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The Beginning

of

The End of All Things

Part 13

Publication #192.06

The Lake of Fire That God Built

We had previously covered some basic thoughts concerning the Lake of Fire that God Built, and we could see the vast difference between it and the lake of fire that men built, and it left no question which one was real and which one was a fabricated fairytale. We also saw that the resurrection of damnation, as the King James Version of the Bible has it, is not quite the same as it is often thought to be. For instance, when Jesus sits upon the Great White Throne, it is not a day of doom and gloom and eternal torment for the world's teeming billions of unlucky sinners, but to the contrary. It is a blessed day of assurance for all men! And it could be no other way; for He who sits upon this Great White Throne is the same One who not only paid the ultimate price by death for every man, but He was also raised from the dead for the sake of every man. What better advocate, and judge, could anyone have but Jesus Christ, the One and only harbor of Life who died on their account? He knows the pain of death, of sorrow, and of rejection we all have suffered. And now He is the One who lives. He was dead, but He now lives! Praise God! He lives! (Revelation 1:18).

No other man, woman, or child prodigy has been able to make such a claim and live up to it. It is amazing that anyone would follow any other. Jesus is the first and uniquely born Son of God who proved His Sonship by rising from the dead (ref. Romans 1:4). And He is the only One from whose face the earth and the heaven flee away, and with no place found for them. (Revelation 20:11).

The Face of The Lamb and of The Serpent

What do we suppose is the heaven and earth that flees from the face of Christ, and what exactly is that face? Is it the face of a solitary man sitting on a literal throne in the clouds? And if so, is the heaven the air through which planes fly? Does it also consist of outer space which houses the moon, the planets, and all the star-filled galaxies of the universe? Is the earth the planet upon which we all stand and walk on a daily basis? If you happen to answer yes to these questions, then we must ask one more: are these heavens of the sky and the far reaches of outer space, along with the earth those things which flee away from the physical face of Jesus? If so, we are then faced with a slight problem. If they all flee away, this would mean that the earth and everyone on it is whisked away to, who knows where, as well as the heavens and everything and everyone in them, which, of course, would include the clouds, the throne, and He who is sitting on the throne. Foolish thinking, to say the least; but when we choose to take things in the book of Revelation to be literal, and if we follow them through to the end, such are the ridiculous conclusions. However, when we understand spiritual matters, the dilemma of trying to reconcile the ridiculous vanishes.

For instance, heaven in the scriptures usually speak of the spiritual power and authority of men's kingdoms, especially in the book of Revelation, and the earth is a type of the manifestation of those powers and authorities. We also see that the face in this book of signs evokes far more than the literal, human visage of the Man from Galilee. You see, the face is just as much a symbol as the Lamb, the heaven, the earth, the beast, or the dragon are symbols. The face is a symbol that relates to an outward manifestation of the inward makeup of a person, that is, his nature, character, authority, and power. The face can also reveal a lying spirit of religion, of evil, of hatred, of envy, and of strife. The face can reveal all these things contained in a man or woman, good or evil, holy or profane; but the face from which the earth and the heaven flee is much more than this.

It is understood by most that the face of the serpent from which the women of Revelation 12 flew is not a literal serpent, nor is it a literal face. The serpent, of course, is for the most part the lying spirit of religion, the spirit of mystery Babylon, and its face is the manifestation of that spirit through the sons of the devil, the generation of vipers, as Jesus called them. When a face is mentioned, we can conclude that the spirit is not concealed. Faces are expressions of people, governments, and/or religious organizations. When the face is seen, the spirit has surfaced whether holy or unholy. There are several scriptures that mention the shining of the face and each time it suggests an outward manifestation and working from the one whose face shines. In Numbers it says, "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee." Numbers 6:25, and King David said, "Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; and teach me Thy statutes." Psalm 119:135. These two verses are saying that the only way for God's grace to be known is through God Himself, that no one can be blessed by God's Spirit except it comes expressly from Him.

Carl Schwing wrote something that relates to this: "The ways of Father are beyond human comprehension. One may study His ways, but one cannot learn His ways. One may preach or teach of His ways, but they cannot perform or predict them. Only the Spirit of Sonship can take the way of the Father and show them to us . . . reveal them to us . . . impart them to us . . . implant them in us, and perform them through us."

When His face shines upon us, the work of the Spirit of our Father is seen in our lives, and depending on where we are spiritually, will determine how His shining face affects us.

