No doubt, He is coming to judge and make war, but this is NOT the final judgment. Revelation 20:4.

On 10/08/25, the wife and I watched one of the assistant pastors at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills take the microphone and preach a sermon called The Millennium of the Messiah.

I suspect he went this direction because Pastor Jack was not there to personally squelch it, as this young man is a trusted High School Pastor and does not usually preach to the middle-aged crowd.

As I listened, I believe there were at least three times I said, " That is NOT in the Bible. Only one now stands out distinctly in my mind, the day after the false teaching, and it goes something like this.

“The sheep and the goats will be among those judged by Jesus shortly after the end of the seven-years of God's wrath. The sheep, being found righteous, will gain entrance into the millennial kingdom, while the goats will go off directly to hell.”

The sheep and goat judgment can be found in Matthew 25:31-46.

I have no intention of going into a deep conversation about the sheep, but I am going to talk about judgment. Pay attention to what Jesus said to the disciples as He was defining the eschatology and end times chronology.

“He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

If Jesus, and I can say that because Jesus is God and the judge, is sitting, then this is the final, great, white throne judgment. This only happens once, at one place, at the end of the Revelation narrative.

All nations?

Huge overview, there are only three people groups detailed in the Bible: the Jews, the nations, and the church.

The church, prior to the wrath being poured out, is removed from earth. This theme is all over the Bible. The Jews who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will leave with the church; therefore, we can include some within the church.

The next group, minus the followers of Christ, is the Jews. The wrath is meant to drive the Jews into a knowledge, love, and acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. Many will come into a relationship, and we see Jesus, after He does battle with the word of His mouth, acknowledging the Jews who now see Him. After this battle, the only two who are included among the combatants and yet NOT killed are taken alive and thrown into the lake of fire. These are the first humans to be thrown into the lake of fire.

The last group is the nations; this is a vast and mixed group. All this happens at the end of time. Are there Christians included in this group? No, as they went up in the rapture, 1007 years before. How about the slaughtered saints from the time of wrath? No, because even they are given a resurrection that happens during the time of wrath. Revelation tells us that there is a specific number, which we are not privy to. So the only other consideration is all those people that we quickly assign to hell. Jesus, the good shepherd, gives the vast number an opportunity to enter the kingdom of peace based upon some of the simplest of kind acts.

Back to the topic.

I immediately said to my wife that what he said is NOT in the Bible.

I was not in a position to check and see if there was a transcript, and so I am having to go slowly through the playback of the video.

The young pastor's introduction continued with these statements.

“We must understand something, He is coming to judge and make war.”

Is this an appropriate statement?

The answer is yes; however, … The Revelation is a Revealing of Jesus; therefore, the seven years are Jesus pouring out the Father's wrath, in other words, judgment.

In the chronology of events, since Jesus just came riding back to earth on the white horse, then we must understand that He is not quite finished with the seven years, and all seven years are an aspect of His judgment. You surely realize that none of those who died as a result of God's wrath/judgment have gone on to eternal judgment as yet.

Where are they then?

Lying in the dust with no thought. Judgment will not happen until the end of the thousand years, and that is all. Yes, that means that those who die after the rapture, aside from the tribulation saints, will have to wait until the final judgment.

So, who dies when Revelation tells us that He is come to fight with the nations?

He is only coming to kill those who have come to fight with Him.

No doubt, He is coming to judge and make war, but this is NOT the final judgment.

Judge(s) is the Greek word krínō, which means “to separate, distinguish, discriminate between good and evil, select, choose out the good.

In the NT, it also means to form or give an opinion after separating and considering the particulars of a case.” While the details are masked from us, this is exactly what we see in Matthew's retelling of the sheep and goat judgment.

Are you telling me that God will continue to show mercy to some?

Absolutely. The problem we have is that, for some reason, we seem to relish the idea that God will bring about some horrific punishment at the drop of a hat. Again, you have a problem, because we don't see this horrific punishment in the end times events.

