Where do we go when we die? An edited repost that is always pertinent.

 Several years ago, a brother in Christ opened his home a couple of times a month, and a few of us gathered for a home church meeting. This brother-in-Christ did the teaching/preaching and, on one Saturday night, attempted to cover the question – where do we go when we die?

He had a well-drawn graphic that showed what many call the upper level of hell and the lower level. So while he had some additional terminology, essentially what we saw, according to our teacher that night, is representative of hell.

In theory, all this conjecture about multiple layers of hell is based on the “story” about the rich man and the poor beggar Lazarus that Jesus told. (I am convinced that these were real people.) As you may

remember, Lazarus the beggar was now comforted in Abraham's bosom, while the nameless rich man was now in torment, separated by a great gulf. As the evening progressed, all we saw in the graphic were interpreted as spiritual places. I had to question that concept because the rich man was in torment, and his condition sounded very physical to me.

He opened by asking the group this question, do you believe you would be in the Lord's presence when you die?

I was unclear about what he was trying to accomplish, so I asked him if he wanted a response from the group. He replied, yes. While a few others raised their hands, I was, in those few seconds, the only one with my hand up and added because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
I said nothing more to clarify my statement, as almost every follower of Christ has heard this passage at some point.

“Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:5-9 NASB)

Apparently, our leader had not heard nor read this passage before; and though he said nothing as a challenge, his utterances indicated disbelief. Several minutes later, another brother-in-Christ interjected with 2 Corinthians 5:5-9, to which the leader replied, Oh, is that in the Bible?

Allow me a quick breakdown of the passage above.

Because He gave us the Spirit (think Holy Spirit), we can have solid confidence that once we are absent from this body, we are present with the Lord. Most followers of Christ feel this all the time.

What followed was a question/statement from the group leader that went like this: 

Then, is it true that the dead know nothing and merely lay in the ground until some day of judgment? 

Again I replied, yes, both statements are true, (However, the question makes no distinction between a child of God and a non-believer, and that is a problem.) The group leader was clearly undone and would not acknowledge or look at me. I know it is not all about me, but some form of recognition that you heard what I said would be nice. (In all honesty, I was mad also. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but I can't stand false teaching, and I did not come back for several weeks. When I did come back, it was like a God thing, as a dear lady that had also spoken up at the previous meeting was there. When the leader opened the meeting this night, he abruptly said we should keep our opinions to ourselves. Whoa, you asked for input, and we, both, refuted with the Word of God. This was the last time I went to this home meeting. Not to worry about this brother, though, for Pastor gave him a group teaching slot at church; and no, I do not go to this church anymore either.)

Ecclesiastes 9:5 NLT  “The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.”

Since I read this passage, I have understood that the dead lie in the ground, in some form of sleep, until they are awakened and brought before the great white for final judgment. (Note. If you are in the Lord and die, where are you? The answer lies in 2 Corinthians 5:8, where the believers are immediately present with the Lord.)

Something doesn't make sense, for there are stories of people that have died and spent time in hell, and they describe it as pure torment. If the dead lie there quietly, then how do these people get taken into hell? This gives me grief as, in my understanding, NO ONE is in hell nor goes there until the final judgment at the great white throne at the end of the thousand years.

(Just a touch of clarification. When Jesus physically comes back to earth, one of the first things He does is to grab the antichrist and the false prophet and throw them alive into the lake of fire. These two are the only ones sent to eternal punishment until after the great white throne).

Let me show you what I might use to substantiate what I understand about the dead. Most people seem to struggle because they see these from the nations and assume they are alive. Remember that death is a relative term, as all of us have eternal spirits, and we never really die.

Matthew 25:31-34 NASB "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. (32) "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; (33) and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. (34) "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Alright, then, how do we understand this?

First, this is the same scenario that we see in Revelation 20.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. (12) 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. (13) And the sea gave up the dead which was in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which was in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”
Revelation 20:11-13 NASB

For comparison, I give you Matthew's account.

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:” Matthew 25:31 KJV 

Secondly, pay attention to the thrones.

• In Matthew, it is His glorious throne, and in Revelation 20, it is a great white throne.

  Why should we see any distinction between great and glorious?

  Great is the Greek word mégas. It is an adjective describing size, such as: Great, large, particularly of physical magnitude.

  Throne thrónos - A seat, usually high and having a footstool, a throne as the emblem of royal authority.

