God. Verse 24 states: "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:...." The light of the City of God will lighten all of heaven, for both those who are inside or outside of the City.
In Revelation 21:27, the Word of God (KJB) again emphasizes the absolute separation of evil from purity within God's new creations. The second phrase of this verse does not state that all of those written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be allowed to enter the City, but only that no one except those written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be allowed to enter.
In Revelation 22:1-7, John attempts to describe the absolute bliss of those whom God allows to live within the City of God. They will be allowed to see Jesus and worship Him whenever they desire. The statement that "they shall reign for ever and ever," would seem to indicate that God will give them some kind of authority within His new creations. But the total ecstasy of these saints far exceeds any of John's feeble attempts to describe it.
Revelation 22:8-19
Revelation 22:8-19 sums up God's final and complete separation of good and evil with evil being thoroughly neutralized and all good things that God has created being recovered, rewarded and recreated. Verse eleven emphasizes God's absolute division of the filthiness of evil from the holiness of righteousness. Jesus' words in verse twelve reveal the truth that God will reward every good work by every person and not just those of believers only. In order to do this, God must recover all goodness and neutralize all evil in the lake of fire.
Jesus indicates in verse thirteen that He initiated the test of His Love through His creation of the history of mankind, and that He has finished it. But His words also demonstrate that His eternal nature consists of an endless series of beginnings and endings with an endless series of new creations. God possesses an Infinity of Ideas from which He can draw to use as patterns for an endless series of creations.
Verse fourteen clearly teaches that only those Christians who endeavored throughout their entire lives to live strictly in obedience with God's Word will be allowed to enter and live in the City of God. All carnal or indifferent believers will be allowed to live in heaven after they have suffered a period of punishment for their correction according to the judgment of God, but they will be barred from the City of God. Those who live in the City will enjoy a greater bliss than those who live in heaven outside the City.
The use of the word "dog" in verse fifteen is quite significant. The teaching seems to be that just as a dog is wholly that which it is and cannot be anything different, so those sinners whom God exiles from His new creations are equal to their evil and cannot be more than that. In other words, sinners in the lake of fire must be less than human. In fact, Jesus taught in Mark 9 verses 44, 46 and 48 that their consciousnesses would equal that of worms. These truths emphasize the fact that God will completely separate good from evil in order to recover and recreate the good and neutralize the evil. The use of the word "without" can only mean that God will absolutely exclude all possibility of evil from His entire new creations.
In verse sixteen, Jesus teaches that He has used the Apostle John, whom He likens to a angel, to record His Revelation and that He will make sure that it gets to all of His churches throughout history. This prophecy has come true. He further reinforces His former teachings that He is the true Jewish Messiah, and that He is the "light of the world" and the Savior of all mankind.
Verse seventeen reemphasizes Jesus' own teaching that God has charged the church with the responsibility of spreading the gospel that Jesus is the Savior to all mankind, and that the Spirit assumes the responsibility for causing those who hear the gospel to thrist for the "water of life." The phrase "the water of life" symbolizes the gospel, and the word "athirst" symbolizes the power of the Holy Spirit to cause those who hear the gospel to yearn for the gospel to fill their hearts and satisfy their spiritual needs by washing away their sins by the blood of Jesus and filling the emptiness that sin causes within them. God guarantees that "whosoever will" can "take the water of life freely." By this statement, God reassures each individual human that he possesses free will. Because of His Omniscience, God certainly knows all who will be saved; but at the same time, He has guaranteed that He will never refuse salvation to any person who freely and sincerely chooses to accept the gospel by faith. Anyone who repents and believes in Christ will not only certainly be saved, but they can also be sure that God always knew that they would be saved. God's foreknowledge does not predetermine any person's salvation because His foreknowledge is not activated until the moment of decision which is an eternal moment. Whether or not any person gets saved depends solely on their own free choice. Yet, it is not their choice that saves them, but the sacrifice of Christ in their place that saves them, which grace they freely choose to receive by faith.
In verses 18 and 19, God ensures that anyone who attempts to change any part of His entire Word in order to make it state something that it does not teach, cannot be saved until such a time as they repent of this sin and accept the gospel by faith. The only unforgiveable sin is that of a complete rejection of the call of the Holy Spirit to accept Christ as Savior. These verses do not apply to believers who misinterpret the Word, but only to nonbelievers who try to change the Word. All believers must accept the basic truths of God's Word such as the Diety of Christ, and His perfect life and His sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection for their personal salvation. They must also believe in the virgin birth of Christ. Anyone who tries to change these truths cannot be a believer. A Christian can misinterpret God's Word while at the same time accepting its basic truths. For example, those who believe that they can lose their salvation after God has eternally saved them, have simply misunderstood the doctrine of salvation. They have not rejected it. Only nonbelievers attempt to change God's Word. All true believers are eternally saved, but those who backslide into sin God will certainly punish for their correction. For these reasons, believers who backslide so far that they begin to try to change God's Word, will still not lose their salvation because of II Timothy 2:13. Yet, backslidders can be certain that God will severly punish them for their correction, even following their bodily death.
Great significance attaches to the phrase in verse 19: "God shall take away his part out of the book of life...." The exact wording of this phrase does not state that God will remove the whole person from the book of life, but only that part of the unbeliever that is dead. Since the deadness of the unbeliever is the same as his sins, then this phrase is an affirmation that God will condemn only the consciousness of sins to the lake of fire. God will recover the good parts of the unbelievers written in the book of life in order to use them to recreate a new humanity to live on the new earth.
Revelation 22:20-21 Romans 9:28
Revelation 22:20 affirms the truth taught in Romans 9:28. Even though the history of the earth should extend through thousands of years, this is not a long time to God. John concludes with a prayer that Jesus will come quickly. In verse 21, the Word of God (KJB) concludes with God reassuring His church that His grace will remain with every one of its true members until Jesus returns.
The final question to be answered is: Why did God hide this message? Why did not God simply openly reveal this message in His Bible? The answer could be that God hid this message because He knows human nature all too well. God knew that if this message were preached openly, some people who hear the gospel would choose to reject it by reasoning that they can live a sinful life, endure hell when they die, and settle for a recreated life on the new earth. But God wants full fellowship with all humans in heaven. God wants as many saved as possible. II Peter 3:9 teaches that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." In a sense, the recreated humans do perish because they will not be the same persons as they were. God also can but enjoy a limited fellowship with them because on the new earth they will have to travel to the New Jerusalem to worship God, and then only from outside the city. But God will enjoy full fellowship with His redeemed saints who live with Him in the new heaven.
Revelation chapters 20&21 Psalm 147:5 Ezekiel 39:2
Since the Bible teaches that God's "understanding is infinite, " then it seems quite unreasonable to believe that God could do anything unreasonable. Everything that God does must have good and creative purposes. God may act in mysterious ways that He does not explain in His Word, but these actions always effect good and creative purposes. God's actions always conform to His Infinite Love and Reason.
Despite the nature of God's Being, some Christians resort to superstitious beliefs about God's nature such as that God would send an infant to hell simply because it died without being baptized. All such unreasonable beliefs are basically idolatrous, even if believed by Christians. All beliefs which depict God as being unreasonable or uncompassionate can only be idolatrous because they display false ideas about God's Being. "God is Love." Read I John 4:8.
On the other hand, God hates evil and He will judge sin and cleanse His universe of all evil when He recreates the heaven and the earth. This means that God will demonstrate His great Compassion and Love when He recreates, because sin is a misuse of God's Ideas in that sin consists of false combinations of His Ideas. God's Infinite Ideas themselves cannot be misused, but limited copies of His Ideas can. Even so, sin is a violation of Love itself. God must cleanse His universe of sin because it is always destructive whereas God is always creative. God cannot allow sin to remain in His universe because it would always constitute a threat to the absolute joy and peace which He intends to give to His future creations, as well as being a constant threat to the very Being of Love itself.
God's judgment of pure evil will be quite harsh, and for good reason. Revelation 19:20 and 20:10 reveal that the Devil, the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire where they will be tormented in full consciousness forever. Revelation 14:9-11 also reveals that those humans who receive the mark of the beast will also become so fully demonic that they also will be tormented in the lake of fire forever. On the other hand, Revelation 20:11-15 reveals that all of the human dead will be raised to be judged by Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment according to their works. Since the works of all those who receive the mark of the beast can only become completely evil after having received the mark, then only that part of their consciousnesses which completely adheres to evil will be tormented forever. That part of their consciousnesses which adhered to ordinary sinfulness and goodness before they received the mark will be part of the dead that are raised to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. This division of consciousness rests on the premise that since man was created in God's image and God's Consciousness is one with His Word, then the being of man has to be, at all times, one with that of which he is conscious and of that which he chooses to do. In fact, the very fall of man into original sin effected a division of his consciousness into a consciousness of good and a consciousness of evil. Hence, the consciousness of man has been divided into that evil which he chooses to do, and that good which he chooses to do.
God's eternal torment of pure evil will become quite necessary in order to occupy the demons' minds with absolute pain so completely that they will never be able to concoct any more false combinations forever. This condition will constitute a good, creative and compassionate combination of God's Ideas since it will forever eliminate any possibility that evil can ever cause any pain and sorrow to God's future creations. God will create a way to neutralize the harmful effects of evil forever, and thus create a good combination that will ensure that only joy and peace and love will prevail in all of His future creations. God holds the eternal power to turn even evil toward the good.
Consciousness becomes that of which it is conscious. Demonic minds totally given to evil must be neutralized by eternal torment so that their consciousnesses will become eternal torment and will thus no longer be able to concentrate on inventing evil. This is the good system that God will use to turn evil toward the good.
Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39 Revelation 20:1-3
Immediately following the battle of Armageddon, Christ will begin His thousand year reign over earth. Revelation 20:1-3 records that God will send an angel to capture Satan, bind him with a great chain, and cast him into the bottomless pit. Satan will be prevented from having any influence over mankind during the thousand year reign of Christ. After the thousand years, the Bible teaches that Satan "must be loosed a little season." God's Word does not exactly explain why this must happen. One speculative reason emerges from Ezekiel's prophecy about the battle of Armageddon. Ezekiel 39:2 prophesies that one sixth of the beast's evil armies will survive the battle. These evil men will return to their countries, and outwardly they will force themselves to accept the rule of Christ. But some consciousness of their evil will remain within them and foment a secret resentment and rebellion against Christ. Their condition will show that evil will not have been entirely eliminated from the hearts of some men even under conditions in which Satan has no connection to them. Their condition will serve to prove that men's hearts can only be fully changed to a consciousness of goodness by a complete repentance of their sins and a total submission in faith to Christ's rule in their hearts and in their world.
