Reconciliation or Rapture?
Do you know that the world is far from “reaped” by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you aware that the majority of people, dead and living, have had no opportunity to know Him? Let’s examine traditional teaching about the afterlife in light of knowing about the multitudes, young and old, who have not yet heard the good tidings.
There is a widely accepted teaching about a literal, eternal hell where all unbelievers will go when they die. Christians are taught that they will be raptured into a literal heaven in the clouds while unbelievers are left on earth to suffer eternal hellfire and damnation. Though only about 200 years old, this doctrine is well embedded in traditional Christian culture and is the dominant Christian belief that is reflected in our broader society.
Endless books and movies have been created about the Rapture Doctrine. Pictures of flames licking around the bodies of those condemned to eternal punishment while they scream in torment are common. In contrast to the agony sinners are suffering, the saints are painted as sitting on clouds, playing their harps and walking on literal streets of gold, living in luxurious mansions in the sky. People who have had no opportunity to hear the gospel are condemned with unbelievers who willfully refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.
Are you willing to truly examine this teaching? To consider if God really condemns all the millions of people, the innocent babies to the elderly, the living as well as those who have died through the centuries, to literal, eternal hell just because they did not learn of Him in this life? Think about it. We have but a small portion of His love, and most of us would not desire even our worst enemy to live in eternal torment, let alone our unsaved loved ones.
If we do imagine or even enjoy it, that surely is not the attitude of heart that God teaches us to have. Many sincere believers live in fear that their loved ones who have refused faith in God are destined to this place of eternal torment. How does this doctrine fit with God’s redemptive love, which is so much beyond human love? Our God IS love! God’s judgment is always redemptive, intimately connected to His mercy. What is redeeming about sinners being in eternal torment?
What benefit towards salvation is our loving God receiving by allowing a great majority of the world to be put into an eternal place of punishment? And what about the rest of us – whom He knows and loves – having to fear the future of our loved ones in eternal damnation with no hope, even potentially viewing their suffering from the safety of our heavenly home? I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time enjoying heaven if I had to be aware of such suffering on earth!
Fear of the future of unsaved loved ones drives many believers to desperately pursue a confession of faith before their loved ones die. Fear mixed with love provides no peace until this is accomplished. It becomes difficult to see anything good coming out of this for sinners or believers. The sinners have no hope of ever knowing God and become eternally useless to Him. Believers suffer fear of the future afterlife for themselves and more so their unbelieving loved ones who refuse the Lord before they die.
It certainly adds zeal, if not desperation, to minister the salvation message of Jesus Christ to loved ones before their life on this earth ends. Hope for salvation for those we love becomes finite and without peace.The rapture predicting that the good are taken while the bad are abandoned to eternal damnation just does not ring true with our God’s nature of mercy and redemptive justice. God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus Christ. How could He plan to lose a great number of those He died for?
Jesus even ministered to those in hell between His death and resurrection, resulting in many of the dead being seen raised in the city. He cares about the dead who lived too early to know Him and His salvation. His love extends to the innocent who were too young to know Him when they died. He loves all sinners, not wishing any to perish. Is man’s will and the devil to triumph in the end? Rapture theology surely denies God’s ability to change the hearts and minds of all men, allowing an eternal victory to the enemy of our souls.
But His word says:
“...Our Savior, God, who wills that all mankind be saved and come into the realization of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 Concordant Literal.
The Concordant Literal is used here because this version of the Bible translates from the original Hebrew and Greek words to further our understanding. Some translations use “want” or “desire” instead of “will.” If Almighty God wills, desires, or wants something, will He fail to have it? Is He forever facing massive defeat in what He desires, His complete plan, because of man’s will? It is His will to save all mankind. He said so. Will He not accomplish anything that is His will?
Where in the word is there an account of God not doing what He decides to do? He is not somehow ultimately unable to defeat the devil. Jesus has the keys to death and hell. Did He not defeat the devil when He arose, victorious? Our Lord and Savior already has this victory! The Greek translation of this word “will” is strengthened to “to determine, take for oneself, or choose.” God is determined to save everyone!