  Glory/glorious is the Gk word dóxa. It is a noun and means to think (about) or recognize (His) Glory.

  In both the throne of Revelation 20 and Matthew 25, the throne is to be seen as an emblem of royal authority. Matthew's account also shows Jesus coming in a manner in which those witnessing His "entrance" recognize His glory.

• In the Revelation account, we only perceive those before the throne to be dead, while Matthew's rendition presents them as alive.

  Death, it would seem, is a relative term since our spirits are eternal and we never die. Therefore, all these people may be spirits. (Since we are reattached to improved versions of our bodies, then maybe God will do the same with these “dead” so that they can fully understand the agonizing discomfort of hell if that is where they will go.)

  On the cross, Jesus cried out, my God, why have you forsaken me. We understand that He experienced a total and complete separation from the Father, and that is the ultimate death.

• In the Revelation account, we see the book of life; however, all we see is the result of those not being found in the book. In contrast, Matthew's account shows us no books in the event, yet many receive mercy. 

Revelation 20:15 NASB “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The assumption most make as they read about the great white throne is that no one is found worthy of salvation, and all are thrown into the lake of fire, henceforth hell. But an honest inquiry into this verse will show you that Revelation 20:12 speaks of books; the implication is that God is desperately looking through those books for those to which He can show mercy. To see this any other way is nothing less than a cruel and morbid joke on God's part, for He knew whether He would find their names in those books and is, therefore, merely having fun at the expense of those standing there. Anyone who understands God's nature knows that this scenario will never happen. 

“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love.” (Ephesians 1:4 NASB)

King David, a man who sinned frequently, said,

“Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
(Psalms 139:16 NASB)

He already knows what is written in those books.

Consider this. God so loved this world so much that even while they spit in His face, He gave His only Son, Jesus, so that through the horrors of death, He could redeem the world, and then they could love Him freely if they chose. 

In contrast to the Revelation account, Matthew tells us that He already knows the answer to what His eyes were searching for in those books and, therefore, separates the crowd into sheep and goats. He gives those He deems sheep entrance into the kingdom of peace.

The people in the sheep category seem puzzled, knowing that they did not measure up by religious standards, and ask, what did we do to deserve entrance into the kingdom of Heaven? 

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (35) 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; (36) naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' (37) "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? (38) 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? (39) 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' (40) "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:34-40 NASB

What did they do that gained their entrance into the kingdom?

They acted in the nature and character of God.

So back to the problems with the graphics I started with and the multi-layered hell.

While it is clear that this was understood by the Jews during Jesus' time on earth, we have nothing beyond the resurrection (primarily Paul's writings) that would enforce a multi-layered hell. 

If Paul did not preach it, why should I?

Paul wrote about the dead in Christ in an attempt to address such misconceptions.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB

Paul used the word nekrós, which means a corpse, when he spoke of the dead in 1 Thessalonians. So the dead then is merely corpses' catching up with the spirit, which is already with Jesus, if you are a believer. I have thought about the whys of needing our corpses, and I suspect God could merely make another body for us if we needed it, but then, Jesus did not just leave His lying around, did He. (As a side note. The sinful nature is attached to the living body. If you think about how taking a bite out of a piece of fruit can permanently change you, then you have to be talking about genetics. We have, in the last two years, seen for ourselves, if we were paying attention, that an injection can affect our DNA. Once the DNA code is changed in one, then everything produced by that one impacts all future progeny. But it wasn't just one, and therefore, one human escaped the damage.

Well, how do you get rid of the damage?

It has to be killed, and suddenly this change (in a twinkling of an eye) that we all must go through begins to look like the death of the body. Remember,

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
(Hebrews 9:27 KJV)

And we have two known humans that, as far as we know, did not die as yet, Enoch and Elijah, but those two, standing in the streets of Jerusalem, will someday die and fulfill the requirement. This death/judgment is something only God can do, so don't try to take matters into your own hands, as that is stupid and exactly what Satan wants you to do – as it removes you from usefulness here on earth.

Now, imagine if Peter and John had returned to the tomb and found His body lying there; the entirety of the resurrection would have been undone in this scenario. And, when Jesus showed himself to the 120 in the upper room, He showed them that same physical body. It was proof of His resurrection, and it validated His previous statements.

I suspect we have more than a couple of significant players in our misconceptions about hell. 