Revelation 20:7-10
Revelation 20:7-10 records that after the thousand year reign of Christ, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will go out into the world to inspire all who harbor secret evils to rebel openly against the rule of Christ. Satan will lead this evil army against Jerusalem but God will completely devour them with fire from heaven. Perhaps, one of the purposes of the thousand year reign of Christ will be for God to prove that evil cannot be completely controlled by any outward rule of Goodness, but that evil can only be eliminated from creation either by a recreation of the hearts of men through salvation by God's grace, or by its absolute destruction. After this final war, Satan will then be cast into the lake of fire where his consciousness of evil will be expunged by his consciousness of his eternal torment.
Revelation 20:4-6
Revelation 20:4-6 relates the story of the resurrection of all who remained faithful to Christ during the Tribulation period, and who were martyred for refusing to worship the beast. This first resurrection is not the same as the resurrection at the Rapture of the church. God's Word calls this the first resurrection simply to distinguish it from the second resurrection of the dead at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ.
Revelation 20:11-15
Revelation 20:11-15 records the story of the resurrection of the dead and the Great White Throne Judgment that follows the final war. Great significance adheres to the revelation that those in the first resurrection are raised to life, while those of the second resurrection are recorded as still being dead even as they stand before God for their judgment. Even so, they must retain some form of consciousness, for otherwise their resurrections would mean nothing. God must consider them to be dead because they have no consciousness of Eternal Goodness, but whatever consciousness they do possess will be concentrated solely on limited goodness and evil only. To God, death is a loss of fellowship with Him. Adam and Eve died spiritually when they disobeyed God and lost their daily fellowship with Him, and limited good and evil became a part of their consciousnesses. For a short time, Adam and Eve were completely depraved and lost because their limited goodness could never be enough to overcome their limited evil. But God restored them to limited fellowship with Him through prayer and worship when He shed the blood of an animal and clothed them in its skin. This prophecy demonstrated that God would provide a way for all future humans to be thoroughly cleansed of their depravity and restored to an eternal fellowship with Him through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son.
Colossians 1:15-23 Revelation 21:1-8 Mark 9:43-48 Isaiah 66:24
When the above verses are compared, a great but hidden truth emerges from God's Word. Colossians 1:15 reveals the Diety of Christ which is an open revelation of scripture. Verse 16 relates that Christ created "all things" defined as "in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,......" This teaching can only mean that Christ has created absolutely everything that exists; all material things that are visible, as well as all invisible things such as ideas, feelings, forces, and information. This means that absolutely everything that can be felt or thought or experienced in any way, physical or mental, must be real. God always meant for the elements of this reality to be used in good and creative combinations. Sin amounts to the misuse of the elements of God's creations; that is, the false combinations of His ideas that have destructive effects.
Colossians 1:20-23 reveals that Christ will "reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." When combined with the revelation that Christ has created "all things," then the unavoidable conclusion must be that Christ will one day recover, reconcile and recreate "all things" that He has created including all of His elements that have been misused in false combinations. Revelation 21:5 reinforces this conclusion where Christ states: "Behold, I make all things new." Colossians 1:21-23 refers to all who accept Christ as their Savior while still living on the old earth. God will recreate the souls and spirits of these believers the moment they believe. They will be "born again" at the moment they repent and believe in Christ. Read John 5:24 and Colossians 3:10. Their sins will be washed away by the blood of Christ and they will receive the eternal life of Christ Himself and they will be destined to live with Christ in heaven forever. Read Revelation 1:5.
Revelation 21:3-5 reveals that recreated men will be living on the recreated earth after God has destroyed the old earth and heaven and has recreated them. Since "all things" that God has created are good and belong to Him, then God can only recreate these new men from all of His good elements which He will recover from the resurrected dead when He judges them. These recreated men will never be allowed to go to heaven, but will remain on earth forever. The saints in heaven who were recreated when they were "born again" on the old earth, will enjoy a special relationship with God because they will be His sons and daughters who will enjoy an inheritance equal to that of Christ Himself. Read Romans 8:16-17.
Revelation 20:11-15 Revelation 21:5 Revelation 21:8 Revelation 22:14-15
The above verses, read in conjunction with each other, reveal a hidden truth in God's Word. This message begins with the Great White Throne Judgment where God begins His recreation of heaven and earth and also "makes all things new." At this Judgment, God resurrects the dead who stand before Him to be "judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." This must mean that all of the works of the dead have been recorded in heaven, and that God will judge both their good and their evil works. Revelation 20:14 relates that death and hell will be destroyed in the lake of fire. The "whosoever" of verse fifteen refers to these dead whose deaths will be destroyed in the lake of fire. Only their deadness will be destroyed, not their good works. Their good works can possess no deadness since they were created by God in the first place.
Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 reveal that the lake of fire and the second death are the same place. These verses also relate that the deadness of the dead will "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Clearly, the second death has to be quite different from the first death since the second death destroys the first death. From Genesis throughout the Bible, death always means a personal separation from fellowship with God. Since this first death will be destroyed by the second death, and since God has promised in Revelation 21:5 that He will "make all things new," which can only mean all of the good things which He has created; then all of this taken together can only mean that God will recover all of His good works from the dead and use them to recreate a new human race to live on His recreated earth. Read Revelation 21:3-5.
Therefore, as Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 taken together relates, only the deadness of the resurrected dead, which is the same as their sins which separate them from God, will be destroyed in the lake of fire. God will separate His good works from the resurrected dead for recreation, and consign their dead works to be destroyed in the lake of fire. Revelation 22:15 refers to these dead as being "dogs." A dog is less than human, and so these sinful dead can only be less than human. Since the Bible teaches that the lake of fire will burn forever, then these dead must burn forever but how much consciousness will they possess since they are less than human?
Mark 9:43-48 Isaiah 66:24
When Jesus taught in Mark: "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" He meant exactly that which He said. He did not mean that complete humans would suffer in the lake of fire, but only their "worms." Jesus' reference to "worms" can only mean that only the nasty parts of the dead with their consciousnesses of their sins will be consigned to the lake of fire. In other words, God will reduce the consciousnesses of the sins of the dead until they equal that of worms. This means that the fully conscious suffering of the dead in the lake of fire is not taught in scripture.
Other scriptures may also indicate the truth of this hidden message. In John 10:10, Jesus seems to be teaching that those whom He came to give life may constitute a different group from those whom He came to give the abundant life. The first group may refer to those recreated humans who will inhabit His recreated earth, and the second group may refer to those who hear the gospel, repent and believe in Jesus, are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and whom the Spirit of God recreates in soul and spirit while they still live on the old earth. Read John 5:24.
I Corinthians 15:22 seems to teach that the entire human race who died in Adam will also be made alive by Christ. Verse 23 refers to the resurrection of Christ which will also result in the resurrection of His saints at the Rapture of the church. But then, verses 24-28 refer to the time of the end when Christ will recreate all things. At this time: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." The dead in the lake of fire cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. This condition can only mean that God will destroy their deadness in the lake of fire; while, at the same time, God will recover all of their good works, which have always belonged to Him, to be recreated as men living on a recreated earth. If the dead suffer fully conscious in the lake of fire, then this would not be much of a life. This kind of life would be more like a living death, but God has promised that He will destroy death.
I Timothy 4:10 plainly teaches that God is "the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." This seems to teach that God will restore life to all men. Those who believe the gospel while still living on the old earth will enjoy a special relationship with Jesus in that they will be the recreated children of God who will live in untold bliss with God in heaven forever. God will recover and recreate the good works of the rest of humanity as new men living on a new earth.
This hidden message of the Bible (KJB) could also shed light on why Jesus stated in Revelation 3:15-16 that He preferred that the Christians be either hot or cold and not lukewarm. He literally said that lukewarm Christians made Him sick to His stomach. People who are spiritually cold are probably not saved at all, but that did not disturb Jesus because He knew that He would recreate them to live on the earth in the end. He also knew that the hot or fervent Christians would immediately be welcomed into the bliss of heaven when their bodies died. But the lukewarm Christians would be the backslidden ones, living worldly lives. Jesus knew that in accordance with Hebrews 10:29-31 and II Peter 2:20-22, He will punish backslidden Christians to a much greater degree than He will punish even the spiritually cold. This was the knowledge that so grieved Him and made Him feel sick. The punishment of the backslidden Christians will be temporary and for their correction only. This punishment will be worse than that of the unsaved because of the terrible remorse that they will feel; the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" as the Bible describes it, because of their knowledge of the grief that they have caused their Savior. Jesus came into the world to save sinners from the tyranny of Satan and from eternal punishment for their sins. He did not come to save mankind from any temporary punishment for their sins. Eventually, according to the judgment of God, the backslidders' punishment will cease, and He will bring them home to heaven to live in bliss with Him forever. True Christians never lose their salvation. Read Philippians 1:6.
This hidden message could also account for the meaning of Jesus' cry from the cross in Luke 23:34: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Jesus' cry was a prayer to His Father that He should forgive everyone who was responsible for His crucifixion, which means the whole human race since all men are sinners. It does not seem reasonable that God would have ignored Jesus' plea, and refuse to forgive even those who would never repent. Surely, God would have granted His Son's request that He should forgive the entire human race for His Son's crucifixion. But God would fully answer Jesus' prayer if He forgives and recreates His repentant saints the moment they believe and brings them home to heaven when they die, except for the temporary punishment of the backslidders; but also forgives and recreates unrepentant sinners to live on His recreated earth, after they have served their time of punishment in hell.
Colossians 1:20 further reinforces this view where it states: "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself;....." This phrase teaches that through the cross of Christ, God will "reconcile all things unto Himself." Since Colossians 1:16 teaches that God has created absolutely everything that exists, then the ineluctable conclusion of verse 20 must be that God will reconcile and recreate "all things" that He created in the first place that have been soiled by their misuse in sinful combinations. The second part of verse 20 states: "by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." This clearly demonstrates that God will "make all things new," as recreated men on a recreated earth, and as recreated saints living in a recreated heaven.
