Purified Through Truth

 Purified your souls in obeying the truth

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

Let's break this down-

How do you purify your soul? You purify it by…

Obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.

You obey the truth through the Spirit, this is how it is done. Obeying TRUTH. That truth then leads you to…

unfeigned love of the brethren.

Therefore you…

love one another with a pure heart fervently.

Obeying truth leads to love. We know God is love, and Jesus, as one of the Gods we serve said that He is …the way, the TRUTH, the life.

People get confused and believe they can love without obeying truth. They've separated love into its own entity beyond truth. They claim love is Jesus, so love as Jesus loves but they don't comprehend that Jesus lived a life of PURE TRUTH. Jesus lived truth, because He is truth. Now, what is this truth that is Jesus? First what does the word truth even mean?

It means the state of being true. True means in accordance with fact or reality. A fact is something proved true. Reality means things as they actually exist.

Obeying truth, the reality of Jesus and all that He is in every facet.

Recently I had a discussion with someone about Jesus and the Royal Law, the Ten Commandments, and how Jesus didn't do away with a single one of them, they were all a part of His truth. He did clarify them, the ones that people were finding a bit difficult such as adultery, and murder. What had to be clarified about these? The fact that in your mind and in your heart you can sin without committing the actual act of adultery or murder. Fantasizing about sex outside of your marriage is, in truth, adultery. Desiring to murder someone is holding the hatred inside without letting it out and it is as if you had murdered them.

People say, "No! That's not true! I may have wanted to have sex with that other person, but I didn't I stopped myself from doing it. I wanted to kill that person, but I restrained myself because I knew it was wrong. I did not sin, I did not commit adultery or murder!" They are correct in that they did not physically go through with the acts of sin, BUT unless they repented of those lusts that they indulged in their minds and STOPPED altogether lusting to have sex outside their marriage or murder someone, it's still consuming a part of their heart.

Recognizing our sins in our thoughts is very important! If people recognize the sin in their thoughts more there would be a lot less physical actions towards those sins.

How many actual adulterers spend a lot of time fantasizing about committing adultery only to end up actually doing it, and the same with murder. How many people get consumed by murdering someone- planning it over and over, telling themselves they wouldn't do it, and there is no harm in thinking about it, but then the line is crossed over into the physical action? By definition, murder is planned. When a person allows themselves to hate without censure consoling themselves with the fact they aren't sinning in action, they are only fooling themselves.

Jesus told us we can sin in our thoughts and indulging our thoughts of sin is in fact… a sin.

Jesus also went on to tell the rulers in the church of his day that they had put too many restrictions on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to be a blessing not a burden, not nitpicking at every single action committed. They had the audacity to believe healing someone on the Sabbath was wrong! Jesus told them it was a good thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a beautiful institution given to mankind out of love and the rules and regulations went far beyond what God intended in the lessens He was teaching us of love. Loving Him and loving others.

Are the Ten Commandments truth that Jesus lived? Yes, they are. They are a part of the revelation of His love.

As a parent we put restrictions on our children to protect them, restrictions with consequences should those restrictions be ignored. We don't put restrictions on our children because we hate them and want them to suffer. We do it because we love them and want to teach them things that are good for them because they are unable as children to comprehend the things that could be harmful to them.

We are forever Children of God and He too wants to protect us, to teach us, to guide us. To say the guidelines have been done away with would be ludicrous, especially when they were guidelines Jesus himself endorsed.

People confuse the doing away with 'laws' and not being 'under the law' as meaning the Ten Commandments are obsolete. Ceremonial laws were in place that were definitely done away with when we learned that only through Jesus we are save by grace and not offering our own sacrifices as if that can save us.

Laws exist so that the punishment is known for the ones who would break the laws. Those keeping the laws and not desiring to break them, and have no reason to fear any punishment. I don't live a life in fear of being caught stealing- because I don't steal. Because I don't steal doesn't mean the law should be abandon. The law is there for everyone to know there are consequences to their actions should they choose to disobey. You aren't guilty of being a thief if you've never stolen anything, you aren't under that law, it's not pointing you out to be guilty- because you're not.

Obeying the truth- nothing but the truth- all the truth that is Jesus, living love, that is Jesus. Don't strip Jesus' life down to his living as he pleased without any regard to anyone or anything. Jesus lived his life as His declared Father could approve and He lived it perfectly, resisting every single temptation He encountered and not consenting to a single one.

Love. Obeying the truth through the Spirit--- causing unfeigned love of other, causing true, genuine love for others, loving each other with a pure heart fervently! God is love! He loves us fervently.

1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

We KNOW we love the children of God WHEN we love God and KEEP his commandments! Not my words, God's word!

Luke {10:25} And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

{10:26} He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

{10:27} And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy

mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

{10:28} And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

Thou has answered RIGHT, THIS DO and thou shalt live!

1 John {4:7} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

{4:8} He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

{4:9} In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

{4:10} Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.

{4:11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

{4:12} No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

{4:13} Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

{4:14} And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world.

{4:15} Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

{4:16} And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

{4:17} Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

{4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

{4:19} We love him, because he first loved us.

{4:20} If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

{4:21} And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

What do you suppose would happen if suddenly there was no profit at all in being a doctor? No profit at all. What if being a doctor earned you about as much as your average grocery clerk? Stay with me here, this is all hypothetical and we're not going to get into the cost of education and all that. Right now, all the doctors in the world have been forgiven all their educational debts so that's not an issue, neither is malpractice insurance, that's all gone too. They have no extraordinary debts or costs to pay out, no more than your average grocery clerk. How many people do you suppose would become doctors if there were no money in it? If it weren't for the prestige and wealth? How many?

