Who is this Judge to
which we all must give an account of our life?
John 3:34-36 “For He whom God
has sent (Jesus) speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by
measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He
who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Matthew 28:18 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me.” John 5:21-22
“For as the Father raises the dead and
gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father
judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.”
Revelation 20:10-15 “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 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 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
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.”
So what happens to us
when we die? It is obvious in God’s Word that the soul of any person – saved or
lost – does not cease to exist. Jesus admonished us all in Mark 9 to do
whatever is necessary to stop sinning – the eye from which we sense and take
into our heart and thought or the hand by which we do the action. Sin has an
insatiable appetite that cannot be satisfied and there’s hell to pay; contentment
comes from God alone. If a man or woman did not believe in Jesus Christ,
confess Him before others as Lord and Savior, and live a life that bore the
fruit of faith, it’s a delusion to claim that individual went to “a better
place”. In Matthew 25:31-46, in
Jesus’ metaphoric account of the separation of the sheep and the goats and
their consequent destiny, our Lord makes it clear that the lake of fire and
brimstone was prepared for the devil and his fallen angels (the demons). Yet, those human beings
who choose to believe in the father of lies, rather than obeying the Son of God,
will share in Satan’s fate. Matthew 25:46 “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous
into life eternal.” But, there is a way to salvation.
When someone says: “I have some good news and some bad
news”, we always say: “Give me the bad news first.” This week’s study of eternal
truth was on the bad news of hell’s fire and brimstone, but the bad news makes
the good news to come truly good news. In the next small group bible lesson, we
study the good news of heaven. Stay tuned for this one.
In Christ, Brian
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