Revelation 20:13 Revelation 21:1
Revelation 20:13 records that these dead, whose good works will be recreated, will be raised from the sea, from death and from hell. These must be three separate places since the beast rises from the sea which contains the bottomless pit, the false prophet rises from the earth which contains hell and the Devil was the lord of death until Jesus took the keys of death and hell from him when Jesus descended into hell after his crucifixion. God judges these dead "according to their works." This can only mean that God judges them according to both their good and evil works when they lived as men on the earth.
Verse fourteen relates that death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire which is the same place as the second death. Revelation 21:1 also records that God will eliminate the sea which contains the bottomless pit. All of this put together can only mean that the second death must be a completely different place or condition from the first death since it destroys the first death. Verse fifteen further relates that those not found in the book of life; that is, the dead, will be cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed.
Keeping in mind that God has created all things and that in the end He will recreate all things, then His judgment of the dead can only indicate that God will divide the consciousnesses of the dead into that of their good works which are based on Ideas that belonged to God in the first place, from their consciousnesses of their evil works which is their deadness. God will recover His goodness from the dead in order to recreate new men to live on His recreated earth. Read Revelation 21:3-5. God will also cast their separated consciousnesses of their dead evil works into the second death so that the dead will forever be conscious of their eternal destruction by the flames of the lake of fire. In this way, God will create a good system that will forever neutralize the evil effects of sin that comes from the hearts of men. Read Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15.
Revelation 21:1-8
Revelation 21:1-8 describes God's recreation of the heaven and the earth. The key to understanding this portion of scripture inheres in God's statement in verse five: "Behold, I make all things new." As Revelation 4:11 and John 1:3 and other scriptures teach, God literally created all things; not just all physical things but all thoughts, ideas and emotions. God literally created everything that can be an object of consciousness. In the recreation, God recovers and reclaims absolutely everything that He has created and recreates the heaven and the earth, and men as well, so that no trace whatsoever remains of any sin and evil.
Revelation 21:2-3 relates that God's recreated Jerusalem will descend to earth and become the capital of the new earth. God will reside within this holy city and will rule the earth from there. God will rule over a recreated earth as well as His saints in heaven and in His new city. These new humans will be recreated from all of God's good things which He will recover from the dead at the Great White Throne Judgment. These new humans will not be the same persons as the dead who are judged, but will be recreated from a pool of good works that God will have recovered. They will retain no trace of sin or any possibility of inventing any sin in the future. Many of these new people will be Jewish people living in Israel which will be the only nation left on earth. God will thus fulfill His promise to the Jews that they will inherit the earth. Verse four teaches that these new people will live in a state of joy and peace forever. This shows that God will renew His original purpose for creating the earth, that humans should live in a paradise forever.
Revelation 21:5 constitutes a promise that God will recover absolutely all of His good things that have been misused in false combinations. and that He will reuse them to recreate the heaven and the earth and a new human race. God will have no reason to recreate His saints for they will have already been recreated in spirit and soul when they were born again, and their bodies will have already been recreated in the Rapture of the church. Since the old earth, and even heaven itself, have to some extent been touched by traces of evil; God will break the whole of it down and recreate it all so that no possibility of any traces of evil can ever be found within any of His recreations.
In Revelation 21:6, God affirms that He was the beginning of the test of His Love when He initiated the history of the earth for that purpose, and that He will be the successful end of that test in His recreation. He further affirms that the "water of life" which symbolizes the Holy Spirit will be freely given to all of His recreated humans as it has already been given to His saints. Eternity consists of an endless series of beginnings and endings, but God's test of His Love amounts to only one beginning and ending within an infinity of beginnings and endings.
In Revelation 21:7, God speaks about His saints and not about the recreated humans. Only God's saints are His sons and daughters. Read John 1:12. Only God's saints have "overcome the world" by their identification with Christ through faith in Him. Read John 16:33. Only God's saints "inherit all things." Read Romans 8:14-17. The main difference between God's saints and the recreated humans is that His saints retain their own individual personalities and consciousnesses forever. God never divides the consciousnesses of His saints, but He does separate their sins from their lives at that time during their earthly lives when they repented of their sins, put their faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit washed them in the blood of Jesus. God recreates the souls and spirits of His saints when they are born again, and He will recreate their bodies at the Rapture of the church. Read Mark 8:35. The saints are the ones who proved the great value of God's Love when they freely chose to accept His grace. One of the results of this difference is that the saints will be allowed to travel anywhere within heaven and on earth that they wish to go. However, backslidden saints will not be allowed to enter the City of God because they failed to live clean lives on the earth and thus dishonored God's grace that saved them. God's reward for some of the best saints will be that they will be allowed to attend schools of higher learning in order to learn any truths that they will be able to understand. The saints will be allowed to create any good combination of ideas that they wish. The saints will enjoy many privileges denied to the recreated humans. The saints will truly "inherit all things." The recreated humans will be restricted to lives on the new earth. They will each be different people than their former selves on the old earth. Some of them may retain parts of their former personalities because they did a lot of good works on the old earth. God will reward all good works, but His rewards for His saints' good works will be far greater than any of those given to the recreated humans. The saints receive the grace of God, but the recreated humans will receive only the mercy of God.
The wording of Revelation 21:8 is quite significant in that it does not seem to indicate that whole persons will be cast into the lake of fire, but instead seems to state that only each sinners' consciousness of their sins will be so cast into the second death. Even the worst person has some good in them. But verse eight only refers to the totality of evil within each person, and does not mention any goodness. This condition would seem to indicate that the consciousnesses of the dead will be divided, with God retaining their good works which were originally created by Him, separated from their consciousnesses of their evil works which God casts into the lake of fire. In this way, the lake of fire becomes a good system which serves a good purpose in that it neutralizes the effects of sin by an eternal consciousness of its burning. Thus, by the means of the eternal torment of the Devil and his demons, and by the neutralization of the effects of sin by its eternal burning in the lake of fire; God will create two good systems that will totally eradicate all evil, and any possibility of evil, from all of His future creations. The main difference between the first and second deaths would seem to be that the first death separates the sinner from God temporarily, and the second death separates the consciousness of sins from God's creations forever.
In Revelation 21:9-26, the Apostle John attempts to describe the tremendous beauty of the City of God. John states that this City is the bride of Christ because many of God's best saints will be allowed to live there. All of the saints of God's church will eventually get to heaven which is a much larger place than just the City of God. Verse 24 states: "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:...." The light of the City of God will lighten all of heaven, for both those who are inside or outside of the City.
In Revelation 21:27, the Word of God (KJB) again emphasizes the absolute separation of evil from purity within God's new creations. The second phrase of this verse does not state that all of those written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be allowed to enter the City, but only that no one except those written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be allowed to enter.
In Revelation 22:1-7, John attempts to describe the absolute bliss of those whom God allows to live within the City of God. They will be allowed to see Jesus and worship Him whenever they desire. The statement that "they shall reign for ever and ever," would seem to indicate that God will give them some kind of authority within His new creations. But the total ecstasy of these saints far exceeds any of John's feeble attempts to describe it.
Revelation 22:8-19
Revelation 22:8-19 sums up God's final and complete separation of good and evil with evil being thoroughly neutralized and all good things that God has created being recovered, rewarded and recreated. Verse eleven emphasizes God's absolute division of the filthiness of evil from the holiness of righteousness. Jesus' words in verse twelve reveal the truth that God will reward every good work by every person and not just those of believers only. In order to do this, God must recover all goodness and neutralize all evil in the lake of fire.
Jesus indicates in verse thirteen that He initiated the test of His Love through His creation of the history of mankind, and that He has finished it. But His words also demonstrate that His eternal nature consists of an endless series of beginnings and endings with an endless series of new creations. God possesses an Infinity of Ideas from which He can draw to use as patterns for an endless series of creations.
Verse fourteen clearly teaches that only those Christians who endeavored throughout their entire lives to live strictly in obedience with God's Word will be allowed to enter and live in the City of God. All carnal or indifferent believers will be allowed to live in heaven after they have suffered a period of punishment for their correction according to the judgment of God, but they will be barred from the City of God. Those who live in the City will enjoy a greater bliss than those who live in heaven outside the City.
The use of the word "dog" in verse fifteen is quite significant. The teaching seems to be that just as a dog is wholly that which it is and cannot be anything different, so those sinners whom God exiles from His new creations are equal to their evil and cannot be more than that. In other words, sinners in the lake of fire must be less than human. In fact, Jesus taught in Mark 9 verses 44, 46 and 48 that their consciousnesses would equal that of worms. These truths emphasize the fact that God will completely separate good from evil in order to recover and recreate the good and neutralize the evil. The use of the word "without" can only mean that God will absolutely exclude all possibility of evil from His entire new creations.
In verse sixteen, Jesus teaches that He has used the Apostle John, whom He likens to a angel, to record His Revelation and that He will make sure that it gets to all of His churches throughout history. This prophecy has come true. He further reinforces His former teachings that He is the true Jewish Messiah, and that He is the "light of the world" and the Savior of all mankind.
Verse seventeen reemphasizes Jesus' own teaching that God has charged the church with the responsibility of spreading the gospel that Jesus is the Savior to all mankind, and that the Spirit assumes the responsibility for causing those who hear the gospel to thrist for the "water of life." The phrase "the water of life" symbolizes the gospel, and the word "athirst" symbolizes the power of the Holy Spirit to cause those who hear the gospel to yearn for the gospel to fill their hearts and satisfy their spiritual needs by washing away their sins by the blood of Jesus and filling the emptiness that sin causes within them. God guarantees that "whosoever will" can "take the water of life freely." By this statement, God reassures each individual human that he possesses free will. Because of His Omniscience, God certainly knows all who will be saved; but at the same time, He has guaranteed that He will never refuse salvation to any person who freely and sincerely chooses to accept the gospel by faith. Anyone who repents and believes in Christ will not only certainly be saved, but they can also be sure that God always knew that they would be saved. God's foreknowledge does not predetermine any person's salvation because His foreknowledge is not activated until the moment of decision which is an eternal moment. Whether or not any person gets saved depends solely on their own free choice. Yet, it is not their choice that saves them, but the sacrifice of Christ in their place that saves them, which grace they freely choose to receive by faith.