For instance, another reference to a face is found in the sixteenth chapter of Revelation: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." Revelation 6:15-16.

Sitting on the throne, of course, speaks of the indisputable power and authority of the King. The face of Him signifies the open manifestation of that power and authority, and anyone who stands before His open face knows His commanding force. He is not sitting idly by, but with wrath radiating as the Sun from His face.

The wrath (Grk. orge, passion) of the Lamb is a further description of He who sits on the throne. His throne, His seat, His judgment, His power and authority are seen in His Face, and that face is one of determined passion.  This is not wrath as we commonly think of it, in the sense of rage or anger. If someone was asked what comes to mind when they hear the word, wrath, various answers would come; but most of them would be akin to an enraged father beating his child for spilling his milk. Yet we are seeing that the Biblical term is far from such a thought. Moreover, it is not just the wrath of God we read about in the scriptures. There are those on the dark side of life who can also be filled with wrath. For one, the great whore who sits, not upon a throne, but upon many waters (Rev. 17:1) and upon the back of the scarlet colored beast is wrathful (ref. Rev. 17:1-3). Her power and authority does not come from on high, but from the multitudes of people (the many waters) and the adamic, carnal nature of man (the beast). It is this woman, mystery Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath (thumos) of her fornication.

The Wrath of The Lamb and of The Harlot

Thumos (From G2380; passion) is synonymous to orge. The following verses use thumos in reference to the wrath of Babylon, the great harlot, and also the wrath of God: "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath (thumos) of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation (oregomai; to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something, Thayer's)..." Revelation 14:8-10.

The wrath of her fornication? If we apply wrath to this verse in the way we generally use the word, something is gravely amiss. Wrath and fornication are foreign to one another. Only in cases of deviant behavior do we hear of such things. But passion and fornication are more closely related, and likewise with wrath and the Lamb. The two words are also incompatible to one another. They simply do not bode well in the same house of thought. However, with passion and the Lamb, harmony rings forth as a song of judgment unto salvation. God so love the world, with such passion, that He gave His only begotten Son. This is the wrath of God and the Lamb that we see in the book of Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible. Do we think Jesus and His Father were without passion while He hung in agony upon the cross? Their passion swept over the world in tidal waves of love. The world hated and crucified Him; but He loved and forgave them -- passionately!

You see, the wrath of the Lamb is a figure of speech that relates to His love without boundaries toward the world for which He died, while speaking of His unchanging hatred toward sin, and not so much that sin disgusts Him, but because it destroys the lives of those He loves. Wrath speaks of His righteous love. It is His driving passion that is working to destroy everything that brings death and separates creation from Himself. The wrath of God's love and of His Lamb is so intense that nothing can survive their devouring flames of love. Regardless of the hardness of the most evil man's heart, he will not abide the fire of the Spirit of holiness without being changed. The fire is also good for those who are not so hard-hearted and evil. Every soul will be salted with the fire of the Lamb's wrath and will come to know His remedial judgment unto correction, but every man in his own order, of course.

Our longtime friend, J. Preston Eby, put it very well when he wrote: "Judgment is not merely condemnation, wrath, and vengeance as so many think. The judgment of God has the distinct purpose of setting things right, and, indeed, all things will be set right and all things will be gloriously reconciled unto Himself, yea, things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, or wherever they may be. The feet members of the body of Christ, who are the sons of God to come forth in this new kingdom day of the Lord, must be purged in the fires of the Lord like no people before them. They shall tread upon Satan, sin, and death, therefore, they must be more thoroughly washed, cleansed, refined, and purified. These anointed ones will appear 'like unto fine brass' as though they burned in an oven because they have been more thoroughly purged in the Lord's fiery furnace of purification. Surely this explains why the saints of this hour are experiencing such severe trials and testings, and are being so thoroughly processed by the Lord. The testings and trials we are experiencing in this hour are not so much organized persecutions from without, but very personal pressures and circumstances that try us to the very core of our being.

"You see, beloved, the vengeance of God is not against His creation, nor is it against men of any nation, ethnicity, character, or religion. 'God so loved the world.' The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against every evil that pollutes, enslaves, distorts, and destroys His creation and men's lives! That is but one small example of what we see in the Revelation. By the pure and true revelation of Christ within our hearts many things are made to appear in their true light. That means that all the evil things which appear do so because of the true light, and in that light they are made to appear in their true character of JUST WHAT THEY ARE!" (From The Candlestick To The Throne, Part 25 & Part 2) .

