Some more posts for review:
The apostles Peter and Paul, and the first-century church of Smyrna could have quoted Psalms 91 ...
http://www.christianforums.com/thre...mething-to-prove.7238401/page-2#post-47242960
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"The day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6) and "the day of Christ" (Philippians 2:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:2) are the same as "the day of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10) and "the day of God" (2 Peter 3:12) and "the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5), for the day of the Lord is "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8) and He is God (John 1:1,14) and He will bring wrath: "He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (Revelation 19:15).
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"Christ" means anointed.
"Lord" means supreme in authority.
"Jesus" means YHWH saves.
"God" means the Deity.
The Christ is Jesus (John 4:25-26).
The Lord is Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
Jesus Christ the Lord is God (John 20:28).
So the day of Christ (Philippians 2:16) is the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
And the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6) is the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2, original Greek).
And the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2, original Greek) is the the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).
And the day of the Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:14) is the day of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8).
And the day of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8) is the day of God (Revelation 16:14).
So all of these days are the same day. It will begin at the second coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8), immediately after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31).
"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7-8).
"The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).
This is referring to the second coming:
"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" (Revelation 16:15).
This is spoken after the sixth vial, at the very end of the tribulation, for the second coming and rapture won't be until after the tribulation:
"Immediately after the tribulation ... they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect" (Matthew 24:29-31).
"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him" (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
"We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
The burning up of the earth referred to by 2 Peter 3:10 will happen at the end of the day of the Lord, which will include the entire millennium, for a thousand years to God is as one day:
"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).
The day of the Lord and the day of Christ are the same day, "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8), which will begin with the second coming and rapture, after the tribulation.
The day of the Lord and the day of God are the same day, the day in which the heavens and the earth will be destroyed:
"The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:10-13).
While the Trinity is still three different Persons, "God, Lord, Christ" can still mean the same thing when referring to "the day of" God, Lord, Christ, just as Jesus Himself can be referred to as either God or Lord or Christ:
"And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
"The glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
"The day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8).
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At Jesus Christ's appearing to the Church (Titus 2:13), after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31) of Revelation chapters 6-18, the Antichrist will be destroyed (2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 19:20). The same Greek word translated as "appearing" in Titus 2:13 is translated as "brightness" in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
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In the past, citizens of the ancient Roman Empire (including the apostle Paul) were executed by being beheaded, and the French beheaded people during their revolution a la the guillotine. Today the Muslims are known for beheading people, not only in terrorist videos, but as a routine form of capital punishment in Saudi Arabia. (Beheading is actually the most literal form of "capital" punishment, in that "capital" is from the Latin "caput", which means "head".)
The beheading of Christians by the Antichrist (Revelation 20:4) doesn't have to be based on the Babylonian Talmud, nor will it be for violation of the Noahide Laws punishable by beheading (according to the Talmud), for the Antichrist could be an Arab who will come out of Tyre, Lebanon (Ezekiel 28:2, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4), and the Arabs have always beheaded people [and so could employ the Arab method of beheading with a sword, as opposed to using a guillotine]. And the Antichrist will behead people for the witness of Jesus, for the word of God, for not worshipping him or his image, or receiving his mark upon their foreheads or their hands (Revelation 20:4).
If the blade is nice and sharp so that it's quick, beheading is a good way to die. That's why the Romans reserved it for their citizens (like Paul the apostle) who were condemned to death, while they tortured non-citizens (like Jesus and Peter the apostle) to death by, for example, nailing them to crosses to suffer a long, slow, agonizingly painful death.
While beheading has been going on for some time (e.g. 1 Samuel 17:51,54, 31:9, 2 Samuel 4:7, 20:22, Matthew 14:10), the beheading of Christians by the Antichrist because of their preaching of Jesus Christ and the Bible, and because of their refusal to worship the Antichrist or his image, or receive his mark on their foreheads or hands (Revelation 20:4, cf. 13:4-18), hasn't started yet.
We Christians need to be prepared to see the beheadings which the Antichrist will perform in the future (Revelation 20:4b). We need to be prepared to see our loved ones beheaded; we need to be prepared to face the beheading sword ourselves; we need to be able to face all the coming horror of the tribulation with patience and faith unto the end (Revelation 13:7-10, 14:12-13, Matthew 24:9-13).
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Actually, those who "shake their fist" at God and stand against Him won't necessarily have any torment in this life, although they will certainly have torment after it. For Job 15:20-26 was just one person's opinion (Eliphaz the Temanite's, Job 15:1), which Job subsequently refuted:
"Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? (Job 21:7-15).