In verses 18 and 19, God ensures that anyone who attempts to change any part of His entire Word in order to make it state something that it does not teach, cannot be saved until such a time as they repent of this sin and accept the gospel by faith. The only unforgiveable sin is that of a complete rejection of the call of the Holy Spirit to accept Christ as Savior. These verses do not apply to believers who misinterpret the Word, but only to nonbelievers who try to change the Word. All believers must accept the basic truths of God's Word such as the Diety of Christ, and His perfect life and His sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection for their personal salvation. They must also believe in the virgin birth of Christ. Anyone who tries to change these truths cannot be a believer. A Christian can misinterpret God's Word while at the same time accepting its basic truths. For example, those who believe that they can lose their salvation after God has eternally saved them, have simply misunderstood the doctrine of salvation. They have not rejected it. Only nonbelievers attempt to change God's Word. All true believers are eternally saved, but those who backslide into sin God will certainly punish for their correction. For these reasons, believers who backslide so far that they begin to try to change God's Word, will still not lose their salvation because of II Timothy 2:13. Yet, backslidders can be certain that God will severly punish them for their correction, even following their bodily death.
Great significance attaches to the phrase in verse 19: "God shall take away his part out of the book of life...." The exact wording of this phrase does not state that God will remove the whole person from the book of life, but only that part of the unbeliever that is dead. Since the deadness of the unbeliever is the same as his sins, then this phrase is an affirmation that God will condemn only the consciousness of sins to the lake of fire. God will recover the good parts of the unbelievers written in the book of life in order to use them to recreate a new humanity to live on the new earth.
Revelation 22:20-21 Romans 9:28
Revelation 22:20 affirms the truth taught in Romans 9:28. Even though the history of the earth should extend through thousands of years, this is not a long time to God. John concludes with a prayer that Jesus will come quickly. In verse 21, the Word of God (KJB) concludes with God reassuring His church that His grace will remain with every one of its true members until Jesus returns.
The final question to be answered is: Why did God hide this message? Why did not God simply openly reveal this message in His Bible? The answer could be that God hid this message because He knows human nature all too well. God knew that if this message were preached openly, some people who hear the gospel would choose to reject it by reasoning that they can live a sinful life, endure hell when they die, and settle for a recreated life on the new earth. But God wants full fellowship with all humans in heaven. God wants as many saved as possible. II Peter 3:9 teaches that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." In a sense, the recreated humans do perish because they will not be the same persons as they were. God also can but enjoy a limited fellowship with them because on the new earth they will have to travel to the New Jerusalem to worship God, and then only from outside the city. But God will enjoy full fellowship with His redeemed saints who live with Him in the new heaven.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
From Consciousness To Infinity
"All consciousness is consciousness of something," as Jean Paul Sartre so aptly wrote. If this be indubiatably true, then it would seem that consciousness must objectify anything of which it is conscious. This can be the only way in which consciousness works. That of which consciousness is conscious must be separate from consciousness itself. Consciousness itself has to be the active agent; that is, consciousness operates to put its object in a state of awareness. The object has to be in a passive state; that is, that on which consciousness operates to bring it into a state of awareness. An object cannot be one with the consciousness of it for the same reason that a photograph cannot be one with the camera that takes it.
If brain activity is identical with consciousness, then it would seem that the one entity of which consciousness could never be conscious is brain activity. That which is one with itself cannot be separate from itself. In order for consciousness to be conscious of brain activity, then consciousness must objectify it. This requires that consciousness separate itself from brain activity in order to be conscious of it. Then again, in order for an awareness of brain activity to exist, there must be a consciousness of the consciousness of brain activity. But then again, this consciousness requires still another consciousness, and so forth toward infinity. This effect would seem to indicate that consciousness cannot be a material substance. Consciousness must be some immaterial substance connected to infinity.
The materialists might counter this argument by contending that this view of consciousness constitutes but an illusion. But this illusion begins with a consciousness of brain activity which is an absolute fact. This fact can only mean that the consciousness of brain activity must also be an absolute fact since it is quite impossible to say anything, or write anything, of which one is not conscious. If brain activity is working as it should, and the consciousness of it is also working as it should, then how can this fact be an illusion? Illusions are always about something that does not work as it should. Illusions always equal nothing. Since consciousness of brain activity, and its requisite connection to infinity, must be real since otherwise one could say nothing about it; then this condition cannot be an illusion since if it were, it would equal nothing and one could say nothing about it.
The materialists might counter with the argument that the illusion is circular and not linear. However, by saying this, the materialists must admit that they are conscious of this circularity. If so, they must also admit that their consciousness has departed on a tangent that requires a linear connection of their consciousness to infinity.
The simple truth behind all of this speculation is that human consciousness requires a transcendent connection to infinity in order to be self-conscious and intelligent. This also means that the infinite must be a Conscious Infinity.
If brain activity is identical with consciousness, then it would seem that the one entity of which consciousness could never be conscious is brain activity. That which is one with itself cannot be separate from itself. In order for consciousness to be conscious of brain activity, then consciousness must objectify it. This requires that consciousness separate itself from brain activity in order to be conscious of it. Then again, in order for an awareness of brain activity to exist, there must be a consciousness of the consciousness of brain activity. But then again, this consciousness requires still another consciousness, and so forth toward infinity. This effect would seem to indicate that consciousness cannot be a material substance. Consciousness must be some immaterial substance connected to infinity.
The materialists might counter this argument by contending that this view of consciousness constitutes but an illusion. But this illusion begins with a consciousness of brain activity which is an absolute fact. This fact can only mean that the consciousness of brain activity must also be an absolute fact since it is quite impossible to say anything, or write anything, of which one is not conscious. If brain activity is working as it should, and the consciousness of it is also working as it should, then how can this fact be an illusion? Illusions are always about something that does not work as it should. Illusions always equal nothing. Since consciousness of brain activity, and its requisite connection to infinity, must be real since otherwise one could say nothing about it; then this condition cannot be an illusion since if it were, it would equal nothing and one could say nothing about it.
The materialists might counter with the argument that the illusion is circular and not linear. However, by saying this, the materialists must admit that they are conscious of this circularity. If so, they must also admit that their consciousness has departed on a tangent that requires a linear connection of their consciousness to infinity.
The simple truth behind all of this speculation is that human consciousness requires a transcendent connection to infinity in order to be self-conscious and intelligent. This also means that the infinite must be a Conscious Infinity.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
THE GOOD versus THE EVIL chapter 8
The Final Wars
Revelation 19:11-21 Revelation 16:13-16 Revelation 20:1-10 Joel 3:20 Joel 3:9-16 Joel 2:1 Zechariah chapter 14 Amos 9:11 II Thessalonians 2:4
Contrary to popular opinion, the battle of Armageddon will not be the end of the world or even the end of evil. The purpose of the battle will be that the Jewish Messiah, who is the Lord Jesus, will return to earth from heaven to rescue the nation of Israel from an invasion by an evil army led by the Anti-Christ. The Lord will bring His church with Him when He comes because He will have already Raptured them to heaven prior to the Great Tribulation that will precede His second coming.
Jesus will come to earth in the air and Rapture His church, and then the Tribulation period will begin and last seven years. In the middle of these seven years the Anti-Christ will enter the Jewish Temple that will have been rebuilt by Christ and declare himself to be the Jewish god. This act will start the second half of the seven years called the Great Tribulation. Incidentally, nowhere does the Bible teach that the Jews will rebuild the third temple, but it does teach, in several places, that Christ will rebuild His third temple.
Revelation 16:13-16 Revelation 14:9-12 Revelation 14:6-7 Revelation chapters 12 & 13 Revelation 11:3-12 Daniel 7:8 Daniel 7:15-28 Daniel 8:23-26 Daniel 11:36-45
Immediately following the Rapture of the church, the seven years period of time called The Tribulation begins. The Holy Spirit restrains the full powers of evil until God removes Him along with His church from the world. Then the powers of evil will be fully unleashed and horrible wars, including nuclear wars, will begin along with famine and all the terrible suffering that results from these horrors. At this time, ten evil leaders will control ten centers of power and these will be fighting each other to gain control of the wealth of the world for themselves and their cronies. These wars will continue for three and one half years with heavy casualties, but when the sixth seal is opened in heaven, God and His Son will reveal Themselves to the whole world and the wars will temporarily stop while men try desperately to hide themselves from the face of the Holy God. Read Revelation 6:12-17. Revelation 6:9-11 reveals that even during this horrible time, some people will realize that the Rapture was real and they will cling to faith in God's Word even without the aid of the Holy Spirit. These believers will be slaughtered by the evil forces, but their souls will be honored when they reach heaven.
At this time, all faith will be in danger of being completely extinguished from the earth, but when God reveals Himself to the world, He will establish special enclaves of safety that will provide special protections for His people. He will establish the first of these enclaves in the nation of Israel where Christ will convert 144 thousand Jews to His service. These believers will continue to preach the gospel to the world during the time that the evil men are trying to hide from the face of God, and all of the Jews and Gentiles who believe their gospel will receive a seal in their foreheads indicating that they belong to God. As Revelation 7:9-17 records, many of these saved and sealed Jews and Gentiles will be martyred during the Great Tribulation and their souls will be honored in heaven. Verse fourteen is especially significant because it reveals that these martyrs will not be washed in the blood of Jesus until they get to heaven which also shows that the Holy Spirit is not in the world to wash these believers in Jesus' blood when they believe, but the seal in their foreheads separate them as God's people.
Revelation 8:1 reveals that the silence in heaven that follows the opening of the seventh seal marks the end of the brief reprieve in the Tribulation in which God established enclaves for His people. The Great Tribulation then follows this reprieve.
Chapter nine of Revelation records the beginning of the wars of the Great Tribulation, but these wars will be quite different from the wars of the first three and one half years of the Tribulation period. These wars begin with the sound of the fifth trumpet in which a "star" that falls from heaven to earth opens a place called "the bottomless pit" and hordes of demons are released on the earth, not to kill, but to torment all people who have not received the seal of God in their foreheads. Apparently, the purpose of this torment is to force these people to accept the leadership of the "angel" of the bottomless pit who is none other than the beast, or Anti-Christ. The sound of the sixth trumpet announces that the released demons will succeed in forcing millions of humans to become demon possessed and these armies will then begin to attack God's enclaves and kill many of God's people.
Revelation 10:1-7 reveals that a "mighty angel" descends from heaven and puts his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. This act symbolizes God's reassurance that even during the worst of the Great Tribulation, God still retains control over the history of the world, of the earth and of the sea. This angel also announces that when the seventh trumpet sounds, God will triumph over evil and time will be finished. No doubt, the visitation of this angel will greatly boost the morale of God's people defending the enclaves.