This is the Word of Reconciliation of all men. What is better news than our God triumphing over all, bringing all of His creation back into intimacy and fellowship with Him? If this is what God wants, it should be what we want: the ultimate reconciliation of all humans back to God. No power in heaven or earth can stand against the blood of Christ, no matter that it take centuries. In contrast to the word “rapture”, which does not appear in scripture, this word “reconciliation” appears 15 times in 12 verses in the New Testament.
Yet the scriptural truth of reconciliation for all men has been much maligned in traditional Christian circles. There are even ministers who admit that they know God will reconcile all to Himself, but will not teach it for fear of losing their audience, congregation or income.
“Wherefore in all things, it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17 KJV
Jesus came to reconcile all to God, making a way for us to be holy and righteous. His ministry will succeed and the purpose of His calling fulfilled through the end of the ages, on into eternity. Yet this wonderful truth, the doctrine of universal reconciliation, is vigorously attacked and rejected by many Christian leaders and their followers who embrace the traditional teaching of the rapture. Though strongly held, the widely embraced teachings about rapture and eternal hell are passed down by traditional teachings unexamined by the Holy Spirit's scriptural study by believers.
The rapture theory is part of dispensationalism, with theologians debating over whether the tribulation happens before, during, or after the Second Coming of Christ. Debate by men rarely results in the truth of God, no matter how much we might enjoy it or even make a living from the practice. Yet did you know that this doctrine of the rapture was not part of the foundation of the early Christian church?
Theories do not shed a great deal of light on our understanding of God’s word in context. Our differences in doctrinal beliefs cause so much division and strife, but God said it should not be so. While we fight among ourselves and divide the body of Christ, unbelievers watch our confusion, along with judgment for those who see it differently, learning lessons that do not fit with what we want to show of Christ and His ways.
Few Christians, including those in Christian leadership, have really searched these rapture teachings out in the scriptures. Becoming doctrine recently in church history, the rapture teachings are not a part of the foundations of Christianity. It’s also puzzling that Christians who stand for the love of God are so comfortable with this condemning judgment of others who remain ignorant of our Lord. Why is it so many believers are extremely invested in insisting that the majority of Earth’s people be condemned to the fiery torment of hell for all eternity?
When you search the scriptures to see if these things are true, the spirit reveals the entire doctrine of the rapture is built on a few misunderstood or mistranslated scriptures. Rapture theology was created in the 1830’s by the English Protestant minister John Nelson Darby. Darby created the rapture doctrine without sound scriptural basis, despite foundational Christian teaching.
Though Darby did many wonderful things for the Lord through his years of ministry, the rapture theology he developed is far more popular and established than its scriptural base would warrant. It was extensively promoted by 19th-century minister C.I. Scofield and rapidly accepted by many. The rapture doctrine teaches that Christian believers will escape the coming end time of tribulation and judgment of the sinners on earth, but there is no place in the scriptures where God says His people will escape judgment.
The truth is that His saints will be judged first, which we will scripturally examine shortly. The primary scriptural basis for the rapture doctrine is found in Darby’s interpretation of this scripture:
“By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.
After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord." 1Thessalonians 4:17 Berean
The phrase “caught up in the air” was translated by Darby as“rapture” from a Latin derivative of those words, not from the original Greek or Hebrew. He further promotes the belief in a literal, rather than a spiritual, rising up in the clouds to an actual place in the sky called heaven. Jesus was raised from the dead by the spirit and we, too, will be raised by the spirit to be where He is. The debate has been about who gets to go and where we are actually going.
Teaching that God will take His people out of danger on this earth is in sharp contrast to His dealings with His own. We wish that was the case when we are struggling, but Christians have been left on earth for centuries, suffering much for the kingdom of God. Can you name any Old Testament saints who were removed from rather than enduring suffering along the way? We, like all the other saints then and now, go through difficulties or tribulations right along with unbelievers, shining our light in the darkness.
God is with us during times of trouble, but there are few, if any, examples where He literally takes us out of the adversity that comies in this life. And we also learn much more by what we go through than what we escape! There is not one manmade or natural disaster God’s people were not subject to in some way, despite eventual deliverance. And it remains so today.
“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away.
