The Savior of the
World series
by
J. Preston Eby
Just what do you mean...
THE LAKE OF FIRE
The Prodigal Son
God Gains Attention
The Lake of Fire
The Second Death
Not Hurt Of The Second Death
Tormented In The Presence of The Lamb
The Prodigal Son
A king in Europe, a kindly monarch, went to
visit a school. Children were being taught concerning the
various kingdoms into which nature and man were divided. The
King wished to ask the children some questions. A sweet
little maid stood forth, and the King said, "Now, my
dear, tell me what these are," holding objects in his
hand. She said, "A flower, a bird, a beast."
"Tell me to what kingdom the flower belongs."
"To the vegetable kingdom, sir," said the child.
"Tell me," said the monarch, "to what kingdom
do these animals belong?" holding up various animals.
"To the animal kingdom, sir...... Tell me, my
dear," said the King, "to what kingdom do I
belong?" Now, I think if she had said he belonged for
the most part, to the animal kingdom, she would not have been
far wrong; but the little one had great reverence for the
King, although he had so often failed to recognize the
Kingdom to which he belonged. The little, blushing maid did
not want to say that he belonged to the animal kingdom, but
"out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God perfected
praise." The little one, with her eyes full of tears,
for she had heard the tittering laughter which was running
through the school at her embarrassment, looked up into the
face of the King. "Now, tell me, dear," he said,
"to what kingdom do I belong?" "You belong to
the Kingdom of God, sir." And the King bowed his head,
for the arrow had gone to his heart. He said, "My dear,
pray that I may be worthy of that Kingdom, and of God."
The answer of the child is the answer which
I give you. Do you desire to teach the child that which will
enable it to triumph over the lusts and passions of a mere
animal nature? Teach it that it is the Offspring of the
Father of spirits, and that first and greatest of all is the
spiritual nature which it has and not the psychical or the
physical nature. "And God said, Let us make man in
our image, and after our likeness ... so God
created man in His own image, in the image of God
created He him" (Gen. 1:26-27). "And has made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the
Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him,
though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we
live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your
own poets have said, for we are also HIS OFFSPRING. Forasmuch
then as we are the OFFSPRING OF GOD..." (Acts 17:26-29).
Teach the child that sex, race, or nationality is nothing in
the Kingdom of God. Teach them that "there can be
neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in
Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Teach them to seek for
that New Creation which God's Spirit alone can impart, that
they may be worthy of that Kingdom and that they may have the
love which rules in that Kingdom from its divine center to
its utmost circumference, and which crushes lust and sin and
death beneath its feet.
"...which was the son of Enos, which
was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the
son of God" (Lk. 3:38). Adam - the SON OF GOD! God
has a wayward sinner for a son, that wayward boy sprang,
originally from the heart of God after a creaturely manner.
He was created out of the glory of God and was a radiant
creature, more radiant than an angel; and that boy, dead in
scarlet sins, is still God's son, but he is a prodigal son.
Some fathers may disown their sons, but the Father of the
prodigal son never said that that wayward boy of His was not
His son. The Bible says that such become the children of the
devil; but, nevertheless, God still has a double claim upon
them: they are His by creation; and they are His by right of
redemption. They are dead in trespasses and sins. They need
to be saved, to be converted, regenerated. They need to
repent and come home; but when they do, the sorrowing Father
is made glad and says, "For this My son was dead,
and is alive again; be was lost, and is found." God is a
bereaved God. It brings sorrow to our hearts, too, to think
that our God and Father is bereaved of His children!
But to whatever depths of depravity,
destitution, emptiness, sorrow, pain, and disaster the
prodigal finally comes, it is good for him, for it ultimately
destroys the pride and arrogance, the independence and
selfhood, and the wickedness and rebellion in his heart. It
would be well worth our time to consider prayerfully the deep
import of the piercing words of the prophet: "Your own
wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall
reprove you" (Jer. 2:19). Those who suppose that hell
and the lake of fire represent the eternal doom of the
sinners of Adam's race are ignorant and understand nothing
whatever of God's great laws, and purposes, and dealings in
judgment. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about two
apostates in the Church: "Holding faith, and a good
conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have
made shipwreck: of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I
have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not
to blaspheme" (I Tim. 1:19-20). Were these two
reprobates turned over to Satan to be tormented for ever in
the lake of fire? Nay I They were delivered unto Satan that
they might LEARN! Learn what? "Learn NOT TO
BLASPHEME. " It should be obvious to every thinking mind
that as soon as the lesson had been learned, the apostle
called Satan off the case, and the erring one was restored to
God and His people!
There is a beautiful story in Luke chapter
fifteen, the parable of the Prodigal Son. While feeding hogs
in the "far country," the prodigal came to himself.
It was the lack of food that changed him. His body was made
to need food, even as his heart was made for friendship and
love, but he was destitute. "No man gave unto him,"
the story says. Alone! Forsaken! Stripped! Then he
remembered: "How many hired servants of my father's have
bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" He
was suffering the results of his own selfishness, and lust,
and rebellion. His body was in agony without the sustenance
it was created for. Rags, and filth, and stench were his
surroundings. All this the result of his sin! To be
"without God in the world" is life's ultimate in
desolation and despair. The reality of judgment is separation
from God's love and fellowship and blessing and the
consequent recognition of condemnation and the processes of
wrath and judgment.
We often forget that God not only allows
Satan and sin and evil, but that He also uses them. Again and
again, when trouble stalks his path, a man turns back to the
God he has despised. When his wife dies, or his children go
wrong; when loss and disaster fall upon him, again and again
he will seek the God he has neglected. Many of our men who
fought in past wars found that danger and privation turned
their minds toward God. Foxholes cure atheism, they say.
Weeks on a lifeboat adrift in the ocean do something to a
man, and he is often a very different person when he lands on
shore again. That is not because God coerces the man, but
because God brings upon him such experiences as change his
attitudes and priorities. And God brings such experiences
upon men, not in vindictive hatred, but in love. He is too
wise to err, too loving to be unkind!
Some argue that because we affirm that the
judgments of God are not eternal, but corrective, we teach a
"hell redemption." We are accused of believing that
hell can accomplish in a man what the mercy and blood of
Jesus could not accomplish. Many years ago Charles G. Finney
(and we respect his ministry) opposed the teaching of the
ultimate salvation of all by ridicule. Finney was a master of
the invective. He said that those who were saved after this
"age of grace" ends would unceasingly sing,
"Thanks be to the hell that saved us by our own
suffering!" Just how much weight is there to that
criticism? It is a marvelous truth that CHRIST ALONE can
save! There is no other way! How we rejoice that it is so!
But there is one thing that must be dealt with before any man
can come to Christ and be saved. MAN'S REBELLION MUST BE
REMOVED. His pride and self-confidence and stubborness and
trust in things and pleasures that damn and lead away from
God must be broken. And this is where judgment comes
in. Judgment destroys the power of the carnal mind which
blinds, which is enmity against God but judgment does not
grant redemption. It only breaks rebellion! It breaks man's
stubborn will! But redemption was purchased upon the cross.