In the second part of this chapter, this same angel gives the Apostle John a "little book" and tells him to eat it up. This "little book" symbolizes the Word of God. It tastes sweet to John because it saves millions, but it becomes bitter in his stomach because it also judges and destroys millions. This angel then prophesies to John that in the future he will preach the Word of God in God's enclaves to convince people to receive the seal of God in their foreheads. This may also be the same prophecy that Jesus gave to Peter when He said of John: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." John 21:22.
The internecine wars of evil against evil that Revelation often relates, are caused by man's obsession with greed and power. God allows and even encourages these wars because they assist Him in destroying Satan's kingdom. When God uses false systems to destroy other false systems, then good systems result. These good systems effect the diminution of evil systems while at the same time sparing the lives of millions of God's people. God demonstrated His use of this tactic many times in His Word. In WWII, God caused the Nazis to war against the Communists in order to diminish both and also to spare the lives of millions of good people. Jesus prophesied about God's use of this tactic in Matthew 12:25-26.
In Revelation 11:1-2, the angel gives the Apostle John a reed and tells him to measure the temple with it. This instruction shows that the third temple exists in Jerusalem at this time. Nowhere does the Bible teach that the third temple will be built by the Jews. Everywhere that the Bible mentions the third temple, it always relates that it will be built by God Himself. Read Amos 9:11, Zechariah 6:12-13 and Acts 15:16.
Revelation 11:3-12 tells the story of God's two witnesses who will preach in Jerusalem throughout the first half of the Tribulation period. God will give these two witnesses special powers to protect them from the evil forces. But when the Great Tribulation starts the "beast" will attack and take Jerusalem and will kill these two witnesses. Their bodies will lie in the street for three and a half days while the evil forces rejoice over their deaths. But their joy will be turned to fear when God resurrects these two witnesses and they ascend to heaven in the sight of God's enemies.
Revelation 11:13-14 records that God will then send a great earthquake to Jerusalem that will kill seven thousand men. Even God's remnant whom He will be protecting within an enclave near Jerusalem will be frightened by this earthquake. Yet, this remnant will give glory to God for this encouragement and reminder that God is still fighting His enemies.
In Revelation 11:15-19, the Apostle John records a scene in heaven when God has His angel sound the seventh trumpet. All of heaven rejoices at this sound for with it God promises all of His people in heaven and in the enclaves on earth that at the end of the seven years of Tribulation, He will triumph over all evil and He will reign on the earth. All of God's people in heaven and on earth will hear this seventh trumpet and will know what it means.
Revelation chapter 12 reheares the spiritual history of Israel, symbolized by the "woman who brings forth the man child." The "woman" stands for the nation of Israel from the time it was but an idea in the mind of God, and the "man child" stands for Jesus, Israel's Messiah. The war began in heaven when Lucifer tried to destroy God who is also the Messiah. The war continued on earth where Satan has tried mightly throughtout history to prevent the Messiah from coming by attempting to destroy Israel, and by trying to destroy the Messiah when He did come. As this war continues, verse six prophesies that God will provide an enclave during the Great Tribulation for the remnant of Israel who have received His seal in their foreheads. Verse fourteen records that this enclave will be in the "wilderness" near Jerusalem and that God will provide everything His people will need for their protection and nourishment. Satan will attempt to destroy this enclave with a flood of water, perhaps by damming the Jordan river and then breaking this dam. But God will protect His people by opening the earth which will swallow the flood. Satan's failure will enrage him and he will return to launching military attacks against God's enclave, and succeed in causing heavy casualties, but he will not destroy God's enclave.
Revelation chapter thirteen records the prophecies of the "beast" that comes out of the "sea," and the "beast" that comes out of the "earth." When the fifth trumpet sounds, then the "bottomless pit" will be opened and huge armies of demons will be released to the earth. The king of these demons will have a name which can be interpreted as "The Destroyer." As Revelation 20:13 reveals, Hell has three compartments, namely "the sea," "death" and "hell." This means that the "bottomless pit" and "the sea" is the same place, and that "the Destroyer" and "the beast" is the same person. This beast who rises from the sea will have seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads symbolize the seven years of the Tribulation period, and the ten horns symbolize the fact that the Destroyer will use his hordes of demon armies to gain control over the ten powers that will rule the earth during the first half of the Tribulation period. The "Dragon," which is another name for Satan himself, will give his power to the beast. One of his seven heads will be wounded to death but then will be healed. This charade consists of nothing but a false death and resurrection. The beast presents this farce in order to pretend to the world that he is the Messiah of the Jews. The beast will know that many of the Jews have already turned to faith in the true Messiah, and that many in the world will know that these believers are living in God's enclaves. For these reasons, he must pretend to be the Messiah in order to get the world to put its faith in him. Revelation 13:6 records the same act by the beast as that revealed in II Thessalonians 2:4. He will enter into the temple of God and claim that he is Messiah and God, and will blaspheme the true God and Messiah. Verse seven relates that God will allow the beast "to make war against the saints, and to overcome them." This means that he will launch vicious attacks against God's enclaves which will cause a great number of casualties among the saints, but verse eight also records that all the world will worship the beast except those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. This shows that the beast will not succeed in destroying God's enclaves. Verse eight records that the "patience and faith of the saints" will finally result in the total destruction of evil.
In Revelation 13:11-18, the story changes from that of the first beast who came out of the sea to that of "another beast" who comes out of "the earth." This second beast will come from that compartment of Hell filled with fire and brimstone to replace the first beast. The Bible gives no exact reason why this happens. A speculative reason lies in verse fifteen where the second beast creates an image of the first beast which he causes the world to worship. This would seem to indicate that perhaps the first beast becomes disabled by his deadly wound and thus will not be able to continue as the evil leader. This condition will require the second beast to create a false image of the first beast in order to convince the world that he is still alive and well. This means that in a comical manner, the first beast will so bungle his own pretended death and resurrection that the Devil will have to send a second beast to create a farcical image of the first beast as being resurrected. But this charade only reveals to God's people the utter absurdity of the false resurrection. In verses 16-18, the second beast creates his own answer for the seal of God in the foreheads of His believers. The second beast forces all men under his control to receive a mark in their foreheads or right hands which will separate them forever from God's people. The second beast's order that no one will be allowed to buy or sell except those who have this mark will have the intent of forcing any of God's people who may be secretly living among them into the open so they can be killed. The Bible supplies the number of this mark as 666 so that God's future people will be able immediately to identify their enemies. God will not allow Satan to use any other number.
Revelation 14:1-5 relates that at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will stand on Mount Zion and reveal Himself to the 144 thousand converted Jews residing in His protected enclave near Jerusalem. His revelation will result in a tremendous worship service with heaven and the enclave joining together to sing praises to God and His Messiah. The purpose of this great worship service will be to encourage God's remnant to endure the horrible attacks that will be coming at them from the beast's armies. Zechariah 14:1-7 prophesies about the beast's attack on Jerusalem, and how he will take it, and how the Messiah will visit His people and open a great valley for the protection of His remnant who will flee into it when He splits the Mount of Olives. Verses six and seven prophesy that perhaps Jesus will cover this valley with an impenetrable dome which will be lighted by some type of artificial light. After God has secured His people within this enclave, the great worship service will begin.
At this time, God's people will be pinned down in their enclaves and will be unable to spread the gospel. At the same time, the beast will be forcing the people of the world to receive his mark in order to separate them from God's salvation forever. Because of God's compassion for the world's people and His desire to give them a chance to refuse the beast's mark and be saved, He will devise a new method to get the gospel to the people of the world. Revelation 14:6-7 prophesies that God will simply send an angel to preach His gospel to the world and give all people an opportunity to accept it and be saved. Most of those who accept it will be martyred by the beast, but they will certainly escape becoming completely demonic and being lost forever because they received the mark.
Revelation 14:8 relates that God will send another angel to announce to the world that "Babylon is fallen, is fallen,...." Babylon here is the symbolic name for all of the evil systems throughout the history of the world. God will be warning the world that He will conquer evil at the end of these wars, and so all people should refuse the mark and accept the gospel preached by the first angel.
Revelation 14:9-11 records that those who receive the mark of the beast will become totally demonic, and therefore, will suffer the same punishment in the lake of fire as will the demons themselves. They will be tormented in a state of full consciousness forever in order to occupy their minds so completely that they will be unable to devise any more evil. Verses 12-13 relates that those who believed the angel and were killed, will rest and await their resurrections and rewards from Christ.
Revelation 14:14-20 probably does not refer to the battle of Armageddon. These verses relate nothing about the Second Coming of Christ. These verses simply report that during all of the horrible wars of the Tribulation period, the forces of evil will also suffer tremendous casualties and that the souls of these dead will be subject to the wrath of God.
The fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Revelation recounts that God will use seven last plagues to wage direct war from heaven on the forces of evil in order to protect His enclaves of Jewish and Christian saints. Chapter 16:13-16 reveals that the Devil will send three evil spirits to call the kings of all the evil armies all over the world to abandon their wars against the Christian enclaves and concentrate all their forces against the enclave of the Jewish saints in Jerusalem. The Devil will reason that if he can crush the Jewish enclave, then he will prevent God's prophecy that Christ will become King of the Jews and Ruler of the world from ever coming true, and thus he will defeat God and become the ruler of the world himself. Verse sixteen reveals that the Devil will call these armies to gather at Armegeddon and not at Jerursalem. This may mean that the Anti-Christ will have lost Jerusalem to a counterattack by the Jewish enclave.
Revelation, chapter seventeen, relates the destruction of a harlot woman who symbolizes apostate Christendom. This harlot will be destroyed by the ten evil kings because they will so hate the name of Christ that they will desire no remembrance of His name even if nominally held by an apostate church. Verse eighteen does compare this church to the city of Rome, but this merely constitutes a prophecy that history will show that the church of Rome will contain the most apostates who will retain a certain amount of political power over the future kings of the earth. Yet, as Jesus prophesied in Revelation 2:13 and 19, even this apostate church will contain some true believers. But most of the members of this apostate church will be but nominal Christians because they will trust in the elaborate ceremonies of this church and not in Christ Himself. Even so, God has miraculously preserved the basic elements of His gospel within the Mass, so that true believers will be washed from their sins by the blood of Jesus, even as it is hidden within these ceremonies. Those who ignore the ceremony and the supposed power of the priest to turn wine into the blood of Jesus, and who directly believe that Jesus will spiritually wash away their sins with His shed blood; these will be born into the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the church of Rome will not be the only apostate church by any means. Many apostates will reside within the various Protestant churches and some even within the Evangelical churches.