So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:39-42 Berean
Here is another passage of scripture that is foundational to the rapture theory. It is understood to mean that God will literally take His people and leave the sinners. But if the Lord’s coming is like the days of Noah, it is not the righteous who are taken but the evil doers who were destroyed from their earthly existence. In Noah’s day, every living being was subject to the flood. No one escaped going through it though God saved a remnant by Noah’s obedience to God. God made a way for the righteous to live through it and remain.
This scriptural passage states we do not know the day of the coming of our Lord. Nonetheless, many have prophesied the exact time of the rapture, only to watch it pass, as it has for all the years of this doctrine’s existence. Millions of dollars have been made to promote the rapture theory through numerous books, movies, pictures, and promotions. The more income leaders receive for promoting a lie, the harder it is for them to accept the truth that this is not God’s word nor His way.
Another part of this teaching is a key error in the King James Bible translation of “eon” as “eternal.” The original Greek meaning of eon is “age-lasting, a lifetime.” That is quite different from “eternal” as in “everlasting, without end.” Translators do their best but they are human and may see things according to what they believe rather than the intent of the original Greek and Hebrew.
We must rely on the holy spirit to teach us, comparing spiritual with spiritual, as we explore the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the original texts. Yes, it is true that those who sin shall surely die, and then comes the judgment, as the Apostle Paul states in Hebrews:
“Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation [redemption, reconciliation] to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews 9:25-29 Berean
Jesus kept that appointment with judgment in dying for all of us sinners. He did it for all the world that His Father so loved. Mankind no longer has to look for a fearful, tormented, eternal ending where they are abandoned by God forever. God makes no mistakes and we are not a bad project that He started but is unable to complete. Jesus Christ has already made the way open to the Father, just as the Father is always with Him.
He is coming again a second time, within His people to rule and reign, wherein dwells His kingdom not made with hands. He is bringing salvation beyond sin-consciousness, possible for all. His second coming, just like His kingdom, is within His people and He has been coming within ever since His work on earth was complete. We are the temple of God, and He has been continually coming, to be seen and take up His abode in us.
We are His habitation, the Kingdom of God. His kingdom isn’t far off, as Jesus said in Luke:
“Now being inquired of by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God is coming, He answered them and said,
‘The kingdom of God is not coming with scrutiny. Neither shall they be declaring, ‘Lo! Here! Or ‘Lo! There!’ for lo! The kingdom of God is inside of you.’” Luke 17:20-21 Concordant Literal
Do we see this truth, so long ago established by Jesus Christ? The kingdom of God does not come with critical observation or examination, not by scrutiny. We’re not to say, “Look here! Look there! See the external evidence of the coming of the Kingdom/” It is not an externally observable place because it is inside of us, revealed by the spirit as God chooses. If we cannot point to it and say, “There it is,” it is not to be found in a concrete physical place on earth such as Jerusalem or a literal place in the sky called heaven.
We are the kingdom in which God intends to rule and reign. It is in a people that God has called and chosen, who will be purified by Him, judged until we come forth as pure God-nature revealing the Christ to others. The Greek word “entos” means “within,” from the root “en” meaning “a fixed position or place of rest.” Many translations use “in the midst,” failing to convey the message the original language is saying: “The Kingdom is inside of you.”
The King James version translates it as “within”, and the Concordant Literal, quoted above, further clarifies it from the original Greed to “inside of you.” Without spiritual eyes and ears of which Jesus often spoke, this kingdom scripture really cannot be understood. God is a spirit and it is our spirits that come alive in Him.
“We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Berean
Some will not pass from this life to go directly into God’s presence, despite the myths, stories, and sermons about everyone who dies being immediately in heaven. We surely don’t hear ministers preaching at funerals that the deceased will be in hell rather than found immediately in the presence of God. The exception is the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, revealed in church history to be invented to get more money for the Catholic church at the time.
This message is just not done at funerals, for obvious reasons, nor is the truth about the deceased unbeliever spoken of at that time. Yes, we will all be judged in order to be fully redeemed, but Paul states that those who do not know him sleep until their time of change comes. They remain unaware until it is their rank being called up.