It is a small matter for God to break the
resistance of men. Men without God live like animals. They
eat, sleep, entertain themselves, labor, but they are not in
touch with God at all. He has no place in their thoughts nor
in their lives. Finally man awakens. Like the old country
preacher who was telling of the prodigal son. He said,
"He took off his coat and spent that. Then he took off
his vest and spent that. Then he took off his shirt, and when
he took off his shirt, he came to his self." We
come to ourselves in various ways! When the prodigal was
feeding hogs in the "far country" he "came to
himself," according to Jesus. Did he, then, have a
"hogpen redemption?" Not at all! The hogpen didn't
save him, but he did get some sense knocked into him there it
was there his willfulness and rebellion left him, but he was
not saved until he got back to his Father. I have read about
men in the foxholes on the battle front getting saved. Did
they get a "war redemption?" Did the war save them?
No! No! No! Men in the danger and horror of war often begin
to think as they never thought before, but war does not save.
At best, it can only awaken them, and turn men to the Christ
they have ignored. And if they are saved at all it is because
they call in all sincerity upon the Saviour who died for them
on Calvary's cross.
Now the prodigal didn't have to go home. He
was not compelled to do so, no one dragged him. He wanted
to! But he didn't want to until all his money was gone and he
got to feeding hogs. The circumstances had to crowd in upon
his life which caused him to come to the place where he chose
to "arise and go to the Father." The heart of the
Father is calling, calling, calling to His wayward children,
"Come unto Me." Long before the prodigal son had
come to his home, the Father was waiting, and looking for
him. He saw him coming along the weary way, no longer with
servants attending, no longer in rich robes; but ragged,
poor, dirty, in wornout sandles, he came along the road, with
the stench of the swineherd and the stains of the fleshpots
upon him. Creeping along, sick, sore, and weary, he said,
"Oh, if I could but be one of my Father's hired
servants! "Is it he? Can it be - O God, can that be he
who left only a few months ago, so strong, so happy, so
bright, with the world all before him? Can that be he?"
"It is. It is he." Will the Father reject him? Will
the Father not say, "I gave him his portion and he has
spent it all in riotous living; let him stay away for
ever?" No, no. The Father saw him afar off, and he ran
and fell on his neck, and kissed him, not heeding his
filthiness and his rags. The Father interrupted the prayer,
after the son told him of his sin, that he might become a
slave in the Father's house; for there are no slaves in our
Father's house. They are all sons and daughters of the Most
High God.
Thank God for that! Why, then,
should we be slaves to Satan, and to sin, and to death, and
to hell? The Father took him and kissed him. He told the
servants to bring the best robe and the signet ring that made
him controller of his Father's estate. He told them to get
out the musical instruments and the dancers, and to make
merry and be glad. "Spread the feast, for this my son
was dead; dead to me; dead to mother; dead to purity; dead to
truth; dead to love; dead to God; and he is alive again. He
was lost and is found." Whenever judgment has done its
work; whenever a man comes to himself and says "I
will"; "I will arise and go to my Father, and I
will say to my Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
Your sight and am no more worthy to be called your son,"
then the Great and Eternal God and Father will take that man,
sin-stained and foul as he is in spirit, and in soul, and in
body, and He will make him whiter than snow. If you ask Him
to give you the lowest place as a servant, He will lift you
up, and kiss you and say, "My Son! My Daughter!" The robe of the Father's righteousness will be placed upon
you, you will be bountifully fed from His very own table with
the wisdom of His Word, and the signet-ring that gives you
power and authority over all things in His Kingdom, will be
upon your finger. Cleansed and robed and empowered by the
Father, you can go out and do His work. All creation groans
for the FIRSTFRUITS of His redemption to be revealed in all
the majesty and power and glory of their regained
inheritance! Blessed be God for ever.
God Gains Attention
You may remember the story of the man who
was trying to get his mule into the barn. The man was tugging
on the rope and pulling with all his might. He got behind the
mule and pushed; he put his shoulder to its back but he could
not budge the mule who just stood there, stifflegged, and
would not move. He could not get it into the barn! A fellow
walked up and watched for quite a while. Finally he said,
"Mister, I'll get your mule into the barn for you if you
like." The man stopped in astonishment and said,"
Can you?" He said," Of course, it is easy."
The stranger walked over and picked up a two-by-four, came
over to the mule, quietly lifted the two-by-four, and whacked
him on top of the head, right between the eyes. The mule went
a little crosseyed! Then he hit him behind the ears. Before
the mule could quite straighten up again, he struck him
underneath the chin. With that he took hold of the rope and
with two fingers led the mule into the barn! The man stood
there astonished. The fellow came out again and said,
"You see, mister, actually this mule is a very
cooperative critter. You just got to get his attention!"
Sometimes God has to GET OUR ATTENTION. And
to do that He chooses to use events which are instruments of
His judgment. God told Moses that the reason for His judgment
upon the Egyptians was to make them know that He is God.
Everything God does shows us something about who He is, but
in this instance of judgment God particularly expressed that
His intent was to show Himself to the Egyptians. And He was
successful in this, for in chapter eight of Exodus Moses
records the magicians telling Pharaoh, "This is the
finger of God." Our God has foretold the blessed era
when He shall be ALL IN ALL. How can God ever be ALL- IN -
ALL? Are there not some creatures and men too calloused and
hostile to bend to His omnipotence? Let each one who knows
Him as their ALL give answer thus: "He who has broken my
stubborn will and brought me to His feet can lead the most
obstinate to Himself." His will is more than a match for
any man's. Were it His decree to become their DOOM, they
could not stop Him. But as it is His will to become their ALL
(which is a far nobler, greater goal), their ALL He shall
become. His indignation may break and destroy pride and
rebellion for the ages, but His love will endure endlessly
and He will pursue all men until at last they surrender to
His love.
Ah, yes, God knows just how to GET OUR
ATTENTION! He can get it here and now. If He doesn't get it
here, He will get it in hell. If He doesn't get it in hell,
He will get it in the lake of fire. He will get it by
gracious words and tender mercies, if He can. But if not, He
will get it by severe judgments and awful wrath. But, blessed
be His name, He will get our attention!
God gives us power, in the positive realm,
to get men's attention, to subdue them to Christ. Jesus has
said, in effect, "All Authority has been given unto Me
in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, I give you
authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all
the power of the enemy. I give you this authority. I am
behind you, and all the powers of heaven are on your side.
Go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES." They were
a poor lot to go. They were nearly all fishermen, with one
honest tax-gatherer. If you can find one honest taxgatherer
in America, I think you might make him an apostle without
further investigation. These men whom Christ sent out were
uneducated for the most part. They had no political clout and
no social rank, until Christ took them in hand. They did not
know very much until He took them in hand for three years. It
was astonishing what He made of them. They did not realize
their mission until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and
brought to their remembrance the things which Jesus had said,
and showed them the meaning of Jesus' words after He had
risen from the dead, when, on the mountain side in Galilee,
He gave them authority to make disciples.