Revelation , chapter eighteen, recounts the story of the fall of Satan's economic systems in the world; with Babylon being the symbolic name for these systems. This chapter does not refer to those who practiced free enterprise in a fair and equitable way. This chapter refers to all those who were willing to use any corrupt and even violent means available to themselves or their nations in order to gain wealth and power. This chapter relates the story of those who lie, cheat and steal, and even practice war, in order to obtain wealth and power. These evil powers will witness the total collapse of their cruel systems within the short space of one hour. At this time, close to the end of the Great Tribulation, no wealth of any kind will be left in the hands of the evil powers, but they will still retain the military strength of their armies.
Revelation 19:1-10 reveals that when God allows His saints in heaven to observe the fall of apostate Christendom and the fall of Satan's evil economic systems, then tremendous rejoicing and worship will erupt in heaven. God's people will become wild with overwhelming joy and worship of God. This great worship service will culminate with the marriage of Christ to His church.
Revelation 19:11-16 describes the glorious majesty of Christ as He gathers His righteous army to lead them to victory over Satan's evil armies at the battle of Armageddon. This Second Coming of Christ will be for the purpose of rescuing converted Israel from annihilation by Satan's huge armies. The Christian enclaves will not need a direct rescue because the pressure on them will have already been releaved by the withdrawal of the evil armies that were attacking them.
Revelation 19:17-21 describes the battle of Armageddon. The principal significance of this battle will be that Christ will win it all by Himself. His army will have no need to fight at all. This action will be true to the nature of God. Just as Christians can by no means save themselves but must trust in the completed work of Christ, so Christ alone must save the nation of Israel so that their gratitude will be directed solely to Him for all eternity. His victory will cause Israel to recognize Christ as their only King forever.
Before the battle even begins, Christ will single out and seize the false prophet and the beast, probably by pulling them into the air near Him. Christ will then open and reveal the lake of fire for the evil armies to see, and will throw the beast and false prophet into it. This act will completely demoralize the evil armies and they will begin to scatter. Christ will then begin to destroy these armies, and the weapon He will use will be the Word of God. The "sword that proceeded out of His mouth" is the Word of God. "God is Love" and He will save those who trust in His Son, but the absolute purity of His Word also destroys evil, for God will not allow any trace of nastiness to remain in His universe. In Zechariah 14:12, the prophet decribes this destruction as being a total reduction of the evil armies to nothingness. This action will be quite appropriate because sin is nothing more than false combinations of God's True Ideas intended to reduce the Truth to absolute nothingness. When exposed to the powers of the Holiness of God's Word, evil must disolve into absolute nothingness. God's Word constitutes a super weapon as well as a Savior.
God told Moses in Exodus 33:20 that no man can see His face and live. By saying this, God meant that the full power of His Holiness is so awesome that no man can live who sees it. The awesome power of such an observation would completely dissolve all falsity so that only the Truth could remain. Jesus deliberately subdued His Holiness when He walked the earth, for if He had ever revealed the full power of His Holiness, He would have destroyed anyone who looked at Him. Jesus used the full power of His Holiness as a weapon against the evil armies, thus causing their complete dissolution. But this dissolution means that only the false combinations which constitute their evil is that which will be destroyed. God will recover His True Ideas that comprise these false combinations so that they can be used in future true combinations. The statement "and all fowls were filled with their flesh" symbolizes the power of the Holy Spirit to recover God's misused Ideas for His future creative purposes.
Revelation 20:1-3 reveals the significant fact that Satan will not be captured until after the battle. This shows the true character of the Devil as a complete coward who abandoned his armies and tried to save himself by hiding from God. God will send an angel to dig him out of his hiding place, and chain him in the bottomless pit during the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. After the thousand years, Satan must be loosed for a little while to raise another evil army to fight against God in the earth's final war. The Bible nowhere explains why the Devil must be so chained and then set loose, but it must have something to do with the fact that even during the thousand year reign of Christ, evil will not be completely destroyed. Evil will only be completely destroyed when God recreates the heaven and earth and thoroughly purges His recreation from all evil. This purgation and recreation will begin when God destroys the Devil and his army at the end of the last war.
Daniel 7:8 Daniel 7:15-28 Daniel 8:23-26 Daniel 11:36-45
The book of Daniel provides additional details of the story of the beast who is also the Anti-Christ of Revelation. Daniel 7:8 and Daniel 7:15-28 relate the story of how the beast will gain power over the whole earth during the first three and one half years of the Tribulation period. At the beginning of the Tribulation period, the earth will be ruled by ten centers of power symbolized by the ten horns of Daniel and Revelation. In the beginning, the beast will be but a minor political power among the ten powers. Daniel states that he will be but a "little horn," but by the middle of the Tribulation period he will have gained power over the whole earth.
After the Rapture, the forces of evil will no longer be restrained. Wars will break out between some of these ten kings as they battle for wealth and power. At the same time, some of them will wage war against Israel and those who convert to faith in Christ.
The beast, who will be a minor politician in Israel, will become the leader of Israel by assuring the Israeli people that he can completely defeat its enemies. But his secret motive for gaining this power will be for the purpose of eventually claiming to be the Messiah and God of Israel and thus destroying the faith of Israel in its true God. The beast will then lead Israel to victory over the king of the south and the king of the north who are at war with Israel. He will do this in order to enforce his future claim that he is Israel's Messiah. These will be the three kings that Daniel reveals that the beast will subdue: Israel itself, the king of the north and the king of the south. When the beast gains direct rule over these three kings, then the other seven kings will submit to him and he will become the ruler of the world.
The beast will completely solidify his power over the earth after three and one half years. At this time he will enter the temple of God in Jerusalem and proclaim that he is God and Israel's Messiah in his attempt to replace God as the ruler of the earth. He will then unleash horrendous military attacks against the enclave of Jewish believers near Jerusalem, and he will order the other seven kings to attack the Christian enclaves scattered around the world. This condition will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
Revelation 19:11-21 Revelation 16:13-16 Revelation 20:1-10 Joel 3:20 Joel 3:9-16 Joel 2:1 Zechariah chapter 14 Amos 9:11 II Thessalonians 2:4
Contrary to popular opinion, the battle of Armageddon will not be the end of the world or even the end of evil. The purpose of the battle will be that the Jewish Messiah, who is the Lord Jesus, will return to earth from heaven to rescue the nation of Israel from an invasion by an evil army led by the Anti-Christ. The Lord will bring His church with Him when He comes because He will have already Raptured them to heaven prior to the Great Tribulation that will precede His second coming.
Jesus will come to earth in the air and Rapture His church, and then the Tribulation period will begin and last seven years. In the middle of these seven years the Anti-Christ will enter the Jewish Temple that will have been rebuilt by Christ and declare himself to be the Jewish god. This act will start the second half of the seven years called the Great Tribulation. Incidentally, nowhere does the Bible teach that the Jews will rebuild the third temple, but it does teach, in several places, that Christ will rebuild His third temple.
Revelation 16:13-16 Revelation 14:9-12 Revelation 14:6-7 Revelation chapters 12 & 13 Revelation 11:3-12 Daniel 7:8 Daniel 7:15-28 Daniel 8:23-26 Daniel 11:36-45
Immediately following the Rapture of the church, the seven years period of time called The Tribulation begins. The Holy Spirit restrains the full powers of evil until God removes Him along with His church from the world. Then the powers of evil will be fully unleashed and horrible wars, including nuclear wars, will begin along with famine and all the terrible suffering that results from these horrors. At this time, ten evil leaders will control ten centers of power and these will be fighting each other to gain control of the wealth of the world for themselves and their cronies. These wars will continue for three and one half years with heavy casualties, but when the sixth seal is opened in heaven, God and His Son will reveal Themselves to the whole world and the wars will temporarily stop while men try desperately to hide themselves from the face of the Holy God. Read Revelation 6:12-17. Revelation 6:9-11 reveals that even during this horrible time, some people will realize that the Rapture was real and they will cling to faith in God's Word even without the aid of the Holy Spirit. These believers will be slaughtered by the evil forces, but their souls will be honored when they reach heaven.
At this time, all faith will be in danger of being completely extinguished from the earth, but when God reveals Himself to the world, He will establish special enclaves of safety that will provide special protections for His people. He will establish the first of these enclaves in the nation of Israel where Christ will convert 144 thousand Jews to His service. These believers will continue to preach the gospel to the world during the time that the evil men are trying to hide from the face of God, and all of the Jews and Gentiles who believe their gospel will receive a seal in their foreheads indicating that they belong to God. As Revelation 7:9-17 records, many of these saved and sealed Jews and Gentiles will be martyred during the Great Tribulation and their souls will be honored in heaven. Verse fourteen is especially significant because it reveals that these martyrs will not be washed in the blood of Jesus until they get to heaven which also shows that the Holy Spirit is not in the world to wash these believers in Jesus' blood when they believe, but the seal in their foreheads separate them as God's people.
Revelation 8:1 reveals that the silence in heaven that follows the opening of the seventh seal marks the end of the brief reprieve in the Tribulation in which God established enclaves for His people. The Great Tribulation then follows this reprieve.
Chapter nine of Revelation records the beginning of the wars of the Great Tribulation, but these wars will be quite different from the wars of the first three and one half years of the Tribulation period. These wars begin with the sound of the fifth trumpet in which a "star" that falls from heaven to earth opens a place called "the bottomless pit" and hordes of demons are released on the earth, not to kill, but to torment all people who have not received the seal of God in their foreheads. Apparently, the purpose of this torment is to force these people to accept the leadership of the "angel" of the bottomless pit who is none other than the beast, or Anti-Christ. The sound of the sixth trumpet announces that the released demons will succeed in forcing millions of humans to become demon possessed and these armies will then begin to attack God's enclaves and kill many of God's people.
Revelation 10:1-7 reveals that a "mighty angel" descends from heaven and puts his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. This act symbolizes God's reassurance that even during the worst of the Great Tribulation, God still retains control over the history of the world, of the earth and of the sea. This angel also announces that when the seventh trumpet sounds, God will triumph over evil and time will be finished. No doubt, the visitation of this angel will greatly boost the morale of God's people defending the enclaves.