“For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, the people of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:23 HCSB
Note the surety of Paul’s first statement. It is inevitable that in our Adamic, fleshly nature, we all die. There is no exception. So, then is the certainty that in Christ all will be made alive. All. No exceptions. We don’t see it yet as God has an order for each one. First the Christ nature in His first fruits company, then the people of Christ. This is a deep truth that takes much to understand as the holy spirit teaches the hungry heart wanting to know.
And the people of God are the first to be judged, just as Peter stated:
“For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17 NIV
Peter knew that judgment had already begun for believers who belong to God. The presence—or coming— of the Lord Jesus Christ within began that work long ago. Were not the 120 in the Upper Room continually changed by the holy spirit within?
Satan, the enemy of our souls, gains another advantage with the rapture theory. There is a complacency that settles in while Christians are waiting for the rapture. It limits or stops spiritual growth on this earth. The change in our hearts to be like Christ are postponed until death or the rapture. Many believers become soulishly anxious for the rapture to be delayed so they have more time on earth to marry, have children, or experience other life events significant to them. This strengthens their focus on this earth and its pleasures, rather than on spiritual matters of the kingdom of God.
God is spirit and His words are too. Many believers have not heard nor allowed the Lord to change their hearts in this life. They die without having gained the nature of Christ that Paul so vigorously pursued in his life. While many faithfully sat in the same pews listening to the same sermons, they are not become clothed with His spirit because they did not do so while on earth. Look around and within at human nature and character. Has anyone the fullness of Christ, showing forth His complete character, all the fruit of the spirit?
Added to this confusion of doctrine is the debate about literal vs. spiritual interpretations of scripture. There is fear that some will spiritualize too much—actually anything that the Bible says beyond their comprehension. But insisting on a literal interpretation of every word in the Bible results in teachers and believers flip-flopping randomly from literal to spiritual understanding throughout the word.
A simple example is the many times Jesus repeated “those that have ears to hear” in His ministry. We all have literal ears, so doesn’t He have to mean spiritual ears? If so, then is this “spiritualizing”? If He is a spirit and His words are to be spiritually understood, how about the parables He told the crowds? These were not in plain language, hard to understand even for His disciples. There was a deeper spiritual understanding they could not catch until they, themselves, had the Christ within to teach them.
“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’
‘Lord,’ said Thomas, ‘we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’” John 14:1-7 NIV
Where was Jesus? Where is He now? Jesus said the Father is known to the disciples through seeing the Father in the son. He showed them the Father by the spirit, while He was yet on this earth. Why then would we only be able to see and dwell with the Father and the Son in a literal, visible place on this earth or in the actual clouds in the sky? The kingdom of God is within us and He has prepared a place where we can dwell with Him forever in the spirit.
Yes, doubters or unbelievers may want to say the story of Jonah and the whale did not really happen or Job wasn’t a real person but that’s not spiritualizing, that is unbelief. God said the natural man cannot understand the things of God. When our natural minds apply human understanding to the scriptures, it leads to confusion and division, not godly wisdom. So, what and whom can we trust?
God the Father sent His Holy Spirit so that we will be led into all truth. He is our great Teacher. He is able to provide discernment to any and all of His people who come to Him with sincere hearts, desiring to know the truth. It matters not to Him if we are great men and women of God or scholars of the scriptural teaching.
God graciously reveals truth to anyone who sincerely seeks it from Him. If we are believing or teaching error to His people, whether knowingly or not, God will deal with us. God is no respecter of persons. We do not have to believe, without spiritual examination, all that great teachers may want to teach us. Our heavenly Father is our teacher, living in our hearts. God guides our understanding as we seek His wisdom and truth, including from great men and women of God who worship Him in spirit and truth.
He desires truth in our inward parts:
“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.” Psalms 51:6 Amplified
With revelation from God, we see that His word is spiritual because He is spirit. The events of the Old Testament did happen, but for our edification, they have a far deeper spiritual meaning as He sheds the Holy Spirit's light upon them. The Old Testament is filled with examples and patterns for our Christian walk, understood to be types and shadows of things to come. They teach much of God’s plan and God’s ways.
