The pastor at a baptist church where I attend said that with the tribulation drawing closer we had to increase our effort to get people saved, because those not believing will end up in Hell. By Hell, he actually meant the Lake of Fire. They are not the same place, but they often are used synonymously as if they were. By saved, he meant saved into the Church. Time is indeed growing short to get out gospel message before the tribulation, but many people will still be saved afterward.<\/p>\n
I am quite aware that many Christians hold the position that all not getting saved into the Church will go to Hell (Hades). However, saying they will go to Hell is not the same as saying they will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Some Christians think that since these people did not hear or believe the gospel while they lived, they will not attain the first resurrection, and thus will be judged at the second resurrection, where people are judged according to their works. And since Christians believe that none are made righteous through their works; they jump to the conclusion that all judged at the second resurrection are cast into the Lake of Fire. I don’t see where that is taught in the scripture.<\/p>\n
The Bible says that the Lake of Fire was created for the Devil and His angels. The Bible illustrates that God planted seed on the earth. God does not make mistakes. I think it is safe therefore to assume, that none of the seed that God planted on earth will be among those damned in the Lake of Fire. In other words, all those predestined to be saved before the foundation of the earth, will be saved. All of the wheat that God planted are inherently in the book of life. The Devil has his own seed, and since they are not of God, they never were written in the book of life. These will be cast into the Lake of Fire after the White Throne Judgment. The parable of the wheat and tares illustrates this (Mt 13 24-30).<\/p>\n
Jesus came to save what was lost. God’s seed (also know as the elect) will hear and believe when they are adequately presented the truth. Even so, I cannot rule out that some may not get to find out the truth about Jesus before they die. Peter even says that the gospel was also preached to the dead so they could live according to God in the Spirit (1Pe 4:6). Those without ears to hear when they are told the gospel are those blinded by Satan because they are not of God.<\/p>\n
Christians get confused because everything in scripture is not talking about the Church and the Church Age that began at Pentecost. Since Pentecost we are in the Age of Grace where believers in Jesus receive the spirit of God and become new creations in Christ. This is the Bride that God is preparing for Jesus. She is to rule and reign with Him in the coming Kingdom on earth. The blood bought Bride gets married to Jesus while the great tribulation is playing out on earth and she returns with Him.<\/p>\n
Humans of Old Testament times were never given such grace to become one with Jesus. The faithful of prior ages will be resurrected and come in the Kingdom as friends of the Groom. John the Baptist said he was a friend of the bridegroom (Joh 3:29). Jesus also spoke of his apostles as being friends of the bridegroom (Mt 9:15). Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest born of women, but all born into new spiritual life from above are greater than John (Mt 11:11).<\/p>\n
This amazing grace to become one with Christ apparently also will not be given in the Kingdom Age either, since the Bride is complete at that time. Are we then to assume that all who lived on earth but did get saved into the Bride Church are to be judged to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire? I do not think the Bible teaches any such thing.<\/p>\n
The first resurrection is already over at the beginning of Kingdom Age (Rev 20:5). Mortals living through the\u00a0 Kingdom Age clearly do not take part in the first resurrection, but they will not all be cast into the Lake of Fire. These mortal humans were not raised at the first resurrection to receive eternal bodies, so they will be raised at the second resurrection to receive eternal bodies. God is not having Jesus and the Church rule over a Kingdom Age just so all living in it can populate the Lake of Fire. We would have done a miserable job of ruling and reigning with Christ, if that were the case.<\/p>\n
The truth is that those raised in the first resurrection become the leadership for the Kingdom Age. The Bible clearly says this in Re 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years<\/strong>“.<\/em> That gives those receiving the reward to rule over cities literal meaning in the Kingdom Age (Lu 19:17).<\/p>\n The Kingdom Age does not add to the Bride Church because Jesus is already one with His Bride before it begins. Those ruling and reigning with Christ will be ruling over mortals when conditions for mortals on earth are so ideal that a population explosion occurs like the world has never seen before.<\/p>\n I think the earth will be supporting over a hundred billion people by the end of the Kingdom Age. Those that abstain the first resurrection are probably just a tithe. They are the first fruits of humans. Many others ultimately will be given eternal life after the Kingdom Age plays out.<\/p>\n The mortals living in the Kingdom Age will not be saved by grace through faith because that ends with the completion of the Bride Church. In fact, only believing mortals enter the Kingdom Age. God pours out His spirit on all flesh as the Kingdom begins (Joe 2:28). All living in the Kingdom Age will therefore have full knowledge of the Lord. For this reason those living during the Kingdom Age will be judged (evaluated) according to their works. That is not the same as saying they are justified (saved) through their works. Everyone of all ages are saved by faith (trusting in God’s righteousness to save them). Judgment according to works for believers just means determining what they did with what God gave them.<\/p>\n Uniquely in this Age of Grace that started at Pentecost for those trusting in God’s Son, His righteousness is imputed to us. We who believe have our sins paid for and we are spiritually born of the Holy Spirit. That happens because we become one with Christ. That is not true for all in all ages. It is only for the Bride of Christ.<\/p>\n All humans will be evaluated according to their good or bad deeds on earth. Jesus said as much. Even so, the Bride becomes one flesh with Christ. Therefore, she is without fault and is given eternal life with Christ. The Bride’s deeds in her body of flesh will only be judged on the basis of awards or awards not given.