Dr. J. A. Dowie, years ago, related the
following incident: "A man said to me once, 'You talk as
if you could make people believe.' I said, 'I can; of
course I can. You give me a chance at you, and I will make
you believe before I am through.' He said, 'You will never
make me believe.' I said, 'Will you come and attend services
at Zion Tabernacle for ten consecutive Sundays, and see if I
cannot?' 'Yes,' he said, 'I will, but you will be just as far
away from it at the end of the ten weeks as you were at the
beginning.' I looked for that man every Sunday, and I studied
him from every point of view. I got to know all about him. I
got to know all of his meannesses. I got to know the
wickedness he had done. I 'spanked' him for about five
consecutive services. I had him writhing in his seat and
swearing under his breath, and wondering who had given him
away. Every now and then I would look at him from this
platform and say, 'I will have you yet.' He was wondering
what I meant; but he was breaking up fast. After about five
weeks I did not know if he would come any more. But on the
sixth Sunday I forgot about him and did not know whether he
was in the place or not. That day I said, 'There are some of
you whom I have been pounding, and I suppose you have about
come to believe that there is no hope for you anywhere on
earth or in hell.' Suddenly I saw him and said, 'There is
hope for you. You are a mighty hard case, but I will have you
today. You will be a disciple today. Dare you to put it off
any longer?' When I said, 'Stand,' I saw that fellow try to
sit when thousands arose, but he could not. Before the ten
weeks were up he said, 'Doctor, I surrender.' I said, 'All
right; come and be baptized next Sunday.' God enabled me to
MAKE HIM A DISCIPLE" -end quote.
But at times God has to use more severe
means. Some months ago I turned on my car radio while enroute
to a meeting on a Sunday morning and heard a preacher relate
a most interesting and illustrative story. He said, "I
remember a friend of mine that I was in school with. He was a
pastor in the East Texas oil fields at the time of the
explosion at the New London School. I shall never forget that
night when word came in over the radio that that school had
exploded and that over 300 boys and girls had been killed. I
was speaking the next morning on the radio in Dallas, Texas.
And that morning I directed everything I had to say to the
parents and loved ones of those boys and girls. We had cards
and letters from New England, from Cuba, from Mexico, from
all over the country.
"But this pastor friend of mine told
me this story. He said, In the parish in which I was the
pastor, there lived a man that had become suddenly rich. He
was a Texan who had become oil rich, even had put up a small
refinery. And he had made already several millions of
dollars. He had built a lovely home. He had a wife and two
beautiful boys. And the wife and two boys were Christians,
fellowshipping in our Church. And this pastor went on and
said, This man was the worst blasphemer I had ever met in my
life. I've never heard a man talk as that man would talk. He
would blaspheme God, curse God. And his wife was so concerned
about him and asked me to go see him. I went to see him, and
I've never been treated like that in my life. He cursed me
from the time I opened my mouth until I got out of earshot.
He called me everything that was in the book and some things
I didn't know were in the book. He was vile. His wife and one
of his little boys took sick during the flu epidemic and both
died at the same time. I went over that night to see them. I
went in and there sat the father and the little boy that was
alive. I went over and sat down beside them and began to
talk, and he began to abuse me again. And curse - I've never
heard anything like it! It was vile beyond description. He
blasphemed God's name. There was nothing left for me to do
but get up and walk out of there, which I did. I had the
funeral. The man wouldn't even speak to me. And he became
more vile after that. But all of the love that he'd had for
his family, and that seemed to be the only thing about the
man that was a redeeming feature, was now turned to this one
little boy that was left.
"That little boy was in the New London
School. This man, when he heard of the explosion, went out to
that school and went through that rubble like a madman until
he found the torn and twisted, broken body of that little
boy. Then he took it in his arms and walked up and down that
schoolyard like a madman until they actually took it away
from him and carried it to the funeral home. You know, I felt
it was my duty to go and talk with him. So that night I went
over to that big home, and I went in and there was that
little white casket and there he sat, the same place he'd sat
before. I just steeled myself for the cursing that I was to
get. I was afraid to say anything. I just sat down. Then that
great big hulk of a fellow looked up and our eyes met. He
hadn't cried before, but there were tears in his eyes. And
instead of cursing me, he said to me, God has been after me
all the time. He's tried to speak to me all my life, and I
turned my back on Him. He took my wife and my other little
boy, and I knew He was talking to me. But I was afraid of
what men might say, those I worked with and was associated
with. Oh, what a coward I've been. And now He's had to take
this one! Well, he said, God can have me now. And that man
got down on his knees beside that casket and took Christ as
his Saviour. The last time I saw that pastor friend of mine
he told me that that oil man was still serving God" -end
quote.
That man did not respond to the POSITIVE
witness of the Gospel of God's grace, so corrective measures
were needed, and God stretched forth His hand and brought
NEGATIVE forces into action, thereby getting his attention.
Once broken under the judgmental dealings of God, he knelt
before the Lord and received the goodness and mercy and
deliverance so graciously proffered. Hallelujah! It should be
clear to every thinking child of God that God does not use
the same means and measures with every man to bring them to
Christ. It would be very simple to fill this book with
instance after instance from Holy Scripture which loudly and
unmistakably proclaim the nature and purposes of all God's
judgments from the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden's
fair garden in Genesis to the blazing inferno of the lake of
fire in Revelation. But I would point you briefly to one
plain and positive illustration which proceeded from the lips
of our Lord Jesus Christ. "But and if that servant
say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and shall begin
to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink,
and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will APPOINT HIM
HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS. And that servant,
which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither
did according to his will, shall be BEATEN WITH MANY STRIPES.
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of
stripes, shall be BEATEN WITH FEW STRIPES. For unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and
to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the
more" (Lk. 12:45-48).
In this parable it is plain that Christ is
teaching degrees of punishment. The Christ teaches that those
who have committed things worthy of many stripes, will
receive many, and those who were ignorant, and with lesser
light did not know or understand the will of God, yet did
things worthy of stripes, shall receive but a few. Here is
set forth in the plainest of language not only varying
degrees of punishment, but also varying lengths of time for
the punishment. What ever the judgment typified by the
"stripes," it takes longer to inflict many stripes
than just a few, so it should not be difficult to understand
that some men are punished for a longer period of time than
others. The Word of God declares that the Judge of all the
earth shall do right, and I believe that He shall do just
that. As our children were growing up we did not have one
stock punishment for all their misdeeds. We suited the
punishment to the disobedience, yet we haven't granted the
same privilege to God! We have said that everyone is to
receive the very same common punishment, hell fire, and that
that judgment would endure for the very same length of time
for all - eternity! How, then, I ask, can some be beaten with
"many stripes" and others with "few
stripes" if all receive the same punishment of endless
hell fire? How foolish can we be! It is always extremely
foolish to hold to a doctrine that clearly contradicts the
Word of God.
I can almost feel the holy wrath, I can
almost hear the stinging invective of some who think they
have me now -"Ah, " they say, "but Jesus is
not talking in this parable about the condition of the lost;
He is teaching about the punishment of disobedient SERVANTS
OF GOD!" And you are so very right, my friend! We never
want to forget it. Nothing could be plainer, for Jesus
prefaces His remarks with these significant words: "Who
then is that FAITHFUL AND WISE STEWARD, whom his Lord shall
make ruler over His household, to give them their
portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that SERVANT, whom
His Lord when He comes shall find so doing. Of a truth I say
unto you, that He will make him ruler over all that He
has" (Lk. 12:42- 44).