Jesus Christ is coming again, His second coming. That is truth. What is presently a matter of controversy and debate—the how, when and where—is unprofitable for the heart, though it may swell the head with knowledge. God does not want His people to fear, but the rapture doctrine relies on fear and condemnation to motivate change, rather than the ultimate power of God’s love which no man can defeat.
One area of unity that most sincere Christian believers hold is the longing for and looking to the return of Jesus Christ to end the sufferings of our present age. Only God can sort this all out to bring His promised unity among His body of believers:
“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:13 Berean
It is critical for this present age that we know there is a resurrection of the dead because Christ has been raised. Christians look to Jesus Christ in faith that He will—in fact, is—coming again. The details of His coming, however, have been clouded by the minds and imaginations of men. God allowed this truth to be hidden from many of His faithful followers, but now is the time to be ready, not to be caught unawares. Christ is in us, reconciling the world to Him:
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them.
And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Berean
Consider this statement that God was reconciling or restoring the world to Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not count men’s trespasses against them, so why would Father God condemn people to hell for all eternity? The purpose of His creation of man, the salvation through Christ, is for the world, not just a small portion of the billions of people, past and present, on this earth who had opportunity to know Him.
It is not the nature of our God to leave His purpose and plan partially accomplished. If this is God’s will, desire, and purpose, will He fail to accomplish it? He can do anything according to His will, with or without us. God chooses to use us, His people, to accomplish His plan for the ages. We are to fulfill His directive about the message of reconciliation of all people to Him. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This is good news!
The rapture teaches that God’s people will be taken out of the coming judgment. Rather, the word clearly states that God’s judgment starts with His own people. Here is another version of this important scripture, illuminatin the truth of His judgment for redemption, not condemnation:
“But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
And, if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”’ 1 Peter 4:16-18 Berean
Peter stated that it is time now—way back in Peter’s day— for the judgment to begin with the family of God. It makes no sense to say that this time of tribulation comes upon the earth after Christians are gone. If it is yet to come upon us in some future time, what have we been living through since the fall of Adam? For centuries, we have had many tribulations, a hell on earth, and it continues, the just with the unjust, until He says it is the time of the end.
Yes, there is judgment and the people of God are the first to experience it. What a privilege! Our flesh is being judged every time God exposes it so He can burn it up. It’s good news! It started happening then, on the earth, in Jesus’ time. God’s judgment was already working within His called and chosen people to reconcile all to Him. It continues as He faithfully works within to change our hearts of stone into a heart that He can write His truth upon:
“I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 11:19 ESV
“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Jeremiah 31:33 ESV
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hebrews 8:10 ESV
Is this promise of a new heart and spirit available only after we die? Is it not something He begins to work within us here on this earth? To accomplish these necessary heart and spirit changes, God brings judgment. Those who resist Him in this life, the “ungodly and sinners,”are dealt with here or in the afterlife. God will not forego the judgment that all need and must face to bring us fully back to Him. Wisdom teaches believers to welcome His judgment, not to fear it.
We, His called, chosen, and faithful, are to be lights shining in the darkness of every age as He works within to change us into His likeness and image. Through the fall of Adam, God’s people lost our relationship with God, the supreme privilege of walking and talking with God while resting in all of His provision for us. Jesus Christ our Lord, the “second Adam” is sent to bring us back, to reconcile and redeem us back to the Father.
He made the way and yes, it is a long long way back to the Father, but it will be accomplished in God’s time.
“The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:46-48 Berean
Jesus Christ is the only “man from heaven” who is preparing us to be like the heavenly man He is. His judgment is redemptive, always. We are promised to be with our Lord through eternity, with no fleshly barriers between God and man. Just because we have yet to see it does not make it less true. Isn’t that faith—believing His word over what we humans can see, hear, and understand? He is coming within us while we are on this earth and will continue coming until the day of Jesus Christ is fully revealed.
In Revelation, this is referred to as Jesus Christ “conquering and to conquer”:
“I looked, and behold a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 NASB
The Concordant reads “He came forth conquering and to conquer…” Our Lord and King, crowned with spiritual authority, is on this white horse. Has He not been coming forth to conquer within His people, taking His place as our Ruler and King now over every fleshly, soulish way in us, giving us His victory? Is He not continually coming again and again, from the time of Jesus and the apostles until now? He will conquer until all within is subdued and we bow our knees to His victory in us.