<\/p>\n Those not attaining the first resurrection will also be evaluated by their deeds at the second resurrection. The works that are written in the books that are opened do not save them. They display to the angels what kind of trees they are. A good tree does not continually bear rotten fruit. The angels will cast the rotten trees into the Lake of Fire where the Devil and His angels were cast.<\/p>\n The very words of Jesus in the four gospels say as much. Those doing good will obtain eternal life, and those doing evil will receive eternal condemnation. You will know a tree by its fruit. The good seed of God are doing good works, and if they sin they repent and are forgiven. The evil seed becomes trees with rotten fruit, and they never repent. It is these that will be cast into the Lake of Fire.<\/p>\n Jesus words in the gospels clearly establish the rules for living in the Kingdom Age on earth. We should not confuse unmerited grace during this Church Age with the requirements for humans living in past ages or the Kingdom Age to come. In the Kingdom Age, God pours out His Spirit on all flesh, so they have full knowledge of God. They will be without excuse for continually doing evil in the Kingdom. The OT also teaches that righteous men do good works and evil men do what is evil, so this is not a new concept. God is not changing anything He previously said just because he gives unmerited grace to those who will be the Bride of Christ. The Church should not think that all that was said in the OT and the words of Jesus in the four gospels are now done away with.<\/p>\n Those living in the Kingdom Age that reject the rules of the Kingdom do it willfully. They become like the Scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus railed against. The unpardonable sin is rejecting God’s Messiah and His Kingdom after the truth was displayed. Only the bad seed who are evil and will not repent of their sins, will be cast into the Lake of Fire created for the Devil and his angels. Jesus identified this seed as tares and children of the Wicked One (Mt 13:38).<\/p>\n After the restoration of all things, the Lamb’s wife (the Church) will live in the Holy City described in Revelation 21 and 22. The Holy City is clearly distinct from the New Earth. So why also create a new earth if nobody is going to live on it? Common sense should tell us that there will be a great multitude of people dwelling on the New Earth. Many, if not most of those that do not attain the first resurrection will be judged worthy to obtain eternal life and they will occupy the New Earth. That also probably includes billions of souls in the pre-flood world.<\/p>\n This view that those of God are to be saved even apart from being part of the Bride Church, answers the questions about those that never heard the Gospel of Christ, or those who were too feeble-minded to understand. People wonder about all the babies that never had the chance to even be born? Obviously these humans never had the chance to become one Spirit with Jesus by trusting in Him. If you can get into the Bride Church by just being innocent of doing evil, You would be better off dying before you reached the age of accountability.<\/p>\n By the way, all humans have original sin. None in the fallen flesh nature of Adam are sinless. Only the last Adam was born sinless and that is because he was not born of the seed of Adam, He came from God. Yet, to say that created beings through no fault of their own were all created only to be cast into the Lake of Fire just makes God look like an ogre. The NT Church tends to believe that everything is about her, so they come up with broad-bush condemnations for those outside the Church.<\/p>\n Humans of God were created to be imagers of God on earth. Jesus illustrated that God planted wheat on the earth. The tare counterfeits were sowed by the Devil to oppose and confuse what God created the imagers for. The tares want to appear like imagers of God but their evil deeds show that they are imagers of Satan. Anyone that God created to image Himself on earth is inherently in the book of life. They will not be cast into the Lake of Fire. Only the children of the Devil will be cast into the Lake of Fire.<\/p>\n Apparently the wheat is about one-half the human population on earth. We see that in many illustrations starting with Cain and Able, to Issac and Ishmael, to Jesus saying from now on He brings division on earth with 3 against 2 and 2 against 3 in each household (Lk 12:51). The division is between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. In addition, there will be a great rebellion against the Sons of Light at the end of the Kingdom Age.<\/p>\n God is just. Nobody is going to be cast into the Lake of Fire just because they never heard or understood the gospel of grace through faith in His Son. Jesus died and arose so people of God given to Him could be born into His new creation to rule and reign with Him in the coming Kingdom Age.<\/p>\n The first fruits raised at the first resurrection are only a part of the story. These will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years over mortals that grow in numbers to become like the sand at the sea shore. Many who lived on earth but did not attain the first resurrection will be given eternal life to live on God’s new earth created after the final rebellion and the second resurrection.<\/p>\n Those not hearing and believing in this age do not rise in the first resurrection, but all remaining will take part in the second resurrection. At that time, the books will be opened and eternal destinies of believers and unbelievers will be determined according to what is written in the books. The Book of Life will then be opened, and those not found in it will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Only the Devil, his angels, and those not written in the Book of Life (the tares) will be cast in the Lake of Fire. The rest are either believers who attained the first resurrection and dwell in the Holy City or they are believers of the second Resurrection who dwell on the New Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The pastor at a baptist church where I attend said that with the tribulation drawing closer we had to increase our effort to get people saved, because those not believing will end up in Hell. By Hell, he actually meant … Continue reading