This is precisely why so many people remain wicked: they see no repercussions from being wicked, but only wealth and pleasures, and so see no reason to stop being wicked and start following God:
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
It is by the fear of God, the fear that after this life He will cast them into hell, that people depart from wickedness:
"... by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6).
"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death" (Proverbs 14:27).
"Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil" (Proverbs 3:7).
"... fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
"Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him" (Luke 12:5).
All Spirit-filled believers should have the fear of God (Romans 11:20-22, Hebrews 12:28, Acts 9:31, Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5, 1 Peter 1:17, 2:17, Revelation 14:6-7).
Spirit-filled believers can lose their fear of God when they see unrepentant sinners "living it up" without any punishment from God (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
A lack of punishment from God for unrepentant sin means that one isn't loved by Jesus (Revelation 3:19, Hebrews 12:6-11).
What can cause Spirit-filled believers to continue in unrepentant sin is a lack of a love for Jesus (John 14:24). Their love can grow cold because of the increase of wickedness in the world (Matthew 24:12).
Even Spirit-filled believers can reach a point where they've continued in an unrepentant sin for so long that their conscience has become seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2b), so that they no longer feel any guilt over their sin.
To remedy this situation, they can read the Bible and receive what it says as the truth (James 1:21); it will then reveal to them the sinful state of their hearts (Hebrews 4:12).
It's possible for Spirit-filled believers to overcome sin by the Holy Spirit within them (Romans 8:13, John 8:34,36, 1 John 3:5-10).
Believers must never trust their own hearts to tell them if something is wrong or not, for "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26); and "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
Believers must never reject the sound doctrine of the Bible in order to follow other, demonic teachings which support them in their lusts, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
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We should be completely free from all fear of actual, physical death: "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:15).
For if we die faithfully, our death will only bring us into the presence of Jesus Himself in heaven: "to live is Christ, and to die is gain ... having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Philippians 1:21,23).
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
For "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).
And it is for this reason that we can face suffering and actual, physical death with courage, knowing that they are just temporary, and that if we suffer and die faithfully we will receive eternal rewards:
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Believers should never desire to prolong their lives for their own sake, for "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:25). "They loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11). "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 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. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:34-36).
But, at the same time, believers should never do anything which unnecessarily shortens their lives, such as committing suicide, fasting to death, etc., for believers have no right to harm themselves in any way: they are wholly God's property: "ye are not your own... For ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
At the same time we must, even today, as one said, "die to this life" in the sense of some verses one quoted: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).
"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39).
Once one claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, one can no longer keep to one's old life, in which one may have wanted to make money and accumulate "stuff" in this world:
"Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15).
"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 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. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:34-36).
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be" (John 12:25-26).
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).
"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).
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Nothing about Revelation 11:6 requires that people won't do any building (Luke 17:28) during the time of the two witnesses.
People will still have to eat and drink (Luke 17:28) during the time of the two witnesses.
The way that people plant (Luke 17:28) when there's no rain (Revelation 11:6) is by irrigation (Deuteronomy 11:10-11).
Nothing about the two witnesses tormenting the people of the world (Revelation 11:10) requires that they won't be planting, building, eating, drinking, etc. (Luke 17:27-28) during that time, or after that time while the two witnesses are lying dead in the street (Revelation 11:8-10), or after the two witnesses have resurrected and ascended into heaven and there are 75 more days until the second coming (Daniel 12:11-12, Revelation 16:15).
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Note that in Revelation 11:3-4 each of the two witnesses can be represented by one olive tree and one candlestick at the same time, just as, for example, Jesus can be represented by both a lion and a lamb at the same time (Revelation 5:5-6).
Just because a symbol represents one thing in one instance in scripture doesn't mean that it has to represent the same thing in every other instance in scripture. For example, while a lion represents Satan in 1 Peter 5:8, it represents Jesus in Revelation 5:5.
Even in Revelation, the same symbol can represent different things at different times. For example, while the "lamb" in Revelation 5:6 is Jesus, the "lamb" much later in Revelation 13:11 is the False Prophet.
Similarly, just because the seven "candlesticks" in Revelation 1:20 were seven first-century local church congregations in seven cities in the Roman province in "Asia" (Revelation 1:11), this in no way requires that the two "candlesticks" seen seen much later in Revelation 11:4 (during the coming tribulation) have to be two first-century local church congregations in two cities in the Roman province in "Asia". Instead, the two "candlesticks" in Revelation 11:4 can simply be two individual men.
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Eternal death is a fair and just judgment, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and all of the unsaved are sinners (Romans 3:23). This is not to say that the saved aren't sinners as well, or any better than the unsaved (Romans 3:9-12), but the saved are saved wholly by God's mercy (Titus 3:3-5), meaning that the saved don't receive the fair and just judgment for their sins, like the unsaved will.