He comes to rule and reign, is always just, and will have a purified people.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 9-11 NIV
Jesus’ name, His nature, will cause every knee to bow, every tongue confess. There are no exceptions,in the celestial realms of heaven, the terrestrial realms of earth, and the subterranean realms of those who died without submission to Him. The truth of reconciliation of all things does not do away with expecting Jesus to come again. Instead, it shifts our focus from looking “out there”, externally expecting His appearing. to inside of us now.
The amazing truth is that Jesus told His followers His Kingdom is within us! He is bringing His redemptive justice joined with mercy, coming a second time unto salvation until all are made one in Him. In contrast, where is mercy in an eternal tormenting hell, separated from God’s presence forever, such as the doctrine of rapture teaches? Haven’t we all been separated from God’s presence, in a hell on earth, at one time or another, as we learn of His ways?
This doctrine works fear, not faith. Jesus is coming again, bringing the complete salvation He has already obtained for us. His coming in a people is a process begun on the Day of Pentecost.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?’” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Berean
The only imperishable things are those of the spirit of God. The spirit from God to every living thing is lasting, eternal, because it is Him. We must “put on Christ,” be fully clothed with our spiritual body, not appearing “naked” before our God. Many are held in sleep until the time of their change comes, each in his own order. As Paul states, what happens in the afterlife is a deep mystery, a secret with much to be revealed by the holy spirit.
Though we all have much more to learn, we do have some keys to understanding this mystery. He promised to reveal His secrets to those who love Him.
“The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death— the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 20:13-15; 21: 1-3 Berean
Many are taught that the lake of fire is hell, but why, then is hell and death thrown into it? There will be a new earth as well as a new heaven, a spiritual dwelling place with God. We surely do not need a new earth if we are raptured out of it. If the lake of fire represents where unbelievers are condemned, separated forever from the presence of God, there is destruction of the earth. What use does God have for it if we are all in the clouds of heaven with Him?
Understand this: our God is a consuming fire. It is in the fiery presence of God that we are judged for change. Consider the lake of fire in light of our God being the consuming fire first established in the Old Testament. Moses talked with God face to face and the glory of the Lord upon Him was like fire:
“When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.
And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Exodus 24:15-17 Berean
Jehovah’s presence with His people, leading the Israelites out of bondage, was a consuming fire. God is not described just as “fire “but as a “devouring” fire. His presence devours or consumes our flesh, our earthly selves, the dross of our humanity, so that eventually, we, too, see Him face to face. Seeing someone face to face means we can see Who He is, having an intimate connection with our Father.
He is still consuming and destroying all of our enemies from the promised land of His kingdom within. The Israelites’ enemies were external forces intent on robbing them of the land of milk and honey God had promised. Now it is that we have many enemies, within and without, intent on robbing us of His kingdom of peace, love, and joy.
“But understand that today the Lord your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the Lord has promised you.” Deuteronomy 9:3 Berean
God’s fiery presence is in us to lead us out of fear of bondage and death to true freedom and rest in Him. He was a “cloud” by day and a “pillar of fire” by night, destroying enemies before His people on their way to the Promised Land. When we are illuminated by the spirit, we have the light of His fiery presence to lead us. When we are in the the darkness of our own souls on our way to our homeland, He is a consuming fire to burn up our ways that cannot enter in.
The Kingdom of God within us is a land of peace, joy, and love. We need His “cloud” covering our flesh in the light of day, and the presence of His “fire” in our darkness. Being raised up in the clouds as Jesus was in view of His disciples after appearing to them in the spirit is a spiritual transformation. Jesus was transfigured before their eyes, leaving the earthly form of man to be fully dwelling in the spirit where His Father dwells. Thus we are destined to be raised up into the holy presence of God by the spirit to be with His redeemed in spiritual Mount Zion.
