TO WHOM ARE WE RELATIVE

(Part 4)

Synopsis

Part 4 of To Whom Are Relative speaks about the dissolving of the heavens and earth of men's kingdoms. One such kingdom was the Jews kingdom in 70 A.D. when Titus destroy Jerusalem. We point out how the heavens of man's power shall pass away with a great noise, the elements of all their works shall melt with fervent heat, the foundation of their earth shall be burned up (2 Pet 3:10). In essence, it is the fire of God's Sons which shall be a plague to the people that have fought against life and God's chosen. Their carnal ways shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. Their lusting eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their false tongues shall consume away in their mouths (Zech 14:12). In their place will come a new heaven and earth. There will be no more the unsettled sea; but there will be a sea of glass (humanity) mingled with fire.

"...the elements shall melt with fervent heat...." The Greek word for elements is stoicheion which means orderly in arrangement. It comes from the root word, stoicheo: to march in military fashion, keep step, i.e. to conform to virtue and piety (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). It is from stoichos that we get the English word stoic. Webster's Seventh Collegiate Dictionary gives a striking definition of the word: "...a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium about 300 B.C. holding that the wise man should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law; one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain....Relating to, or resembling the Stoics or their doctrines <stoic logic>...not affected by passion or feeling, especially manifesting indifference to pain...."

Stoicheion fits very well with today's elements, the manifestation of the heavens, that which is seen in religious kingdoms, and we bring out that the elements of organized religion is very orderly arranged. For they march in military fashion, keeping in step to the dogmatic drumbeat of their creed's demands. The people conform by the letter to virtue and piety. We see how religion has become very stoic in many quarters of the world. It is not uncommon to find church leaders, and laymen alike, who consider themselves wise, and in so doing, they are free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief of those round about them. They submit themselves to the natural law, while forsaking the higher law of the Spirit of Life? Truly, they are relative to the Stoics, and resemble them in every way. And it is this, the Stoics, religious manifestations, the elements, that we will see melting away, and the stars of heaven, ministries, shall fall.

But Jesus and those who are relative to Him shall abide: "Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" (Heb 7:16).

In Matthew 25:46 we see that the everlasting punishment is an age-lasting punishment, and contrary to popular theology, so is the reward. Yet this does in no way negate one's eternal habitation in Christ. Jesus said that the life for those who gave Him a drink would be age-lasting. For greater clarity we could say it this way, and it would still mean the same: Those who did not give Him a drink would be afflicted with a punishment that would last through the age. Those who gave Him a drink would enter into a life in Christ that would also last through the age. The punishment, which brings correction, endures until it has accomplished its purpose, and then ceases. Christ's life endures also; but it never ceases except for the life as a newborn Christian that grows into maturity. The life remains while the age ends.

Elwin R. Roach

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