Well that is my blog on Spiritual Foundations. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope primarily that it has done three things for you:
1. That you have become established in your faith.
2. That you have encoutered God in some way through this writing.
3. That your mind has been opened to vast possibilities in God that maybe you had never thought of before.
I do not expect that you will have agreed with everything. If you did then think again. I am sure I don't know all there is to know about these matters and I am equally sure that in some areas I will be at least a little wrong. Hopefully I am not majorly wrong in anything.
One thing is sure - if you start from here and allow God to speak to you he will open up whole areas of truth on these subjects that I have never even thought of. This blog represents my understanding at this time - in a few years I will revisit it, God willing, and rewrite it. But God can open things up to you in new ways I have never dreamed of. The Bible is like a gold mind - the deeper you dig the more you see. I have simply scratched the surface in these studies.
Martin Luther said this: "The reason I see further than those who have gone before is because I stand on the shoulders of giants."
I don't think for a moment that I am a giant. But if you "stand on my shoulders" you will see further than me.
If you enjoyed this writing you may enjoy my next blog:
salvationhistory.blogspot.com
Friday, 6 April 2007
Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 39. Eternal Judgment #4. Life in the New Age.
Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 39. Eternal Judgment #4. Life in the New Age.
AFTER THE JUDGEMENT - WHAT?
There appears to be two phases to the Christian's entering into God's eternal purposes for them. These are commonly called:
(1) The Millennium, or the Kingdom of God on earth, and
(2) The Eternal State.
Very little is actually said about either of these in the NT, and while the kingdom features largely in the OT prophets it is there portrayed as a very nationalistic Jewish thing. This nationalism is clearly reinterpreted in the NT and the kingdom is clearly stated to belong to Christ and his followers, i.e. the Church. As a result of this we need to be cautious when reading the OT prophets about this. Much of what they say has to be taken symbolically as applying not to Israel, but to God's true covenant people, the Church. Hence references to the land of Palestine are also not to be taken too literally. There are many clear instances where the NT takes what appears to be literal promises of a promised land to Israel and shows how this actually has a broader meaning, the whole earth.
Example:
Psalm 37:11 - "the meek shall inherit the land", meaning Palestine.
This is reinterpreted by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:5. “the Meek shall inherit the earth.”
Here Christ gives the promise a greater meaning “the whole earth” and the promise is there taken away from Israel and given to those who are his disciples.
It seems unlikely that there will be a Jewish state in the Millenium - despite what many teachers claim.
There are many prophecies in the OT about Israel's return to God in the last days. These promises are largely Christological, i.e. the return to God is through Christ. There seems to be a national revival in Israel just prior to the Second Coming in which large numbers are saved. Several prophecies indicate this but it is beyond the scope of this writing to go into this in depth.
Zechariah has one prophecy it is worth commenting on at this point.
Zechariah 13:8,9.
"In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.'"
This prophecy is uttered in the context of last day events. Some of these events happen before the Second Coming, some after. It seems to me that this one makes most sense if understood as happening before the Second Coming. The prophecy concerns Israel as a nation and two things are prophecied:
* Two thirds of the nation will "perish", i.e. die. The implication of "Struck down" is that it will be by violent means. Presumably this is through the work of the Antichrist.
* The remaining third will undergo a spiritual transformation and will call on the name of God. Presumably this means they will become Christians as Jesus said, "No man can come to the Father but by me (John 14:6)."
There is no indication in Scripture that God is going to make another way for people to be saved in the last days.
But if they are "saved" i.e. become Christians, then they are put on the same standing as every other Christian in this age in which, In Christ, "there is neither Jew nor Gentile" (Galatians 3:28). In this case they will be raptured along with the rest of the Church.
This means that one-third of Israel becomes Christians in the Great Tribulation and will be raptured at the end of the Tribulation. The remaining two-thirds perish, i.e. die, during the Tribulation. As a result three things must be true:
* The nation of Israel must cease to exist as a separate entity at the Second Coming of Christ.
* There is no nation of Israel during the Millenium to inherit a literal Kingdom of God on earth.
* The promises in the OT about a literal Kingdom of Israel ruling the earth in the future must be interpreted spiirtually as referring to the reign of the Church.
Much of what has been taught about the future life is based on these OT passages. But we need to be careful how we apply them. It is not the purpose in this series to go into depth teaching on this. Maybe in some other context…
There is also a tendency for Christians to think that the Eternal state for us will be some form of glorified, endless holiday, wherein we sit around at magnificent feasts and play harps, riding on the back of tame lions and playing ball with the angels. This is far removed from the idea portrayed in the Bible.
Some basic concepts need to be affirmed as a basis of understanding if we are going to understand our role in the future life.
The future state is going to be the culmination and fulfillment of God's intentions in the original creation. What we are going to see there is not something radically new, but rather THE SAME THING AS IT WAS INTENDED TO BE IN CREATION, BUT OPERATING ON A HIGHER LEVEL.
This has certain implications:
(i) Man was made to be God's co-partner's in ruling creation, to be kings and priests. We can expect that men will fulfil this role in the future.
(ii) Man was created physical and spiritual so that he could arbitrate between the two realities. As we have seen in the studies on the resurrection body man will be perfectly equipped to carry out this role.
(iii) Man was made to work, it was part of the blessing of God. We can expect that the future will involve a considerable work load for each of us.
(iv) Man was made to "fill the earth and subdue (or rule) it". This commission appears to be extended in the future over all the other created life forms and worlds in the created universe, including the angels.
In the light of this command to "Fill the earth" we could ask the question (we have no answer), "Is there some form of procreation that we engage in the eternal state?”
Two things could suggest this:
* The things of this life are intended to be shadows of things in the spiritual realm but at a lower level of experience. Marriage could therefore be considered to be a picture of something greater to be experienced in God's plan.
* Jesus, when asked about the woman who had married seven husbands, said that "In Heaven men do not marry, but they are like the angels (Mark 12:25)". But angels do not appear to be "sexless" - the fallen angels seemed to be quite capable of siring children (Genesis 6:1-5). Whatever they do in this line we do not know, but we cannot say with certainty that they do nothing.
(v) Man was created to be creative. We can assume safely that the age to come will be a great age of creativity and discovery. We may even create new universes!
THE MILLENNIUM.
Revelation 20:1-10.
“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first
resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth- Gog and Magog- to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
A period of 1000 years after the Second Coming of Christ.
The purpose of the Millennium seems clear - there will be some people still alive on earth who have survived Armageddon. They continue to live normally and have children, but now in a sinless world. The 1000 years should be enough for any learned sinful behaviour to be unlearned (10 being the number of the testing of sin, 1000 being 10 cubed indicating a perfection in that area). Hence when Satan is released at the end of the Millennium there is no sin in the environment, any rebellion in mankind at that point will prove that sin is in man’s will.
However, though Satan is bound, the evil of the human heart is revealed. The millennium is not the next thing to heaven. The human heart is not changed by God at the beginning of the millennium. Man himself is evil. The millennium will be full of sin and rebellion out of man's hearts. The Church will have difficulty to rule in the millennium.
Hence, at the final judgement men cannot blame the environment as, after 1000 years of perfection, men will still rebel.
What is the Millenium like?
(a) Christ rules personally and visibly over the whole world.
The agency of his rule is Zion, the covenant people of God.
# It may be that Christ rules from Palestine, or Jerusalem, but what this means for the nation of Israel is little. As we have seen, there are clear scriptures which indicate the destruction of Israel at, or before, Armageddon in such a way that it could not be a separate nation in the Millennium. The rule of Christ is through the Church. The OT passages that teach a future Kingdom of Israel/Zion, ruled by the Messiah, are certainly to be interpreted Christologically, and hence are symbolic of the victory of God’s People, the Church. To interpret them literally would be to do two things:
(i) To elevate Israel to a position of favour above the Church, that is natural, fallen people would be given position and prestige ahead of those ho have received God’s forgiveness, life and recreation. This seems hardly likely.
(ii) It would contradict the clear statements of Revelation that it is the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Resurrected followers of Christ who will reign with him for 1000 years. It is clear that the NT reinterprets the OT on this point.
Revelation 20:4-6.
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
John says it three times in different ways in the same paragraph just so we get it clear “Authority to judge..They…reigned with him for 1000 years.”
But this is the promise that was given to Israel in the OT, that in the Messianic Kingdom:
Isaiah 60:10,12.
"Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you…
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.”
Again the OT promise to Israel is reinterpreted and given to the Church with a greater meaning. This is the consistent pattern in the NT: The OT promises to Israel are taken and given to the Church.
(b) There are no residual effects of sin in the world - in other words the effects of sin are healed:
# The lion can lie down with the lamb.
# A child can play with (poisonous) snakes.
# Possibly there are no wars, murders, etc. In fact the weapons of warfare are destroyed. However, there could be – sinful men could still rebel against the righteous rule of God in the Millenium. I can’t see any reason why they can’t.
This healing is brought about, in part by the action of redeemed humanity, the Church, fulfilling God's original intention for mankind to be the ruler, steward, caretaker, of the earth.
(c) The wisdom of God (symbolised by the tree of life) is available to the whole world to bring healing - of sickness, relationships, etc.
Revelation 22:2.
“…down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
Some interpreters take this description of the City of God to be part of the eternal state, part of the new creation. Though this is so, it cannot be limited to that and must have an application to the Millenium and possibly to the present Church age. This is because of this statement: “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
If this is the eternal state, the new creation then:
(i) What are the nations doing there?
(ii) Why do they need healing?
These two questions point to the fact that this promise is not just for the perfect eternal state.
(d) The people of God are placed in positions of rulership over the nations at different levels.
The level of rulership one experiences in the Millennium, and later in Eternity, is determined by one's level of spiritual growth in this life, as we saw in the last chapter. The skill of tapping into the wisdom of God needs to be learnt now. If it is not it cannot be later on.
ETERNITY.
Revelation 20:11-22:6.
We know even less about the coming eternal state than we do about the Millenium.
(a) There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
This will not be "new" in the sense of a totally new creation, but will be a "remake" using the already existing materials. Redemption extends to the material world.
When Christ ascended to heaven after his resurrection he took with him his physical body. The passion of Christ means, amongst other things, a change in the very internal structure of the Trinity. Christ, who is God, became man, but now in Eternity remains man. This means several things:
(i) Christ himself no longer has the power of omnipresence.
He is localised in heaven with a body. The omnipresence of Christ is mediated to us by the Holy Spirit.
(ii) Heaven must be a physical place.