1. Dante Alighieri and his book The Inferno.

2. The book is known to have been a method to confront what he perceived as religious: persecution, error, disagreement, and graft. Dante placed real people in various levels of his creation, each group having its own nasty punishment. Dante showed some mercy by implying that his victims could earn their way out, although none ever made it out.

3. The Catholic Church seems to have adopted the concepts within Dante's book. One of those concepts is purgatory. From what I understand, if you comply with some monetary demand, you can buy your way out. It did not happen to any of Dante's characters and has not happened here on earth.

4. The last and most damaging story is about the poor beggar Lazarus and the wealthy Jewish man. So let's pursue this for a moment.

The passage in Luke is detailed and lengthy, so I am t going to put the entire thing in here. But, suffice it to say; the rich man is still attempting to order Lazarus around, and the rich man is in torment, while Lazarus is not.

“... Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. (23) "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me,... (25) "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. (26) 'And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. ...” Luke 16:19-31 NASB

“Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom.”

What is the difference between the event that Jesus described and how we should perceive this today?

The resurrection.

Here, in Luke's gospel, Jesus is talking to Jews who have little to no comprehension of grace nor of the catching away of the Church. The Jews do, however, understand that the soul seems to lie in a state of waiting. In Ecclesiastes, we learn that.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 KJV  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Another source of Jewish understanding comes from King David.

Psalms 31:17 KJV  Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Again, the general idea is that the dead lie in silence until called.

In looking at the word paradise, which comes up in the conversation between Jesus and the thief on the cross, we see Jesus saying,

"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43b NIV

In the Jewish understanding, the word paradisos is an oriental word that the Greeks borrowed from the Persians, among whom it meant a garden, park, or enclosure full of all the vegetable products of the earth. ...The original Eastern word pardes occurs in Neh_2:8; Ecc_2:5; Son_4:13. In Sanskrit, paradésha, and paradisha meant a land elevated and cultivated. In Armenian, pardes means a garden around the house planted with grass, herbs, and trees for food and ornament. The Sept. uses it to refer to the Garden of Eden (Gen_2:8). In later Jewish usage and in the NT, parádeisos is used for the abode of the blessed after death. Paradise, before Christ's resurrection, has been thought to be the region of the blessed in Hades, although it was not specifically called by that name (Luk_16:23). [From the Word Study Dictionary]

And finally, the early church deemed paradise to be an upper level of heaven where the dead would wait.

Paradise is but an Anglicized form of the Greek word παράδεισος. It does not occur in the Old Testament, in the English version, but is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew gân, גָּן, a garden (Gen_2:8 sq.), and thence found its way into the New Testament, where it is applied figuratively to the celestial dwelling of the righteous, in allusion to the Garden of Eden (2Co_12:4; Rev_2:7). It has thus come into familiar use to denote both that garden and the heaven of the just. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature

It does not matter how eloquently you deliver the evidence that backs your thesis or arguments against some false or skewed teaching; someone will have a comeback. The mere fact that the rich man was in torment, and there is the possibility that he could see the beggar Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, only fuels their fire. This is, again, one of those places where looking up the simplest of words, such as “saw,” where you can gain some additional understanding.

“and the rich man also died and was buried. (23) "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment,”

Torment is the Greek word basanos and also means torture. The NASB tells us that he saw Lazarus. The word saw is the Greek word horaō and means to stare at (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally.)

So, none of us can prove that the man could even see Lazarus, and therefore it would be just as easy to assume that the rich man was allowed to discern mentally that Abraham now held Lazarus peacefully and securely. If there is a point to this, it is this, refrain from preaching and teaching things you do not have an accurate understanding about unless you are willing to humble yourself and tell the people that you really don't know, that this is your opinion and that they should search the scriptures to gain a clearer picture.

We were also told by this brother-in-Christ, that led the home group, that he did not have a complete confidence in his relationship with Jesus Christ and would not until that day when we are called home. This is not what Paul and others taught. Jesus and this Word give us every confidence to know that we are loved, and wanted, and since we have accepted Jesus Christ as our sacrifice, then we can know that we, NO MATTER WHAT, have a home with Him in glory.

One other thing, prophecy, to the Jew, is a pattern.

Nothing was to be judged on the basis of one witness, which also applied to the prophetic.

