Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Heed or don't heed, be blessed or cursed, you decide.

Revelation-VERSE 7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,  8.   And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.  9.   And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  10.   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 forever and ever.

(Excerpt taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)

The Perdition of Ungodly Men. - At the end of the one thousand years, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, in which the saints have dwelt in heaven during that period, comes down, and is located upon the earth, and becomes the camp of the saints, around which the resurrected wicked come up, numberless
p 740 -- as the sand of the sea. The devil deceives them, and thus brings them up to this battle. They are induced to commence an impious warfare upon the holy city, in prospect of some advantage to be gained by fighting against the saints. Satan doubtless persuades them that they can overcome the saints, dispossess them of their city, and still hold possession of the earth. But fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. The word here rendered devoured, Professor Stuart admits is "intensive," and signifies "to eat up, devour, so that it denotes utter excision." (Hudson's Christ our Life, p. 146.) This is the time of the perdition of ungodly men, - the time when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and when the works that are in the earth shall be burned up. 2 Peter 3:7, 10. In the light of these scriptures, we can see how the wicked are to receive their recompense in the earth (Prov. 11:31); we can see also that this recompense is not eternal life in misery, but an "utter excision," entire and complete destruction. 

The Wicked Never Tred the New Earth. - Two views deserve a passing notice at this point.

The first is that the earth is renewed at the second coming of Christ, and is the habitation of the saints during the thousand years; the other is that when Christ appears the second time, he sets up his kingdom in Palestine, and performs, in connection with his saints, a work of conquest over the nations left on the earth during the thousand years, and subdues them to himself.

One among many objections to the first view is that it makes the wicked, in their resurrection, come up, with the devil at their head, and tread with their unhallowed feet upon the purified and holy earth, and the saints, who have held possession for a thousand years, are obliged to yield the ground, and flee into the city. But we cannot believe that the saints' inheritance will ever be thus marred, or that the fair plains of the earth made new will ever be soiled with the polluting tread of the resuscitated wicked; for besides outraging all ideas of propriety, there is no scripture from which even an inference can be drawn to support it.

And as to the second view, one among many of its absurdities
p 741 -- is that notwithstanding Christ and his saints have conquered the earth during the thousand years, at the end of this period the wicked get the upper hand of them, they lose their territory, the work of a thousand years is undone, and they are compelled to beat an ignominious retreat into the city for shelter, leaving the earth to the undisputed sway of their foes. Those who wish, may rack their brains in trying to harmonize the inconsistencies and absurdities of such theories, or may endeavor to draw consolation from the dubious prospect. For ourselves, we prefer better employment and a brighter hope.

A Thousand Years In Heaven. - In contrast with these theories, there is a beautiful harmony in the view herein presented; namely, that the saints are with Christ in heaven during the thousand years while the earth lies desolate; that the saints and the city come down, and the wicked dead are raised and come up against it; that the latter there receive their judgment; and that from the purifying fires which destroy them come forth the new heavens and the new earth, to be the abode of the righteous throughout endless ages.

The Subjects of Torment. - From verse 10, some have argued that the devil alone was to be tormented day and night; but the testimony of this verse is more extensive than that. The verb "shall be tormented" is in the plural, and agrees with the beast and false prophet; whereas it would be in the singular number if it referred to the devil alone. It will be noticed that in the expression, "where the beast and the false prophet are," are is a supplied word. It would be more proper to supply the words were cast, answering to what was spoken of the devil just before. The sentence would then read, "The devil was cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet were cast." The beast and false prophet were cast in there, and destroyed, at the commencement of the thousand years. Rev. 19:20. The individuals of whom those organizations were then composed, now come up in the second resurrection, and a similar and final destruction is visited upon them, under the names Gog and Magog. 

The Lake of Fire. - Some reader may be inclined to ask for a definition of the lake of fire. As a comprehensive definition,
p 742 -- may it not be called a symbol of the agencies which God employs to close up his controversy with the living wicked at the beginning of the thousand years, and with all the hosts of the ungodly at the end of that period? Literal fire will of course be largely employed in this work. We can better describe its effects than the thing itself. At the second coming of Christ, it is the flaming fire in which the Lord Jesus is revealed; it is the spirit of his mouth and brightness of his coming, by which the man of sin is to be consumed; it is the fire in which great Babylon shall be utterly burned. Rev. 18:8. At the end of the thousand years, it is the day that shall burn as an oven (Mal. 4:1); it is the fervent heat that shall melt the elements and the earth, and burn up the works that are therein; it is the fire of het "prepared for the king" (the devil and his angels, Matt. 25:41), the pile whereof is deep and large, and which "the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle." Isa. 30:33. It is the fire that comes down from God out of heaven. (On the expression, "tormented day and night forever and ever," see on chapter 14:11.)

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The lake of fire is REAL.

Does it exist right now?  No.

Will it exist? Yes.

As the earth is left desolate the horrors of its destruction are unlike anything we've ever witnessed.  On a small scale we might know devastations - tornados, earthquakes, floods, fires, hurricanes, yes we know the horrors they bring but only on a small scale, not worldwide.

Our tragedies where thousands, hundreds of thousands are killed, will be nothing compared to the billions who will perish in the worldwide travesty of the last days to come. As the saints are raised to heaven- the living and the dead- to live with Christ their Savior for 1000 years, the wicked will be perishing, every last one of them. The evil angels and Satan alone will be left chained to the earth in all its desolation without a single human to deceive.  And for 1000 years it will be like that and only after that 1000 years will the new Jerusalem- the heavenly city where Jesus and God the Father are the temple within, will descend to earth.

Rev_21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

This will happen! This all will happen and if you are reading this, you do not have to believe it, nothing can force you to believe it, nothing. This is prophetic truth that we have been given and we can either heed it or dismiss it entirely. May God bless us and help us to heed all that He would have us heed! May we be blessed as promised a blessing upon reading and keeping the word of this book, all by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, now and forever and ever. AMEN.

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