Whatever having a “spiritual body” means (1 Corinthians 15:44), it does not mean it is "non-physical". Rather we should consider it to be "supraphysical". A “spiritual body” does not mean “a body made up of spirit” – otherwise how could Jesus have asked his disciples to touch and feel his resurrected body. Rather it means “a body that is suitable for living in the spiritual realm”.
The problem we have is that we see the physical realm as being “solid and real”, and the spiritual realm as being insubstantial, ethereal, non material, somehow unreal and unable to be touched.” The truth is that the spiritual realm is more real, more substantial, more solid, than the physical real we inhabit. Heaven is physically real – but in a different dimension to our universe.
(iii) The taking of Christ’s body into heaven has given the whole of our physical creation a new grounding in reality.
Where it was, prior to the incarnation, grounded solely in the spoken word of God, and it had lost this grounding through the Fall, now it is grounded in the incarnate Word of God. This is part of the change that has happened in the essential nature of the Trinity as a result of the incarnation - this physical universe has, in Christ, become part of the Triune nature where it was not before. The physical creation thus is given an eternal significance and permanence. Thus when this present form of creation is wound up at the Second Coming, we are not to think that matter is destroyed. Rather it is remoulded into a new creation.
(b) The rulership of the created order will be in the hands of man, in Christ and his bride, the Church.
This rulership is obtained by Christ through his coming a man, thus he is a true mediator between God and creation, sharing in the nature of both.
Jesus teaches this rulership in the following parable:
Luke 19:12-17.
“He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. `Put this money to work,' he said, `until I come back.' "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, `We don't want this man to be our king.' "He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. "The first one came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' "`Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. `Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' "The second came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned five more.' "His master answered, `You take charge of five cities....'”
This parable is understood to refer to Christ, who went back to heaven to be appointed king. His servants are Christians. We are give gifts to trade with. The manner of our trading can bring increase. If we trade successfully then we will be rewarded at the Second Coming with rulership of “cities”, i.e. societies inhabited by intelligent creatures.
This presumably does not mean only on earth, but also elsewhere in creation, whereever God has intelligent creatures.
(c) The people of God will be involved in ruling the whole creation.
We cannot imagine what this is, it is beyond comprehension. However in able to do this we will not be limited by time and space, but like Christ, able to move between the various creations at will.
What Do I mean by "Various Creations"?
I suggest that what we are going to rule is not just the present physical universe, but what God makes out of its ruins - and more besides. The present skies - the physicsal universe - will be "rolled up like a scroll" and removed. It has been too corrupted by the fall of man to enter into eternity so it needs to be remade.
But is the physical universe that we see all there is to creation? I think not.
We are aware of two "levels" of creation already - the physical in which we live, and the spiritual, the realm of God, Angels, demons, elemental spirits and so on. These exist SIDE BY SIDE, as it were, occupying the same "space", but they can co-exist without either really impinging on the other. They are different dimensions .
This concept we do not find hard to understand. Let us then EXTEND the concept.
Why could there not be untold BILLIONS of creations - all alongside of each other, as it were occupying the same space, in different dimensions? Scientists today are postulating that, to explain the nature of the physical universeas they are coming to understand it, there must be other dimensions. They have postulated, in some cases, up to a dozen other dimensions.
Why could not it have been that it was God's original intention for mankind to rule all of these creations, man being the apex of God's creation? They could be, like the angels, aware of us, but us not be aware of them.
Why could not it have been that they were all affected, in some way, by the "Fall" of Adam?
Why could it not be that, in some way, they are redeemed by Christ?
All of this is quite possible as far as I can see - C.S.Lewis seems to have this sort of picture in his Narnia tale, "The Horse and His Boy".
In actual fact we could be involved in the creation of some of these universes. Or at least in seeing that they come into the fullness of what intended for them in Creation. Without us they will not enter fully into God’s purposes for them.
In this creation Adam was given the job of "naming" the animals. But the idea of "naming" in Hebrew thought is not just to give a title, but to create the personality and character of what is named. In the new Creation our task could be similar - to complete the creations God has already started, he has set out the raw materials, as it were. Our job will be to mould and shape into a final form, an expression of His creativity flowing through us.
Whatever the reality is in the future we do not now fully know, but it will be a superlative fulfillment of God's original intention for mankind to rule with him in his creation.
1 Corinthians 2:9,10.
"Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of mankind what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to US by his Spirit”.
Revelation 21.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
Chapter 39. Eternal Judgment #4. Life in the New Age.
AFTER THE JUDGEMENT - WHAT?
There appears to be two phases to the Christian's entering into God's eternal purposes for them. These are commonly called:
(1) The Millennium, or the Kingdom of God on earth, and
(2) The Eternal State.
Very little is actually said about either of these in the NT, and while the kingdom features largely in the OT prophets it is there portrayed as a very nationalistic Jewish thing. This nationalism is clearly reinterpreted in the NT and the kingdom is clearly stated to belong to Christ and his followers, i.e. the Church. As a result of this we need to be cautious when reading the OT prophets about this. Much of what they say has to be taken symbolically as applying not to Israel, but to God's true covenant people, the Church. Hence references to the land of Palestine are also not to be taken too literally. There are many clear instances where the NT takes what appears to be literal promises of a promised land to Israel and shows how this actually has a broader meaning, the whole earth.
Example:
Psalm 37:11 - "the meek shall inherit the land", meaning Palestine.
This is reinterpreted by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:5. “the Meek shall inherit the earth.”
Here Christ gives the promise a greater meaning “the whole earth” and the promise is there taken away from Israel and given to those who are his disciples.
It seems unlikely that there will be a Jewish state in the Millenium - despite what many teachers claim.
There are many prophecies in the OT about Israel's return to God in the last days. These promises are largely Christological, i.e. the return to God is through Christ. There seems to be a national revival in Israel just prior to the Second Coming in which large numbers are saved. Several prophecies indicate this but it is beyond the scope of this writing to go into this in depth.
Zechariah has one prophecy it is worth commenting on at this point.
Zechariah 13:8,9.
"In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.'"
This prophecy is uttered in the context of last day events. Some of these events happen before the Second Coming, some after. It seems to me that this one makes most sense if understood as happening before the Second Coming. The prophecy concerns Israel as a nation and two things are prophecied:
* Two thirds of the nation will "perish", i.e. die. The implication of "Struck down" is that it will be by violent means. Presumably this is through the work of the Antichrist.
* The remaining third will undergo a spiritual transformation and will call on the name of God. Presumably this means they will become Christians as Jesus said, "No man can come to the Father but by me (John 14:6)."
There is no indication in Scripture that God is going to make another way for people to be saved in the last days.
But if they are "saved" i.e. become Christians, then they are put on the same standing as every other Christian in this age in which, In Christ, "there is neither Jew nor Gentile" (Galatians 3:28). In this case they will be raptured along with the rest of the Church.
This means that one-third of Israel becomes Christians in the Great Tribulation and will be raptured at the end of the Tribulation. The remaining two-thirds perish, i.e. die, during the Tribulation. As a result three things must be true:
* The nation of Israel must cease to exist as a separate entity at the Second Coming of Christ.
* There is no nation of Israel during the Millenium to inherit a literal Kingdom of God on earth.
* The promises in the OT about a literal Kingdom of Israel ruling the earth in the future must be interpreted spiirtually as referring to the reign of the Church.
Much of what has been taught about the future life is based on these OT passages. But we need to be careful how we apply them. It is not the purpose in this series to go into depth teaching on this. Maybe in some other context…
There is also a tendency for Christians to think that the Eternal state for us will be some form of glorified, endless holiday, wherein we sit around at magnificent feasts and play harps, riding on the back of tame lions and playing ball with the angels. This is far removed from the idea portrayed in the Bible.
Some basic concepts need to be affirmed as a basis of understanding if we are going to understand our role in the future life.
The future state is going to be the culmination and fulfillment of God's intentions in the original creation. What we are going to see there is not something radically new, but rather THE SAME THING AS IT WAS INTENDED TO BE IN CREATION, BUT OPERATING ON A HIGHER LEVEL.
This has certain implications:
(i) Man was made to be God's co-partner's in ruling creation, to be kings and priests. We can expect that men will fulfil this role in the future.
(ii) Man was created physical and spiritual so that he could arbitrate between the two realities. As we have seen in the studies on the resurrection body man will be perfectly equipped to carry out this role.
(iii) Man was made to work, it was part of the blessing of God. We can expect that the future will involve a considerable work load for each of us.
(iv) Man was made to "fill the earth and subdue (or rule) it". This commission appears to be extended in the future over all the other created life forms and worlds in the created universe, including the angels.
In the light of this command to "Fill the earth" we could ask the question (we have no answer), "Is there some form of procreation that we engage in the eternal state?”
Two things could suggest this:
* The things of this life are intended to be shadows of things in the spiritual realm but at a lower level of experience. Marriage could therefore be considered to be a picture of something greater to be experienced in God's plan.
* Jesus, when asked about the woman who had married seven husbands, said that "In Heaven men do not marry, but they are like the angels (Mark 12:25)". But angels do not appear to be "sexless" - the fallen angels seemed to be quite capable of siring children (Genesis 6:1-5). Whatever they do in this line we do not know, but we cannot say with certainty that they do nothing.
(v) Man was created to be creative. We can assume safely that the age to come will be a great age of creativity and discovery. We may even create new universes!
THE MILLENNIUM.
Revelation 20:1-10.
“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first
resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth- Gog and Magog- to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
A period of 1000 years after the Second Coming of Christ.
The purpose of the Millennium seems clear - there will be some people still alive on earth who have survived Armageddon. They continue to live normally and have children, but now in a sinless world. The 1000 years should be enough for any learned sinful behaviour to be unlearned (10 being the number of the testing of sin, 1000 being 10 cubed indicating a perfection in that area). Hence when Satan is released at the end of the Millennium there is no sin in the environment, any rebellion in mankind at that point will prove that sin is in man’s will.
However, though Satan is bound, the evil of the human heart is revealed. The millennium is not the next thing to heaven. The human heart is not changed by God at the beginning of the millennium. Man himself is evil. The millennium will be full of sin and rebellion out of man's hearts. The Church will have difficulty to rule in the millennium.
Hence, at the final judgement men cannot blame the environment as, after 1000 years of perfection, men will still rebel.
What is the Millenium like?
(a) Christ rules personally and visibly over the whole world.
The agency of his rule is Zion, the covenant people of God.