There would be no answer to
your argument; I would be forced to throw up my hands and
admit that these words of our Lord apply only to the
correction and discipline of servants of the Lord, and have
absolutely no bearing whatever on the judgment of
unbelievers, or on hell, or on the lake of fire, were it
not for one significant statement that appears in verse
forty-six. The Lord says, "The Lord of that servant
will come in a day when he looks not for Him, and at an hour
when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will
APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE
U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-E-R-S." Do you see that? Ah, the
punishment of this SERVANT is the SAME PUNISHMENT as the
UNBELIEVER receives! He is appointed his portion WITH THE
UNBELIEVERS! The punishment, therefore, of this servant of
the Lord and the punishment of the unbelievers is equal,
identical, of the same intensity, for the same length of
time, the very same punishment, and that punishment
is? -MANY STRIPES! Not unending stripes; not everlasting
whipping; not eternal torment under the hands of the
tormentors; but - many stripes. And of what precise judgment
speaks our Lord when He commands "appoint him his
portion with the unbelievers?" What is the
"portion of the unbelievers?" Hear it! "But
the fearful, and UNBELIEVING ... shall have their part (portion)
IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNS WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE" (Rev.
21:8). The "portion of the unbelievers" is the lake
of fire. And not only are the unbelievers judged there, but
the unfaithful servants of God are dealt with there, too!
And, by Jesus' own words, this punishment is called
"many stripes," and is shown to be limited in its
duration and corrective and remedial in its nature.
The Lake
of Fire
I believe every word that the Bible says
about the lake of fire; I don't believe what Rome says about
it, nor what the apostate Churches say about it, nor what
tradition says about it; but I certainly believe what the
Bible says about it.
The teaching concerning the lake of fire
does not appear anywhere in Scripture except in the book of
Revelation where it is spoken of in the following passages:
Rev. 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10; 20:13-15 and 21:8. This last
passage definitely states, "But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death." There should be
no question remaining as to the certainty of this lake of
fire; neither should there be any doubt as to the awful
consequence of having to be cast into it. These Scriptures
with their dreadful foreboding should be a fearful warning to
all unthinking and foolish people who, because of their love
for the world, the flesh, and the devil, have dared to ask
why we should serve God now if all are going to be saved
eventually. Such people have no love for God nor fear of God,
and they manifest by what they say that their professed
serving of God is only a pretense, arising - not from any
true love for Him - but from fear of punishment. If there
were no prospect of hell these would promptly tell God to go
to hell and they would, themselves, go to the devil. It is
not thus with those who truly love God, for they serve
not from fear, but from pure love and devotion. Remove
punishment completely from the universe, and they would still
serve God with all their hearts.
Because of the gross misunderstanding of
almost all people concerning the lake of fire, I would like
to draw your attention to three words found in the passage
quoted above. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters,
and all liars shall have their part in the lake which BURNS
with FIRE and BRIMSTONE: which is the second death." The
word BURN means combustion, or to consume. To consume does
not mean to annihilate, for there is no such thing as
annihilation in the absolute sense. When fire consumes a log
in your fireplace it does not destroy any of the elements
within the log, it merely changes their form.
Combustion is the process by which chemicals combine to form
new chemicals. For example: a tree might be cut down, sawed
into fire wood, and burned. When the wood is burning the heat
causes the chemicals of which the wood is composed to
vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to form new
chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide. So
what was formerly a tree is no longer identified as the form
of a tree, but the substance thereof is now simply CHANGED
into a DIFFERENT FORM and exists in its new form within the
atmosphere as water, carbon dioxide, etc. Thus, to bum, means
to CHANGE. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that fire
does not burn down; it always burns up; it seeks the highest
level. And all that it consumes "goes up in smoke,"
to exist in a new form in a higher dimension. Even if you
take a pan of water and place it over a fire, before long the
water will take on the property of the fire and will begin to
go up in steam. To burn means to CHANGE, and the change is
always UPWARD in its motion.
FIRE is the heat and light that you feel
and see when something burns. It takes heat to start a fire,
but once the fire is started it produces heat that keeps the
process going. Thus, fire is really HEAT and LIGHT.
In my study of the lake that burns with
fire and brimstone I was very much helped and impressed by
the understanding given by Charles Pridgeon and I would like
to quote from his scholarly work on the subject of BRIMSTONE.
He says: "The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a
fire burning with brimstone; the word 'brimstone' or sulphur
defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION
translated 'brimstone' is exactly the same word THEION which
means 'divine.' Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the
ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to
cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they
burned it in their incense. In Homer's Iliad (16:228),
one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and
brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which
means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See
Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897
Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language,
a 'lake of fire and brimstone' would mean a 'lake of divine
purification.' The idea of judgment need not be excluded.
Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain
meaning in ancient Greek. In the ordinary explanation, this
fundamental meaning of the word is entirely left out, and
nothing but eternal torment is associated with it" -end
quote.
I realize that the above thoughts define
the subject very briefly, but let us summarize the meanings
thus: BURN means combustion; to change the form of. FIRE
means heat and light. BRIMSTONE means divine. Putting these
three together can we not see that the lake burning with fire
and brimstone is, actually, DIVINE HEAT AND LIGHT PRODUCING A
CHANGE! Is such a process eternal? All the laws of nature
shout that it is not! More than 2500 years ago the Holy
Spirit warned the wicked inhabitants of Jerusalem that God
would kindle a fire at Jerusalem's gates which would devour
her palaces. "But if you will not hearken unto Me ...
then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall
devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not he
quenched" (Jer. 17:27). Did not God say this fire
"shall NOT BE QUENCHED?" This prophecy was
fulfilled and the fire did occur a few years later and it did
destroy all the houses of Jerusalem (Jer. 52:13). Since God
said no person or thing would "quench" this fire,
did that mean that it would burn for ever? Since it
accomplished the work it was sent to do, and since it is NOT
BURNING TODAY, it obviously went out by itself after
accomplishing its purpose! Unquenchable fire is not eternal
fire - it is simply fire that cannot be put out until it has
consumed or changed everything it is possible for it to
change! It then simply goes out, for there is nothing more to
burn. Yet I hear the preachers ranting and raving about poor
souls being cast into bell fire where "their worm dies
not, and the fire is not quenched" and this, we are
told, means eternal, unending torment. How foolish,
illogical, and deceptive! Such a view contradicts the
plain meaning of the term "unquenchable" and its
use in the Word of God.
Are the judgments of God permanent? Isaiah
says, "When Your judgments are in the earth, the
inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness"
(Isa. 26:9). And Mat. 12:20 says, "A bruised reed shall
He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send
forth judgment unto victory." Judgment, therefore,
is not an eternal condition, but it is given to produce that
victory. Judgments of themselves do not save anyone, but they
are used by God to bring one to one's self, to effect a
change of attitude and will, to consume away the stubbornness
and rebellion of men. Punishment by fire is a beneficent one.
"Our GOD is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). The
basic purpose of this divine fire of God is to cleanse,
purify, purge, temper and change. It is to rid of impurities,
of filth, of undesirable elements. There is no better way to
deal with filth than to deal with it by fire.
The punishment by penal fire leads back to
the beginning of things. The final work of God in this world
will be the destruction of the world (order) by penal fire.
That will change all things. That will melt all the elements,
so that no man can tell you where his original grab was. It
will burn up all the governments, institutions, systems, and
fruitage of the carnal mind. It will melt all the customs,
cultures, traditions, and practices of society and make of
this earth a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Every
man's work will eventually be tested in this fire. The fire
will try every man's work of what sort it is. If you and I
build into our walls wood, hay, and stubble, that fire will
find it out, and the wall will come tumbling down. When God
turns on the HEAT, the BLAZING LIGHT OF HIS SPIRIT AND WORD -
some things begin to change! The fire is never sent to
destroy the PERSON, but to purge out all that hinders and
separates him from his God, to consume the pride, arrogance,
hostility, defiance, and rebellion of the flesh, the carnal
mind, that He might then be wooed and drawn by the Holy
Spirit unto the Father of Spirits and live.