It's easy to see today when you're shoved into a waiting room packed with people and have to wait hours just to get shoved into another room alone to wait some more. And then the doctor comes in and spends more time fiddling with their little computer looking at your records and fussing about than they do looking at you. Oh yes, it's easy to see that hurrying up and trying to diagnose you, the answer a pill or two, a blood test or four, a urine test here and a x-ray there, let's just see what's what as quick as possible there are many more cattle needing to be herded through the place before the day is over. Are we even real to these people? Maybe I'm being harsh, or maybe not harsh enough. All I know is it makes me wonder how many people go into the physician field solely for monetary reasons and in truth they care very little about the people they'll be treating.

I know we like to think that not many do that, and you may be thinking me totally wrong because you've got the best, most caring doctor ever, but the truth is it's not like that for everyone.

Loving your brother.

Love meaning caring more for them than yourself.

How often does that happen?

I saw evidence of it not too long ago when my daughter (2008) who has a bad back and numerous health issues started pushing the car of a stranded woman to help her out. I was floored. I was a little angry too, how dare she do such a thing, didn't she know she could hurt herself more! She obviously felt helping the stranded woman was more important than worrying about her health. Stupid? I wanted to think so, but in truth isn't that what's important? Helping others and not caring about yourself?

All too often thoughts of self comes first- how does *this situation* affect me? Will I like this? Will it be an inconvenience to me? Do I have other plans? What's this to me? Self first, and if all is satisfactory on my end then maybe I can think of someone else.

God help me. God help us. Love has nothing to do with self. Nothing. Love has everything to do with others. Everything.

Love God. Love others.

There is No commandment to love yourself.

That ol' love others as yourself, doesn't mean loving yourself, it means love others as YOU would want to be loved.

If we had to love ourselves first and love others that way it would only be an obstacle especially for those that concentrate on loving themselves before they love others, there is nothing selfless in loving yourself. No, I'm not saying hate yourself. I'm saying self is important truly only in the sense that we do all we can to remain healthy and such so that we may respect our lives because God loves us and would have us love others. We're not here on earth to serve ourselves, but to serve God and others.

Mark {8:35} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

John {15:9} As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

{15:10} If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

{15:11} These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.

{15:12} This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

{15:13} Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

{15:14} Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command

1 John {3:16} Hereby perceive we the love [of God,] because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.

{3:17} But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

{3:18} My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

{3:19} And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him

Amen. (Revised from Nov. 29, 2008)

If God Can Forgive Us We Must Forgive Ourselves

 

C. S. Lewis, “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

Letter to Miss Beckenridge, April 19,1951

The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis. Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950–1963. Ed. Walter Hooper. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2007: 109.

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As the evil we've committed becomes more apparently evil to us, so too does the temptation to despair of ever being without the weight of that evil. Despair tries to lure us into a place of hopelessness, of no longer believing. We begin to think that our evil selves can never be forgiven, we're just too evil for that to happen.  

What we are doing is recognizing that we are powerless. Despair wants us to let that powerlessness we feel makes us despondent.  Christ wants us to let that powerlessness make us feel DEPENDENT upon Him, and His ability to forgive us. 

We must allow ourselves to comprehend the depths of Christ's ability to forgive us. He is the power in our lives, we are powerless in and of ourselves. We aren't going to gain our own powers outside of Christ's to fix ourselves, not ever. Christ will forever be the power that forgives and brings hope to our hopelessness. 

If you begin to fall prey to hopelessness try to recognize at once that you are looking to yourself for hope and not to Christ, where your ONLY hope exists. 

So, how do we truly believe in Christ's forgiveness when Satan and his minions are constantly reminding us of how very awful our sins are? I read once somewhere that Satan only brings up the sins that are forgiven already, because he doesn't want us to notice any sins we haven't asked forgiveness for. He'll terrorize us with our forgiven sins, why? Because as already mentioned, he wants to bring us to despair, to hopelessness that will keep us from truly believing in Christ's forgiveness.

To not forgive ourselves is in reality believing that Christ can't forgive us. 

It's only through HIS forgiving us that we are able to forgive ourselves. You will never find true forgiveness in and of yourself, without Christ forgiving you first. You forgiving yourself means nothing. 

If Christ has forgiven you, and you've forgiven yourself because He has, it won't mean that you won't feel the weight of that sin ever again. Satan will try to make sure we feel the weight, hoping to lead us eventually down his path. Satan won't stop trying to tempt us to take our eyes off God and put them on ourselves. 

What better way is there for Satan than to hold up the horrors of our past in front of us, slapping a sticker on them that reads - UNFORGIVEN. Satan wants us to believe because we see the sin in our memories, because we feel the weight of that sin, that it isn't forgiven.  

To God, our sins are GONE once they are truly repented of, and forgiveness is sought, all by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Yes, I said those sins are gone. The punishment that sin stands for no longer exists, it's been paid in full.  This is FAITH. And it is faith in Christ's righteousness, NOT OURS.

To think we have any power within us to forgive ourselves and make ourselves whiter then snow, is ludicrous. 

When we say we are forgiving ourselves what we are really saying is … we accept and believe Christ forgives us and that is more than enough.

Don't forget God forgives us our sins as we forgive others. The Lord's Prayer doesn't read- He forgive us our sins as we forgive ourselves. 

C.S. Lewis stating…  “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

… is speaking truth, because GOD forgives us first and we accept that we are forgiven by Him, or else, we are negating God's forgiveness and trying to find another way to be forgiven, our own way. 

We must forgive others as completely as we want God to forgive us- giving those who have sinned against us to God to judge while we step back out of the picture completely. We forgive them because we ourselves need forgiveness.  We tell them that we are sinners too, just like they are. They are in need of God's forgiveness, just like we are.