The ultimate penalty for sin is eternal torment, which will take place in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10,15, 14:10-11). The torment will actually take place in the presence of God (Revelation 14:10b) insofar as he is omnipresent (Psalms 139:8). But the unsaved in the lake of fire will still be separated from God (Matthew 25:41,46) in the sense that God lives in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-3) and the lake of fire will be outside the walls of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14-15, 21:8) on the new earth (Revelation 21:1-2).
The punishment of the unsaved will be just as eternal as the life of the saved (Matthew 25:46). The torment of the unsaved in God's wrath will be just as forever and ever (Revelation 14:10-11) as the life of God Himself (Revelation 15:7b).
The fate of the unsaved is simply called by different terms, such as everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9), or everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), or torment for ever and ever in fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:10-11), which will occur in the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10,15, Matthew 25:41,46), which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).
The unsaved are already spiritually dead (1 John 5:12). For the scriptures themselves state quite emphatically that unbelievers do not have life (1 John 5:12-13) and will not see life (John 3:36). Unbelievers have always been and will always be spiritually separated from Christ, for only believers become spiritually reconciled to God (Romans 3:25). God can have a spiritual relationship with spiritually dead people after they become baptized and are restored [from death] to spiritual life (Romans 6:3-11).
Believers are not spiritually raised to immortality until they have been water-immersion baptized (Romans 6:3-11), and they will not be physically raised to immortality until the second coming of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:23,52-53). Unbelievers will never be raised to spiritual or physical immortality, but will be raised only to damnation (John 5:29) and the second death (Revelation 20:15, 21:8).
No man except Jesus has received the victory over physical death; that's why all men still physically die. And only the church will receive the victory over physical death at Jesus' second coming (1 Corinthians 15:23,52-55).
While both the saved and the unsaved will be physically resurrected from physical death (1 Corinthians 15:22), the unsaved will be physically resurrected from the first physical death only to be cast into the second physical death (Revelation 20:13,15, 21:8, Mark 9:44).
The resurrected unsaved may have physical life while they stand at the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-13), but at the end of that judgment they will be cast into the second death (Revelation 20:15, 21:8).
The second death (Revelation 21:8) will be a second physical death which the unsaved will suffer forever (Mark 9:44) after being physically resurrected (Revelation 20:13,15).
The unsaved will not be immortal, for they will eternally exist only in the second death (Revelation 21:8), and the immortal are not subject to death [being immortal means not being subject to death]. An eternally existing death-state is an eternal existence which is not immortality. The unsaved will have an eternal mortal existence.
No one who was immortal, by definition, could suffer the second death; so the unsaved in the second death will not be immortal, even though they will have an eternal existence, in torment.
All men will have an eternal existence, but not all men will have eternal life, for the eternal existence of the unelect will be in the second death [an eternal conscious dying]: eternal torment with the devil in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10,15, 14:10-11, Matthew 25:41,46).
The second death will be a physical separation, for the lake of fire will be physically outside the walls of New Jerusalem on the new earth (Revelation 22:15, 21:8, 21:1-3). The unsaved were never spiritually alive (Ephesians 2:1) or spiritually connected to God (Ephesians 4:18), so the second death does not refer to their already-existing spiritual death-state or already-existing spiritual separation from God, but to the eternal torment of their resurrected physical bodies by fire and brimstone and maggots (Revelation 14:10-11, Mark 9:44).
Unsaved souls will be tormented as they will be trapped within eternally-existing physical bodies which will be forever eaten by maggots and burned by fire (Mark 9:44). This state is the second physical death (Revelation 21:8) [the lake of fire is the second death], which is different than the first physical death in that the soul will not depart from the body in the second physical death, as the soul departs from the body in the first physical death.
Dead bodies currently do not experience pain, because in the first death the soul departs from the body to go either into Hades to be tormented (Luke 16:23) or into heaven to be with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21,23). In the second death, however, dead bodies will experience pain because the souls of the unsaved will not depart from their dead bodies; they will be trapped and tormented in their dead bodies as they are eaten by maggots and burned by fire forever (Mark 9:44, Revelation 14:10-11).
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Those in the early Church who spoke in Greek used the Greek word hades to refer to the Hebrew sheol:
Psalms 16:10 ... thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol] ...
Acts 2:27 ... thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [hades] ...
Matthew 16:18 ... I will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.
Actually, Hades is a real place, the tormenting part of which is reserved for those souls which are in the condition of not being saved. The criterion for the category of the damned is unrepentant disobedience to God (Romans 2:5-7).