In the second part of this chapter, this same angel gives the Apostle John a "little book" and tells him to eat it up. This "little book" symbolizes the Word of God. It tastes sweet to John because it saves millions, but it becomes bitter in his stomach because it also judges and destroys millions. This angel then prophesies to John that in the future he will preach the Word of God in God's enclaves to convince people to receive the seal of God in their foreheads. This may also be the same prophecy that Jesus gave to Peter when He said of John: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." John 21:22.
The internecine wars of evil against evil that Revelation often relates, are caused by man's obsession with greed and power. God allows and even encourages these wars because they assist Him in destroying Satan's kingdom. When God uses false systems to destroy other false systems, then good systems result. These good systems effect the diminution of evil systems while at the same time sparing the lives of millions of God's people. God demonstrated His use of this tactic many times in His Word. In WWII, God caused the Nazis to war against the Communists in order to diminish both and also to spare the lives of millions of good people. Jesus prophesied about God's use of this tactic in Matthew 12:25-26.
In Revelation 11:1-2, the angel gives the Apostle John a reed and tells him to measure the temple with it. This instruction shows that the third temple exists in Jerusalem at this time. Nowhere does the Bible teach that the third temple will be built by the Jews. Everywhere that the Bible mentions the third temple, it always relates that it will be built by God Himself. Read Amos 9:11, Zechariah 6:12-13 and Acts 15:16.
Revelation 11:3-12 tells the story of God's two witnesses who will preach in Jerusalem throughout the first half of the Tribulation period. God will give these two witnesses special powers to protect them from the evil forces. But when the Great Tribulation starts the "beast" will attack and take Jerusalem and will kill these two witnesses. Their bodies will lie in the street for three and a half days while the evil forces rejoice over their deaths. But their joy will be turned to fear when God resurrects these two witnesses and they ascend to heaven in the sight of God's enemies.
Revelation 11:13-14 records that God will then send a great earthquake to Jerusalem that will kill seven thousand men. Even God's remnant whom He will be protecting within an enclave near Jerusalem will be frightened by this earthquake. Yet, this remnant will give glory to God for this encouragement and reminder that God is still fighting His enemies.
In Revelation 11:15-19, the Apostle John records a scene in heaven when God has His angel sound the seventh trumpet. All of heaven rejoices at this sound for with it God promises all of His people in heaven and in the enclaves on earth that at the end of the seven years of Tribulation, He will triumph over all evil and He will reign on the earth. All of God's people in heaven and on earth will hear this seventh trumpet and will know what it means.
Revelation chapter 12 reheares the spiritual history of Israel, symbolized by the "woman who brings forth the man child." The "woman" stands for the nation of Israel from the time it was but an idea in the mind of God, and the "man child" stands for Jesus, Israel's Messiah. The war began in heaven when Lucifer tried to destroy God who is also the Messiah. The war continued on earth where Satan has tried mightly throughtout history to prevent the Messiah from coming by attempting to destroy Israel, and by trying to destroy the Messiah when He did come. As this war continues, verse six prophesies that God will provide an enclave during the Great Tribulation for the remnant of Israel who have received His seal in their foreheads. Verse fourteen records that this enclave will be in the "wilderness" near Jerusalem and that God will provide everything His people will need for their protection and nourishment. Satan will attempt to destroy this enclave with a flood of water, perhaps by damming the Jordan river and then breaking this dam. But God will protect His people by opening the earth which will swallow the flood. Satan's failure will enrage him and he will return to launching military attacks against God's enclave, and succeed in causing heavy casualties, but he will not destroy God's enclave.
Revelation chapter thirteen records the prophecies of the "beast" that comes out of the "sea," and the "beast" that comes out of the "earth." When the fifth trumpet sounds, then the "bottomless pit" will be opened and huge armies of demons will be released to the earth. The king of these demons will have a name which can be interpreted as "The Destroyer." As Revelation 20:13 reveals, Hell has three compartments, namely "the sea," "death" and "hell." This means that the "bottomless pit" and "the sea" is the same place, and that "the Destroyer" and "the beast" is the same person. This beast who rises from the sea will have seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads symbolize the seven years of the Tribulation period, and the ten horns symbolize the fact that the Destroyer will use his hordes of demon armies to gain control over the ten powers that will rule the earth during the first half of the Tribulation period. The "Dragon," which is another name for Satan himself, will give his power to the beast. One of his seven heads will be wounded to death but then will be healed. This charade consists of nothing but a false death and resurrection. The beast presents this farce in order to pretend to the world that he is the Messiah of the Jews. The beast will know that many of the Jews have already turned to faith in the true Messiah, and that many in the world will know that these believers are living in God's enclaves. For these reasons, he must pretend to be the Messiah in order to get the world to put its faith in him. Revelation 13:6 records the same act by the beast as that revealed in II Thessalonians 2:4. He will enter into the temple of God and claim that he is Messiah and God, and will blaspheme the true God and Messiah. Verse seven relates that God will allow the beast "to make war against the saints, and to overcome them." This means that he will launch vicious attacks against God's enclaves which will cause a great number of casualties among the saints, but verse eight also records that all the world will worship the beast except those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. This shows that the beast will not succeed in destroying God's enclaves. Verse eight records that the "patience and faith of the saints" will finally result in the total destruction of evil.
In Revelation 13:11-18, the story changes from that of the first beast who came out of the sea to that of "another beast" who comes out of "the earth." This second beast will come from that compartment of Hell filled with fire and brimstone to replace the first beast. The Bible gives no exact reason why this happens. A speculative reason lies in verse fifteen where the second beast creates an image of the first beast which he causes the world to worship. This would seem to indicate that perhaps the first beast becomes disabled by his deadly wound and thus will not be able to continue as the evil leader. This condition will require the second beast to create a false image of the first beast in order to convince the world that he is still alive and well. This means that in a comical manner, the first beast will so bungle his own pretended death and resurrection that the Devil will have to send a second beast to create a farcical image of the first beast as being resurrected. But this charade only reveals to God's people the utter absurdity of the false resurrection. In verses 16-18, the second beast creates his own answer for the seal of God in the foreheads of His believers. The second beast forces all men under his control to receive a mark in their foreheads or right hands which will separate them forever from God's people. The second beast's order that no one will be allowed to buy or sell except those who have this mark will have the intent of forcing any of God's people who may be secretly living among them into the open so they can be killed. The Bible supplies the number of this mark as 666 so that God's future people will be able immediately to identify their enemies. God will not allow Satan to use any other number.
Revelation 14:1-5 relates that at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will stand on Mount Zion and reveal Himself to the 144 thousand converted Jews residing in His protected enclave near Jerusalem. His revelation will result in a tremendous worship service with heaven and the enclave joining together to sing praises to God and His Messiah. The purpose of this great worship service will be to encourage God's remnant to endure the horrible attacks that will be coming at them from the beast's armies. Zechariah 14:1-7 prophesies about the beast's attack on Jerusalem, and how he will take it, and how the Messiah will visit His people and open a great valley for the protection of His remnant who will flee into it when He splits the Mount of Olives. Verses six and seven prophesy that perhaps Jesus will cover this valley with an impenetrable dome which will be lighted by some type of artificial light. After God has secured His people within this enclave, the great worship service will begin.
At this time, God's people will be pinned down in their enclaves and will be unable to spread the gospel. At the same time, the beast will be forcing the people of the world to receive his mark in order to separate them from God's salvation forever. Because of God's compassion for the world's people and His desire to give them a chance to refuse the beast's mark and be saved, He will devise a new method to get the gospel to the people of the world. Revelation 14:6-7 prophesies that God will simply send an angel to preach His gospel to the world and give all people an opportunity to accept it and be saved. Most of those who accept it will be martyred by the beast, but they will certainly escape becoming completely demonic and being lost forever because they received the mark.
Revelation 14:8 relates that God will send another angel to announce to the world that "Babylon is fallen, is fallen,...." Babylon here is the symbolic name for all of the evil systems throughout the history of the world. God will be warning the world that He will conquer evil at the end of these wars, and so all people should refuse the mark and accept the gospel preached by the first angel.
Revelation 14:9-11 records that those who receive the mark of the beast will become totally demonic, and therefore, will suffer the same punishment in the lake of fire as will the demons themselves. They will be tormented in a state of full consciousness forever in order to occupy their minds so completely that they will be unable to devise any more evil. Verses 12-13 relates that those who believed the angel and were killed, will rest and await their resurrections and rewards from Christ.
Revelation 14:14-20 probably does not refer to the battle of Armageddon. These verses relate nothing about the Second Coming of Christ. These verses simply report that during all of the horrible wars of the Tribulation period, the forces of evil will also suffer tremendous casualties and that the souls of these dead will be subject to the wrath of God.
The fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Revelation recounts that God will use seven last plagues to wage direct war from heaven on the forces of evil in order to protect His enclaves of Jewish and Christian saints. Chapter 16:13-16 reveals that the Devil will send three evil spirits to call the kings of all the evil armies all over the world to abandon their wars against the Christian enclaves and concentrate all their forces against the enclave of the Jewish saints in Jerusalem. The Devil will reason that if he can crush the Jewish enclave, then he will prevent God's prophecy that Christ will become King of the Jews and Ruler of the world from ever coming true, and thus he will defeat God and become the ruler of the world himself. Verse sixteen reveals that the Devil will call these armies to gather at Armegeddon and not at Jerursalem. This may mean that the Anti-Christ will have lost Jerusalem to a counterattack by the Jewish enclave.
Revelation, chapter seventeen, relates the destruction of a harlot woman who symbolizes apostate Christendom. This harlot will be destroyed by the ten evil kings because they will so hate the name of Christ that they will desire no remembrance of His name even if nominally held by an apostate church. Verse eighteen does compare this church to the city of Rome, but this merely constitutes a prophecy that history will show that the church of Rome will contain the most apostates who will retain a certain amount of political power over the future kings of the earth. Yet, as Jesus prophesied in Revelation 2:13 and 19, even this apostate church will contain some true believers. But most of the members of this apostate church will be but nominal Christians because they will trust in the elaborate ceremonies of this church and not in Christ Himself. Even so, God has miraculously preserved the basic elements of His gospel within the Mass, so that true believers will be washed from their sins by the blood of Jesus, even as it is hidden within these ceremonies. Those who ignore the ceremony and the supposed power of the priest to turn wine into the blood of Jesus, and who directly believe that Jesus will spiritually wash away their sins with His shed blood; these will be born into the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the church of Rome will not be the only apostate church by any means. Many apostates will reside within the various Protestant churches and some even within the Evangelical churches.