Anyone who has been touched deeply by the true love of God will know that His wrath does not describe a God of rage who has come to His wits end and with fomenting anger decrees, "To hell with you all! You refused to accept My Son by simply confessing Him as Lord, so I refuse you! You refused His love, so I now refuse you. You refused to walk in the Light of His salvation, so never again will you see the light of day! The only light you will see is from the searing flames of fire that engulf your bodies night and day, forever." No! By all means, no! That is not the Lamb of wrath this book bespeaks! He is nothing of this sort, and we hope to open some pages of reality and truly see to what end our loving God and Lord Jesus Christ will go to forgive and save the lost, even those who crucified Him as well as those who accuse Him of being a vengeful despot.

Forgive Them Father

At the height of His most agonizing hour, Jesus said "... forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." And, frankly, I believe in one sense, His prayer was answered then and there, and in another sense the complete forgiveness will be finished later. When we consider the Greek word from which forgive is translated, we will understand that it says much more than what we normally think of when we forgive someone.

* Heaping coals on one’s head is not an act of revenge or vindictiveness. This saying originates from Eastern culture when flint was the tool used for starting fires. If the fire of one household went out, rather than spending a lot of time starting a fire on a cold night or early morning, the man or woman would ask for a live coal or two to help rebuild their fire. The coals were placed in a pottery tray which was carried on the head, and the cold neighbor hoped the coals would still be alive enough by they time they got home to get their fire stared. Rather than dropping one or two coals in the tray, our Lord said to heap coals of fire on his head! In so doing, if the person happened to be an enemy, you may warm not only his head on his way back home, but his heart as well, and the one who was an enemy, is now reconciled and becomes a friend.

Even though it is better to be at peace than at war, this basic type of forgiveness falls short of God's forgiveness. It is good for us to be able to say to anyone, "I forgive you"; but the Greek word aphiemi carries the thought much farther. According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Thayer's, and other authorities, it means: to send forth, send away, to discard, to keep no longer. It means to deliver one from something, or to be delivered and wholly cleansed.

With this insight, many of the scriptures using this word take on a new meaning; such as, "When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. You see, this is much more than God choosing to not hold our sins against us. It is an act of cleansing us from them, sending them forth, getting rid of them entirely, forever. He is faithful to deliver us from all sin, and His methods are just, whether it is by water or by fire. Some people can be cleansed by the gentle washing by the water of the word, while others can only be cleansed by fire. Thus, the wrath of the Lamb. Regardless of which method is used for the cleansing, it is the fire that makes the ultimate change.

When the face of the flaming wrath of the Lamb is manifested, it will initiate the process of forgiveness, of sending forth, of deliverance. They who love the lie more than the truth, however, will first flee and attempt to hide themselves in the dark dens of their sanctuaries. But their churches, governments, worldly orders, material riches, positions of power, friends, and family will fail them. They will attempt to cover themselves with the hard rocks of the unyielding word of their coveted laws. They will call for the mountains of their religious and secular kingdoms to overshadow and save them. They will call upon those powers and doctrines to fall upon them for protection from the face of Him who sits on the throne, even from the wrath of the Lamb.

At the manifestation of the sons of God, they will try to hide from the Lamb whose face shines as the sun, exposing every hidden particle of darkness. This unique, many membered body of the Lamb will tread out the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. Every soul will be salted with His fire which will judge those things revealed by the face of the Sun (ref. Rev. 10:1). Every soul composed of the wood, hay, and stubble of the world, and who embrace the serpent's pseudo religion, and are of Adam's bestial carnality, is tormented in the Lamb's presence.

Those judged cannot prevent the open face of the Sun from shining into the depths of their dark hearts, and there is no protection from His feet of fire that are tramping out judgment. They will call upon every means possible to save them from being exposed, judged, tormented, and changed. But to no avail, for those things which had always served them well will fail in the face of God's fierce Lamb of Love. All who find themselves in that presence will be tormented beyond all human expectations. It has never entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for them. Men have believed their pastors and expect the scenario of Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy) to be the sinner's lot; but even though the graphic picture is etched deeply in their minds, it does not make it so no more than vivid dreams make it so. It will not play out that way; for the inspirations of desperately wicked and deceitful hearts have no substance whatsoever. They cannot produce one fragment of reality.

People of all walks of life will be tormented, this is truly a fact. But it will never be the way the architects of the Lake of Fire that Men Built suppose, and neither will it be forever.

Tormented In The Presence of The Holy Angels and of The Lamb

"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his *forehead, or in his *hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb" Revelation 14:9-10.