# It may be that Christ rules from Palestine, or Jerusalem, but what this means for the nation of Israel is little. As we have seen, there are clear scriptures which indicate the destruction of Israel at, or before, Armageddon in such a way that it could not be a separate nation in the Millennium. The rule of Christ is through the Church. The OT passages that teach a future Kingdom of Israel/Zion, ruled by the Messiah, are certainly to be interpreted Christologically, and hence are symbolic of the victory of God’s People, the Church. To interpret them literally would be to do two things:
(i) To elevate Israel to a position of favour above the Church, that is natural, fallen people would be given position and prestige ahead of those ho have received God’s forgiveness, life and recreation. This seems hardly likely.
(ii) It would contradict the clear statements of Revelation that it is the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Resurrected followers of Christ who will reign with him for 1000 years. It is clear that the NT reinterprets the OT on this point.
Revelation 20:4-6.
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
John says it three times in different ways in the same paragraph just so we get it clear “Authority to judge..They…reigned with him for 1000 years.”
But this is the promise that was given to Israel in the OT, that in the Messianic Kingdom:
Isaiah 60:10,12.
"Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you…
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.”
Again the OT promise to Israel is reinterpreted and given to the Church with a greater meaning. This is the consistent pattern in the NT: The OT promises to Israel are taken and given to the Church.
(b) There are no residual effects of sin in the world - in other words the effects of sin are healed:
# The lion can lie down with the lamb.
# A child can play with (poisonous) snakes.
# Possibly there are no wars, murders, etc. In fact the weapons of warfare are destroyed. However, there could be – sinful men could still rebel against the righteous rule of God in the Millenium. I can’t see any reason why they can’t.
This healing is brought about, in part by the action of redeemed humanity, the Church, fulfilling God's original intention for mankind to be the ruler, steward, caretaker, of the earth.
(c) The wisdom of God (symbolised by the tree of life) is available to the whole world to bring healing - of sickness, relationships, etc.
Revelation 22:2.
“…down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
Some interpreters take this description of the City of God to be part of the eternal state, part of the new creation. Though this is so, it cannot be limited to that and must have an application to the Millenium and possibly to the present Church age. This is because of this statement: “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
If this is the eternal state, the new creation then:
(i) What are the nations doing there?
(ii) Why do they need healing?
These two questions point to the fact that this promise is not just for the perfect eternal state.
(d) The people of God are placed in positions of rulership over the nations at different levels.
The level of rulership one experiences in the Millennium, and later in Eternity, is determined by one's level of spiritual growth in this life, as we saw in the last chapter. The skill of tapping into the wisdom of God needs to be learnt now. If it is not it cannot be later on.
ETERNITY.
Revelation 20:11-22:6.
We know even less about the coming eternal state than we do about the Millenium.
(a) There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
This will not be "new" in the sense of a totally new creation, but will be a "remake" using the already existing materials. Redemption extends to the material world.
When Christ ascended to heaven after his resurrection he took with him his physical body. The passion of Christ means, amongst other things, a change in the very internal structure of the Trinity. Christ, who is God, became man, but now in Eternity remains man. This means several things:
(i) Christ himself no longer has the power of omnipresence.
He is localised in heaven with a body. The omnipresence of Christ is mediated to us by the Holy Spirit.
(ii) Heaven must be a physical place.
Whatever having a “spiritual body” means (1 Corinthians 15:44), it does not mean it is "non-physical". Rather we should consider it to be "supraphysical". A “spiritual body” does not mean “a body made up of spirit” – otherwise how could Jesus have asked his disciples to touch and feel his resurrected body. Rather it means “a body that is suitable for living in the spiritual realm”.
The problem we have is that we see the physical realm as being “solid and real”, and the spiritual realm as being insubstantial, ethereal, non material, somehow unreal and unable to be touched.” The truth is that the spiritual realm is more real, more substantial, more solid, than the physical real we inhabit. Heaven is physically real – but in a different dimension to our universe.
(iii) The taking of Christ’s body into heaven has given the whole of our physical creation a new grounding in reality.
Where it was, prior to the incarnation, grounded solely in the spoken word of God, and it had lost this grounding through the Fall, now it is grounded in the incarnate Word of God. This is part of the change that has happened in the essential nature of the Trinity as a result of the incarnation - this physical universe has, in Christ, become part of the Triune nature where it was not before. The physical creation thus is given an eternal significance and permanence. Thus when this present form of creation is wound up at the Second Coming, we are not to think that matter is destroyed. Rather it is remoulded into a new creation.
(b) The rulership of the created order will be in the hands of man, in Christ and his bride, the Church.
This rulership is obtained by Christ through his coming a man, thus he is a true mediator between God and creation, sharing in the nature of both.
Jesus teaches this rulership in the following parable:
Luke 19:12-17.
“He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. `Put this money to work,' he said, `until I come back.' "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, `We don't want this man to be our king.' "He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. "The first one came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' "`Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. `Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' "The second came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned five more.' "His master answered, `You take charge of five cities....'”
This parable is understood to refer to Christ, who went back to heaven to be appointed king. His servants are Christians. We are give gifts to trade with. The manner of our trading can bring increase. If we trade successfully then we will be rewarded at the Second Coming with rulership of “cities”, i.e. societies inhabited by intelligent creatures.
This presumably does not mean only on earth, but also elsewhere in creation, whereever God has intelligent creatures.
(c) The people of God will be involved in ruling the whole creation.
We cannot imagine what this is, it is beyond comprehension. However in able to do this we will not be limited by time and space, but like Christ, able to move between the various creations at will.
What Do I mean by "Various Creations"?
I suggest that what we are going to rule is not just the present physical universe, but what God makes out of its ruins - and more besides. The present skies - the physicsal universe - will be "rolled up like a scroll" and removed. It has been too corrupted by the fall of man to enter into eternity so it needs to be remade.
But is the physical universe that we see all there is to creation? I think not.
We are aware of two "levels" of creation already - the physical in which we live, and the spiritual, the realm of God, Angels, demons, elemental spirits and so on. These exist SIDE BY SIDE, as it were, occupying the same "space", but they can co-exist without either really impinging on the other. They are different dimensions .
This concept we do not find hard to understand. Let us then EXTEND the concept.
Why could there not be untold BILLIONS of creations - all alongside of each other, as it were occupying the same space, in different dimensions? Scientists today are postulating that, to explain the nature of the physical universeas they are coming to understand it, there must be other dimensions. They have postulated, in some cases, up to a dozen other dimensions.
Why could not it have been that it was God's original intention for mankind to rule all of these creations, man being the apex of God's creation? They could be, like the angels, aware of us, but us not be aware of them.
Why could not it have been that they were all affected, in some way, by the "Fall" of Adam?
Why could it not be that, in some way, they are redeemed by Christ?
All of this is quite possible as far as I can see - C.S.Lewis seems to have this sort of picture in his Narnia tale, "The Horse and His Boy".
In actual fact we could be involved in the creation of some of these universes. Or at least in seeing that they come into the fullness of what intended for them in Creation. Without us they will not enter fully into God’s purposes for them.
In this creation Adam was given the job of "naming" the animals. But the idea of "naming" in Hebrew thought is not just to give a title, but to create the personality and character of what is named. In the new Creation our task could be similar - to complete the creations God has already started, he has set out the raw materials, as it were. Our job will be to mould and shape into a final form, an expression of His creativity flowing through us.
Whatever the reality is in the future we do not now fully know, but it will be a superlative fulfillment of God's original intention for mankind to rule with him in his creation.
1 Corinthians 2:9,10.
"Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of mankind what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to US by his Spirit”.
Revelation 21.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 38: - JUDGMENT # 3: - THE JUDGMENT OF CHRISTIANS.
_________________________________________________________________
As we noted in the last chapter there are two phases to God's judgment:
(i) In Time.
(ii) At the End of the Age.
This is true also for the Christian as well as for the non-Christian, however judgment for the Christian is not to do with sin as much as it is to do with rewards. The question of our sin has been dealt with at the cross, God no longer judges us on that. If we sin the universal consequences of our actions will come upon us, that is spiritual and moral law written into the fabric of the universe, but that in itself is not God judging us.
One of the key issues we need to settle in our hearts as Christians is this:
Do we want God to deal with us according to justice, i.e. according to what is right and wrong, what we deserve, what is fair; Or do we want God to deal with us according to his MERCY.
We can, even as Christians, choose to be dealt with on the basis of justice, but we will have to live by Law if we do so.
Because Christ has already dealt with the justice question, God only wants to extend mercy to us, and all of his dealings with us must be seen from this light - they are acts of mercy, not acts of justice.
However it is still true that God is involved in judgment with the Christian. However it is more in the sense of evaluation as to how well we are fulfilling his plan and purpose for our lives, and in that judgment he sets about to bring about things in our lives which will cause us to adjust towards him. However there are times when he will judge the sinfulness of his people.
JUDGMENTS IN TIME NOW.
1 Corinthians 11:29-32.
“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
1 Peter 4:17.
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
Hebrews 12:7-11.
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
James 3:1.
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
Judgment comes to the Christian as the discipline of a loving Father. Its aim is our good, our maturity. God knows our frame perfectly and only allows discipline to come on us:
(i) To the extent that we can endure (1 Corinthians 10:13), and
(ii) According to the depth of the sinful habit patterns in our lives that he wants to root out.
THE DEPTH OF GOD'S DISCIPLINE IN OUR LIVES DEPENDS ON THE DEPTH OF OUR OWN SINFUL NATURE.
NOTE: - Not all calamity or suffering that comes into our lives is the judgment, or discipline, of God. The Bible makes it clear that there are other reasons for suffering, including:
(i) Sharing in the Messianic Sufferings.
Colossians 1:24.
“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”
Paul here talks of Messianic Sufferings, sufferings because we are Christians, sufferings for the sake of the Gospel and the Church. Paul appears to be saying here that there is a set amount of Messianic sufferings, determined by God. Christ endured his share, but there is a measured amount for the Church also. When it is all used up there will be no more. Paul rejoiced in the fact that he could suffer for Christ, because in doing so he used up Messianic sufferings, meaning that there was less suffering for others to have to experience.
(ii) Attack from the Enemy.
Job 1:1,6-12.
“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil...
…One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his
flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”
Clearly in the book of Job God allowed suffering and sickness to come on Job but there was no sin in Job's life that caused it. The reason it came was simply that Satan had challenged God's assessment of Job's spirituality, so God allowed Satan to test it out. In fact the whole of Job’s suffering originated in the fact that God boasted to Satan about how righteous Job was!
The whole point of the book of Job is that sometimes the righteous suffer, and the reasons for it are hidden in God. We will not know until the judgment what the reasons were. However one reason is simply in Satan's slander, which God has to allow to be tested.