More than three centuries ago when the
Black Plague swept through London, England, more than 68,000
men, women, and children were sickened with the putrid fever,
suffered nameless agonies, passed into delirium, sometimes
with convulsions, and then died. Before the end of the
terrible nightmare of anguish and death, what was thought to
be an even greater tragedy occured. The city caught fire, the
whole heavens were ablaze as the Great Fire destroyed more
than 13,200 homes and 89 churches. Most of the city, which
was built largely of wood, lay in ashes. Wonder of wonders!
As soon as the last dying embers cooled and the smoke
cleared, the inhabitants of the city discovered that the
Plague had been stayed! Not another person died of the
epidemic. The Plague never returned. The fire had killed the
bacteria-carrying fleas and rats that caused the Plague. It
took a fire to do it! Fire is a great cleanser, purifier, and
changer.
We all know that a horse must be broken,
that is, its will must be broken before it is of any
practical use to man. God put that will in the horse, but it
must be broken and made to conform to the will of man. Just
as surely did God put the will in man, BUT IT MUST BE BROKEN
and we will benefit by the very process of breaking. Man may
do a lot of crying and wailing, but when he is broken to HIS
will, what a wonderful condition it is. God may take man over
some rough places, even through the lake of fire and
brimstone, but the love of God will break every man to His
will.
If you think the Kingdom of
God is rosewater, or eau-de-cologne, you are mistaken. You
cannot war on the devil with that. You cannot war on the
carnal minds of men with that. You have to make war on the
world, the flesh, and the devil with a sword sharper than any
twoedged sword. You have to make war on the carnal mind with
fire, divine fire that must burn up every inherent altar of
Baal, and lick up the very dust around. Make no mistake! OUR
GOD is a consuming fire! He is man's "horse
breaker" and He will break you, precious friend of mine,
and bring you to the foot of the cross of Jesus no matter how
hot He has to build the fire around you! Even if long ages of
fiery judgment and tormenting darkness fall upon you, they
will last no longer than till the Great Fire of God has
melted all arrogance into humility, and all that is self has
died in the bloody sweat and all-saving cross of the Christ,
which will never give up its redeeming power till sin and
sinners have no more a name among the creatures of God.
The
Second Death
The book of Revelation is a book of
symbols. In the introduction to this marvelous book the
beloved John explains, "The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things
which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified
it by His angel unto His servant John" (Rev. 1:1). The
word "signified" is from the Greek SEMAINO meaning
to indicate or communicate by means of signs and symbols. The
meanings of all the symbols of the Revelation are given,
either in the book itself, or elsewhere in the Scriptures.
The first things John beheld when in Spirit was One like unto
the Son of man, standing in the midst of seven golden
candlesticks, holding seven stars in His right hand. The One
like unto the Son of man is identified as the resurrected and
glorified Lord, for this One says, "I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last: I am He that lives, and was
dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:10,
17-18). The other symbols of that first vision are
interpreted as follows: "The mystery of the seven stars
which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels (messengers)
of the seven Churches: and the seven candlesticks which
you saw are the seven Churches" (Rev. 1:20).
Children in school learn what we call
definitions. A definition is an explanatory statement which
tells us exactly what a certain thing is, as "an island
is a tract of land completely surrounded by water." God
also gives us definitions in His Word. He tells us exactly
what certain things are. And in the Scripture just quoted He
has told us exactly what the seven stars and the seven
candlesticks are. Those are God's definitions. And in Rev.
20:14 God tells us exactly what the SECOND DEATH is.
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH." Now let me make this a little
plainer. Definitions of men can be given backward. For
instance, the definition, "An island is a tract of land
completely surrounded by water," can be given thus:
"A tract of land completely surrounded by water is an
island." This is but another way of stating the same
fact. It does not, in any way, change the meaning. Now let us
try this on the definition of the second death. The Bible
states it thus: "Death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. THIS IS the second death." Now let us turn this
around for clarity. "The second death IS death and
hell cast into the lake of fire." Therefore we have
exactly the same meaning either way it is stated. What is the
second death? It is the first death and hell cast into the
lake of fire! This fact is very IMPORTANT. The second death
is not merely the lake of fire. The second death is not men
being tortured for ever in the lake of fire. The Holy Spirit
has made it very simple and plain. The second death is the
first death and hell CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. That is the
Holy Spirit's definition, not mine.
Can we now open the eyes of our
understanding to see that everything cast into the lake of
fire pertains to DEATH? Death itself is cast into the lake of
fire. Hell, the realm of the dead, is cast into the lake of
fire. And those whose names are not written in the Book of
Life, those who are dead, in trespasses and in
sins, who inhabit hell, are cast into the lake of fire. That
is the end of death and hell and sin, for God shall destroy
death in the lake of fire, He shall burn up hell in the lake
of fire, and He shall consume sin and rebellion in the lake
of fire. How I long to see the end of sin and death and hell!
The time is coming, praise His name! when God's Kingdom shall
be All in All, and there shall be neither sin, nor sinners,
nor death, nor hell. It is clear that God does not destroy men
in the lake of fire, nowhere does it say that, for that would
be a contradiction of terms. How can you destroy death by
creating death? How can you abolish death by bringing men
under the power of eternal death from which there is no
escape? Oh, no, it is not men who are destroyed in the lake
of fire - it is SIN and DEATH and HELL that are destroyed.
"And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"
(I Cor. 15:26). Thus, the lake of fire is nothing more nor
less than THE DEATH OF DEATH!
The following words by Ray Prinzing give
fresh insight into this wonderful truth: "The offence of
the first Adam brought all men under the sentence of death
for sin. Hence presently our mortal bodies are in a state of
dying, while our minds need to be freed from minding the
things of the flesh, to mind the things of the Spirit. The
act of disobedience of Adam brought forth death. Now, the
obedience and work of righteousness of the last Adam also
brings forth a death for every man. The question arises, Is
the SECOND DEATH the same kind of death as the first? Many
people think that it is a repetition of the first, and that
the results are the same, while its action is more severe and
cruel, and destructive, being by fire. And some Christians
add very sorrowfully, 'and from this second death there is no
resurrection, it is an endless torment in agony,' BUT NOT SO!
For God's seconds are never duplicates of the first, they are
always better, higher, and more powerful than the firsts, and
used to counter-balance all the action of the firsts, and
MUCH MORE - He always saves the best until last.
"All Bible statements prove that the
two deaths are absolutely UNLIKE, and that the two are
opposite and antagonistic. The second death undoes all the
work of the first death in the same manner that the last Adam
undid all the work of the first Adam. Not to nullify the
purpose being wrought out by the plan of God in the firsts,
but to bring a release from the firsts in a MUCH MORE manner
of majesty and glory and power and scope of coverage, into
the greater and glorious things of God. Creation was made
subject to vanity for a purpose! Sin was allowed for wise
ends, but when those ends have been secured it will have to
cease to exist. The purpose is not nullified, but the means
whereby the purpose has been executed shall be done away.
Discipline is a means to an end, but not an end in itself, it
leads up to the 'AFTERWARDS YIELDING THE PEACEABLE FRUIT OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS.'
