The Kingdom of God WILL Come.

How many of you reading this right now long for our Savior, Jesus Christ, to return?  We long for His return desperately, don't we? If we don't then we need to do a lot of studying and praying to find out why. Jesus came to earth taking on flesh in order to save us sinners. Jesus died and was raised again to life everlasting and His entire message while He walked the earth before and after His death was all about the Kingdom of Heaven.  The kingdom we should all long to belong in. This earth is so incredibly temporary and yet people have it in their minds that it is all there really is, that there is no Heavenly Kingdom for us to belong to, the kingdom that Jesus will take us all to upon His return to us when He will call us to MEET Him in the air. So many things we believe are all important now will not matter at all whatsoever when our Savior returns. 

We long to be His and not others! We long to be a part of His kingdom forever and ever, for always.

Placing our hope, ALL our hope in Christ and the Kingdom He preached, we need to realize as we live our lives day by day that the kingdom is REAL, as REAL as any vacation spot we can think of, real as ANY place on earth.  Most people cannot travel anywhere they want to go to in the world but they can dream about traveling. People can desire to travel without ever traveling. We MUST all desire to travel with Christ to heaven on that glorious day of His appearing, and we must desire this as a reality, and only as a reality.

Please, Lord, we would be YOURS with YOU in YOUR kingdom, take us there to be with You when You return for us, please. All by YOUR will, YOUR grace, YOUR mercy, YOUR love everlasting.

And please, Lord, please be with Josh Warren tonight who is in the hospital- bless Him and help Him to heal. 

All in Your name, Jesus, all in Your name!

*******+

Daniel and Revelation - Revelation Chapter 20

VERSE 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  12.   And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  13.   And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  14.   And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  15.   And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

With verse 11, John introduces another scene to take place in connection with the final doom of the ungodly. It is the great white throne of judgment, before which they are assembled to receive their awful sentence of condemnation and death. Before this throne the heavens and the earth flee away, so that no place is found for them. A moment's reflection on the changes which must then take place in the earth will bring out the great force of this language. The scene is that of Peter's

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p 744 -- burning day, which is the "perdition of ungodly men," and in which even the "elements" melt with fervent heat. 2 Peter 3:7-13. The city is then located upon the earth, the foundations of course extending under its whole area, so that it will not be affected by any changes that may take place, or any conditions which may exist, in the earth beneath it. Fire comes down from God out of heaven.

First, the works that are in the world are burned up; and by the poisonous gases evolved, and the flames, the wicked are destroyed; this is the fire of Gehenna, which contains all the elements necessary to consume utterly every mortal being that comes under its power (Mark 9:43-48); and then will be fulfilled Isa. 66:24: "And they [the righteous] shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

Secondly, the heat is raised till all the material of which, this globe is composed, is fused like the ores in a smelter's furnace, and the whole earth becomes a fluid, fiery, molten mass. Upon this the city floats, as the ark of Noah floated upon the waters of the flood. Then will be fulfilled Isa. 33:14: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The answer, in the following verses, shows it to be the righteous, and this must be the time when it will be fulfilled. 

Thirdly, there is one stage more to be reached. It is well known that with a sufficient degree of heat, any substance on this earth can be reduced to the condition of gas, and thus become invisible. So will it be then with this whole earth. The heat being raised to a sufficient degree of intensity, would not the whole earth be converted into gas, and become invisible, and thus appear most literally to flee away, so that no place is found for it? The city would then seem to be, as virtually it would be, suspended in mid-heaven.

But the elements are not destroyed. They are only, by that process, purged from the last and minutest taint of sin, and every token of the curse. The almighty fiat again goes

p 745 -- forth, "Behold, I make all things new. ... It is done" (Rev. 21:5, 6), and the particles combine again to compose a new world; and there, beneath the wondering and admiring gaze of all the redeemed and the angelic host, the work of creation is gone through with again. At the first creation, tho morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38:7. At this new creation, that song and shout will be augmented by the glad voices of the redeemed. So will this earth, wrenched for a time, by sin, from its intended orbit of joy and peace, be brought back, renewed, into harmony with a loyal universe, to be the everlasting home of the saved.