There is a popular teaching, repeated often in the book of Job by his three friends, that goes something like this: “If you serve God everything will go well with you.”
The implication is, of course, that “If things are not going well for you then there is necessarily sin in your life”.
This was the theology of Job’s three friends. It is a strict application of the “Law of Sowing and Reaping” which, while being true, is not the only factor operating in our lives. In the final analysis God evaluated this teaching in:
Job 42:7.
“After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
They had not “spoken right” because they made a legalistic application of one Divine principle into a situation where it did not actually apply, but they presumed to know that it did apply and didn’t consider other possibilities.
In other words, the idea has problems. Of course it may be true that some particular calamity in your life is a result of sin, yours’ or somebody else’s। And in that case repentance will begin the process of restoration। But the problem Job’s friends had was that they were using a reverse argument which did not necessarily hold true in every case. In terms of logical argument it looks like this:
“A” (if you serve God) implies “B” (Things will go well with you).
Therefore: “Not B” implies “Not A”.
There are three things wrong with the argument:
१. “A” does not always imply “B”. There are times when serving God will lead to persecution, even martyrdom. One might lose everything and have to flee for one’s life because of persecution.
२. "B" may be true even if "Not A".
2. “Not B” could be caused by “Not A”, but it could also be caused by many other factors, namely "C”, “D”, “E”, “F” etc., where:
“C” = persecution (sharing in the Messianic sufferings),
“D” = spiritual warfare (as in the case of Job),
“E” = the sin of other people against you,
“F” = the dealings of God in your life,
And so on.
So it is unwise to automatically work back from calamity to personal sin, though a good counselor will investigate this as a possibility. It is equally unwise to ignore the possibility that the calamity is directly related to sin. It is a possibility.
We must remain aware of the possibility that calamity in a person’s life may well be God’s judgment on a sinful lifestyle they have pursued and the calamity may be removed by thorough repentance. This is as true for Christians as it is for anyone else.
One area in particular we need to be aware of is division in the Church. Those that cause division in the Church come under a judgment of God. This is because the whole integrity of the Gospel is undermined if we are divided.
Paul says this in two different ways in 1 Corinthians, because the problem in Corinth was repeated divisions:
1 Corinthians 3:16,17.
“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”
* Here Paul uses the image of the temple।
* The “you” in the passage is the second person plural in each case so the passage refers, not the individual, but the Church as a whole।
* The “anyone” and “him” in the passage are singular, referring to an individual।
Hence it reads literally like this:
“Don't you know that you all are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you all? If any person destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you all are that temple.”
Paul repeats the warning, using a different image:
1 Corinthians 11:29-32.
“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
Here “the body of the Lord” can be interpreted two ways:
(i) Referring to Christ’s body that died on the Cross.
(ii) Referring to “the Body of Christ”, i.e. the Church. This is how the phrase is used everywhere else in 1 Corinthians so it must be allowed here.
Taking this second meaning in the context of Paul’s discussion, which is about divisions in the Church over various matters, the meaning is plainly that if we take Communion while practicing sin, particularly the sin of disunity, we eat and drink judgment on ourselves.
This all goes back to the concept I discussed in chapter 16, The Prophetic Action.
A prophetic action is an action that conveys a message, but it in some way causes the message to become true.
There I talked about how Passover (and the other Festivals of Israel) were prophetic festivals. In the festival the history was re-enacted in such a way so as to relive the story again. In this way every Jew since those events thousands of years ago has become part of the original events. The purpose of this acting out, this remembering, is to bring the events of the past into the present in such a way that the past events become personal and real to the present generation. The story is told again in a prophetic way.
As a result these are no longer just memories, no indeed - every Jew was there. They were all in Egypt, they all went through the plagues and the Passover, they all crossed the Red Sea and came to Sinai, they all suffered under Haman in the days of Esther. And so on. And this “remembering” every year has served to make the events so real in their consciousness that their national identity will never die out.
So the idea of remembrance in Jewish thinking is not simply to have a memorial to remember past events, but a remembrance is a recreation of the original events in such a way that the participants in the remembrance actually are participating in the original events. They were there. They are prophetic actions.
Communion was instituted by Christ at a Passover meal. He did not change the nature of the meal from being a prophetic action, a remembrance, but he did change the meaning of the action. The Bread he called “his body”, the wine he called “his blood”. The Communion is a “New Covenant” celebration. In Communion the story is told again of Christ’s death and resurrection in such a way as to transport us back in time so that we are united with the original disciples in that upper room – we were there! In this way there is only one body of Christ, one Church, that spans all ages and all nations. We were there!
Communion is thus an eternal act, it transcends time. Every time we take Communion we touch Eternity.
It is an action that preaches a message.
In some way doing the action makes the message come true for the participant.
It brings the past events of Christ’s death and resurrection into present experiential reality.
When we take Communion one of the things we preach in the act is this:
1 Corinthians 10:17.
“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”
We preach a message of unity.
If, while taking Communion, we are guilty of the sin of division we contradict ourselves. Thus we eat and drink judgment on ourselves. The division we are guilty of bringing to the body of Christ is visited on our own body - “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
“If any person destroys God's temple, God will destroy him…”
It is my conviction that much of the sickness found in Christians is rooted in divisive attitudes. And many have died early deaths (i.e. before they reached 70 years) because of division in the Church.
Psalm 90:10.
“The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Unfortunately it is not always those who cause the division who get sick and die. We are an army and we are only protected from the attacks of the enemy when we stand in rank together. When division comes in the Body of Christ the Enemy is able to attack many members of the body, not just those who cause the division. I have seen instances where people who were healed of incurable diseases by the power of God in a miraculous way, had immediate relapses when there was division in the leadership of the church they attended – even though they personally didn’t know that there was a division and were Not part of it or its cause!
It is a very sobering thought.
GOD'S JUDGEMENT OF THE CHURCH AT THE END OF THE AGE.
Usually called "The Judgment Seat of Christ".
When Christ comes there is a judgement of Christians. This is to evaluate our works and to allocate to us our rewards and positions in the Eternal Kingdom. This judgement has nothing to do with the wrath of God, i.e. with sin.
1 Thessalonians 5:9.
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Wrath” in the Bible occurs on the “Day of the Lord” and is on those who have refused the offer of salvation in Christ.
Our judgment is to evaluate how much we grew spiritually so we can be usefully employed in the Eternal Kingdom. What we are entrusted with in the life to come is dependent on how fruitful we are now. The five principles of judgement still apply (see Chapter 15), but only to the allocation of rewards and service, the question of eternal destiny is already settled.
Romans 14:10-12.
“You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "`As surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
“judgment seat”
Greek: = bema = a raised platform used for public address.
Elsewhere in the NT it is used of the place of judgement used by the Roman emperor or his deputies.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
This judgment is made on the basis of our deeds. There is a record kept of our deeds. Our sins are covered, but our deeds of faithful service, or our failure to act in this way, are recorded.
Three things are examined:
(i) Our Motive for service, for God's glory or ours.
(ii) Was it out of obedience to God or our own initiative and effort?
(iii) Was it in God's power or our own?
TWO PARABLES:
(I) Matthew 20:1-16.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, `You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
"`Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, `You also go and work in my vineyard.'
"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the
landowner. `These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
"But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Here every believer gets a reward, the issue in this parable is not the type or amount of service, but whether the person was a servant at all. All true believers will be there and will receive some basic reward in common with all the others।
This reward includes several things: -
John 3:16. Eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
1 Corinthians 9:25 - a crown.
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
2 Timothy 4:6-8.
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
"crown" = stephanos = a wreath, placed on the heads of winning athletes. The modern equivalent is a medal.
1 Peter 1:4,5 – an inheritance.
“… and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Colossians 3:24.
“…since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
However the Apostle Paul indicates that for some this reward may be very small।
1 Corinthians 3:15.
"If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
It seems that some will be saved "by the skin of their teeth" - and some will lose even the skin off their teeth!
(II) Matthew 25:14-30.
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' "His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"The man with the two talents also came. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,' he said, `I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
* Here Believers get differing rewards। The issue here is the servant’s STEWARDSHIP of his gifts। Good stewardship means greater reward. Here we see that there will be differences in our functions in Heaven. A man who has shown greater ability to use God's resources wisely on earth will be given greater responsibility in Heaven.
* Notice that the man who was condemned was only given one gift. By not using it he seems to have missed out on an Eternal Reward in Heaven. This parable has caused much controversy. The following is my interpretation of what it means.
Some people are only given one gift, the gift of new Life in Christ, and are to live that life to the full. In doing so they will receive more gifts. This man despised the gift of new life and buried it. He really only "took it out as fire insurance" against Hell. In such cases people will find that their supposed "faith" will not save them. In the final analysis this parable tells us that some people who received the gift of God's will go to Hell because they did not live according to the life they were given, and hence their works did not prove their faith. Faith is A present tense verb, and is thus Not guaranteed by A single past act.
WHEN IS THIS JUDGEMENT?
It appears that Christ catches us up (raptures us) with him as he descends at Armageddon. We then descend with him. The Judgement Seat of Christ seems to follow almost immediately.
It is part of the seventh trumpet
Revelation 11: 16-19.
“And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
Revelation 14:1-5 - seems to be describing the event.
“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”
The identity of the 144,000 we discussed in Chapter 24 so we won’t cover that again. They are the Church, the Bride of Christ.
A parallel Jewish writing indicates that this event is the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Esdras 2:42-47.
"I, Ezra, saw on Mt Zion a crowd too large to count, all singing hymns of praise to the Lord. In the middle stood a very tall young man, taller than all the rest, who was setting a crown on the head of each of them; he stood out above them all. I was enthralled at the sight, and asked the angel, "Sir, who are these?" He replied," They are those who have laid aside their mortal dress and put on immortal, those who acknowledged the name of God. Now they are being given crowns and palms." I asked again, "who is the young man setting crowns on their heads and giving them palms?', and the angel answered," He is the Son of God, whom they acknowledged in this mortal life."
Chapter 38: - JUDGMENT # 3: - THE JUDGMENT OF CHRISTIANS.
_________________________________________________________________
As we noted in the last chapter there are two phases to God's judgment:
(i) In Time.
(ii) At the End of the Age.
This is true also for the Christian as well as for the non-Christian, however judgment for the Christian is not to do with sin as much as it is to do with rewards. The question of our sin has been dealt with at the cross, God no longer judges us on that. If we sin the universal consequences of our actions will come upon us, that is spiritual and moral law written into the fabric of the universe, but that in itself is not God judging us.