If we had no sin at all in our lives we could condemn them, we would not have to forgive them… but our sins have condemned us, and we need forgiveness.  We recognize we are sinners and our seemingly white lying sinning, might be more deep down evil than their blatant sins that seem atrocious on a level of depravity we are sickened by.  

Sinners one and all. We MUST forgive those who sin against us if we are to believe Christ can forgive us our sins.  That sin, all sin, warrants death. The wages of sin is death-- all sin. 

The gift of God is eternal life through, Jesus Christ our Lord.    Romans 6:23

If you really believe God has forgiven you, then you must believe in that forgiveness,  not hold onto to your sins believing you aren't forgiven, because if you do then you are calling God a liar. 

Choosing not to forgive yourself is making yourself a god thinking you should have the power to forgive yourself.

When Satan gift wraps our forgiven sins in a box- our terrible, horrific, awful, disgusting, disgraceful, incomprehensible sins, and hands that box to us, we have to rip off the wrapping paper, open it up, hold it upside down, shake it and watch nothing fall out as we tell Satan, it's empty- our sins are forgiven. 

We might have to do that several times a day for who knows how long. Satan won't stop trying to use our forgiven sins against us, not ever. 

After showing Satan that empty box, pull out your gift box from God and tell Satan, God's gift supersedes any gift of his, God's gift is FORGIVENESS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.  

Cling to the gift of God tightly and never let go!

Strong Delusions

 In Paul's day around 51-52 AD, he wrote about  'the mystery of iniquity' and how it was 'already' working. (2Thess.2:7)  We know for a fact that 1,974-75 years later in the year 2025 that iniquity still abounds.  (Iniquity- wickedness, lawlessness, unrighteousness) No one who lives in this world today can tell me that iniquity doesn't fill our world to overflowing.

Paul the Apostle, spoke of the fact that even in the brand new Church there was wickedness, lawlessness, unrighteousness.  He also went on to say the mystery would remain a mystery- until it can no longer be so and THEN THAT WICKED would be revealed. Basically, Paul was saying there was the a mystery wouldn't be understood until a later time. Eventually that Wicked (that which produced the iniquity) would be revealed. And that revealed Wicked would then one day be consume with the spirit of Christ's mouth, destroyed by the brightness of the Lord's return.

Paul KNEW way back then 1,974-75 years ago, an evil that was started would continue on until the return of Christ, at which time Christ would destroy THAT WICKED. Paul goes on to give us even more insight into THAT WICKED - it will be one whose coming is after the working of SATAN. So, it's not SATAN himself, this is a WICKED that has its beginning in the early church and will continue in the church throughout time until Christ's return.

Think about that for a very long moment. So many people think that the early church was pure, spotless, wonderful, but it wasn't! Right away, only twenty years after Christ's crucifixion, there was INIQUITY, THAT WICKED whose coming was after the working of SATAN, was in the church!  Let that sink in. 

How is that possible you ask?  Because of this…That revealed WICKED one whose coming is after the working of Satan -- comes with ALL power, signs, lying wonders, deceivableness of unrighteousness.. And the worst thing…

Those that PERISH are going to do so because they are the ones caught up in the power, the signs, the lying wonders, and deceivableness of unrighteousness. Why will they perish? Because they are allowing themselves to be caught up in all that wickedness-- and they won't RECEIVE a love of the truth!!!  They won't receive truth that they might be saved! 

And worst still… it's not bad enough that they choose to believe lies rather than truth, they do so in such a way they cut themselves off from ever being able to learn the truth! And because they've cut themselves off from truth, which is GOD, which is JESUS, God is going to send them STRONG DELUSIONS, so those who want to be deceived, will be deceived. God allows them to live in the deceptions they've embraced. 

God sent His declared SON who was uniquely begotten, and all the truth of God was embodied in His SON. Jesus was living TRUTH. And still people are going to be deceived. Don't think for one minute being in a church, or being a follower of Christ will keep you from deception. Those in the first church were not exempt and people haven't been exempt throughout time in the many, many divisions of what was once the early church. The early church became corrupted, as Paul said, a deception would cloud the minds of those who believe they are truly Christ's, but are not. 

Why, because they received NOT the LOVE OF TRUTH that they might be saved! 

TRUTH.  When we know truth, when truth is revealed to us and we discount it as unimportant for any reason, we are accountable for that denial of truth. When we refuse to search for truth claiming Jesus as our Savior while ignoring all the truths He gave to us in His short ministry upon earth and even after, through the Apostles and men of God speaking as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and… yes, even this… if we ignore the truths in the OLD TESTAMENT- the word Jesus told us explicitly that speak of HIM, that He was even with Moses- 

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 

1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 

1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 

…then we are ACCOUNTABLE for our choosing to ignore truth that is found throughout God's word! Whose commandments do you think were given on Mount Sinai? Christ was with Moses as they journeyed to that Mount and received those commandments. Christ Jesus during His ministry upon earth, enlightened us to the truth of those commandments, and some were more strict than they allowed for and others less strict than others allowed. He was teaching the true meaning of those TEN ROYAL LAWS. He never did away with a single one of them! He brought them to life. He wanted the TRUTH of keeping them to be revealed!  And yet, so many people ignore these facts, despise the truth and are comfortable with their strong delusions that God will allow. He won't force a single person to believe. We all make our choices, but when we choose Jesus we are choosing TRUTH and all that entails. We will all be accountable for our actions, our beliefs, the truth we follow. If we believe a truth that is filled with deception, if we do not receive a love of the truth, that delusion we are allowed is to let us THINK we are true Christ followers when we are anything but true Christ followers. Satan has the majority of people on the wide path comfortably numb to their deceived state. All those people will be damned who don't believe the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. They'll enjoy their deluded existence. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 

2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

Righteousness is pure, unadulterated truth, and therefore unrighteousness is a pack of lies.  And even sugar-coated, honey-dipped, lies are worthy of damnation.  No one who is damned will have been forced fed their deceptions, they willingly partake of them. 