Revelation , chapter eighteen, recounts the story of the fall of Satan's economic systems in the world; with Babylon being the symbolic name for these systems. This chapter does not refer to those who practiced free enterprise in a fair and equitable way. This chapter refers to all those who were willing to use any corrupt and even violent means available to themselves or their nations in order to gain wealth and power. This chapter relates the story of those who lie, cheat and steal, and even practice war, in order to obtain wealth and power. These evil powers will witness the total collapse of their cruel systems within the short space of one hour. At this time, close to the end of the Great Tribulation, no wealth of any kind will be left in the hands of the evil powers, but they will still retain the military strength of their armies.
Revelation 19:1-10 reveals that when God allows His saints in heaven to observe the fall of apostate Christendom and the fall of Satan's evil economic systems, then tremendous rejoicing and worship will erupt in heaven. God's people will become wild with overwhelming joy and worship of God. This great worship service will culminate with the marriage of Christ to His church.
Revelation 19:11-16 describes the glorious majesty of Christ as He gathers His righteous army to lead them to victory over Satan's evil armies at the battle of Armageddon. This Second Coming of Christ will be for the purpose of rescuing converted Israel from annihilation by Satan's huge armies. The Christian enclaves will not need a direct rescue because the pressure on them will have already been releaved by the withdrawal of the evil armies that were attacking them.
Revelation 19:17-21 describes the battle of Armageddon. The principal significance of this battle will be that Christ will win it all by Himself. His army will have no need to fight at all. This action will be true to the nature of God. Just as Christians can by no means save themselves but must trust in the completed work of Christ, so Christ alone must save the nation of Israel so that their gratitude will be directed solely to Him for all eternity. His victory will cause Israel to recognize Christ as their only King forever.
Before the battle even begins, Christ will single out and seize the false prophet and the beast, probably by pulling them into the air near Him. Christ will then open and reveal the lake of fire for the evil armies to see, and will throw the beast and false prophet into it. This act will completely demoralize the evil armies and they will begin to scatter. Christ will then begin to destroy these armies, and the weapon He will use will be the Word of God. The "sword that proceeded out of His mouth" is the Word of God. "God is Love" and He will save those who trust in His Son, but the absolute purity of His Word also destroys evil, for God will not allow any trace of nastiness to remain in His universe. In Zechariah 14:12, the prophet decribes this destruction as being a total reduction of the evil armies to nothingness. This action will be quite appropriate because sin is nothing more than false combinations of God's True Ideas intended to reduce the Truth to absolute nothingness. When exposed to the powers of the Holiness of God's Word, evil must disolve into absolute nothingness. God's Word constitutes a super weapon as well as a Savior.
God told Moses in Exodus 33:20 that no man can see His face and live. By saying this, God meant that the full power of His Holiness is so awesome that no man can live who sees it. The awesome power of such an observation would completely dissolve all falsity so that only the Truth could remain. Jesus deliberately subdued His Holiness when He walked the earth, for if He had ever revealed the full power of His Holiness, He would have destroyed anyone who looked at Him. Jesus used the full power of His Holiness as a weapon against the evil armies, thus causing their complete dissolution. But this dissolution means that only the false combinations which constitute their evil is that which will be destroyed. God will recover His True Ideas that comprise these false combinations so that they can be used in future true combinations. The statement "and all fowls were filled with their flesh" symbolizes the power of the Holy Spirit to recover God's misused Ideas for His future creative purposes.
Revelation 20:1-3 reveals the significant fact that Satan will not be captured until after the battle. This shows the true character of the Devil as a complete coward who abandoned his armies and tried to save himself by hiding from God. God will send an angel to dig him out of his hiding place, and chain him in the bottomless pit during the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. After the thousand years, Satan must be loosed for a little while to raise another evil army to fight against God in the earth's final war. The Bible nowhere explains why the Devil must be so chained and then set loose, but it must have something to do with the fact that even during the thousand year reign of Christ, evil will not be completely destroyed. Evil will only be completely destroyed when God recreates the heaven and earth and thoroughly purges His recreation from all evil. This purgation and recreation will begin when God destroys the Devil and his army at the end of the last war.
Daniel 7:8 Daniel 7:15-28 Daniel 8:23-26 Daniel 11:36-45
The book of Daniel provides additional details of the story of the beast who is also the Anti-Christ of Revelation. Daniel 7:8 and Daniel 7:15-28 relate the story of how the beast will gain power over the whole earth during the first three and one half years of the Tribulation period. At the beginning of the Tribulation period, the earth will be ruled by ten centers of power symbolized by the ten horns of Daniel and Revelation. In the beginning, the beast will be but a minor political power among the ten powers. Daniel states that he will be but a "little horn," but by the middle of the Tribulation period he will have gained power over the whole earth.
After the Rapture, the forces of evil will no longer be restrained. Wars will break out between some of these ten kings as they battle for wealth and power. At the same time, some of them will wage war against Israel and those who convert to faith in Christ.
The beast, who will be a minor politician in Israel, will become the leader of Israel by assuring the Israeli people that he can completely defeat its enemies. But his secret motive for gaining this power will be for the purpose of eventually claiming to be the Messiah and God of Israel and thus destroying the faith of Israel in its true God. The beast will then lead Israel to victory over the king of the south and the king of the north who are at war with Israel. He will do this in order to enforce his future claim that he is Israel's Messiah. These will be the three kings that Daniel reveals that the beast will subdue: Israel itself, the king of the north and the king of the south. When the beast gains direct rule over these three kings, then the other seven kings will submit to him and he will become the ruler of the world.
The beast will completely solidify his power over the earth after three and one half years. At this time he will enter the temple of God in Jerusalem and proclaim that he is God and Israel's Messiah in his attempt to replace God as the ruler of the earth. He will then unleash horrendous military attacks against the enclave of Jewish believers near Jerusalem, and he will order the other seven kings to attack the Christian enclaves scattered around the world. This condition will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
Friday, March 22, 2013
A Counter Argument Against Materialism
One of the arguments that materialist philosophers use to try to prove that material objects do not need the subjective in order to be real is that consciousness can imagine a consciousless universe in which its objects pass through time and space just the same as they would in a conscious universe.
However, such an endeavor is actually thoroughly and absolutely impossible. To begin, when one imagines a consciousless universe, one must ask oneself where the consciousless universe appears. The obvious answer is that it appears in the mind of the person imagining it. The imaginer thus immediately overcomes the absence of consciousness which he thinks he imagines, and supplies the consciouness necessary to mentally observe the movements of its objects through time and space.
One can only truly imagine a consciousless universe if one uses no imagination or observation. This endeavor is obviously self-contradictory and impossible. However, if one should exert oneself to the utmost to attempt to imagine a consciousless universe without using imagination, what would one observe? The obvious answer is that one would observe nothing. This nothingness would so completely hide all objects and movements, and even time and space; so that all one could know about the consciousless universe is absolutely nothing. This condition reveals the truth about all consciousless universes. They always equal absolute nothingness, and one can only imagine them by using an idea of nothing.
Then again, all of this speculation raises another question. If our universe was consciousless prior to the evolutionary emergence of consciousness, then how could life ever have evolved since the consciousless universe had to equal absolute nothingness? The obvious answer is that our universe has never been a consciousless one. An Infinite Consciousness must exist to supply our universe with constant creativity and reality.
However, such an endeavor is actually thoroughly and absolutely impossible. To begin, when one imagines a consciousless universe, one must ask oneself where the consciousless universe appears. The obvious answer is that it appears in the mind of the person imagining it. The imaginer thus immediately overcomes the absence of consciousness which he thinks he imagines, and supplies the consciouness necessary to mentally observe the movements of its objects through time and space.
One can only truly imagine a consciousless universe if one uses no imagination or observation. This endeavor is obviously self-contradictory and impossible. However, if one should exert oneself to the utmost to attempt to imagine a consciousless universe without using imagination, what would one observe? The obvious answer is that one would observe nothing. This nothingness would so completely hide all objects and movements, and even time and space; so that all one could know about the consciousless universe is absolutely nothing. This condition reveals the truth about all consciousless universes. They always equal absolute nothingness, and one can only imagine them by using an idea of nothing.
Then again, all of this speculation raises another question. If our universe was consciousless prior to the evolutionary emergence of consciousness, then how could life ever have evolved since the consciousless universe had to equal absolute nothingness? The obvious answer is that our universe has never been a consciousless one. An Infinite Consciousness must exist to supply our universe with constant creativity and reality.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Consciousness in the Mirror
A mirror reflects a picture of some of the objects in a room, but the mirror cannot be aware of the picture. This shows that the material can never be aware of the material. The recognition of the picture requires a consciousness.
Yet, the materialists claim that consciousness consists of merely some material action in a material brain. They contend that consciousness has to be a special kind of material that can be aware of the picture. But if consciousness is a special material, then by what means are the materialists aware of this special material? Some deeper special material perhaps? Indeed, this has to be some special material because an awareness of it requires an ever deeper material. In addition, this awareness seems to continuously escape from the material so that it can look back on it in order to be conscious of it.
One begins to suspect from all this that the material can never be conscious of the material under any circumstances, just as the mirror cannot be conscious of its picture. Only consciousness can recognize the picture, and this consciousness must be something different from the material since it seems to continuously escape from it. But what is this consciousness, and what do we know about it? Precious little actually. About all we know is that it produces a recognized picture and that it seems to possess some connection to infinity. Why this connection? Because consciousness extends ever deeper when we realize that our awareness of the picture requires an awareness of our awareness of the picture, which in turn, requires another awareness until.......well, we get the picture. If only we had the strength, we could extend this awareness into infinity.
All of this speculation raises another question: Can there be an Infinite Consciousness? Since we have already shown that the material can never be aware of the material, and that consciousness has to be something quite different from the material; then we find it impossible to believe that consciousness could ever have been created by a nonconscious material process. Therefore, our finite consciousness must have been created by an Infinite Consciousness.
The materialists may counter all of this speculation by claiming that it all constitutes a mere illusion. Consciousness only seems to be connected to infinity, not actually. But consciousness recognizes this illusion which proves that it is working as it should, and whatever works as it should has to be real. In addition, the materialist cannot explain how he can recognize that consciousness is but a material process but by means of another consciousness that seems continuously to escape from the material. It would seem that even the materialist needs an infinite material in order to be conscious.
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