Judgment Day! The Books

And I saw a great white throne, and Him that 

sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 

heaven fled away; and there was found no place 

for them. 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 he 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 

delivered up the dead which were in them: 

and they were judged every man according 

 to their works. And death and hell 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 20:11-15 

     How can anyone read these verses and not have chills run up and down their body? How can a person not have such a fear that there will be those who will be cast into the lake of fire. As was mentioned in earlier blogs that the lake of fire corresponds to the Valley of Hinnom, and called Gehenna, a word that is formed from Hinnom. We have such and askew view of death, of hell, or Gehenna. We do not make known the difference between hell and Gehenna. We have come to make them both the same: they are not! The Greek word "hades" translated as hell can be found in the works of the Greeks and is known that "hades" is a place, or abode of the dead. The Hebrew word "sheol" a place where the dead go corresponds to "hades" both meaning the same thing, a place where the dead go upon death. We have come to teach and even believe in the works of Dante's Inferno, a place of torment, screaming, pain, and a desire to get out of this hell: people in this work are alive, and this has been taught for many years. Preachers would go about yelling of hellfire, scaring people, if they could, to come to Jesus. 

     What was taught by the early Church fathers? Let us look once again at Clement of Rome (96 A.D.): All the generations from Adam even unto this day have passed away. However, those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in love, now possess a place among the godly. And they will be made manifest at the revelation of the kingdom of Christ. For it is written: "Enter into your secret chambers for a little time, until my wrath and fury pass away. And I will remember a propitious day, and will raise you up out of your graves" (Isaiah 26:20). That "secret chamber" is the grave where the dead go. In 205 A.D. Hippolytus wrote: "I think I have said enough on the subject of Hades, in which all souls are detained until the time that God has determined. And then He will accomplish a resurrection of all--not by transferring souls into other bodies--but by raising the bodies themselves." The body dies and we are more than just a body for we are also a soul, that is we have a soul, that life given to man when God made Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, then man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). This breath of life was not given to any other living creature, only to man for man was made in His image (Genesis 1:27), no other creature was made in the image of God. Tertullian stated: "According to the general sentiment of the human race, we declare death to be the debt of nature. This much has been settled by the voice of God" (210 A.D.). Tertullian would go on to say: "The operation of death is plain and obvious: it is the separation of body and soul" (210 A.D.). Another early Church father wrote: "Let no one imagine that souls are immediately judged after death. For all are detained in one and a common place of confinement--until the arrival of the time in which the great Judge will make an investigation of their deserts. Those whose piety will have been approved will receive the reward of immortality. However, those whose sins and crimes will have been brought to light--these will not rise again. Rather, they will be hidden in the same darkness with the wicked, being destined to certain punishment" (Lactantius (304-313 A.D.). We know this place of darkness and it is the lake of fire: Gehenna. 

     These Scriptures do not say to us that only Christians will be questioned, no, all will be questioned by God. There are two books, one, seems to have within its "pages" names of those who are not in the other book, the book of life and if a person' name is not in the book of life then it is in the other book and will be judged to be thrown into Gehenna. The sea, which represents people, the earth that represents people, and heaven those fallen angels, all who do not believe in the redemption of Jesus Christ will have no place found for them, they will be destroyed in Gehenna, no matter their station in life. Notice this: hell will be thrown into the lake of fire, therefore, there is no resurrection from Gehenna, there is not a place called purgatory as the Roman Catholics teach, no, this was not taught by the early Church fathers, but was alluded to as well as taught by heretics. 

     Does not this bring chills to you? Do you not see that you will have to answer for your life? Yes, you are saved, and yes, you have eternal life, but you and I will have to answer for our lives. Do you not want to hear Jesus say: "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:21). 

If ye will fear the LORD, and serve Him,

   and obey His voice, and not rebel against

the commandment of the LORD, then shall

   both ye and also the king that reigneth

over you continue following the LORD your God

                       Samuel 12:14 

Obey the voice of God your Redeemer

Richard L. Crumb