"The first Adam died to God and
righteousness, and became alive unto sin. The last Adam died
unto sin (Rom. 6:10), and lives unto God, and so fulfills all
righteousness. The first made all men sinners, the last makes
all men righteous. The lives and the deaths of the two Adams
are thus greatly contrasting the one to the other. The FIRST
DEATH was a transition from life to death, the SECOND DEATH
is a transition from corruption to incorruption, from
mortality to immortality. Transformed from the carnal mind to
the spiritual mind, which is life and peace, which
transformation is wrought by a dying out to the one realm, to
come alive to the higher realm. Because - the second death is
prepared to purge out and burn away sin and its results, and
so doing cleanse all of God's universe.
"Death came as an enemy, the fruitage
of an act of disobedience that turned man away from God and
into the realm of carnality, minding self and flesh. Now God
makes death overcome itself. It is by death that death is
rendered powerless, and there arises an upspringing, a new
life. It takes death to destroy death, and thus Christ 'did
taste death for every man' - 'that through death He might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage' (Heb. 2:9,14-15). Since we are
all under the effects of the first death, it is appointed
unto us to die once more - not physical death, we are already
in a state of mortality - but now a dying out to this present
death state. We conquer this death of the carnal mind by
dying to it - only God could use such a process bringing
victory, but praise God, He is destroying the first death
with the second death!
"All the Crucifixion, our
identification with the cross of Christ, must first be
accepted by faith as a fact, and then the working of it in
and through us is a process. If it is done now, through our
yieldedness to the call and the claims of Christ upon us, we
won't have to face it later, in what is called 'the lake of
fire,' which is the second death. The passing through that
lake of divine purification will thoroughly purge out the
last remaining fragments of the rebellion and waywardness of
man, till the mystery of iniquity is no more, and then the
carnal mind being abolished, death is no more" -end
quote.
It is true that some men are cast into the
processing of the lake of fire. But what a disreputable lot!
"...the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable,
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death." These are men saturated with the power of the
first death - dead in trespasses and in sins, sold under sin,
slaves to every devilish passion, possessed of corrupt and
perverse natures, obsessed with every evil device,
unrelentingly driven by the spirit of the world, the flesh,
and the devil. And nothing God has done has yet broken these
stubborn wills or brought these men to repentance. The wages
of sin has not broken them. The harvest of evil has not
broken them. Hell has not broken them. The tender mercies of
the Lord have not broken them. The Spirit has faithfully told
us of a second death into which unbelieving and incorrigibly
wicked men shall surely go. They go there with death and with
hell. The second death will be an experience and a period of
time similar to this first death we are now experiencing, but
much more terrible and severe than anything we now know. The
penalty of sin is very great. The processes of God to break
the resistance of willfully wicked men are extremely severe.
Not only in this present age do they smite us, but in that
second death which is to come. It can only be described as
the "lake of fire." This terrible death is reserved
for those who have not profited from the previous judgments
and still need further correction to subdue them to the will
of God. When the process is complete, and the last sinner has
emerged from the discipline with a broken and contrite
spirit, having learned the lessons of the awful fruit of
man's "own way," fully yielding to the Lordship of
our Saviour, then at last shall be fulfilled the beautiful
promise: "And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He
will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be NO
MORE DEATH, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And
He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make ALL THINGS
new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true
and faithful" (Rev. 21:3-5).
Whatever we hold as the nature of the death
state, may we let this truth sink deep into our hearts: DEATH
IS TO BE ABOLISHED. The ringing declaration, "The LAST
enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Cor. 15:26),
overthrows the whole structure of accepted, but unproved,
theology which shuts up the mass of the human race in
"eternal death." When the "last" enemy is
abolished it is self-evident that none remains. Those
wretched religionists who demand the endlessness of death,
who argue for eternal torment in the lake of fire, the second
death, do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of
God. The lake of fire MUST end because death and hell are
cast into it, which is the second death, and in the end THERE
SHALL BE N-O M-O-R-E D-E-A-T-H.
No more death! No more first death. No more
second death. No more of any kind of death. To say there is
no more death is to say that there are no more sinners, for
sinners are DEAD MEN, dead in trespasses and in sins. To say
there is no more death is to say that God has not
"burned up" all the wicked and left them dead, or
in hell, for as long as any creature of God is in a state of
death, death is not abolished. To say there is no more death
is to say there is no more hell, for hell is "the realm
of the dead." To say there is no more death is to say
there is no more a lake of fire, for the lake of fire IS the
second DEATH. To say there is no more death is to say there
is no more sin, for "the wages of sin is DEATH."
What a universe of truth is contained in three little words:
NO MORE DEATH!
This grand truth seems to be
almost unknown in the Church systems. Although the very
climax and fulfillment of all revelation, it has been
eclipsed by human perversions. As a result the God of the
popular Churches has lost the essential attributes of Deity.
He is like the foolish man who started to build but could not
finish. Man's theology brings nothing to a conclusion. It
attains no definite goal. Sin, suffering, and insubjection
are never conquered. Death is never destroyed. Redemption is
never fully secured. God is compelled to work an eternal
miracle in order to maintain a never-ending eyesore in His
creation, once so subject, so sinless, and so good. He has to
eternally keep His great foot on the lid of hell; for if even
one of the devils should get out there would be hell
everywhere! But death in all its forms shall be destroyed
until it shall be said, "There is no more death!"
Jesus is Conqueror! Then shall every creature in the universe
bow and in glad chorus sing, "O death, where is they
sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is
sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto
God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ!" (I Cor. 15:55-57).
Not Hurt Of The Second Death
There is a strange and wonderful statement
found in Rev. 2:11. "He that has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says unto the Churches; He that overcomes
shall not be HURT of the second death." I would draw
your attention to the fact that it does not say that the
overcomer experiences nothing of the second death, that he
does not pass through it, or that its work is not wrought in
his life; but the thought is that he will not be
"hurt" by it. It is possible to pass through the
most terrible experience and not be hurt by it. Listen!
"And these three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in
haste, and spoke, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we
cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They
answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered
and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of
the fire, and they HAVE NO HURT; and the form of the fourth
is like the Son of God" (Dan. 3:23-25). Oh, to know that
we can pass through the darkest night or the hottest fire and
not be hurt by it if Jesus goes with us! How heartening and
assuring to read such promises as these: "When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they shall not overflow you: and when you walk
through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither
shall the flame kindle upon you" (Isa. 43:2).
The word "hurt" is from the Greek
ADIKEO meaning to be unjust, do wrong, injure or offend.
Armed with this understanding we may paraphrase Rev. 2:11
thus: "He that overcomes shall not be done an injustice,
wronged, injured or offended by the second death." The
great difference between the unbeliever and the child of God
is that the unbeliever is taken hand and foot and
"cast" into the lake of fire, fighting, kicking,
screaming, cursing, and resisting all the way, while the
child of God willingly and obediently walks into the fiery
processings of God hand in hand with his blessed Redeemer.
And, one way or the other, ALL MEN MUST DIE UNTO SIN.