Perhaps a word picture will help. I picture King Solomon, who listened to the legal proceedings from two harlots, about a baby, which belonged to one of them. (One woman had unknowingly suffocated her baby during the night and chose to swap her dead baby for the other lady's live one.)
Solomon, after considering the particulars of the case, gave an opinion and returned the baby to the correct woman because she had compassion and could not allow the baby to be cut in half just to satisfy the selfish and foolish desires of the other woman. (Read about this in 1 Kings 3:16-28)

The young pastor continued to imply that He (Jesus) judges: “against all of His enemies and slays them.”
If you are going to advocate for an action that implies the eradication of an entire class of people that hold to a particular ideology, like Islam, and you deem them unworthy of God's salvation, then you need to back your false and confusing teaching with scripture. The young pastor could not do that.

This next paragraph is here to inform you that false teachers come in every shape and size.

Encouraged by my late father, I joined my mom and dad for dinner at a restaurant with an old friend of his. This friend, whom I will call Bob, would constantly rant about semi-biblical events. On this particular evening, my dad says, Bob (this is not his name), tell my son about your latest theory. Bob immediately tries to tell me that Satan had intercourse with Eve in the garden. This, according to Bob, allegedly created dark-skinned people and was associated with the entrance of sin into the world. I immediately lashed out at this man and said, " Show me in scripture where you got this rubbish! Bob could not provide “evidence” for such an outlandish assertion. He did, however, angrily lash back with, " You look it up! I tried to look it up, but not while sitting there that evening. I found NOTHING in scripture to validate such an outlandish claim, but I did find that this hideous theme has been around since the mid 1800s and had its roots in some very ugly racism, and was integrated into a religious sect. This is only coming, at the moment, from my memory, but when I came back to confront Bob, I came back with specifics. I told him that lashing out with “look it up,” only adds to the fact that advocating for something so in conflict with the scriptural narrative makes you a vile, false teacher who should keep his mouth shut. Any future meetings with Dad and Bob came with instructions to NOT fight with him. So I stayed away from Bob after that.

Let's look at Revelation 19, where we see a definition of those who are about to cease to breathe.

Revelation 19:15 NASB “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”

If you develop a doctrine of destruction, based upon Revelation 19:15 alone, you are going to be sadly lacking in an understanding of God's nature and character. For one, God is love, and denouncing God as a psychopathic mass murderer is so far removed from who God is. Consider that these people, having somehow made it through seven years of God's wrath being poured out upon the people of the earth, have now (once again) rallied a fighting force against Jesus/God.

Questions?

• How did they know where to come, so that they could attempt to fight against God?

• What would possess them to think that they could prevail against the same God that had been pouring out His wrath, in multiple forms, against those on the earth?

• How do we define the combatants?

  This last one may be the hardest to define because the Quran teaches its followers to teach their children, to hate those in opposition to the Quran, up to and including killing the unbelievers; and that giving their lives in death is the closest thing to an assurance of eternity, virgins and all.

God does not leave it at merely striking down the nations. John is shown armies gathered to fight against Jesus, and no more.

Revelation 19:19 NASB And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

I say it like that because that is what will happen. The passage below only shows us two beings thrown into the lake of fire, although we know that Satan is also thrown there for a thousand years.

“And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” Revelation 19:19-21 NASB)

So the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet are the only humans that are thrown into the lake of fire. The rest of the dead – non air-breathers- lie in a state of inactivity awaiting the judgment that only happens at the final throne, which Revelation 20 describes as a great white throne, 1007 years later.

Who is seated upon the horse in Revelation 19?

Jesus.

Who is assembled to make war?

While the armies of the nations are NOT defined, it is easy to assume that they are primarily Islamic nations that are currently rising up against Israel. So, if you noticed, we have the beast, the false prophet, the kings of the earth, and their armies, which were assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His armies.

If the Islamic male, head of household, follows their leader and comes to fight against Jesus, are those that he left at home supporters of Jesus?

It is probably safe to say, NOT A CHANCE. So, it is clear that NOT everyone is killed and denied entrance into the 1000-year reign.

If, as some would say, only “Christians” go into the millennial kingdom, then why would God see a need to point this next passage out?

With Satan put away for 1000 years, there is nothing spiritually evil to influence people to sin. Lacking a death that would kill the body, and therefore, the sin that lives within the human body, through Adam, these people are still carriers of this sin disease.