God help us ALL to only seek truth and in seeking truth, seek our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ always!

State of the Wicked Dead Pt 4. - Concluded

 The Rich Man and Lazarus

By J. N. Andrews

Concluded…

Lazarus died a beggar. But he rests in hope, an heir to the inheritance promised Abraham. Eternal life and endless felicity are his, and by personification it is said that he is "comforted." 

Dives(Rich Man) lives in the greatest splendor, and dies an impenitent man. The lake of fire is to be his portion. personification, he is represented as in it already. This is in accordance with the teaching of Paul, when he says of God that he calleth things that be not as though they were.

That is, God speaks of things that exist only in his purpose just as though they had a present existence; because they shall surely exist; even as he called Abraham the father of many nations, when as yet he had no son. Gen. 17; Rom. 4:16, 17.  

This is the more clearly seen when we consider that to Lazarus, in the silence of hades, there will not be a moment between his death, at the gate of the rich man, and his resurrection to eternal life, and not a moment to the rich man between the closing of his eyes in death, and his opening them in the resurrection to damnation.

  

That we have done right in hearing the testimony of "Moses and the prophets" on this subject, we have the authority of the parable itself to show. And we have this further evidence of the truth of this exposition that, without doing violence to a single text, we have a divine harmony on the subject of the dead in hades, in all that is said by Moses and the prophets and by Christ and the apostles.  

That those who conversed together are not disembodied spirits, but personified dead men, is further proved by the following facts: 

1. Not one word is said of the spirit of any person named. 

2. This conversation takes place in hades, which the sacred writers affirm to be in the depths of the earth. 

3. The persons named are men that had lived, the one clothed in purple, the other covered with sores, and both were then dead. But these dead men have bodily organs, as eyes, fingers, tongues, etc. 

But the truth on this point is sealed by the fact that Lazarus could only return to warn the rich man's brethren by being raised from the dead. 

"Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" -Gr., ean tis ek nekron anaste. It was not whether the spirit of Lazarus should descend from the third Heaven, but whether Lazarus himself should be raised from among the dead ones. This shows that the conversation did not relate to the coming back of disembodied spirits; and in fact that they were not disembodied spirits that here conversed.  

The parable of Dives and Lazarus does not therefore teach the present punishment of the wicked dead. And as there is nothing else on which to rest the doctrine, it must be given up as having no foundation in the Bible. The testimony shows that the wicked dead are asleep in sheol, where they await the resurrection to damnation. The following texts show that the resurrection and judgement of the wicked take place before they are punished; a doctrine in the highest degree reasonable, and sustained by many plain testimonies.  

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to RESERVE the unjust unto the day of Judgement to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9. The day of Judgment must arrive before the retribution of the ungodly.  

"The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. 3:7. The perdition of ungodly men comes at the Judgment. 

 

"The wicked is RESERVED to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Job 21:30. The next scripture will explain this.  

"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29. 

 

The wicked are first raised and judged, then afterward cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15.  

Vengeance is taken upon all the ungodly together when the Lord comes with his saints. Jude 14, 15.  

The wicked are cast into the furnace of fire at the end, and not before. Matt. 13:30, 39-43, 49, 50.  

The burning day is the time when the wicked meet their fate. Mal. 4; Ps. 21:9.  

The wrath of God waits till the day of wrath. Rom. 2:5-9.  

Tribulation to the ungodly comes in connection with the advent of the Saviour. 2 Thess. 1. 

 

The wicked dead are not punished till after the seventh trumpet. Rev. 11:15, 18.  

The Judge says, "Depart from me, ye cursed," and then, for the first time, the ungodly enter the furnace of fire. Matt. 25:41.  

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NOTE.  The reader will observe that texts are quoted in this tract with words sheol or hades, instead of grave, or pit, or hell; which our English version uses.  This is because sheol, or hades, is the word used in the original Hebrew or Greek Scriptures.  See the lists above.

Webster defines personification thus: "The giving to an inanimate being the figure or the sentiments and language of a rational being; prosopopoeia, as 'Confusion heard his voice.'" 

     He defines personify thus: "To give animation to inanimate objects; to ascribe to an inanimate being the sentiments, actions, or language, of a rational being, or person, or to represent an inanimate being with the affections and actions of a person.  Thus we say, the plants thirst for rain.  'The trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou and reign over us.'"   Judges 9.

     He defines prosopopoeia, or intense personification, thus: "A figure in rhetoric by which things are represented as persons, or by which things inanimate beings, or by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present.  It includes personification, but is more extensive in its signification."

The State of the Wicked Dead Pt. 3

 The State of the Wicked Dead Pt. 3

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

Psa 115:17  The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 

By J. N. Andrews

CONTINUED…

Sheol, the invisible place or state of the dead, is IN THE EARTH BENEATH. 

Though it is rendered grave thirty-one times, it is not the word usually so rendered in the Old Testament; for it embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave. Eze. 32:18-32. 

All the passages which speak of the location of sheol, or hades, represent it as beneath. It is always in the interior of the earth; sometimes it is in the nether parts of the earth. Num. 16:30, 33; Ps. 141:7; Isa. 5:14; 14:9-20; Eze. 31:15-18; 32:18-32. 