When the natural man becomes the spiritual
man, the great change is described by the Holy Spirit as a
passing from death unto life. Before the transistion
occurred, the practical difficulty was this, how to get into
harmony with the new environment of the Kingdom of God? But
no sooner do we enter into the Kingdom of God than the
problem is reversed. The question now is, how to get out of
harmony with the old environment of the flesh, the world, and
the devil? The moment the new CHRIST LIFE is begun there
comes a great anxiety to break with the old, for the
regenerated spirit has nothing in common with the old. The
former way of life now becomes embarrassing. Because of
"sin in our members" it refuses to be dismissed
from our consciousness. It competes doggedly with the new
nature of the Christ. And in a hundred ways the former
traditions, the memories and passions of the past, the fixed
associations and habits of the earlier life, now press in to
draw us to walk after the flesh, complicating the new walk.
The complex and bewildered soul, in fact, finds itself
confronted by two contrasting faculties, the flesh and the
spirit, each with urgent but yet incompatible claims. It is a
dual consciousness of a double world, a world whose
inhabitants are deadly enemies, and engaged in perpetual
civil war! The position is perplexing. It is clear that no
man can attempt to live both lives. No man can walk both
after the flesh and after the spirit anymore than one can
walk down two roads at the same time.
His testimony will agree with the apostle
who wrote: "For I know that nothing good dwells within
me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I
cannot perform it. I have the intention and urge to do what
is right, but no power to carry it out; for I fail to
practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds I
do not desire to do are what I am ever doing. Now if I do
what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it it is
not myself that acts - but the sin (principle) which dwells
within me. So I find it to be a law of my being that when I
want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with
me and I am subject to its insistent demands. For I endorse
and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self - with my new
nature. But I discern in my bodily members - in the sensitive
appetites and wills of the flesh - a different law at war
against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the
law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs - in the sensitive
appetites and wills of the flesh. O unhappy and pitiable and
wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from
the shackles of this body of death?" (Rom. 7:18-24,
Amplified).
To walk both after the flesh and after the
spirit is morally impossible. "No man," as Christ
so often emphasized, "can serve two masters." And
yet, as a matter of fact, here is the new-born child of God
being in relation to both worlds - flesh and spirit. With sin
and purity, with light and darkness, with God and the devil,
the confused and undecided soul is now in relation. What is
to be done in such an emergency? How can the New Life deliver
itself from the ever-persistent call of the flesh?
The ready solution of the difficulty is -
TO DIE! Not for our "old man" to die, for he is
already crucified with Christ, but for us to DIE TO SIN, or
to KILL THE EVIL DESIRE LURKING IN OUR BODILY MEMBERS. To die
to any reality is to withdraw correspondence with it, to cut
ourselves off from all communication with it. The solution of
the problem will simply be this, for the spiritual life to
REVERSE CONTINUALLY the processes of the fleshly life. The
spiritual man having passed from death unto life - the
fleshly man must next proceed to pass from life unto death.
Regeneration of the spirit in short must be accompanied by
degeneration of the flesh, the carnal mind. And this DEATH
PROCESS is the SECOND DEATH - the DEATH OF DEATH! Now it is
no surprise to find that this is the process everywhere
described and recommended by the Holy Spirit! Paul asked the
burning question, "Who will deliver me from this body of
death?" and swift came the answer, "O thank God! -
HE WILL! through Jesus Christ our Lord! " (Rom.
7:24-25).
Listen to the words of the apostle as he
presses this beautiful truth home to the hearts of the
understanding saints in Colosse: "If then you have been
raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing His
resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek the rich, eternal
treasures that are above, where Christ is, seated at the
right hand of God. And set your minds and keep them set on
what is above - the higher things - not on the things that
are on the earth. For as far as this world is concerned you
have died, and your new real life is hid with Christ in God.
So KILL (DEADEN, DEPRIVE OF POWER) the evil desire lurking in
your members - those animal impulses and all that is earthly
in you that is employed in sin: sexual vice, impurity,
sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and
coveteousness, for that is idolatry. It is on account of
these very sins that the holy anger of God is ever coming
upon those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will,
the sons of disobedience, among whom you also once walked,
when you were living in and addicted to such practices. But
now PUT AWAY AND RID YOURSELVES COMPLETELY OF ALL THESE
THINGS: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and
slander and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from
your lips! Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped
off the old unregenerate self with its evil practices, and
have clothed yourselves with the new spiritual self, which is
ever in the process of being renewed and remolded into fuller
and more perfect knowledge upon knowledge, after the image
(the likeness) of Him who created it" (Col. 3:1-10,
Amplified).
Let me repeat - all men shall die to sin.
Some lovingly submit to God's dealings that the dreadful
death of the carnal mind in their members may be
"mortified" or put to death, while others must be
subdued and broken under the severe heat of judgmental fire.
The former pass through the death to self - but are not
"hurt" by it. In dying by a living and active faith
to everything of the flesh, and living by the indwelling
power of the Holy Spirit, a perfect work is wrought in which
everything that is in any way opposed to God is brought to
death. These become what God seeks in order to satisfy His
heart. In the measure that we are identified with the cross
of Christ, and made conformable to His death, in which it is
no longer our will but HIS, in that measure we are
"dying out" to the first death, via the process of
the second death, the death of death, our whole being coming
up in the likeness of His resurrection. The second death, the
destruction of the carnal mind and its hostility and enmity
against God, is not to be feared by the blood-bought over-
coming saints of God - it is God's arrangement whereby all
the effects of the first death shall be disannulled, and all
carnal-mindedness shall cease. For us who willingly submit to
this process "no man takes our life from us, we lay it
down." But for those who will not lay it down, I do not
hesitate to say that IT WILL BE TAKEN FROM THEM.
To quote the timely words of Ray Prinzing
once more: "Now - while we see the victory of the
ultimate, a complete triumph over death, first death, second
death, ALL DEATH to ultimately be brought to an end, there is
a present-tense application which is before us. God has
apprehended in this hour, as in all preceding generations, a
remnant in whom HIS SPIRIT is working, and they are becoming
daily experiencial partakers of His death, overcoming all the
desires and lusts of the carnal mind. To those who now
OVERCOME, the same shall not be 'hurt' of the 'second death,'
when it is manifested in its more severe forms, as portrayed
in the term of being 'a lake of fire.' Praise God, with the
inworking of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to overcome all the
evil of this present age, and all the carnal mind, we shall
not be done an injustice by the second death. THE WHOLE
PROCESS IS UNTO VICTORY. There may be suffering involved, for
indeed, it means death to all our pre-conceived ideas, death
to all the rebellion of our self-will, but it also means that
we shall be loosed, set free from the shackles that bind, and
with the inflow of His life we shall walk in the glorious
liberty of the sons of God" -end quote.
Make no mistake about it.
There are multitudes who shall resist God until the extreme
measures He must use to subdue them are beyond our
comprehension. For them the second death shall hold terror,
and will prove a most painful experience. Let us die now! Let
us die to sin now! Let us die to our own stubborn wills now!
Let us die to our fleshly ways now! Let us take the cup of
suffering and submit to the refining fires now! Let us arise
in the newness of HIS LIFE now, to be conformed to His image.
He that overcomes NOW shall not be HURT by the second death!
Tormented in The Presence
of The Lamb
The words torment, tormented, tormentors,
and torments occur twenty-one times in the King James
version, and all in the New Testament. Three of these are in
connection with the lake of fire. Let me give you the
quotations. "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 (MESSENGERS)
AND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LAMB: and the smoke of their
torment ascends up for ever and ever (Greek: unto the ages of
the ages): and they have no rest day nor night..." (Rev.