The Books of Record. - Men are judged out of the things written in the books, from which we learn the solemn fact that a record of all our deeds is kept on high. A faithful and unerring record is made by the angelic secretaries. The wicked cannot conceal from them any of their deeds of darkness. They cannot bribe them to pass over in their record any of their unlawful acts. They must meet them all again, and be judged accordingly.

The Execution of the Sentence. - The wicked are to be punished according to their works. The Scriptures declare that they shall be rewarded according to their deeds. There are, then, to be degrees in the punishment of the wicked; and it may be asked how this can be harmonized with the view that death is the punishment for sin, and comes upon all alike. Let us ask believers in eternal misery how they will maintain degrees in their system. They tell us the intensity of the pain endured will be in each case proportioned to the guilt of the sufferer. But how can this be? Are not the flames of hell equally severe in all parts? and will they not equally affect all the immaterial souls cast therein? But God can interpose, it is answered, to produce the effect desired. Very well, then, we reply, cannot he also interpose, if necessary, and graduate the pain which will attend the infliction of death upon the sinner as the climax of his penalty? So, then, our view is equal with the common one in this respect, while it possesses great advantages over it in another; for while that has to find its degrees

p 746 -- of punishment in intensity of pain alone, the duration in all cases being the same, this may not only have degrees in pain, but in duration also; inasmuch as some may perish in a short space of time, and the weary sufferings of others be long drawn out. But yet we apprehend that the bodily suffering will be but an unnoticed trifle compared with the mental agony, that keen anguish which will rack their souls as they get a view of their incomparable loss, each according to his capacity of appreciation. The youth who had but little more than reached the years of accountability, being less able to comprehend his situation and his loss, will of course feel it less; to him of older years, more capacity, and consequently a deeper experience in sin, the burden of his fate will be proportionately greater; while the man of giant intellect and almost boundless comprehension, - who hence possessed greater influence for evil, and so was the more guilty for devoting his powers to the service of that evil, - being able to understand his situation fully, comprehend his fate, and realize his loss, will feel it most keenly of all. Into his soul the iron will indeed enter most intolerably deep. And thus, by an established law of mind, the sufferings of each may be most accurately adjusted to the magnitude of his guilt.

That the degree of suffering which each one is to endure is taken into the account as a part of the punishment of his crimes, is evident from Rom. 2:6-10. Paul, here speaking of the future "judgment of God," says:   -

"Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality [he will render], eternal life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness [he will render], indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile."

The Book of Life. - Why, it may be asked, is the book of life brought forth on this occasion, when all who have part in the second resurrection, beyond which this scene is located, are already forejudged to the second death? At least one apparent reason is, that it may be seen that none of the names of all

p 747 -- the multitude who die the second death are in the book of life, and why they are not there; and if the names have ever been there, why they were not retained; that all the intelligences of the universe may see that God acts with strict justice and impartiality.

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." This is the final epitaph of all the forces that have risen up, from first to last, to oppose the will and work of the Lord Almighty. Satan originated and led out in this nefarious work. A portion of heaven's angels joined him in his false position and murderous work; and for him and them the everlasting fire was prepared. Matt. 25:41. Men become involved therein only because they join him in his rebellion. But here the controversy closes. The fire is to them everlasting because it allows of no escape. The second death is their punishment, and it is "everlasting punishment " (Matt. 25:46) because they never find release from its dread embrace. "The wages of sin is death."

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Reader, is your name written in the book of life? Are you striving to avert in your own case the fearful doorn that awaits the ungodly? Rest not till you have reason to believe that your name is registered in the list of those who are to share at last in the blessings of eternal life.