One of the key issues we need to settle in our hearts as Christians is this:
Do we want God to deal with us according to justice, i.e. according to what is right and wrong, what we deserve, what is fair; Or do we want God to deal with us according to his MERCY.
We can, even as Christians, choose to be dealt with on the basis of justice, but we will have to live by Law if we do so.
Because Christ has already dealt with the justice question, God only wants to extend mercy to us, and all of his dealings with us must be seen from this light - they are acts of mercy, not acts of justice.
However it is still true that God is involved in judgment with the Christian. However it is more in the sense of evaluation as to how well we are fulfilling his plan and purpose for our lives, and in that judgment he sets about to bring about things in our lives which will cause us to adjust towards him. However there are times when he will judge the sinfulness of his people.
JUDGMENTS IN TIME NOW.
1 Corinthians 11:29-32.
“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
1 Peter 4:17.
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
Hebrews 12:7-11.
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
James 3:1.
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
Judgment comes to the Christian as the discipline of a loving Father. Its aim is our good, our maturity. God knows our frame perfectly and only allows discipline to come on us:
(i) To the extent that we can endure (1 Corinthians 10:13), and
(ii) According to the depth of the sinful habit patterns in our lives that he wants to root out.
THE DEPTH OF GOD'S DISCIPLINE IN OUR LIVES DEPENDS ON THE DEPTH OF OUR OWN SINFUL NATURE.
NOTE: - Not all calamity or suffering that comes into our lives is the judgment, or discipline, of God. The Bible makes it clear that there are other reasons for suffering, including:
(i) Sharing in the Messianic Sufferings.
Colossians 1:24.
“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”
Paul here talks of Messianic Sufferings, sufferings because we are Christians, sufferings for the sake of the Gospel and the Church. Paul appears to be saying here that there is a set amount of Messianic sufferings, determined by God. Christ endured his share, but there is a measured amount for the Church also. When it is all used up there will be no more. Paul rejoiced in the fact that he could suffer for Christ, because in doing so he used up Messianic sufferings, meaning that there was less suffering for others to have to experience.
(ii) Attack from the Enemy.
Job 1:1,6-12.
“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil...
…One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his
flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”
Clearly in the book of Job God allowed suffering and sickness to come on Job but there was no sin in Job's life that caused it. The reason it came was simply that Satan had challenged God's assessment of Job's spirituality, so God allowed Satan to test it out. In fact the whole of Job’s suffering originated in the fact that God boasted to Satan about how righteous Job was!
The whole point of the book of Job is that sometimes the righteous suffer, and the reasons for it are hidden in God. We will not know until the judgment what the reasons were. However one reason is simply in Satan's slander, which God has to allow to be tested.
There is a popular teaching, repeated often in the book of Job by his three friends, that goes something like this: “If you serve God everything will go well with you.”
The implication is, of course, that “If things are not going well for you then there is necessarily sin in your life”.
This was the theology of Job’s three friends. It is a strict application of the “Law of Sowing and Reaping” which, while being true, is not the only factor operating in our lives. In the final analysis God evaluated this teaching in:
Job 42:7.
“After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
They had not “spoken right” because they made a legalistic application of one Divine principle into a situation where it did not actually apply, but they presumed to know that it did apply and didn’t consider other possibilities.
In other words, the idea has problems. Of course it may be true that some particular calamity in your life is a result of sin, yours’ or somebody else’s। And in that case repentance will begin the process of restoration। But the problem Job’s friends had was that they were using a reverse argument which did not necessarily hold true in every case. In terms of logical argument it looks like this:
“A” (if you serve God) implies “B” (Things will go well with you).
Therefore: “Not B” implies “Not A”.
There are three things wrong with the argument:
१. “A” does not always imply “B”. There are times when serving God will lead to persecution, even martyrdom. One might lose everything and have to flee for one’s life because of persecution.
२. "B" may be true even if "Not A".
2. “Not B” could be caused by “Not A”, but it could also be caused by many other factors, namely "C”, “D”, “E”, “F” etc., where:
“C” = persecution (sharing in the Messianic sufferings),
“D” = spiritual warfare (as in the case of Job),
“E” = the sin of other people against you,
“F” = the dealings of God in your life,
And so on.
So it is unwise to automatically work back from calamity to personal sin, though a good counselor will investigate this as a possibility. It is equally unwise to ignore the possibility that the calamity is directly related to sin. It is a possibility.
We must remain aware of the possibility that calamity in a person’s life may well be God’s judgment on a sinful lifestyle they have pursued and the calamity may be removed by thorough repentance. This is as true for Christians as it is for anyone else.
One area in particular we need to be aware of is division in the Church. Those that cause division in the Church come under a judgment of God. This is because the whole integrity of the Gospel is undermined if we are divided.
Paul says this in two different ways in 1 Corinthians, because the problem in Corinth was repeated divisions:
1 Corinthians 3:16,17.
“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”
* Here Paul uses the image of the temple।
* The “you” in the passage is the second person plural in each case so the passage refers, not the individual, but the Church as a whole।
* The “anyone” and “him” in the passage are singular, referring to an individual।
Hence it reads literally like this:
“Don't you know that you all are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you all? If any person destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you all are that temple.”
Paul repeats the warning, using a different image:
1 Corinthians 11:29-32.
“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
Here “the body of the Lord” can be interpreted two ways:
(i) Referring to Christ’s body that died on the Cross.
(ii) Referring to “the Body of Christ”, i.e. the Church. This is how the phrase is used everywhere else in 1 Corinthians so it must be allowed here.
Taking this second meaning in the context of Paul’s discussion, which is about divisions in the Church over various matters, the meaning is plainly that if we take Communion while practicing sin, particularly the sin of disunity, we eat and drink judgment on ourselves.
This all goes back to the concept I discussed in chapter 16, The Prophetic Action.
A prophetic action is an action that conveys a message, but it in some way causes the message to become true.
There I talked about how Passover (and the other Festivals of Israel) were prophetic festivals. In the festival the history was re-enacted in such a way so as to relive the story again. In this way every Jew since those events thousands of years ago has become part of the original events. The purpose of this acting out, this remembering, is to bring the events of the past into the present in such a way that the past events become personal and real to the present generation. The story is told again in a prophetic way.
As a result these are no longer just memories, no indeed - every Jew was there. They were all in Egypt, they all went through the plagues and the Passover, they all crossed the Red Sea and came to Sinai, they all suffered under Haman in the days of Esther. And so on. And this “remembering” every year has served to make the events so real in their consciousness that their national identity will never die out.
So the idea of remembrance in Jewish thinking is not simply to have a memorial to remember past events, but a remembrance is a recreation of the original events in such a way that the participants in the remembrance actually are participating in the original events. They were there. They are prophetic actions.
Communion was instituted by Christ at a Passover meal. He did not change the nature of the meal from being a prophetic action, a remembrance, but he did change the meaning of the action. The Bread he called “his body”, the wine he called “his blood”. The Communion is a “New Covenant” celebration. In Communion the story is told again of Christ’s death and resurrection in such a way as to transport us back in time so that we are united with the original disciples in that upper room – we were there! In this way there is only one body of Christ, one Church, that spans all ages and all nations. We were there!
Communion is thus an eternal act, it transcends time. Every time we take Communion we touch Eternity.
It is an action that preaches a message.
In some way doing the action makes the message come true for the participant.
It brings the past events of Christ’s death and resurrection into present experiential reality.
When we take Communion one of the things we preach in the act is this:
1 Corinthians 10:17.
“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”
We preach a message of unity.
If, while taking Communion, we are guilty of the sin of division we contradict ourselves. Thus we eat and drink judgment on ourselves. The division we are guilty of bringing to the body of Christ is visited on our own body - “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
“If any person destroys God's temple, God will destroy him…”
It is my conviction that much of the sickness found in Christians is rooted in divisive attitudes. And many have died early deaths (i.e. before they reached 70 years) because of division in the Church.
Psalm 90:10.
“The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Unfortunately it is not always those who cause the division who get sick and die. We are an army and we are only protected from the attacks of the enemy when we stand in rank together. When division comes in the Body of Christ the Enemy is able to attack many members of the body, not just those who cause the division. I have seen instances where people who were healed of incurable diseases by the power of God in a miraculous way, had immediate relapses when there was division in the leadership of the church they attended – even though they personally didn’t know that there was a division and were Not part of it or its cause!
It is a very sobering thought.
GOD'S JUDGEMENT OF THE CHURCH AT THE END OF THE AGE.
Usually called "The Judgment Seat of Christ".
When Christ comes there is a judgement of Christians. This is to evaluate our works and to allocate to us our rewards and positions in the Eternal Kingdom. This judgement has nothing to do with the wrath of God, i.e. with sin.
1 Thessalonians 5:9.
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Wrath” in the Bible occurs on the “Day of the Lord” and is on those who have refused the offer of salvation in Christ.
Our judgment is to evaluate how much we grew spiritually so we can be usefully employed in the Eternal Kingdom. What we are entrusted with in the life to come is dependent on how fruitful we are now. The five principles of judgement still apply (see Chapter 15), but only to the allocation of rewards and service, the question of eternal destiny is already settled.
Romans 14:10-12.
“You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "`As surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
“judgment seat”
Greek: = bema = a raised platform used for public address.
Elsewhere in the NT it is used of the place of judgement used by the Roman emperor or his deputies.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
This judgment is made on the basis of our deeds. There is a record kept of our deeds. Our sins are covered, but our deeds of faithful service, or our failure to act in this way, are recorded.
Three things are examined:
(i) Our Motive for service, for God's glory or ours.
(ii) Was it out of obedience to God or our own initiative and effort?
(iii) Was it in God's power or our own?
TWO PARABLES:
(I) Matthew 20:1-16.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, `You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
"`Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, `You also go and work in my vineyard.'
"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the
landowner. `These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
"But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Here every believer gets a reward, the issue in this parable is not the type or amount of service, but whether the person was a servant at all. All true believers will be there and will receive some basic reward in common with all the others।
This reward includes several things: -
John 3:16. Eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
1 Corinthians 9:25 - a crown.
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
2 Timothy 4:6-8.
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
"crown" = stephanos = a wreath, placed on the heads of winning athletes. The modern equivalent is a medal.
1 Peter 1:4,5 – an inheritance.
“… and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Colossians 3:24.
“…since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
However the Apostle Paul indicates that for some this reward may be very small।
1 Corinthians 3:15.
"If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
It seems that some will be saved "by the skin of their teeth" - and some will lose even the skin off their teeth!
(II) Matthew 25:14-30.