*The mark of the beast in the forehead: They who have the beastly (carnal ), mind of Adam. They think carnal. Their mind, will, and emotions are carnal (666).

*The mark of the beast in the hand: Their work, their play, their entertainment, i.e., everything they are is seen as being that which is in their forehead, i.e. their mind. They are carnal. Their lives are carnal. Their spirits, souls, and bodies (works) are pure Adam, (666).

These two verses certainly sound foreboding, especially if they are read through the darkened influence of man's imaginations. When that is done, the image that generally comes to mind is that of Jesus and tens of thousands times ten thousands of His angels gathered around a boiling pit or lake of fire and looking on as the mass of groaning humanity burns alive, but never dying, in the eternal sulphuric flames of hellfire. But keep in mind, my dear friends, that is the Lake of Fire that Men Built. It is surely not God's!

By knowing Him as Father, we know by experience his character and nature. We then see beyond men's graphic imaginations and horror stories of our God who is love. Revelations from on high open new vistas to the real world of God and His Kingdom. Unlike those whose doctrines are inspired by the spirit of the serpent, we can rightly divide the word of truth and bring into focus a more accurate meaning of certain words. This adds to our understanding of the truth. Two of those words are torment and brimstone. Torment comes from the Greek word, basanizo, which is simply "a touchstone for testing metals." Brimstone is translated from theion and is the "divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify, and to ward off disease" (Thayer's Greek Definitions). With this bit of information, and coupled with the inspiration and revelation of the Holy Spirit, these, and other scriptures take on a new meaning.

The word plead (Heb. Shaphat) is another word to consider. Shaphat is used 182 times in the Bible and almost always is translated as to judge or judgment. Less than 10 occasions it is translated plead. One of which is: "For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD *plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many." Isa 66:15-16.

Ray Prinzing, was a true forerunner in the Sonship message, and he understood very well the inconsistences of translated words in the scriptures. He especially had a wealth of understanding concerning the mysteries of God and His Kingdom. He lifted untold thousands, perhaps millions, from the religious pits of darkness, and although he is gone, his word continues to bless and free people from Babylon's grip. For instance, He wrote in his booklet, By Fire?, not only of God's punitive judgment upon the unsaved and wicked, but also upon the saved and righteous:

"Under the laws of Israel, all the spoils of their war had to be put through the fire, if it was of that substance which could abide the fire. Wood, cloth, etc. had to be washed with water, but 'Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean...' (Numbers 31:23). We are as the spoil of the battle which Christ fought and conquered. We have been bought back. We're the spoils of Calvary, and all of creation that was rescued by that victory has to pass through the fire that it might be cleansed from all the defilement received while bound as captives under the bondage of vanity, sin, death and the hold of the old Adamic nature.

"If you are presently going through the fire, it's because God has reclaimed you. He desires to have you in His house a vessel meet for the Master's use. Under God's hand you will not only abide the fire, but come forth purified.

"It only signifies the personal direction of God upon your lives when you feel the fire burning so hot. Give Him praise, worship and adoration, for He has sovereignly by His grace chosen you at this time to be cleansed and purged completely, that He might use you in future days. And remember, there shall be vessels of wrath, and those prepared to be vessels of mercy. It's not the vessels of dishonor that feel the pressure now, but the ones God has laid hold of to become His vessels unto honor and glory. They are the ones feeling the effect of present fiery tests to fit them for His use.

"Don't confuse the present purposes of God and the ultimate end of His aionian plan. The ultimate plan is that ALL FLESH shall be judged BY FIRE, but under God's arrangement it is 'every man in his own order' (1 Cor. 15:23), and that is why many folk haven't the slightest idea of what you mean when you say you are now going through the fire, for their purifying shall come at a later time. In God's great drama of the ages, all moves at His appointed schedule. You cannot cast the villain into the fire today. He must first serve his appointed purpose, then to be cleansed and restored again. There is a present fire that pertains to you, there are future fiery experiences reserved for other divisions-- each in his own order and time.

"God is spirit-- that is His substance. God is love--that is His nature. God is also light and fire--they are His manifestations. We speak of fiery trials, HE IS IN EVERY ONE THEM. May we go even farther? He is the source of the fire in our fiery trial. 'HE' is the fire thereof. You say that God's hand is resting upon you. You say that He has filled you with His Spirit and His anointing is upon your life, guiding you into all truth. Then don't be amazed at the fiery testing that is yours also, for with every advancing step into new truth, there needs to be a purging out of error and past traditions which are contrary to pure truth.