The torment of the unsaved souls in Hades could come mainly from the fires, but also from the mental grief and anguish that they are unsaved, with no hope of ever getting saved, for they did not believe in Jesus and repent from their sins before they died (Hebrews 10:26-29, Luke 13:3, John 8:24; 1 John 5:16, James 5:20, Romans 2:5-8).
There is indeed no flesh in Hades, the temporary hell in which the souls of the unsaved are tormented in fire (Luke 16:22-24). But there will be flesh in Gehenna, also called the lake of fire, the eternal hell in which both the souls and the resurrected bodies of the unsaved (John 5:29b, Revelation 20:12-15) will be tormented in fire forever (Mark 9:45-46, Isaiah 66:24, Revelation 14:10-11, 20:10,15, 21:8, Matthew 25:41,46).
The fires of Hades nonetheless cause pain to the souls of the unsaved there (Luke 16:22-24). So the fires of Gehenna, the lake of fire, could do the same thing, as well as causing physical pain to the resurrected bodies of the unsaved (Isaiah 66:24, Mark 9:45-46, Revelation 14:10-11, 20:10,15, 21:8, Matthew 25:41,46).
While no scriptures speak explicitly of the smell of burning flesh in hell, there are scriptures which refer to bodies in the eternal hell (Gehenna, the lake of fire) which are forever marred by being eaten by maggots and burned by fire:
"... fear him which is able to destroy [mar] both soul and body in hell [geenna]" (Matthew 10:28).
"... cast into hell [geenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:45-46).
"... they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24).
"... 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" (Revelation 21:8).
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever ... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:10,15).
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:41,46).
"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night" (Revelation 14:10-11).
What needs to be remembered is that even the unsaved who will end up in the eternal hell will be resurrected into bodies before they are judged and cast into the eternal hell:
"... the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29).
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12-15).
The resurrection-bodies of the unsaved will be flesh, just as the resurrection-body of Jesus is flesh and the resurrection-bodies of the saved will be flesh:
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).
"... Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Philippians 3:20-21).
Our current fleshly bodies are vile in the sense that they are corruptible, while resurrection-bodies are glorious in the sense that they are incorruptible:
"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption" (1 Corinthians 15:42).
This means that resurrection-bodies are able to restore themselves no matter what happens to them. This will be a great blessing to obedient Christians during the millennium and new earth, for if they have some accident, such as breaking their leg or having their hand chopped off, their body will rapidly restore itself with no problem. But this same quality of rapid restoration will be awful for the unsaved in the lake of fire, for as soon as maggots eat up a part of their flesh, their flesh will restore itself, and then their flesh will be eaten by maggots again, restored again, eaten again, and so on for eternity.
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The whole purpose of Creation is God's pleasure (Revelation 4:11). If it is his pleasure to create some people so that through them he will have the opportunity to eternally show his wrath and make his power known (Romans 9:21-22), who is man to answer back to God (Romans 9:20), or to claim that that is not really what God wants to do (Jeremiah 23:17-29)?
God wants pleasure because it feels good, just as we want pleasure because it feels good (Psalms 36:8).
What is pleasurable to God (Revelation 4:11) about showing his wrath and making his power known (Romans 9:22) is the pleasure of self-expression, like the pleasure we humans take in expressing our good qualities. What is also pleasurable to God about showing his wrath and making his power known is the pleasure of receiving honor on account of his good qualities, like the pleasure we humans take in receiving honor on account of our good qualities.
What is holy and righteous about God's wrath is that it is based on how utterly pure he is (1 John 1:5), and how utterly evil sin is (John 3:19-20).
God will be honored by saved humanity and the unfallen angels when they see the awesome display of his holy, righteous wrath, and his power, against wicked mankind (Romans 9:22, Revelation 20:15, 14:10-11) and against Satan and the fallen angels (Matthew 25:41,46, Revelation 20:10).
It's true that God wants what is best for his Creation (Romans 8:21). The only exception is the human vessels of wrath (Romans 9:22). And God wants to eternally give pleasure to those who obey him: "in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalms 16:11).
What is "best" for human beings about eternal praise of God and obedience to God is that it keeps them from slavery to sin (Romans 6:16-23) and keeps them in an eternal life of bliss (Psalms 16:11). It isn't "best" for human beings themselves to be in eternal torment, but the purpose of Creation as a whole is not what is best for mankind as a whole, but what gives God pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
...the pleasure of the infinite, holy God outranks what is best for some infinitesimal, wicked humans. All of humanity together is less than nothing compared with God (Isaiah 40:17). But he will still take no pleasure in the torment (the second death: Revelation 21:8, 20:10,15, 14:10-11) of the wicked [per se], "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD" (Ezekiel 18:32). God will only take pleasure in that through the torment of the wicked he will be able to eternally show his holy, righteous wrath against evil, and make his power known (Romans 9:22).