Referring to the fire now burning, in the heart of the earth, which shall at the last day swallow up the earth in its fiery gulf, Moses represents the Almighty as saying, "For the fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest sheol, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains." Deut. 32:22. 

Jonah went down into sheol when, in the belly of the whale, he descended into the depths of the mighty waters, where none but dead men had ever been. Jonah 2:2. Korah and his company went into sheol alive; that is, the earth swallowed them up while yet alive. Num. 16.  

The righteous do not praise God in sheol. Thus David testifies: "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in sheol who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 6:5. 

And Hezekiah, when delivered from death in answer to prayer, expresses the same great truth: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of sheol; I am deprived of the residue of my years. * * * * Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my SOUL delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth." Isa. 38:10-19; Ps. 115:17; 146:1-4.  

The wicked in sheol are silent in death. Thus David prays: "Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in sheol." Ps. 31:17. See also 1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 115:17, last clause.  

Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, and worms. "So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, not be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in sheol, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." Job 14:12-15. 

"If I wait, sheol is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of sheol, when our rest together is in the dust." Job 17:13-16; 4:11-19; Ps. 88:10-12.  

There is no knowledge in sheol. Thus writes the wise man, the Spirit of inspiration bearing testimony through him: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, no device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in sheol, whither thou goest." Eccl. 9:4-6, 10.  

Such are the great facts concerning sheol, or hades, as revealed to us in the books of "Moses and the prophets." Yet we have the following cases in these same writings in which the dead in sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, converse together, and are comforted or taunted by each other, or in which they weep bitterly, refusing comfort.  

The case of the king of Babylon is a noted instance of this. When he is overthrown, and goes down to sheol, the DEAD (for sheol has no others in its dark abode) are stirred up to meet him. The kings that had been conquered and destroyed by the king of Babylon in the days of his prosperity now rise up from their thrones in that dark abode, and mock him with feigned obeisance as in life they had rendered real homage. Now they taunt him, saying, "Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?" Those that see him shall narrowly look upon him, saying, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?" Isa. 14:9-20.  

Pharaoh and his army, slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon, are set forth in the same manner. The slain upon the field of battle being buried indiscriminately, and friend and foe cast down together into pits, into the "nether parts of the earth," into sheol, "the strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol." And this sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, full of the dead, is contrasted with "the land of the living." These slaughtered soldiers went down to sheol with their weapons of war, and their swords they "laid under their heads." Pharaoh, lying among them, and seeing the multitude of his enemies that were slain, is "comforted" at the sight. See this remarkable prophecy, Eze. 32:17-32; 31:15-18.  

Perhaps the case of Rachel is even more remarkable than these. Long ages after her decease and entrance into sheol, a dreadful slaughter of her posterity takes place. Upon this, Rachel breaks forth into lamentation and bitter weeping, and refuses to be comforted, because her children are not. Then the Lord says to her, "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord." Jer. 31:15-17; Matt. 2:17, 18; Gen. 35:18-20. 

That Rachel did literally weep and shed bitter tears at the murder of her children nearly two thousand years after her entrance into sheol, no one will assert. Nor will it be maintained that the slaughtered Egyptians and Chaldeans lying in sheol with their swords under their heads were able to converse together in the nether parts of the earth; and that one was literally "comforted," or the other literally "ashamed." Equally difficult is it to believe that the kings who had been overthrown by the king of Babylon were literally seated on thrones in sheol, deep in the earth, and that when he was cast down to sheol they arose from their thrones and mocked him, declaring that he was now become weak as they. Please compare the following texts on the king of Babylon: Jer. 51:39, 57; Dan. 5:1-4, 30; Isa. 14:4-30.  

Taking our leave of "Moses and the prophets," whose testimony on this subject has the direct endorsement of our Lord, let us return to the case of Dives ((Note: Dives means Rich in Latin)) and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-31. Lazarus lived in the deepest poverty; too helpless to walk, or even to stand, he was laid at the rich man's gate; he had no other food than the crumbs, perhaps grudgingly bestowed, from the table of the rich man; and no other nurses than the dog which licked his sores. In process of time, death comes to his relief; but his burial is not mentioned, though that of the rich man, who died soon after, is distinctly named. It is likely that the dead beggar, covered with sores, was disposed of with as little trouble as possible; in the sight of man, he had the burial of a dog; but this poor man, forsaken of all earthly friends, and apparently unnoticed of Heaven, had, unseen to mortal eye, such a burial as the wealth of the whole world could not command. The angels of God took part as his bearers to that quiet resting place from which, by-and-by, when hades gives up the righteous dead, at the sound of the last trumpet, they shall take him up through the air, to meet his triumphant Redeemer. Till that time, we leave him asleep in Jesus, resting in hope, with Abraham the father of the faithful, and all the ancient worthies who have not yet received their promises. Heb. 11:8-16, 39, 40.  

The rich man lived in luxury, faring sumptuously every day. To the eye of all beholders, his lot was envied, and that of the beggar to be despised. But he dies, also and of him it is recorded that he was buried. All that wealth could purchase, all that pride could exhibit of earthly pomp and grandeur, were, no doubt, displayed at his funeral. But there were no angels of God to participate in it. He had lived for himself, neglecting the great preparation for the future. He goes down to hades a lost man, there to wait until the resurrection to damnation. As the Douay Bible reads, "He was buried in hell," i.e., in hades, or sheol. There he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then, as though calling to mind the littleness of the favors he had bestowed on Lazarus, he asks a favor at the hands of the despised beggar - the smallest indeed that he could ask - that Lazarus should dip the tip of this finger in water to cool his tongue. This being denied, he asks that Lazarus may be sent to warn his brethren. And this also was refused, because they had Moses and the prophets, whose testimony was sufficient.  