"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” (Deuteronomy 17:6 NASB)

When someone operating in the role of a prophet declares something, all we can do is hold it in the back of our minds. Of course, all changes if the impact should be immediately seen. Later on, another prophecy comes and validates not only the first prophet but the word itself. (There are parameters upon which to judge a prophecy, the biggest is – it is trying to lead us away from God to serve other gods.) The Jewish mind understood all of this. They are not impressed with the waving of hands and fancy words, and the Apostle John knew this as well. That is why in almost every case (some are harder to find than others), these are words that have been spoken over the Jews on a previous occasion.

Focusing on Revelation 13:11-18.

“Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.” (Revelation 13:11-18 ESV)

• Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.

Since our first beast rose out of the sea, and we know that the sea represents people, we can learn that the first beast comes out of an environment that is more widespread. This second beast, rising out of the earth, demonstrates that he is from a more localized area, but where?

The easy answer as to where this localized area is is Israel.

• It had two horns like a lamb. 

  

If you are not a farmer, then you may not know that sheep have horns, but for economic reasons, they cut them off. At the time of this writing, we had recently gone to the local county fair. (It is hard to believe that the area I live in was once orange groves and farmers.) That particular year they had several sheep with horns, and the horns were massive.

To the Jewish attendees in the early church, their perception that this meant deception was immediate. 

The fact that it is like a lamb establishes that it is representing itself, to some degree, as Jesus did, at first gentle and caring, but then at the three-and-a-half-year mark of the seven-year period – watch out.

If we were Jewish converts, what would be our immediate association when John introduces an image of a lamb?

Perhaps Genesis 22:8, where Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb ..” The idea of the slain lamb as a way of removing sin was scattered throughout the Torah and a common practice for the Jews. However, the impact of the slain lamb – in tradition – was a good thing, and we already recognize that there is a horrendous deception coming. We all also have the imagery, seen earlier in Revelation, of the lamb as though it had been slain, and that was Jesus, the Messiah, standing there.

Revelation 5:6 ESV And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

This may not be hitting you in the same manner, it is impacting me, but if the Jewish religious council, with their eyes closed, as they are today, get pulled into this deception, they will pull many into the deceit along with them. Think of this scenario as a sinkhole.

After these things comes salvation. Revelation 19:1-2.

 Finally, the tide turns and we are now looking at Revelation 19 and Jesus, returning to earth as the Warrior Messiah.

First, I just want to be honest, trying to grasp chapter 18 and its usage of the name Babylon, was tough. I struggled for days and had to walk away from what I desired to share with you, several times.

Many years ago I took on an attitude in which I would make myself vulnerable when it came to God's Word, my relationship with the Father, and how I talk to God. Some, do not see me as being open, but weak and permanently broken. Guess what, I am and I know it. I can do nothing outside of God's grace and mercy. I think I came to this understanding when I put myself in recovery all those years ago.

My approach to teaching allows me to comprehend things in the Word, that most do not or will not. The underlying rule to understanding is to throw away tradition because tradition paints David, the King to be, as a ridiculously small child; and, it buys into the lie that Jonah lived within the belly of that great fish. If you believe that, then you have watched Walt Disney's Pinocchio too many times.

Since I just offended many of you, allow me to silence your arguments, in this case, about Jonah.

Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. (Matthew 12:22 NLT)

Matthew 12 is the primary place where blasphemy is clearly defined. The Pharisees and a few others, having witnessed a miracle in which Jesus cast out demon(s), began to attribute what He had just done to the power of Satan (Beelzebub if you wish).

Don't let your traditions cause an argument to rage inside your head about how many demons were cast out, or if there were any at all. I have encountered so-called “Christian” people who deny the activity of demons.

Notice the word healed. How does one heal a person whose ailment originates from the action of fallen angels?

The word that almost every translation deemed healed, is the Greek word therapeuō. Wow, that has a familiar ring to it; the primary definition of therapeuō is to serve or do service. It also means to cure or restore to health.

So the obvious thing happening in Matthew 12:22 is that Jesus restored the man to health by doing service to and for him. Many see service as some form of work, like building a home in Mexico; it is not and you see this in Jesus' actions. He frequently responded to the requests of “will you” with a yes and an associated, life-changing response.

Jesus responded to their blasphemous statements by calling them a brood of vipers and trees with rotten fruit.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you who are evil say anything good? For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:33-34 TLV)

These things made them uncomfortable, and so they come back with this,

Then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees answered Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” (Matthew 12:38 TLV)

What do you think you just saw?