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' "His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"The man with the two talents also came. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,' he said, `I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
* Here Believers get differing rewards। The issue here is the servant’s STEWARDSHIP of his gifts। Good stewardship means greater reward. Here we see that there will be differences in our functions in Heaven. A man who has shown greater ability to use God's resources wisely on earth will be given greater responsibility in Heaven.
* Notice that the man who was condemned was only given one gift. By not using it he seems to have missed out on an Eternal Reward in Heaven. This parable has caused much controversy. The following is my interpretation of what it means.
Some people are only given one gift, the gift of new Life in Christ, and are to live that life to the full. In doing so they will receive more gifts. This man despised the gift of new life and buried it. He really only "took it out as fire insurance" against Hell. In such cases people will find that their supposed "faith" will not save them. In the final analysis this parable tells us that some people who received the gift of God's will go to Hell because they did not live according to the life they were given, and hence their works did not prove their faith. Faith is A present tense verb, and is thus Not guaranteed by A single past act.
WHEN IS THIS JUDGEMENT?
It appears that Christ catches us up (raptures us) with him as he descends at Armageddon. We then descend with him. The Judgement Seat of Christ seems to follow almost immediately.
It is part of the seventh trumpet
Revelation 11: 16-19.
“And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
Revelation 14:1-5 - seems to be describing the event.
“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”
The identity of the 144,000 we discussed in Chapter 24 so we won’t cover that again. They are the Church, the Bride of Christ.
A parallel Jewish writing indicates that this event is the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Esdras 2:42-47.
"I, Ezra, saw on Mt Zion a crowd too large to count, all singing hymns of praise to the Lord. In the middle stood a very tall young man, taller than all the rest, who was setting a crown on the head of each of them; he stood out above them all. I was enthralled at the sight, and asked the angel, "Sir, who are these?" He replied," They are those who have laid aside their mortal dress and put on immortal, those who acknowledged the name of God. Now they are being given crowns and palms." I asked again, "who is the young man setting crowns on their heads and giving them palms?', and the angel answered," He is the Son of God, whom they acknowledged in this mortal life."
Sunday, 1 April 2007
Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 37: - ETERNAL JUDGMENT 2: - JUDGMENT OF THE UNBELIEVER.
Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 37: - ETERNAL JUDGMENT 2: - JUDGMENT OF THE UNBELIEVER.
God has fully judged sin in Christ on the cross. This deals with the sin problem for anyone who receives it. However if a person refuses to allow Christ to remove their sin then Christ’s work does not cover them so they face the prospect of judgment on themselves.
There are three phases to God's judgment of sin.
(i) Judgment in time now.
(ii) Judgment at the End of the Age.
(iii) Judgment in Eternity.
JUDGMENT IN TIME NOW.
Because of sin and rebellion the non- Christian is living in judgment already.
John 3:18.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”
Romans 1:18.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,…”
This judgment is seen in action already:
1. Sin Can Release a Curse that brings Suffering.
This is clearly seen in Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve first sinned. As a result of their sin certain consequences would result which God called a curse. In one sense this is an aspect of the Law of Sowing and Reaping at work. Because of this we are not to see God actively at work in this suffering. Rather it is the inevitable consequences of the operation of unchangeable law.
God does not curse anyone or anything, but as he is the author of the law he takes responsibility for its consequences. Hence when the Bible says, “I (God) will send a curse on you…” we are to understand that he is not personally cursing somebody, but rather he is accepting responsibility for the fact that he created the law and thus the effects are ultimately his responsibility. But it is a “second-hand” responsibility – he is not directly active in the consequences.
The difficulty for us is that we cannot normally see the connection between our actions and the curses we may be experiencing. The connection is spiritual and so is not immediately obvious to natural observation. After all, who would have thought that the growth of weeds would be a result of man's sin (Genesis 3:18). We would not have known this is God had not said so. There is no obvious connection to us between the two events, but when we understand the logic of God and how he created the universe it starts to make sense. Weeds are plants out of control -– the control man was given by God. Most “curse consequences” are like this. The link is not clear.
2. We Reap what we Sow.
Galatians 6:7,8.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Again God is not directly involved in this, rather he takes responsibility for it as the originator of the law.
Again the difficulty for us is making the link between the sinful act and the consequence. After all a tomato seed doesn’t look much like a tomato plant with fruit on it. Neither does the fruit of sin look much like the “seed-act-of-sin” that was planted.
But there is a second level to sowing and reaping besides the spiritual curses that result. Scientific Law tells us that ervery action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is as true of human actions as it is of scientific experiments. Every action we do must have a consequence, and moral actions have consequences. Let's take a simple, obvious example. There is an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases throughout the world, Venereal Diseases, Aids and others. The simple fact is this: If there was no sexual relationships outside of marriage (i.e. immorality) all of these diseases would disappear from the face of the earth within a generation. One does not need to be a Doctor of Philosophy to work that!
Similrly other sins have natural consequences that have to be reaped. Unfortunately, in a Fallen world such as the one we live in, sometimes the consequences are carried by innocent victims.
3. God’s Active Judgment of Sin.
Again it is difficult for us to see the connections. And this is compounded by the fact, as we have observed in the last chapter, that God doesn’t want to judge so he delays judgment. As a result the judgment is often separated from the act of sin by a significant period of time – long enough for us to have thought we have “got away with it” and forgotten the sin altogether. The classic example of this is the judgement that came of Israel and Judah with the exile. The prophets had given many warnings for several hundreds of years so the people thought that their sin didn’t matter to God. But it did!
God’s active judgment of sin in time is seen in:
(i) Partial Judgments in Time.
Romans 1:22-28.
“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.”
"God gave them over".
God's judgment is seen first in the removal of the natural restraints and inhibitions of conscience so that man can descend to even lower levels of sin. The depths of sin men descend to is proof of God's judgment - even the animals do not behave that bad. In "letting go" restraint God allows men to descend into a living hell.
St. Augustine (Bishop of Hippo, 4th cent) - " Sin is also the punishment of sin".
i.e. the state of suffering and sin man lives in because of sin is part of it's penalty. Non-Christians live in a foretaste of Hell.
Romans 1:27 - "receiving in their own bodies" - it doesn't wait until the END.
Have you noticed this fact of modern history:
There are what we call "Christian countries" who have, for several hundreds of years lived out of a Christian ethic. As a result they are prosperous and relatively wealthy. While Capitalism cannot be said to be a Christian doctrine many of the basic principles of Capitalism are Biblical Principles of handling money/ property. Because of our Christian ethic you can generally do business in an honest way without bribes or "kickbacks". And by and large the common people are free.
Then there are countries that have no Chrisitan heritage but have worshipped other "gods". Without exception their people largely live in poverty and need. Communism was one such "god" and it brought povery to every country that came under its domination. India has thousands of "gods". But in these cases it has brought poverty and slavery to the common people.
Now have you noticed these trends:
As "Christian" Countries are abandoning their Christian heritage the nations are going into debt and more and more people are becoming "poor". Poverty is on the increase in the West. And what is more to counteract this governments legislate to try to make things come right. But the result of such legislation is always to increase povery and to bring ordinary people into bondage to unnecessary laws.
Meanwhile countries such as India and China are adopting the "Christian" philosophies - and both are having real Christian revivals. As this happens the countries are becoming wealthy and the lot of the poor is being eased.
Its enough to make you wonder.
(ii) Total Judgments in Time.
In total judgments the sinful man is destroyed in his sin.
Examples:
Genesis 6:5-8 - the Flood.
Genesis 19:4-11 - Sodom.
Genesis 15:12-16; Joshua 11:14-20 - the Canaanites.
Exodus 1-10 - Pharaoh.
Acts 5:1-10 - Ananias and Sapphira
This only happens when the people concerned have become so hardened in sin that they are beyond any possibility of repentance or response to God. This will be the norm at the end of the age.
JUDGMENT AT THE END OF THE AGE.
The three ongoing judgments of sin we have already seen are, in a sense, restrained at the present time. However they will find a full expression at the end of the age. Part of this is because there are processes at work – spiritual laws like the Law of Sowing and Reaping – that bring increase, and the increase of suffering from sin will only reach its peak at the end of the age. This is one of the reasons why Christ returns then. If left to continue the processes would totally destroy mankind, so God must intervene.
Let us look again at the three ways judgment is seen in time to see the final manifestation of them.
This final manifestation of judgment at the end of the age is revealed to us in the Book of Revelation. To help us understand what is being taught there, there are a few things we need to understand:
The Structure of Revelation.
* Revelation is a book made up of a series of visions, seven in total, each vision has seven parts: The 7 Churches, the 7 Seals, The 7 Trumpets, The 7 Thunders, The 7 Actors of the Last Days, The 7 Bowls, 7 Last Visions.
* The book is not written in Chronological order, but goes round in cycles revisiting the same time period looking at it from different points of view.
* The three key visions are the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls. These three visions each contain a series of events over a time span. The seventh of each vision is actually the same event. This is indicated by the repetition of what is a “signature” of the Day of the Lord:
Revelation 8:1,5. The 7th Seal:
“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour…
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
Revelation 11:15, 19. The 7th Trumpet.
“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." …
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
Revelation 16:17,18. The 7th Bowl.
“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.”
These are all describing the Day of the Lord. Various elements in the context confirm this but we wont take time to demonstrate this now.
It is these three cycles that demonstrate the three aspects of judgment we have been talking about and describe the full manifestation of each aspect.
1. Sin Can Release a Curse that brings Suffering.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Seals. To understand the meaning of the Seals we need to go back to Revelation 4&5. There we find God the Father, Son and Spirit presented to us – but in a particular context, as the Triune God of the Covenant.
God, the Father, is presented as the Creator God in Chapter 4 and his throne is surrounded by symbols that speak to us of covenant, the covenant with Adam.
Christ is presented as Redeemer, the one who is “able”, i.e. legally has the right, to open the seals on the scroll.
The scroll is the title deed of Earth, sold by Adam to Satan, now redeemed by Christ. But the price of sale was death. As the scroll is opened we see the price of death read out, seal by seal.
Thus the Seals reveal to us the final and full outworking of the curse brought on the world by Adam’s sin.
In one sense this is God’s action in Christ, but in another sense it is the final outworking of impersonal processes of law begun in the Garden of Eden
2. We Reap what we Sow.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Trumpets. The whole of this section of Revelation is steeped in the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great feast celebrated by Israel at the end of every annual harvest. The idea of seven trumpets itself comes from the fact that Tabernacles was celebrated in the seventh month of the year and each month was begun with a blast from a trumpet. Hence the seventh trumpet began the seventh month, which really began with the day of Atonement, the prophetic type of the Day of the Lord.