Revelation 21:7-8 defines who will eventually end up in the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:7-8 NASB "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. (8) "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

This branch off his notes focused upon Revelation 20:4.

Revelation 20:4 BSB “Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

The young pastor centered on these words for a moment.

“I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge.” Some translations will say “they” instead of those. It seems to me that we need to find the context of who is being referred to when it says those or they. Further evidence as to who will be seated on those thrones with Jesus can be extracted from Revelation 19. So, we see the saints in Revelation 19:14, and we see the martyred saints in Revelation 20:4.

This young pastor said, they won't simply be lying back in a recliner, they will be given a job to do, and this is where he took us to 1 Corinthians 6:2.

1 Corinthians 6:2(a) “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?”

The young pastor added, with Christ – that is.

Daniel's words seem to say it all.

Daniel 7:27 NKJV “Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”

The tares and the wheat, and how does all this fit into the final judgment. A response to a family member.

 One of my family members brought up the wheat and tares that we see in Matthew 24, but she could not, or perhaps would not attempt to understand that all these events are conveying the final judgment; a judgment, by the way, that has nothing to do with the church, nor the catching away of the church.

Since I was woefully unequipped to answer her challenges that afternoon, I am going to answer her's and anybody else's questions pertaining to the final judgment and when it takes place.

The Final Judgment.

I have, for some time, adopted the view that Matthew 25:31-46 and Revelation 20 are the same event from different perspectives.

Is that true?

In Matthew's account, it is clear that only “the nations will be gathered before Him."

Matthew 25:32 NLT 
“All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

This is not speaking of the Jews, as they have never been considered an aspect of the nations, and they consider anyone outside of the Synagogue to be a pagan dog.

Don't hold your breath as you say, I got it, as all of those gathered before Him will be dead people.

Allow me to paint a word picture for you. During the three days that affected Jesus' death, one of the things He did was to go into Hades and preach to the captives. Here is where you get to make an intelligent separation.

Some of those religious folk were not entitled to go up in the snatching away of the church. Why?

Do NOT set aside who Jesus was talking to when He said the things He said and Matthew recorded. 

The audience was Jewish, and the subject matter really pertained to them. 

Now, here we are, all those thousands of years later, trying to sort out what He said.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 BSB 
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  (17)  so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.”

Why would I know this? 

Because the church was not established until Pentecost, 50 days after "first fruits." (Jesus was the first fruit.) On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on the 150+ disciples who were obediently waiting in the upper room.

Psalms 102:18 BSB 
“Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.”

Jesus's actions during the three days of His "death," are interspersed throughout the scriptures. If Jesus preached to the captives, as the scriptures tell us He did, we must accept that there were other co-occurrent actions; I think that would indicate that an untold number would have, in some way, been set free. 

Don't get me wrong, I would not have expected them to come back to life; however, on the day of His death, we are told that many dead folk rose from the dead and walked the streets of Jerusalem. I think it is important to note that we are given no specifics as to who any of these people were. A moment of honesty: I am having a difficult time trying to envision what became of these formerly dead people.

At the end of the seven years of God's wrath, Jesus resurrects those who held to the testimony of Jesus Christ and subsequently were beheaded for NOT participating in the worship of the beast nor taking his mark. We see all this portrayed in Revelation 20:4-6, which I have included below.

We are also told that it is these resurrected dead that are seated upon those thrones that Jesus sets up as the millennial reign begins. These people are referred to as saints.

Note: the scripture makes it clear that bringing these saints back to life is the first resurrection.

In John's account of this last 1000 years, which we call the Revelation, we see this.

Revelation 20:4-6 NKJV 
“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. (Here we are at the final throne that ends all judgment; and yet look at the description that we get here in Revelation 20: a multitude of thrones set up. It is obvious that Jesus cannot and will not sit upon them all. This is where I try to answer the question, who are the “they” that sit upon these thrones? The answer is given to us in verse 

(4). "Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (5)  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.  (6)  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

Question: Who then are the rest of the dead?

They have nothing to do with the church. Here are several reasons why.

• First, death has more to do with eternal separation from God.

  Sure, death has much to do with the cessation of breathing, but that is not death in God's eyes. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:8, tells us that for the follower of Jesus, death is merely an absence from the body, at which point you are immediately present with the Lord.

