Those who believe we are not to use our intellect when reading the Word....please think again. God created us thinking, reasoning, intelligent human beings....this is what differentiates us from creation....animals, birds fish etc....they work on instinct...we dont. God says we are to test all the spirits....and that, by their fruits we shall know them .....in reference to false teachers. IN order to know that a teaching is false we have to be steeped in the Word....to know where all other scriptures are , to either confirm a teaching....or show, via the Word the invalidity of it. That comes with wisdom and discernment....something that usually does not come overnight as we start on milk.....gently does it. Being able to Rightly divide the Word is a process. When we first pick up the Word we do not understand the deeper meanings of it. We are not, as babies on milk, immediately able to discern what is a parable or symbolic language nor what all the symbols God uses , are. These things come with time....as God reveals it to us....in a drip feed type process. Just a year in the Word can reveal the depth of knowledge we didnt have the year before .....because we have to grow, we have to learn....we are students first....not teachers first. An example of that process is this: Upon becoming born again I picked up a bible for the first time in my life and couldnt wait to read it. I read it as a novel first....because numbered verses , I discovered later, were not intended ...they were invented in 1240 ( circa) AD by the well meaning English. Personally I think they were the worst invention ever. The apostles did not have numbered verses, the prophets of old did not include numbered verses in there prophesies....they preached and wrote what God told them to say....thats all. The Holy Spirit was sent to interpret those words......we seem to have taken over that job....by pronouncing that this verse says this and this is what it means....WITHOUT lining it up with the rest of the Word. When we are steeped in the entire Word.....we will know, when we read a scripture in the NT, what the equivalent is in the OT....the Holy Spirit will bring them to mind...we do not need nor have we ever needed numbered verses. The first sermon I heard on the subject of people being burned forever in hell , was of great interest to me....I wanted to know more than what I heard. So...into the Word. While I was reading I came across this scripture: John 3 : 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. If we read that, word for precious word, it is telling us that ONLY those who believe in Him have eternal life. That means the wicked dont. Surely it does....doesnt it ? I then used my intellect, the brain God gave me , to reason that if that was the case then there must be other scriptures confirming my thoughts: Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. hmm....sinners DIE. That is not life...eternal or otherwise. Could death be a form of eternally burning in hell ? : Revelation 21:8 - But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Got it. I now know that the wicked will be consigned to the flames.....does this mean they will burn forever ? Revelation 20:14 - And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. That led me to ask....does that mean they will forever be burning in torment ? Eclesiasties 9:-5-6 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. • How will they be destroyed? Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Psalms 21:9. • Will the wicked go on living throughout eternity? But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. Psalms 37:20. So then this must mean that the wicked will be no more or consumed? Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD. Psalms 104:35. • But I thought the soul never dies? Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4. Will the wicked be burned up completely? Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. Ezekiel 28:18. • How complete will the final destruction of the wicked be? For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1. THE WICKED DO NOT HAVE AN ETERNAL SOUL OR ETERNAL LIFE. THEY DO NOT LIVE ON AFTER DEATH. THEY ARE RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE THEN THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE....AND WILL CEASE TO EXIST. What a Mighty God to reveal that he is not a torturer. He is Just and Righteous.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 21:04:59 +0000