14:10-11). "And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for
ever and ever (Greek: unto the ages of the ages - see Part
One of this series -'Just What Do You Mean ...
ETERNITY!')" (Rev. 20:10).
Notice please, in both instances, the
subjects are tormented with fire and brimstone, and we have
previously established what the fire and brimstone are. But
Rev. 14:10 sheds further light, those are also tormented by
and through another agency, which in reality sums up and
constitutes the fire and brimstone, and that agency is THE
PRESENCE OF THE LAMB and the holy angels, or messengers. What
an amazing divine paradox! The Lamb - precious embodiment of
the very character of innocence, patience, meekness,
gentleness, holiness, sacrifice, and redemption - being made
TORMENT to men for whom He died! The very thought seems
incongruous. You see, dear ones, IT IS NOT THE NATURE of a
lamb to torture anyone. It is simply not in the nature of the
lamb to want to hurt in any way. Really! What could a lamb do
to torture anyone? It has no capability for such a thing. And
so it is with the LAMB OF GOD! The Lamb of God has no desire,
no ability to inflict torture in any way - His desire is
entirely redemptive - that men might have life and have it
more abundantly! I cannot imagine One with the nature of a
lamb packing poor lost souls like brick into a kiln, standing
there blowing the fires of hell through them for ever. Such a
grotesque representation charges the blessed Redeemer with
crimes more heartless than those of Adolph Eichmann.
Ah, the torment comes not from the Lamb.
The torment lies within the bosoms of the tormented. The
Scripture does not say that the Lamb torments them! If you
think it does, you are mistaken. It states that THEY ARE
TORMENTED IN THE PRESENCE of the Lamb. What a thought!
TORMENTED IN THE PRESENCE. The Lamb is merely present. He
does not torment. The condition is within themselves. Because
they are wrong and sinful in nature, wicked in their hearts,
selfish in their minds, and impure in their desires, they are
CONDEMNED IN THEIR CONSCIENCES by the very PRESENCE of the
pure, holy, sinless, selfless, sacrificing Lamb of God. Hell
is at its fiercest when it sees heaven, and not till then.
When these realize the presence, or the character of the
Lamb, they are tortured in their consciences, for in the
Light of the Lamb they see themselves for the wretched little
devils they are. The very PRESENCE of TRUTH torments the
deceitful and the liar. The very PRESENCE of HOLINESS
torments the immoral and corrupt. The very PRESENCE of LOVE
is torment to the mean and hateful. The PRESENCE of Him who
is the PRINCE OF PEACE is torture to those who live by
violence and the sword. The very PRESENCE of the LIFE OF THE
LAMB is the most awful torment and torture to all the
opposing forces, both deceiver and deceived, until all the
deceit and hostility has been taken out of them, and they
come to KNOW THE LORD. When these have been exposed for a
sufficient time to the PRESENCE of the Lamb, the Lamb will
overcome them; His love and power will conquer their hearts;
the rebellion and waywardness will be taken from them and
they will at last ENJOY the Presence of the Lamb!
When the maniac of Gadara encountered the
Christ the devils cried out, saying, "Have You come here
to TORMENT US before the time?" (Mat. 8:29). IT WAS
TORMENT FOR A POSSESSED PERSON TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE
CHRIST. It is torment for any enemy of God to be ushered into
the presence of God. Anyone who is unacquainted with God and
happens to come into a group who are worshipping and praising
God, is in torment all the time he is there. The sooner such
a person can leave, the better he likes it. Such an
atmosphere is hell for that person! Why is it so hard to get
your unsaved loved ones and friends to go to Church? They are
unhappy and miserable in a Church meeting! They are tormented
when with the saints worshipping God. They are estranged from
God, citizens of the devil's kingdom, and cannot relate to
the praises of God, the moving of the Holy Spirit, giving
tithes, and the Word that is ministered. This all makes them
unhappy and uncomfortable.
Peter Marshall said that when the apostles
preached the Gospel there were either riots or regeneration.
The fact of the matter is that in most cases there were both,
for the same Gospel melted some hearts and turned others to
stone. People were led either to faith in Jesus Christ or
they were stirred to the most violent animosity and enmity.
Jesus Christ has always been either a stone of stumbling or
the sure foundation stone. We build upon it or we stumble
over it and are crushed by it. Riots or regeneration! Joy
unspeakable and full of glory or torment!
A person under deep conviction is
tormented. Tormented with what? He is tormented with the fire
of God's holy presence, the fire of His penetrating, burning
Word. He has no peace or rest, day or night. His conscience
troubles him continually. When you and I were under deep
conviction for our sins and past life we were tormented by
the Holy Spirit, the presence of God. And we had no rest day
or night. When we were finally broken by the Holy Spirit's
dealing and repented and confessed those sins to Jesus, we
cried often and shed many bitter tears of remorse and regret.
THAT, my friend, is exactly what the rebellious will do in
the ages to come as God deals with "every man in his own
order." There was no short cut to salvation for us, and
there will be none for them. In some cases it took months and
years, sometimes a lifetime, of preaching and dealings to win
our hearts to the Lord. And I am sure that it will take much
preaching and many dealings along with the convicting power
of the Holy Spirit to win the ignorant, disobedient, and
defiant masses who lived and died in this world outside of
Christ.
A brother in the Lord shared this
illustration of wicked people being tormented in the presence
of the Lamb: "A few years ago, we often preached to ALL
the women in the state penitentiary for women. They were
forced to sit and listen while we sang about Jesus, talked
about Jesus and preached about Him. Some wept, some stared,
and some faces showed bitter hatred toward us. Others seemed
to writhe and twist in mental anguish and physical torment.
Why? Because they were forced to listen. There was
no escape" -end quote.
Suppose a few filthy, vile men and a few
immoral women from some house of prostitution were forced
to sit in the midst of a large congregation of singing,
shouting, worshipping saints. This certainly would he
torment to most of them. They would be tortured in the
flames of the blazing glory of God in that place! If they
were not held in their seats by force, most of them
would rush out of there. I have been in meetings where I
witnessed three responses to the glorious manifestation of
the Lord's presence. First, the saints who loved the Lord
rejoiced and adoringly worshipped. Some who were not
Christians, but whose hearts were tender toward the Lord,
came under deep conviction and, weeping and broken, gave
themselves into the loving hands of Jesus. But others, filled
with self, haters of righteousness, I have seen jump up and
literally run out of a meeting - TORMENTED IN THE
PRESENCE OF THE LAMB! Sure, they would rush, even run to get
away from the convicting power of the Holy Ghost! I have seen
it, and so have you.
To the unsaved, HIS GLORY is a LAKE OF FIRE
AND BRIMSTONE - divine, cleansing, purging, purifying,
consuming fire! In ages yet unborn God shall expose ALL MEN
to the sweet abiding presence of the Lamb. They will come
under such severe processings, under such profound conviction
that they will be tormented and have no rest day or night
until they finally yield. And when they do, many fountains of
tears will flow with weeping, praying, and calling upon the
Lord.
I believe it!
God hasten it!
J. Preston Eby
Saviour of The World Directory
The Lake of Fire
by
Elwin Roach
If you would like to receive
these studies write to:
J. Preston Eby
P.O. Box 371240
El Paso TX 79937-1240
All writings are
distributed on a free-will basis.
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