  These people who missed the rapture, and refused to turn to Jesus during the years of wrath, and are apt to be eternally separated from heaven, are acting in this manner entirely by their own choice. This option to obtain life had always been before them, and they chose to ignore it.

  Since the time of grace left with the snatching away of the church, those who see the fallacy of their decision and turn to Jesus will have to prove their allegiance to Christ by their testimony, their refusal to take the mark, and their refusal to worship the beast. They will be executed in some manner, most likely beheading, although 19 years ago I saw pictures of some high-tech guillotines; this inglorious death allows for them to be resurrected in the first resurrection, which takes place at the beginning of the thousand-year reign.

• Imagine a scenario that could happen within days of the rapture, where some of those who ignored Christ's call get squashed by a falling building. They then might fall into the category of those who get called before the great throne of God, along with the nations.

  We have learned that those who do not (fully?) believe, their deaths are comparable to the parable of the rich man's death, which Jesus told the disciples. It would seem that they will find themselves in Hades - a waiting place of discomfort. Many of those who have spent a few moments there because of death describe an intense discomfort such as the rich man spoke of.

  Those that go to hades (this uncomfortable holding place) become subject to the final judgment at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ; whether it is called: the judgment of the tares, where all we see is the burning of the tares; the sheep and goat judgment, where those who are symbolized as goats are sent off to the lake of fire and the eternal torment that brings, while the sheep, those who did not go up in the rapture of the Church, are given entrance into the kingdom because of a simple work (such as: giving someone who needs it a drink of water, Christ symbolizes the recipients of this kindness as though we did it to Him;) And, finally the great white throne judgment, where we have no discussion about anyone receiving mercy; but unlike Matthew 25, the event where we see NO books, Revelation 20 speaks of books and the book of life. All of the people mentioned above are, at some point, designated as the nations, and there is a clear picture of “good” and “bad” people jumbled together. The “good,” portrayed by the sheep, demonstrates that some, lacking a commitment to Christ, still manage to follow the moral standard that lives within all of us; it is because of the unwitting works that they gain access. In Matthew's account of the sheep, they have NO clue that what they did would eventually gain them access into the kingdom of heaven, a place where NO evil will enter. This thought lends itself to the idea that Jesus will NOT leave them in whatever sinful condition they were in. 

• If you have read any of my thoughts on how death strips the sin-laden body away, and how the death of the body may open the door for their entrance into the kingdom of Heaven.

(Revelation 20:7,8 NKJV)
“Now, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.”

(When you read this, ask the question, where are these people coming from? The answer is given to us, and it is NOT merely from the plains of Meggido; they are coming from the four corners of the earth. I suppose it is not fair to say they are primarily Muslims, but if your eyes are open then you have seen, the Jihadists, the followers of Islam that have been carrying out a form of warfare as they swarm across the globe, place themselves on school boards, become elected to city councils, and then get themselves elected into higher seats of authority, like Mayors of large cities such as New York.)

(Revelation 20:9 NKJV)
“They (the nations that have been living scattered amongst the people on the earth during the millennial reign) went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. (So these are now included among the dead, though just moments before they were living among the nations.)”

Allow me to interrupt for a moment as I point out how Matthew conveys a similar oral picture of the final throne.

(Matthew 25:31 NKJV)
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

When John describes this final throne, he sees a great white one. Now that whiteness may be depicting the light that emanates from His glory.

(Revelation 20:11-13 NKJV)

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.”

(12) And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

(13) The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.”

Things in common between the two scenarios:

• Jesus is the judge in all cases.

  If I have not said, I will. The whole of the Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ; therefore, it is Jesus upon that final throne. I might also add that all judgment has been given unto the Son, Jesus.

• In Matthew's account, we are told that He gathers all the nations before Him.

  It is at this time that He separates them into the two crowds, and refers to them as the sheep and the goats.

• In the Revelation chronicle, we are told that the dead are gathered before Him.

  What we fail to realize is that a huge number of these dead were alive only moments before, and were referred to as the nations, gathered from the four corners of the earth.