God does dramatic things to reveal His power, wisdom, and wrath to the angels and to those humans He has chosen to save (Ephesians 3:10, Romans 9:22). God could also do dramatic things simply because it gives Him pleasure (cf. Revelation 4:11). He's not some robotic computer program that has no feelings or desires (e.g. Exodus 34:14, Hosea 10:10, Revelation 3:19), but a real Person.
The glorification of God is more important than anything (Revelation 4:11, 1 Chronicles 29:11, Matthew 6:13b), including infinitesimal humans.
God doesn't just want sinful man to go someplace else, for God is omnipresent (Psalms 139:7-8); there is no place sinful man could go where God would not have to be disgusted by his filthiness. Also, God is perfectly just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and so he cannot let even the slightest unrepentant sin go by without it ultimately being judged and punished (Matthew 12:36). Also, it is God's right as Creator, and his desire, to make some men vessels through which he might make his wrath and power known (Romans 9:21-22).
And the eternal showing of his wrath will permit believers to forever know his mercy for what it is; they will never take it for granted or discount it as not being that big a deal. When they go out of New Jerusalem to look at the people in the lake of fire (Isaiah 66:24), they will no doubt say "There but for the mercy of God go I".
The purpose of creating mankind was not the benefit of mankind, but the pleasure of God (Revelation 4:11, Proverbs 16:4). To say that He's evil to create humans knowing they will end up in hell for their free-willed sins is only saying that one thinks that humans are more important than God, that God has no right to create human vessels of wrath (Romans 9:20-22). But humans are not more important than God, or even equally important to God. Instead, infinitesimal humans, even all together, are worth less than nothing compared with the infinite, Almighty God (Isaiah 40:15,17). It's only man's Luciferian pride that wants to rail against that most basic fact, and think that he's as important as God, if not more so.
So, in the end it's Universalism, the idea that God has to save everyone, which is so utterly opposed to God's Sovereignty that it denies His will, and His right, to damn as many humans as He pleases to eternal torment for their free-willed sins, so that He might have the pleasure of showing His wrath, and making His power known forever (Romans 9:22, Revelation 14:10-11, 4:11, Proverbs 16:4). That will be the ultimate proof and eternal affirmation of His total Sovereignty, the total Power of His Free Will over humans, despite their free will.
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The account of Lazarus and the rich man relates not to the eternal hell (Gehenna, the lake of fire) in which both the souls and resurrected bodies of the unsaved will be tormented in fire forever, but to the temporary hell (Hades), in which only the souls of the unsaved who have died are tormented in fire until the resurrection of the unsaved:
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:22-24).
The fact that the rich man still has eyes and a tongue in Hades shows that the fiery torment of the unsaved in Hades is not such that they are consumed by the flames, but to the extent that they can feel pain.
But then the question becomes: How can an unsaved dead person's mere soul have a body with eyes and a tongue before the resurrection of the unsaved?
The answer is that souls take on a ghostly form of the bodies (and even the usual clothing) which they inhabit before they die. This is how the soul of the dead Samuel could rise up from Hades and appear in ghostly form as he did before he died:
"What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle [robe]. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?" (1 Samuel 28:14-15).
But then the question remains: How can the mere souls of the unsaved, even with ghostly bodily forms, suffer pain from the fires in that part of Hades reserved for the unsaved?
The answer is that the fire which torments the unsaved souls in Hades must be more than merely physical fire; it must be some sort of spiritual fire which can affect spiritual entities such as the souls of humans. We know that spiritual fire exists because God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and God is a fire (Hebrews 12:29).
The fires of Hades (Luke 16:23-24) and Gehenna (Mark 9:45-46) could consist of the same stuff, able to torment souls as well as bodies.
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Jesus' description of the separation of Lazarus and the rich man into two different parts of Hades (Luke 16:22-26) matches Enoch's description of the separation of the dead souls of the righteous and the wicked (Enoch 22:8-11) because both descriptions referred to where the souls of dead believers went before the resurrection of Jesus.
Death isn't a letting go of the known and going into the unknown, for the destination and fate of the souls of the dead is made known to us by the scriptures. The souls of the unsaved dead go down into Hades where they are tormented by flames (Luke 16:23-24), while the souls of the saved dead go into heaven to be with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21,23). If we know Jesus now, in this life, then we know what we're going to in our death, and can expect Jesus to receive our souls unto himself (Acts 7:59) in paradise in heaven (Luke 23:43).