This scene transpires in hades, or sheol, which, as we have seen, is in the nether parts of the earth. The place is one of darkness and silence, where there is neither wisdom nor knowledge. It is the place of the dead, and those who are therein are called "the congregation the dead." Prov. 21:16. In the utter darkness of hades, how can men see each other? "In the land of forgetfulness," how can they remember the events of their past lives? In a place where there is no knowledge, how could Dives know Abraham, whom he had never seen? Where there is no work, nor device, how could he devise a plan to warn his wicked brethren? And in hades, where there is no wisdom, how could Abraham give such wise answers? In hades, where the wicked are silent in death, how could Dives converse? As the righteous cannot praise God in hades, and do not even remember his name, how does it happen that they can so well understand and converse on everything else?  

We answer these questions precisely as we do those which arise from the testimony of "Moses and the prophets," to which we are in this parable referred. 

When Rachel, long dead, is represented as shedding tears and lamenting the murder of her children; when the mighty dead converse with Pharaoh in hades, and he is "comforted" with what he sees in the nether parts of the earth; and when the king of Babylon is mocked by dead kings who rise up from their thrones in hades and taunt him with his overthrow; when we read all this of that place where all is darkness, silence, secrecy, and death -a place within the earth itself, and when we consider that this parable relates to this very place, and cites us to these very testimonies for information on the subject, it becomes evident that one common answer pertains to all these questions.  

The dead are personified, ii* and made to speak and act in reference to the facts of their respective cases as though they were alive. Why should not the Spirit of God do this when it has seen fit to personify every kind of inanimate thing? Thus the blood of Abel cries to God. Gen. 4. And thus in Job, the depth and the sea are made to speak, and even destruction and death are represented as saying that they have heard the fame of wisdom with their ears. Job 28:14-22. The stone by the sanctuary heard all the words of Israel. Josh. 24. The trees, held an election and made speeches. Judges 9. The thistle proposes a matrimonial alliance, with the cedar. 2 Kings 14; 2 Chron. 25. All the trees sing out at the presence of God. 1 Chron. 16. The stone cries out of the wall, and the beam answers it. Hab. 2. The hire of the laborers, kept back by fraud, cries to God. James 5. Dead Abel yet speaketh. Heb. 11. The souls under the altar, slain for their testimony, and who do not live till the first resurrection, cry to God for vengeance. Rev. 6:9, 10. And, finally, death and hades are both personified -the one riding a pale horse, the other following, and both cutting down mankind. And this personification is still further carried out, when both, as though living enemies, are at last cast into the fire of gehenna. Rev. 6:8; 20:14; 1 Cor. 15; Hosea 13:14.  

The apostle Paul has given us the key to all this, when he says of God that he "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Rom. 4:17. And our Lord, in that remarkable discussion with the Sadducees, in which he proved the resurrection of the dead by the fact that God spoke of dead Abraham as though he were alive, gives us this same key, thus: "For all live unto him." Luke 20:38. Abraham, though dead, is spoken of as alive, because in the purpose of God he is to live again.  

This parable our Lord illustrates several great truths. 1. The folly and vanity of riches. 2. The worth of true piety, though attended by the deepest poverty. 3. The importance of that great lesson inculcated in the previous parable, to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Luke 16:9; 1 Tim. 6:17-19. The rich man had neglected this, wasting all on himself, though wretched, suffering Lazarus lay at his gate. The folly of this criminal neglect is shown in that part of this parable in which the rich man in his distress, as if remembering the past, is represented as asking of Lazarus the water that could be brought on the tip of his finger, and even this is denied. 4. The certainty of future recompense, and the great contrast that it will make with the present state of things. 5. kind. 6. But to make this text teach that the righteous dead are now recompensed, would be to array a parable against our Lord's plain statement that the recompense of the righteous is at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14. 7. Or, to make the passage teach that the wicked dead are now in the lake of fire, is to make one of the Saviour's parables conflict in its teaching with his own grand description of the final Judgement, in which the wicked enter the everlasting fire at the dreadful mandate, "Depart from me, ye cursed." Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:11-15.  

To be concluded…

State of the Wicked Dead Pt 2

 State of the Wicked Dead Pt 2

The Rich Man and Lazarus

By J. N. Andrews

CONTINUED… 

(Please read the previous day's Pt 1 on this study before reading this one.)

The account of the rich man stands at the conclusion of a discourse made up of parables. 

Thus Luke 15 presents us with the parable of the lost sheep, the ten pieces of silver, and the prodigal son. The sixteenth chapter is made up of two parables; the unjust steward and the rich man and Lazarus. It is true that the account of the rich man and Lazarus is not called a parable by the sacred penman; but the fact is the same with respect to the two cases which precede this; and the three are introduced in the same manner: "A certain man had two sons;" "There was a certain rich man which had a steward;" "There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen."  

It is generally admitted that a parable cannot be made the foundation of any doctrine, or be used to disprove doctrines established by plain and literal testimony. But the doctrine of the present punishment of the wicked dead rests upon a SINGLE parable, and that parable the case of a SINGLE individual.  

The proper interpretation of any portion of the Sacred Record will show that it is in divine harmony with the general tenor and plain facts of the whole book.  

Three of the dead are here introduced - Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man - and ALL are represented as in hades. "In hell [Greek, hades] he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Luke 16:23. 

Hades is the place of all the dead, the righteous as well as the wicked.

Thus, at the resurrection of the just, they shout victory over death and hades, from whose power they are then delivered. "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave [Greek, hades], where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:55.

The wicked dead are in hades; for at the resurrection to damnation, hades delivers them up. Rev. 20:13. 