• It wasn't until I had spent some time looking at these scenarios that someone pointed out the “parable of the wheat and the tares.” (Read about this in Matthew 13, verses 24 – 30.) This, too, is a judgment scenario. The dead show up as the angels with scythes, and they gather the tares at the end of time into bundles, with the intent to burn them; this is when the final judgment takes place. The difficulty in understanding comes as this does not have comparable details to the others. The commonality is that it, too, is a final judgment setting.

  Note: There are not multiple judgments of the dead; there is only one, and it happens at the great, white, glorious throne, where Jesus sits.

What is the difference between the judgment scenarios?

In Matthew's account, there is NO mention of books, nor the book of life, as we see in Revelation 20. And yet, in Matthew 25:32, He is separating the judged, called sheep and goats, good or bad, based upon some work found in one of the books that demonstrates an act that has earned them entrance into the kingdom. Since God is organized and NOT random, then there have to be records.

Matthew 25:32 NLT 
“All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

In Malachi, a time in which the Torah was scarce, those who feared the Lord shared their understanding of God's law, gave attention to what they heard, and began writing a book of remembrance before the Lord. This statement covers a very wide group of people, some of whom might not be religious.

Malachi 3:16 NASB
“Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.”

In Revelation, there are books, and the dead are judged based on what is written in them. Religion will be judgmental, asserting that everything written is negative and that all of them should be sent to hell.

Revelation 20:12 NASB
“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

Matthew shows us the nations being gathered before Jesus on His glorious throne. There is NOTHING that excludes the idea that, at least, some of these, if not all, were physically dead.

This leads to the next question: What is death?

While many worry about physical death, we who have been in the scriptures long enough know that death is nothing more than a permanent separation from God, an event that happens in conjunction with the great white throne judgment and culminates with the condemned being tossed into the Lake of Fire and nowhere else.

Daniel 7 gives us yet another view of the final judgment at the end of the thousand years. Here is an image of God and His throne that, in this case, has a river of fire glowing out from it; we had not seen this before.

Daniel 7:9-10 NLT 
“I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire,  (10)  and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened.”

The beast of Revelation 17 is one of those things that will be judged, and it is represented by the antichrist. Revelation 17 attempts to define the beast. This is a little confusing because we have descriptions of kings with crowns and horns, which are kingdoms, when other passages point us to a singular man. This is where many of us get baffled, as numerous prophetic interpreters apply their statements about a human who sustains a mortal head wound and then comes back to life. This teaching is out of context and causes people to look for the wrong thing, like the Pope or the Vatican rising up against the world.

Revelation 13:2-3 NASB And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. (3) I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

Note: the beast, and it is like so many things. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. A multi-headed monster, unlike anything we have ever seen, and God called it a him. To make things even more confusing, the scriptures tell us that one of its heads sustains a head wound that makes it appear as though it is dead. The bible explains these heads to be kingdoms; therefore, one of the kingdoms, or, shall we say, empires, sustains what appears to be a mortal wound.

What empire did just that?

The Ottoman Empire around 1924.

Ask yourself, what was the driving force behind the Ottoman Empire?

Islam.

Where can you find Islam today?

They are educators in your schools, making decisions over your city councils, sitting as mayors of your cities; they are your senators, and we had one as a president for two terms.

How did that work out for us?

Aside from trying to destroy the economy of the United States, the man gave billions to Iran to support their nuclear programs.

What's the primary ideology of Iran?

Islam and all the twisted commands of the Quran and associated hadiths.

An angel explains to John about the harlot who rides the beast.

Revelation 17:7 NIV 
“Then the angel said to me: 'Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.”

By definition, astonished is to be stunned or surprised, but that is not what Daniel was. Daniel used the Hebrew word thaumázō, which means he, too, was caught up in admiration and marvel.

The angel told Daniel the mystery of the same woman.
Mystery is the Hebrew word mustērion and, among other things, means a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding.

As you listen to internet teachers going on about Mystery Babylon, how many of them make sense? Not many. It is past time to invest in God's Word.

If the woman, who is drunk on the blood of the saints, has all these aspects rolled up as a part of her package. Then what are those aspects?

Power, money, an intentional lack of moral restraint, brutality against God's people, including the Jews and the Christians, an atrocious degree of arrogance, and they think they are untouchable.

If you doubt that these things are not part of what constitutes the harlot, then what became of Jeffrey Epstein's client list?

