Night Ends and The Morning Star Arises

As I child I was often afraid of the dark. In my imagination I saw fearful monsters and evil men waiting for me in the shadows of the trees separating my parents' house from the house where my grandparents lived. During the day when the sun shone brightly I could see everything and was completely unafraid. But when the shadows of night filled those same trees my fears grew. The psalmist describes this fear as he promises the LORD's deliverance:

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. - Psa 91:3-6 ESV

In His parable about the wedding feast and those who did not wear wedding garments the LORD instructs his attendants to cast them into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 22:11-12).

But now in this final glorious chapter of the Revelation John writes about a city completely without darkness:

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. - Rev 22:3-5 ESV

So the prophecy comes to an end. John heard and saw it all. These words are to be proclaimed.

And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place." "And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." - Rev 22:6-11 ESV 

He who is the Beginning and the End, the first and the last, the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star, brings His blessing upon all who wash their robes in His blood.

Be ready for the bright Morning Star

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. - Rev 22:17 ESV

And then a final, very serious warning:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. - Rev 22:18-19 ESV

 So we join the saints in prayer as we conclude our study of this precious book. The present darkness is about to end. The Morning Star has arisen. The Day is at hand. Soon the Lord Jesus will appear.

He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. - Rev 22:20-21 ESV

Hell And The God Of Love

We're continuing a discussion of the existence of the human soul after death. 

Back in October, 2008 Dr. Ken R Vincent delivered a lecture delivered to the Psi Beta Psychology Honor Society at Houston Community College on The Dark Side of Spiritually Transformative Experiences. The lecture was later published in 2009 in the liberal magazine Universalist Herald as an article titled "Religious Experience Research Reveals Universalist Principles."  In his college lecture Dr. Vincent quoted two people who had negative near-death experiences of hell. 

• “I was in hell…I cried up to God, and it was by the power of God and the mercy of God that I was permitted to come back.” (Rommer, 2000, p. 42)
• “God, I’m not ready, please help me…I remember when I screamed (this), an arm shot out of the sky and grabbed my hand at the last second.  I was falling off the end of the funnel, the lights flashing; and the heat was really something.” (Greyson & Bush, 1992, p. 100)

I won't comment on the validity of these reports. However, I do want to emphasize that even such a far-left leaning journal as the Universalist Herald finds it important to acknowledge the existence of hell. However—and this is critical—they do not believe nor teach that hell is permanent. In his article Dr. Vincent suggests that

“Hell may last as long a sinful humanity lasts, but that does not mean that any individual will remain in it all that time. The time of purging can only continue until purification is reached. And a God driven to employ endless hell would be a God turned fiend himself, defeated in his original purpose…. but God will never desert the soul.”

Is the Biblical teaching of hell indeed a teaching about a fiendish God who loves only selectively? Here are Jesus' comments about hell as reported by Matthew's Gospel:

• But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. ... If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. - Mat 5:22, 29-30 ESV
• And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Mat 10:28 ESV
• And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Mat 16:18 ESV
• And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. - Mat 18:9 ESV
• Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ... You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? - Mat 23:15, 33 ESV

Is this indeed the same Lord who said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Matt 11:28 ESV? And again, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16 ESV?

How does one reconcile a loving God in Christ with the concept of souls going to hell after the body has died, only to be resurrected and confined body and soul to hell forever?

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' ... "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ... Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Mat 25:30, 41, 45-46 ESV

The Greek for eternal does indeed say that the darkness, fire and punishment will never cease. The huge question that troubles many is how to reconcile this Word of God with His revealing of Himself in Christ as the God of love who bears our burdens and carries our sorrows (Isa. 53:3-4). The brief answer lies in the fact that we have been endowed with the power to choose. While every sin is by its very nature damnable, in the final analysis it is the sin of refusing to accept God's mercy in Christ that condemns.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ... Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. - John 3:17-18, 36 ESV

As someone has said, you can only get into hell over the crucified body of Christ. But there is much, much more that needs to be said about this. That discussion will have to wait for later postings.