God is so thorough in what He uses to teach us. It is such an incredible metaphor to teach us about God’s use of fire in describing His presence in the scriptures. Consider the nature of fire. all-consuming, destroying anything in its path. But after the fire, new growth begins to appear amidst the ashes. Out of tremendous death and destruction, new life shows up in barren, charred land. This is the pattern of God: death to resurrection, endings to new beginnings.
Mature Christians welcome the fires of God to purge out the dross. The seed of His word then flourishes in the cleansed landscape of our being. His internal judgment of our hearts prepares us to be joined and married to Him. We are the earth in which He allows the fires of adversity and tribulation to cause new growth, bringing a new heaven and new earth within us.
The seed of Jesus Christ, planted within our hearts, absolutely bears the fruit of the spirit.
“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:8 NKJV
Similarly, our God is a consuming fire who provides “new heavens and a new earth” wherein dwells righteousness:
“Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable [imperishable] kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:27-29
They were receiving the kingdom even then, not waiting for a rapture to receive it where it does no earthly good to those who most need it, the sinners left on the earth. When we understand by the spirit that God’s use of fire to describe Himself through the scriptures, His word of truth reveals itself differently. Righteousness dwells in people as our earthly ways are swallowed up by the fire of His presence.
This “lake of fire” can be understood as symbolic language for the concentration of the fire of God’s presence in one place within His saints. God’s saints in Zion, here and on the other side are this lake that brings conviction and change. When God brings judgment to His own, it burns in our hearts.
It’s amazing how many of us Christians have no idea about the source of what we believe, assuming that it is all God because we are taught by our leaders that it is.
The “lake of fire” is mentioned solely in the book of Revelation, found in 5 scriptures. In traditional translations. It wasn’t until over 200 years past the coming of Christ to this earth that a Roman scholar began to link the lake of fire to the old Jewish concept of “Gehenna,” our modern-day concept of hell. Yes, multiple teachings equate the lake of fire with an eternal hell where God puts the unsaved.
What is hell? Do we have to die to be in hell? Hell is separation from God, which all earth dwellers experience to some degree. All through the centuries, God’s people have existed in many hellish conditions. There are many present hellish conditions multiplying on the earth now. Many, many saints and sinners have and are experiencing hell on this earth. God has allowed humanity to go along, the just and the unjust growing together.
Tormenting fears, deadly illnesses, famine and drought, hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons, war and conflict all are increasing in frequency and severity. What is able to be shaken is being shaken and all that can be burned up is being consumed by the fiery presence of our Lord’s coming. God is burning up all that is not Him, which is indeed deserving of eternal destruction. If our God is a fire sent to consume, the lake of fire is a whole lot of fire, the collective presence of God in His holy people!
Here unbelievers must dwell, in the fiery presence of His word within a people until they, too, are made spotless and without blemish. It can and will be hell when God comes to conquer even that religious man in us, burning up all our fleshly religious works. It happens even now when believers are around those who do not believe and feel the fiery presence of God within us. We do not have to say a word to have others sense and even begin to be drawn by or resist the presence of God within us.
Some are convicted by the holy righteousness of saints even now to change their ways and seek the purification and reconciliation only God brings. He promises through Hosea:
“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence.” Hosea 6:1-2 NIV
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8 KJV
We have had revivals for “two days,” during the two thousand years of the church age since Jesus Christ was on this earth. Revivals of refreshing rain of His spirit have been common during this church age. On the third day, which has begun the collegive launching of the kingdom age, we will not just be revived but restored, fully reconciled, pure and holy, able to live in His presence. Wouldn’t you rather have a restoration that is lasting than a revival that is passing?
It is very difficult to accept that which you have believed and even built your life and ministry on is not the truth. Christian leaders who teach this and other unexamined, false doctrines will be wailing and gnashing their teeth as God burns up all falsehood and guile. Many will struggle to accept what God is showing them. But there is hope, there is redemption as they hear what the spirit is saying, “repent and be changed.”
It’s vital that we do not put this off into a future time, but ready ourselves through submission to His truth. We desire to be ready for His kingdom to be further established within, where restoration is unfolding now. Let us turn our eyes from the worldly events around us to the kingdom of righteousness, of peace, joy, and love ruling within.
It matters not that I believe this. What matters is what God reveals to you as you seek Him daily. God bless your seeking!