CNN told us that the US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, told President Trump that his name was on that list, several times. You see how quickly the evidence disappeared.

What became of Epstein's girlfriend? If there is nothing to substantiate that crimes happened, then why is Epstein's girlfriend in jail? There are a tremendous number of what-ifs, and this is such a small piece of the puzzle.

All that follows was an attempt to direct you to a proper footnote. Passing my writing through a document checker and back again tends to scrub details such as the footnote that follows.

1I have copied and pasted the words that Jesus spoke, just as the translators put them on the page. I am aware that in the world of social media, putting text in all capitals is equivalent to yelling angrily. I am not so sure Jesus was doing that, but He might have been, especially if He was dealing with Pharisees.

(Luke 4:18 NKJV)
"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED;

I want to focus on this statement that Jesus quoted, but made personal,

“To proclaim liberty to the Captives.” (NKJV) If you focus on the (NASB), it states,

“To proclaim release to the captives.”

From the UCRT.

To preach deliverance.

Deliverance translates aphesin (Strong's # G859, Mat_26:28). Here, in this context, the necessity to translate aphesin as deliverance rather than forgiveness is absolute.

From the Word Study Dictionary Strong's # G859

áphesis; gen. aphéseo¯s, fem. noun. from aphíe¯mi (G863), to cause to stand away, to release one's sins from the sinner. Forgiveness, remission. This required Christ's sacrifice as punishment for sin, hence the putting away of sin and the deliverance of the sinner from the power of sin, although not from its presence, which will come later after the resurrection, when our very bodies will be redeemed.

It is interesting indeed that in Luke 4:18, the word áphesis is used without any designation of what this deliverance or forgiveness is from. The Lord said: "He hath anointed me to . . . preach deliverance to the captives [the word is the same, áphesis] . . . to set at liberty [again the word is the same, en {G1722}, in; aphései, at freedom]." The work of Christ, therefore, is designated as deliverance from everything that holds man a prisoner away from God. However, setting sinful man free would have been a very dangerous thing if God did not simultaneously change man's nature (2Co_5:17; 2Pe_1:4). Man's freedom does not permit him to continue in sin (1Jn_3:6), but binds him in Christ. What Christ does is not simply to take man from prison and set him free, but also to change him radically (katallássei [G2644]), giving him power over sin.

Áphesis is part of a larger process that does not involve simply the freedom of the sinner, but the change of the sinner from being a slave of sin to becoming a slave of God. With that freedom from sin, he acquires freedom of action because of his changed nature and spirit. He acquires the ability to follow after God instead of fleeing from God, and the desire to flee from sin and pursue God. Forgiveness, therefore, must never be understood as the permission for the sinner to continue in his sinful condition.

In the same manner, we must not misunderstand the use of the verb aphíe¯mi (G863), to forgive on the part of the Christian in regard to another, as meaning the forgiving Christian is supposed to allow the sinner to continue in his sinful condition. Forgiveness is not condoning sin but rather doing everything possible to see that the particular sin or sins of the sinner are removed from him by God, who is the only One who can deliver and cleanse him. Forgiveness, therefore, is never freedom in sin but freedom from sin by God (italics added).

Heb_9:22 contains an absolute statement, "without shedding of blood is no remission [áphesis]." As animal sacrifices gave OT sinners relief from the guilt of sin, so Jesus Christ's shed blood (His sacrificial death) gives believers not only freedom from the guilt of sin, which in the NT is called justification (dikaío¯sis [G1347]) (Rom_4:25; Rom_5:18), but also katharismós (G2512), cleansing or purification (Heb_1:3; 2Pe_1:9). This is why in Rom_3:25 in speaking of the OT sacrifices, Paul calls the result páresis (G3929), which unfortunately is translated "remission," as if it were the same as áphesis. If Paul meant it to be áphesis, the permanent remission of sins without the need of further sacrifices, he would have called it that. The blood of Christ provided the removal of the guilt of sin as well as the cleansing from sin on a permanent basis. Páresis (G3929), occurring only in Rom_3:25, must be translated the "bypassing" of sin and not the "remission" of sin, for where there is forgiveness of sins there is no more offering for sin (Heb_10:18).