The resurrection of Christ did not leave his soul in hades; i.e., he then came forth from the place of the dead. Hades, therefore, is the COMMON receptacle of the dead. 

Those who are in hades are NOT alive, but dead. 

"DEATH and HADES delivered up the DEAD which were in them." Rev. 20:13.

Even the language of Abraham implies that all the party were then DEAD. To Dives,** he says, "Thou in thy lifetime [now passed] receivedst thy good things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Classing himself with dead Lazarus, he adds: "Between US and you there is a great gulf fixed." 

**((Note: Dives means Rich in Latin))

The rich man then begs that Lazarus may be sent to his brethren, declaring that if one went unto them from the dead, they would repent. And Abraham, denying his request, said that they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

This scene transpires in hades, the place of the dead; and those who act in it are three dead persons.  

A clue to the proper interpretation of this parable is found in verses 29 and 31: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. . . . If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." 

This language directs the living to Moses and the prophets for instruction concerning man's condition in hades. In their testimony will be found adequate warning to the living wicked, and facts of great importance bearing upon the proper interpretation of this peculiar passage.  

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek. Here an important fact is to be noticed: The Old Testament uses the word sheol to designate the place which in the New Testament is called hades. 

Thus the sixteenth Psalm, written in Hebrew, says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in sheol." Verse 10. The New Testament, quoting this text, and expressing the words in Greek, says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades." Acts 2:27. 

The Hebrew term sheol, as used in the Old Testament, is, therefore, the same in meaning with the Greek word hades as used in the New. In other words, the hades of Christ and the apostles is the sheol of Moses and the prophets. 

 

It is well here to observe that the Hebrew word sheol is used in the Old Testament sixty-five times. It is rendered grave thirty-one times. Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; 1 Sam. 2:6; 1 Kings 2:6, 9; Job 7:9; 14:13; 17:13; 21:13; 24:19; Ps. 6:5; 30:3; 31:17; 49:14, 15; 88:3; 89:48; 141:7; Prov. 1:12; 30:16; Eccl.9:10; Cant. 8:6; Isa. 14:11; 38:10, 18; Eze. 31:15; Hosea 13:14. 

It is rendered pit three times, as follows: Num. 16:30, 33; Job 17:16.

It is also rendered hell in thirty-one instances, as follows: Deut. 32:22; 2 Sam. 22:6; Job 11:8; 26:6; Ps. 9:17; 16:10; 18:5; 55:15; 86:13; 116:3; 139:8; Prov. 5:5; 7:27; 9:18; 15:11, 24; 23:14; 27:20; Isa. 5:14; 14:9, 15; 28:15, 18; 57:9; Eze. 31:16, 17; 32:21, 27; Amos 9:2; Jonah 2:2; Hab. 2:5.  

Hades, the New-Testament term for the sheol of the Old Testament, is used eleven times, and in ten of these it is rendered hell: Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14.

It is once rendered grave: 1 Cor. 15:55.  

Moses and the prophets were indeed divinely inspired on every point concerning which they wrote; but on the point respecting which we seek light, they have the special endorsement of our Lord. We may therefore confide in their teachings concerning hades, or sheol, assured that the great facts revealed through them by the Spirit of God, will be found in divine harmony with the teachings of Christ and the apostles.  

The texts quoted above, relating to hades, or sheol, reveal to us many important facts. We learn that sheol is the common receptacle of the dead, whether they are righteous or wicked. Thus Jacob expressed his faith in what should be his state in death when he said, "I will go down into sheol unto my son mourning." Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31. Korah and his company went down into sheol. i * Num. 16:30, 33. Joab went down into sheol. 1 Kings 2:6, 9. Job was to be hid in sheol, and wait there till the resurrection. Job 14:13; 17:13. All the wicked go into sheol. Ps. 9:17; 31:17; 49:14. All mankind go there. Ps. 89:48; Eccl. 9:10.  

Sheol, or hades, receives the whole man at death. Jacob expected to go down with his gray hairs to sheol. Gen. 42:38. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, went into sheol bodily. Num. 16:30, 33. The soul of the Saviour left sheol at his resurrection. Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27, 31. The psalmist, being restored from dangerous sickness, testified that his soul was saved from going into sheol. Thus he says, "O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave [Hebrew, sheol]: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down into the pit." Ps. 30:2, 3; see also 86:13; Prov. 23:14. He also shows that all men must die, and that no man can deliver his soul from sheol. Ps. 89:48.  

The sorrows of hell, three times mentioned by the psalmist, are, as shown by the connection, the pangs which precede or lead to death. 2 Sam. 22:5-7; Ps. 18:4-6; 116:1-9. They are, in each case, experienced by the righteous. The cruelty of sheol is there power with which it swallows up all mankind. Cant. 8:6; Ps. 89:48.  

Those who go down to sheol must remain there till their resurrection. At the coming of Christ all the righteous are delivered from sheol. All the living wicked men are then "turned into sheol," and for one thousand years sheol holds all wicked men in its dread embrace. Then death and sheol, or hades, deliver up the wicked dead, and the judgment is executed upon them in the lake of fire. Compare Job 7:9, 10; 14:12-14; 17:13; 19:25-27; Rev. 20:4-6; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; Ps. 9:17; Rev. 20:11-15.  

To be continued…. PLEASE read all verses--- study! God help us all!

State of the Wicked Dead

 A study on the state of the wicked dead.

People are deceived- and the nature of deception itself is NOT realizing you are deceived. Jesus is our LIGHT to the truth. Jesus is the eye salve to cure our spiritual blindness. Our hearts can be cleansed, our spirits renewed. We dare not rest content with our current or traditional knowledge but ever seek truth, ever desire the wisdom only God can give to us, ever long for our hearts to desire the love of our Savior, and only HIS love.