So the whole underlying motif of the Trumpets is the idea of harvest.
As the trumpets are blown what we see is the final outworking of the truth that “we reap what we sow.”
Again, in one sense, this is God bringing judgment, but in another sense it is the final outworking of the processes of the law of sowing and reaping.
3. God’s Active Judgment of Sin in Time.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Bowls. This is actually said to be God’s wrath on man’s sin. Here the context is not immediately obvious but a little knowledge of Jewish jurisprudence helps.
In Jewish law when a judgment is made there is always a punishment of the guilty and a rewarding of the innocent. When a dispute between a complainant and accused is brought before the judge all the evidence is collected and reviewed and the judge then makes his judgment. If the complaint is upheld the accused is punished and the complainant is rewarded. If, however, the complaint is not upheld then the tables are turned – the complainant now is punished and the accused is rewarded. In actual fact the judgment that the original complainant would have made against the accused is made against him. This rewarding and punishing happens in the same event.
This is what we see in this section of Revelation, God is now acting as judge.
In Chapter 14:14-20 we see two harvests – the righteous, who are raptured, and the wicked, who are thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. Then in Chapter 15 and 16 this is elaborated on. In Chapter 15 we see the righteous in heaven being rewarded, in Chapter 16 we see the wicked receiving the wrath of Almighty God. This is God’s active judgment finally seen in full measure on the world. This rewarding and punishing happens in the same event.
JUDGMENT IN ETERNITY.
There appear to be two judgments of non-Christians after the end of the age.
(1) The Judgment of the Nations alive at Christ's coming.
Often called "The Throne of His Glory".
Here there are no Jews nor Christians present, only Gentiles who are left alive after Armageddon.
Matthew 25:31-46.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
The exact meaning of this parable of Jesus is not clear and there is some debate as to what it means. The best meaning, or so it appears to me, is to understand it as being a judgment of those non-Christians still alive after Armageddon. The basis of judgment is simply common human decency shown to those Jews and Christians suffering persecution in the last days. The timing of this judgment – Christ says it is at his Second Coming – menas that it is not the same judgment as the next one we will consider.
(2) The Great White Throne.
Revelation 20:10-15.
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This is clearly at a different time - it is at the end of the Millennium. It is the judgment of all those who did not have faith in God from all time. They are raised to life for the judgment (the Second Resurrection). Also included are the fallen angels and demons, though the False Prophet and Antichrist are already in Hell (Revelation 19:20-21).
The only outcome of this judgment is Hell.
THE FINAL PENALTY - HELL.
There is not much we know about Hell but we can work out some details.
(1) Hell is not Hades, the two are different.
Revelation 20:13-14.
“The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.”
Hades is cast into Hell, so must be different.
Hades is the waiting place of the dead BEFORE the resurrection and judgment. Hell is the place that those judged as unbelievers go to AFTER the judgment.
(2) Is it eternal suffering or annihilation?
The Bible teaches the continuing state of the wicked, therefore it is eternal. It is also clearly a place of suffering. There is a real existence there.
Matthew 25:46.
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
(3) Is it a period of reform, or are those in Hell there permanently?
The Roman Catholic church teaches that there is a place of reform, or a place of limited punishment, called Purgatory. So long as you are baptised you will get out of Purgatory after a suitable period of punishment. Those not baptised go to Hell anyway. This idea is not found in the Bible.
Hell is said to be there permanently, and there is no escape, this is it's great horror. It is not designed to be a reformatory because THOSE THAT GO THERE ARE BEYOND REFORM. The time of free choice is past.
Some other teachers feel that Hell's purpose is reformatory but they ignore the meaning of the word "eternal". If Hell is not eternal then how can we be sure that Heaven is eternal - they are described in the same way?
(4) It is a second death.
Life as we know it, or as will be known by the redeemed saints, will not be experienced there.
Revelation 20: 10,14.
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
…Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.”
This does not imply there is no existence there however. Death is not the end of existence, rather is the change of SPHERE of existence. The quality of existence in Hell is such that there is nothing we could call "life".
(5) Is it a physical place, or purely spiritual?
The words used imply it is physical. This is what we should expect. Those who go there are raised from physical death before they are judged (Revelation 20). The nature of man demands that Hell be physical. Man IS Body, Soul and Spirit. God created man to be a physical being on a physical world, this is not going to change in the new creation. Men sin in the body, and will ultimately be punished in the body.
(6) Is it in God's presence?
Yes! - How could it be otherwise? But it is in a state of the complete absence of God's favour. Our God is a consuming fire. Hell may be the result of being in eternity, in God's holy presence, without sins being covered.
(7) Where is it?
God Knows. It may not be created yet. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that it is. It will be around in time to receive the Antichrist and False Prophet who seem to be its first inhabitants (Revelation 19:20). There seems no need for it to exist before then. It may be created as a result of God's judgement on Satan's earthly capital, Babylon.
Revelation 19:3. - "her smoke goes up for ever" – speaking of Babylon.
Man's eternal destiny is earth related, so Hell will probably be a place on earth.
(8) What is Hell like?
To those outside of it, Hell may appear to be as nothing. To get the idea, read C.S.Lewis - "The Great Divorce".
To those inside of it, it is an endless disturbance of existence as a result of the complete dominance of evil in there. It is suffering in mind, body, emotions and conscience TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE CONTINUOUSLY, without the possible relief of insanity. Every negative experience and emotion will be there in full strength WITH NO BALANCING GOOD.
However even in that there will be degrees of punishment decreed by God due to conscience.
Matthew 11:22-24.
“But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
Hell is the full manifestation of evil and suffering, but it is unrestrained.
Just as we, as Christians, create our own heavenly reward while in this life, so too non Christians create their own level of punishment by their own rebellion.
(9) What about the apparent injustice of this age?
Psalm 10 - the wicked prosper.
Psalm 22 - the righteous suffer.
Heaven and Hell, bliss and torment, will reach back into time from the last judgment and transform the experience of life. Things look differently now because we see things imperfectly (1 Corinthians 13:9). When we see the whole truth from God's point of view we will see that, in truth, the righteous were blessed and the wicked were cursed. We will see this, not only in the act of the last judgments, but we will see that it was always true in every experience of life.
TRANSFORMER VERSE.
JUDGMENT.
ROMANS 2:9,10.
There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, but glory and honour and peace for every one who does good.
Chapter 37: - ETERNAL JUDGMENT 2: - JUDGMENT OF THE UNBELIEVER.
God has fully judged sin in Christ on the cross. This deals with the sin problem for anyone who receives it. However if a person refuses to allow Christ to remove their sin then Christ’s work does not cover them so they face the prospect of judgment on themselves.
There are three phases to God's judgment of sin.
(i) Judgment in time now.
(ii) Judgment at the End of the Age.
(iii) Judgment in Eternity.
JUDGMENT IN TIME NOW.
Because of sin and rebellion the non- Christian is living in judgment already.
John 3:18.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”
Romans 1:18.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,…”
This judgment is seen in action already:
1. Sin Can Release a Curse that brings Suffering.
This is clearly seen in Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve first sinned. As a result of their sin certain consequences would result which God called a curse. In one sense this is an aspect of the Law of Sowing and Reaping at work. Because of this we are not to see God actively at work in this suffering. Rather it is the inevitable consequences of the operation of unchangeable law.
God does not curse anyone or anything, but as he is the author of the law he takes responsibility for its consequences. Hence when the Bible says, “I (God) will send a curse on you…” we are to understand that he is not personally cursing somebody, but rather he is accepting responsibility for the fact that he created the law and thus the effects are ultimately his responsibility. But it is a “second-hand” responsibility – he is not directly active in the consequences.
The difficulty for us is that we cannot normally see the connection between our actions and the curses we may be experiencing. The connection is spiritual and so is not immediately obvious to natural observation. After all, who would have thought that the growth of weeds would be a result of man's sin (Genesis 3:18). We would not have known this is God had not said so. There is no obvious connection to us between the two events, but when we understand the logic of God and how he created the universe it starts to make sense. Weeds are plants out of control -– the control man was given by God. Most “curse consequences” are like this. The link is not clear.
2. We Reap what we Sow.
Galatians 6:7,8.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Again God is not directly involved in this, rather he takes responsibility for it as the originator of the law.
Again the difficulty for us is making the link between the sinful act and the consequence. After all a tomato seed doesn’t look much like a tomato plant with fruit on it. Neither does the fruit of sin look much like the “seed-act-of-sin” that was planted.
But there is a second level to sowing and reaping besides the spiritual curses that result. Scientific Law tells us that ervery action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is as true of human actions as it is of scientific experiments. Every action we do must have a consequence, and moral actions have consequences. Let's take a simple, obvious example. There is an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases throughout the world, Venereal Diseases, Aids and others. The simple fact is this: If there was no sexual relationships outside of marriage (i.e. immorality) all of these diseases would disappear from the face of the earth within a generation. One does not need to be a Doctor of Philosophy to work that!
Similrly other sins have natural consequences that have to be reaped. Unfortunately, in a Fallen world such as the one we live in, sometimes the consequences are carried by innocent victims.
3. God’s Active Judgment of Sin.
Again it is difficult for us to see the connections. And this is compounded by the fact, as we have observed in the last chapter, that God doesn’t want to judge so he delays judgment. As a result the judgment is often separated from the act of sin by a significant period of time – long enough for us to have thought we have “got away with it” and forgotten the sin altogether. The classic example of this is the judgement that came of Israel and Judah with the exile. The prophets had given many warnings for several hundreds of years so the people thought that their sin didn’t matter to God. But it did!
God’s active judgment of sin in time is seen in:
(i) Partial Judgments in Time.
Romans 1:22-28.
“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.”
"God gave them over".
God's judgment is seen first in the removal of the natural restraints and inhibitions of conscience so that man can descend to even lower levels of sin. The depths of sin men descend to is proof of God's judgment - even the animals do not behave that bad. In "letting go" restraint God allows men to descend into a living hell.
St. Augustine (Bishop of Hippo, 4th cent) - " Sin is also the punishment of sin".
i.e. the state of suffering and sin man lives in because of sin is part of it's penalty. Non-Christians live in a foretaste of Hell.
Romans 1:27 - "receiving in their own bodies" - it doesn't wait until the END.
Have you noticed this fact of modern history:
There are what we call "Christian countries" who have, for several hundreds of years lived out of a Christian ethic. As a result they are prosperous and relatively wealthy. While Capitalism cannot be said to be a Christian doctrine many of the basic principles of Capitalism are Biblical Principles of handling money/ property. Because of our Christian ethic you can generally do business in an honest way without bribes or "kickbacks". And by and large the common people are free.