"The fire to burn out the dross is the Holy Spirit that God has placed within, Your GOD is your fire. The reason you are conscious of the fire is because there remains something in resistance to the move of God, but after all is brought into submission, it doesn't matter if the circumstances don't change, for by then you have been so changed you no longer consider them as a fire in your life. The Lord places you into a situation which almost 'burns' you up, and when you are unyielding to God, you are completely miserable. But when you at last begin to yield to His will, you find that all of the situation has become a haven, and learning to be content in whatever state you are in, you are no more adversely affected by the fire, you delight in it.

"There are other kinds of fierce fire, such as wild fire, which only destroy and lay desolate, but God is a fire that purifies and brings into righteousness. God's mighty fire does not leave you in a state of devastation, He is the same Presence that also builds you up in faith and love so that your cleansed life is to His glory. Once the carnal thought and imagination of your mind is purged out, then that same FIRE--PRESENCE illumines to your heart the glorious life-giving verities of God.

"The second fire of God is His Word. 'Is not My WORD like as a fire? saith the Lord.' (Jer.23:29).

"'I will make MY WORDS in thy mouth FIRE, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.' (Jer. 5:15).

"The Lord is going to plead with ALL FLESH by fire, it will be by the fire of HIS WORD, and all the false and insipid creeds of man will turn into ashes before the mighty burning truth. Truth alone will cause every falsehood to wilt down to nothingness. The anointed Word, given in a spirit of love, is FIRE. And such truth needs no defense, for as a fire it defends itself. Mishandle it, and you will surely be burned.

"Thirdly, and all of these fires blend together into one, 'Who maketh His angels (messengers) spirits, His ministers a flaming fire.' (Psalm 104:4).

"How is all this wrought in coming days? By the fire of God's own PRESENCE, the fire of HIS WORD, the fire of His flaming MESSENGERS. '...with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels (messengers), and in the presence of the Lamb (Jesus).' (Rev. 14:10).

"BY FIRE shall the Lord plead with all flesh [or judge all flesh], in many, this is presently being wrought out as God leads them deeper into the fellowship of His sufferings, until they shall be completely made conformable unto His death! Then shall they arise in the fulness of His Presence, TO BECOME HIS FIRE IN THE EARTH, with the message of truth aflame upon their lips. To turn and devour? -- No! To give forth the knowledge of truth which shall deliver and set free those bound with the chains that have so long enslaved them, even sin and death.

"Fire also brings added light, thus the very devouring process not only ends the false imagery, but brings forth a clearer revelation of God. Only the pure FIRE OF GOD can end the distorted caricatures of our God-- of His purpose, His grace, His love, until all these distortions are swallowed up into the pure reality of His truth and righteousness." -- End quote.

We pray that the vision has been made more clear, that it is understood that they who are tormented in the presence of the Lamb and His holy angels are judged by the shining face of the Lamb, which is the brilliant glory of His passion for the world. The Touchstone of the Lord will reveal what manner of a man each person truly is. There will surely be a certain element of torment, of uneasiness, of anguish to the carnal man in the fiery presence of the Lamb and his messengers, but the torment will never be by a strange fire that's kindled by a vindictive God of merciless cruelties, as the spirit of the dragon's religion proudly proclaims. The wrath, that is, the passion, of the great harlot is to draw the people of the world to herself and away from the living God. Her power is no match for that of the Lamb when His passion shines as the Sun. For the Lamb sits upon the throne in God's heaven, while the harlot sits upon the natural beast of man and the unstable waters of the world. When the time comes for the face of the Lamb to shine together with His many membered body of angels, messengers, the sons of God whose feet burn with flames of fire -- the harlot, the beast, and all the waters who speak blasphemies and lies will be cast into the Lake of Fire that burns with brimstone.

This fire will cause every knee to bow in loving adoration, every heart to believe Jesus was raised from the dead, and every tongue to confess Him as Lord to the glory of God their Father. Each one will come to know and confess that they cannot save themselves from their sin, and the Lamb of God in His faithfulness will forgive their sins; that is, cleanse them from all their unrighteousness. He will send them out of their lives, get rid of them entirely, forever. What a wonderful working power is the fiery wrath of the Lamb! He, along with His ministers of fire, is what creation unwittingly waits for, which is the manifestation of the sons of God who are called -- The Lake of Fire That God Built!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach

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