With that in mind, let us undertake a study on the state of the wicked dead. Why should we do this? Why does it matter? Because truth matters, always. If something is found to be a deception, we have to reveal that deception with the truth. Today more people believe in their loved ones going straight to heaven upon their death, than don't. So what happens if this is true and their loved ones are deemed to be among the wicked dead? No, no one likes to believe that is possible, but it is. People believe, and I have firsthand experience with it throughout my life. They believe that the dead are living in heaven with Jesus and their other dead loved ones. Not only that, they believe those dead loved ones can give them signs of their presence on earth watching over them. I hope if you are one of those believers you will take the time to read the following over the course of the next four days, it's not super long and it's truth that will reveal a great deception. It matters. Get your Bibles (physically in book form or on your phone/tablet/computer) and study.

I'd rather follow truth than lies any day!

If we allow ourselves to be deceived by this great deception, what other deceptions will overtake us, or already have? Don't forget there will be a whole lot of people who think they are the Lord's that are not. Jesus said so Himself (Matt.7:22,23). He will tell those people to get away from him, he never knew them. Why didn't he know these professed followers of his? Because they abode not in the truth(John 8:44), and what is Jesus? The way, the TRUTH, and the life (John 14:6).

Don't be among the deceived, please! God help us all always to seek only His truth!

The Rich Man and Lazarus

By J. N. Andrews

ARE the wicked dead now being punished? This is a question of awful solemnity, and should not be treated as a matter of speculation and idle curiosity. For the greater part of mankind live in neglect of the great duties of religion, if not in open contempt of its most solemn commands. Such has ever been the fact with our fallen race. This vast throng of sinful men for long ages have been pouring through the gates of death, and its dark portals hide them from our further view. What is the condition of this innumerable multitude of impenitent dead? Where are they? and what now is their real state? 

 

To this question two answers are returned:

1. They are now suffering the torments of the damned. This is the answer of the so-called orthodox creeds. 

2. They are now sleeping in the dust of the earth, awaiting the resurrection to damnation. This answer is believed by many candid Bible students to be the harmonious teaching of the Scriptures on this subject. Which of these two answers is the true and proper one? 

There is no statement in the Bible relating to the wicked dead in general, where they are in any way represented as in a state or place of torment. Nor is there any instance in the Bible where men are threatened that they shall, if wicked, enter an abode of misery at death. Even the warning of Jesus, in Matt. 10:28, which is thought to contain the strongest proof of the soul's immortality that can be found in all the Bible, says not one word concerning the suffering of the soul in hades, the place of the dead, but relates wholly to what shall be inflicted upon "both soul and body in gehenna" (the Greek word here rendered hell), the place of punishment for the resurrected wicked.  

There being no general statement in the Bible representing the wicked dead as now in torment, and no instance in which the living wicked are threatened with consignment to the furnace of fire till after the Judgment, we now search out the particular cases which may be thought to teach such a fact. 

There are just two of these cases which may be cited to prove that some of the wicked dead are now in torment; and from these, if at all, the torment of the wicked dead in general must be deduced. These cases are the Sodomites; "set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire;" Jude 7; and the rich man lifting up his eyes in torment; Luke 16:19-31. These are the only cases that can be cited from the Scriptures in proof that the wicked dead are now undergoing the punishment of their sins. 

 

The case of the Sodomites first claims our attention. The text reads thus: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7. 

The PRESENT TENSE is used throughout the verse. It occurs twice in speaking of the sin of Sodom, and twice with reference to its punishment. This text does not teach that the men of Sodom are now engaged in the sinful acts referred to; why should it be understood to teach that they are now receiving their retribution? Does the apostle mean to say that the Sodomites are now in the flames of eternal fire? The clause, "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire," is modified by the words, "set forth for an example," which immediately precede it. In fact, the real meaning of the apostle in what he says of the sufferings of the Sodomites can only be determined by giving this phrase, "set forth for an example," its proper bearing. To be "set for an example," to wicked men, "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire," one of two things must be true: 

1. They must now be in a state of suffering in plain view of the inhabitants of the earth; or,

2. They must be somewhere in the Scriptures set forth in the very act of suffering the vengeance of fire from heaven. 

If the first of these views be correct, then the Sodomites are indeed now in torment. But that view is not correct; for the very place where Sodom was burned is now covered by the Dead Sea.  

That the second view is correct, is manifest from Gen. 19:24-28: "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." 

 

Here the Sodomites are set forth for an example in the very act of suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Are they to this day in that fire?

Peter bears testimony, and it is the more valuable in this case because the chapter containing it is almost an exact parallel to the epistle of Jude. Thus he says: "Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah INTO ASHES condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly." 2 Pet. 2:6. Peter thus shows that the fire did its proper office upon the men of Sodom, and that they were not in his day alive in its flames. Their case is an example of what God will do to all the wicked after the resurrection to damnation, when fire shall descend out of heaven upon them, and the whole earth become a lake of fire. Rev. 20; 2 Pet. 3; Mal. 4.  

The testimony of Jeremiah, which represents the punishment of Sodom as comparatively brief, must complete this evidence: "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her." Lam. 4:6.  

The language of Jude concerning the Sodomites has, therefore, no relation to their condition in death, and cannot be made to furnish evidence that the wicked dead are now in a state of torment. There remains, therefore, the case of a single individual - the rich man - out of which to deduce the doctrine that the wicked dead are now in the lake of fire. This is certainly a fact worthy of note.  

TO BE CONTINUED….