Then there are countries that have no Chrisitan heritage but have worshipped other "gods". Without exception their people largely live in poverty and need. Communism was one such "god" and it brought povery to every country that came under its domination. India has thousands of "gods". But in these cases it has brought poverty and slavery to the common people.
Now have you noticed these trends:
As "Christian" Countries are abandoning their Christian heritage the nations are going into debt and more and more people are becoming "poor". Poverty is on the increase in the West. And what is more to counteract this governments legislate to try to make things come right. But the result of such legislation is always to increase povery and to bring ordinary people into bondage to unnecessary laws.
Meanwhile countries such as India and China are adopting the "Christian" philosophies - and both are having real Christian revivals. As this happens the countries are becoming wealthy and the lot of the poor is being eased.
Its enough to make you wonder.
(ii) Total Judgments in Time.
In total judgments the sinful man is destroyed in his sin.
Examples:
Genesis 6:5-8 - the Flood.
Genesis 19:4-11 - Sodom.
Genesis 15:12-16; Joshua 11:14-20 - the Canaanites.
Exodus 1-10 - Pharaoh.
Acts 5:1-10 - Ananias and Sapphira
This only happens when the people concerned have become so hardened in sin that they are beyond any possibility of repentance or response to God. This will be the norm at the end of the age.
JUDGMENT AT THE END OF THE AGE.
The three ongoing judgments of sin we have already seen are, in a sense, restrained at the present time. However they will find a full expression at the end of the age. Part of this is because there are processes at work – spiritual laws like the Law of Sowing and Reaping – that bring increase, and the increase of suffering from sin will only reach its peak at the end of the age. This is one of the reasons why Christ returns then. If left to continue the processes would totally destroy mankind, so God must intervene.
Let us look again at the three ways judgment is seen in time to see the final manifestation of them.
This final manifestation of judgment at the end of the age is revealed to us in the Book of Revelation. To help us understand what is being taught there, there are a few things we need to understand:
The Structure of Revelation.
* Revelation is a book made up of a series of visions, seven in total, each vision has seven parts: The 7 Churches, the 7 Seals, The 7 Trumpets, The 7 Thunders, The 7 Actors of the Last Days, The 7 Bowls, 7 Last Visions.
* The book is not written in Chronological order, but goes round in cycles revisiting the same time period looking at it from different points of view.
* The three key visions are the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls. These three visions each contain a series of events over a time span. The seventh of each vision is actually the same event. This is indicated by the repetition of what is a “signature” of the Day of the Lord:
Revelation 8:1,5. The 7th Seal:
“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour…
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
Revelation 11:15, 19. The 7th Trumpet.
“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." …
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
Revelation 16:17,18. The 7th Bowl.
“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.”
These are all describing the Day of the Lord. Various elements in the context confirm this but we wont take time to demonstrate this now.
It is these three cycles that demonstrate the three aspects of judgment we have been talking about and describe the full manifestation of each aspect.
1. Sin Can Release a Curse that brings Suffering.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Seals. To understand the meaning of the Seals we need to go back to Revelation 4&5. There we find God the Father, Son and Spirit presented to us – but in a particular context, as the Triune God of the Covenant.
God, the Father, is presented as the Creator God in Chapter 4 and his throne is surrounded by symbols that speak to us of covenant, the covenant with Adam.
Christ is presented as Redeemer, the one who is “able”, i.e. legally has the right, to open the seals on the scroll.
The scroll is the title deed of Earth, sold by Adam to Satan, now redeemed by Christ. But the price of sale was death. As the scroll is opened we see the price of death read out, seal by seal.
Thus the Seals reveal to us the final and full outworking of the curse brought on the world by Adam’s sin.
In one sense this is God’s action in Christ, but in another sense it is the final outworking of impersonal processes of law begun in the Garden of Eden
2. We Reap what we Sow.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Trumpets. The whole of this section of Revelation is steeped in the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great feast celebrated by Israel at the end of every annual harvest. The idea of seven trumpets itself comes from the fact that Tabernacles was celebrated in the seventh month of the year and each month was begun with a blast from a trumpet. Hence the seventh trumpet began the seventh month, which really began with the day of Atonement, the prophetic type of the Day of the Lord.
So the whole underlying motif of the Trumpets is the idea of harvest.
As the trumpets are blown what we see is the final outworking of the truth that “we reap what we sow.”
Again, in one sense, this is God bringing judgment, but in another sense it is the final outworking of the processes of the law of sowing and reaping.
3. God’s Active Judgment of Sin in Time.
This is demonstrated in the Seven Bowls. This is actually said to be God’s wrath on man’s sin. Here the context is not immediately obvious but a little knowledge of Jewish jurisprudence helps.
In Jewish law when a judgment is made there is always a punishment of the guilty and a rewarding of the innocent. When a dispute between a complainant and accused is brought before the judge all the evidence is collected and reviewed and the judge then makes his judgment. If the complaint is upheld the accused is punished and the complainant is rewarded. If, however, the complaint is not upheld then the tables are turned – the complainant now is punished and the accused is rewarded. In actual fact the judgment that the original complainant would have made against the accused is made against him. This rewarding and punishing happens in the same event.
This is what we see in this section of Revelation, God is now acting as judge.
In Chapter 14:14-20 we see two harvests – the righteous, who are raptured, and the wicked, who are thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. Then in Chapter 15 and 16 this is elaborated on. In Chapter 15 we see the righteous in heaven being rewarded, in Chapter 16 we see the wicked receiving the wrath of Almighty God. This is God’s active judgment finally seen in full measure on the world. This rewarding and punishing happens in the same event.
JUDGMENT IN ETERNITY.
There appear to be two judgments of non-Christians after the end of the age.
(1) The Judgment of the Nations alive at Christ's coming.
Often called "The Throne of His Glory".
Here there are no Jews nor Christians present, only Gentiles who are left alive after Armageddon.
Matthew 25:31-46.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
The exact meaning of this parable of Jesus is not clear and there is some debate as to what it means. The best meaning, or so it appears to me, is to understand it as being a judgment of those non-Christians still alive after Armageddon. The basis of judgment is simply common human decency shown to those Jews and Christians suffering persecution in the last days. The timing of this judgment – Christ says it is at his Second Coming – menas that it is not the same judgment as the next one we will consider.
(2) The Great White Throne.
Revelation 20:10-15.
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This is clearly at a different time - it is at the end of the Millennium. It is the judgment of all those who did not have faith in God from all time. They are raised to life for the judgment (the Second Resurrection). Also included are the fallen angels and demons, though the False Prophet and Antichrist are already in Hell (Revelation 19:20-21).
The only outcome of this judgment is Hell.
THE FINAL PENALTY - HELL.
There is not much we know about Hell but we can work out some details.
(1) Hell is not Hades, the two are different.
Revelation 20:13-14.
“The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.”
Hades is cast into Hell, so must be different.
Hades is the waiting place of the dead BEFORE the resurrection and judgment. Hell is the place that those judged as unbelievers go to AFTER the judgment.
(2) Is it eternal suffering or annihilation?
The Bible teaches the continuing state of the wicked, therefore it is eternal. It is also clearly a place of suffering. There is a real existence there.
Matthew 25:46.
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
(3) Is it a period of reform, or are those in Hell there permanently?
The Roman Catholic church teaches that there is a place of reform, or a place of limited punishment, called Purgatory. So long as you are baptised you will get out of Purgatory after a suitable period of punishment. Those not baptised go to Hell anyway. This idea is not found in the Bible.
Hell is said to be there permanently, and there is no escape, this is it's great horror. It is not designed to be a reformatory because THOSE THAT GO THERE ARE BEYOND REFORM. The time of free choice is past.
Some other teachers feel that Hell's purpose is reformatory but they ignore the meaning of the word "eternal". If Hell is not eternal then how can we be sure that Heaven is eternal - they are described in the same way?
(4) It is a second death.
Life as we know it, or as will be known by the redeemed saints, will not be experienced there.
Revelation 20: 10,14.
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
…Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.”
This does not imply there is no existence there however. Death is not the end of existence, rather is the change of SPHERE of existence. The quality of existence in Hell is such that there is nothing we could call "life".
(5) Is it a physical place, or purely spiritual?
The words used imply it is physical. This is what we should expect. Those who go there are raised from physical death before they are judged (Revelation 20). The nature of man demands that Hell be physical. Man IS Body, Soul and Spirit. God created man to be a physical being on a physical world, this is not going to change in the new creation. Men sin in the body, and will ultimately be punished in the body.
(6) Is it in God's presence?
Yes! - How could it be otherwise? But it is in a state of the complete absence of God's favour. Our God is a consuming fire. Hell may be the result of being in eternity, in God's holy presence, without sins being covered.
(7) Where is it?
God Knows. It may not be created yet. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that it is. It will be around in time to receive the Antichrist and False Prophet who seem to be its first inhabitants (Revelation 19:20). There seems no need for it to exist before then. It may be created as a result of God's judgement on Satan's earthly capital, Babylon.
Revelation 19:3. - "her smoke goes up for ever" – speaking of Babylon.
Man's eternal destiny is earth related, so Hell will probably be a place on earth.
(8) What is Hell like?
To those outside of it, Hell may appear to be as nothing. To get the idea, read C.S.Lewis - "The Great Divorce".
To those inside of it, it is an endless disturbance of existence as a result of the complete dominance of evil in there. It is suffering in mind, body, emotions and conscience TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE CONTINUOUSLY, without the possible relief of insanity. Every negative experience and emotion will be there in full strength WITH NO BALANCING GOOD.
However even in that there will be degrees of punishment decreed by God due to conscience.
Matthew 11:22-24.
“But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
Hell is the full manifestation of evil and suffering, but it is unrestrained.
Just as we, as Christians, create our own heavenly reward while in this life, so too non Christians create their own level of punishment by their own rebellion.
(9) What about the apparent injustice of this age?
Psalm 10 - the wicked prosper.
Psalm 22 - the righteous suffer.
Heaven and Hell, bliss and torment, will reach back into time from the last judgment and transform the experience of life. Things look differently now because we see things imperfectly (1 Corinthians 13:9). When we see the whole truth from God's point of view we will see that, in truth, the righteous were blessed and the wicked were cursed. We will see this, not only in the act of the last judgments, but we will see that it was always true in every experience of life.
TRANSFORMER VERSE.
JUDGMENT.
ROMANS 2:9,10.
There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, but glory and honour and peace for every one who does good.
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