It's a rhetorical question and you don't have to answer. They did not understand what happened when he delivered the man from the demons, because there is no doubt that someone being freed from possession was uncommon at best.

Now, here is where Jonah comes into the conversation.

But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40 NASB)

If any of these naysayers were skillful with the Word of God (the Old Testament) then they would have been immediately familiar with the fascinating story of Jonah and this massive fish.

In the Mediterranean sea, there is really only one that comes close to being able to inhale a human. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish,[4] after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach 7.9 m (26 ft) in length. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark

It would have been highly capable of inhaling a human.

This is not about Jonah, it is about our traditions and how they move us away from the truth.

Jesus compared His upcoming DEATH to Jonah, who had already spent three days and nights in the belly of a great fish.

Why is three days and nights significant?

Because the Jews believed that the soul stayed in the body for three days. It was only after this time frame that you are officially dead in their minds. This bizarre thinking is one of the reasons He did not go rushing to Lazarus. He wanted to prove to them that He could raise someone from the dead.

Besides all that, what would be the point of telling this bunch of skeptics that what happened to Jonah would happen to Him, unless Jonah had died?

I have intentionally left out a voluminous amount of information in order to stay on point, and in so doing left the door open for more foolish arguments; it is, however, interesting that God effectively slammed the door on stupidity by telling us this.

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17 NASB)

As ridiculous as this might seem, God appointed a fish capable of swallowing a human, and there you have it.

And with that, we open Revelation chapter 19.

Revelation 19:1 NASB After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;

“After these things,” where have we heard this phrase before?

If you guessed Revelation 4:1 you would be correct.

Now, what had God just finished defining in Revelation chapters one through three as they establish the context for chapter four?

The church age. You should not be surprised to learn that we are living in the age of the final church, the Laodicean church.

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 'So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB)

We are neither hot nor cold and such worthy of nothing less than to be spit out on the ground in disgust.

So, as in the beginnings of chapter four, something has come to a crashing halt and that is what Revelation 18 calls Babylon. I have twice, in recent posts, explained that Babylon is representative of Israel; and, Babylon is symbolic of the godlessness and lust that motivates the globalists and their agenda to dominate this world.

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;”

Since virtually everything in the Revelation is a witness of the prophetic that we find in the Old Testament, then we should be able to find parallel pieces of evidence.

And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10 NASB)

If I did not know and understand God, then I might think that God should have wrapped me up in His gladness and joy, but, much like in Ukraine, sorrow and sighing have not fled away. It is the people that have needed to flee. As I stand here today, it is difficult at best to see a statement such as “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,” belonging to the here and now.

Statements such as,

"I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49:26 NASB)

For example, the current leader of Russia has been bullying people and nations around for years. Aside from the pushback he has received from the global community, here at the end of February 2022, no one has stood up to this crazed dictator. And yet, God says, in time, I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh.

Words like what we see in Isaiah 60 seem farcical.

"Violence will not be heard again in your land, Nor devastation or destruction within your borders, But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.
(Isaiah 60:18 NASB)

Well, Revelation 19 is where we finally see this happening.

(Revelation 19:2 NASB) “BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

“ for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality,”

The harlot is integrated into the Babylon system and is also referred to as a beast. And, though it is analogous to Israel the harlot stands apart from Israel and wants Israel destroyed.

In the NASB translation of Revelation 19:2, the harlot is associated with the idea that there is a long-term corruption of Israel and the populace of the earth taking place, while the majority of translations tell us that the harlot corrupted. So, in trying to grasp who the harlot is and what is her role, we have to ascertain whether the damage done by the harlot has already taken place or is an ongoing process.

The Greek term for corrupt is phtheirō. The explanatory terms derived from this word are varied.

The Word Study Dictionary tells us it is to waste, pine. To corrupt, destroy. Trans. to destroy, punish with destruction, bring to a worse state (1Corinthians_3:17). To corrupt, spoil, vitiate, in a moral or spiritual sense (1Corinthians_15:33; Ephesians_4:22; Judges_1:10; Revelation_19:2). To corrupt, with the meaning of to subvert or corrupt opinions (2Corinthians_7:2; 2Corinthians_11:3.

You probably noticed that it says that the great harlot has already been judged.

Wouldn't that imply the end result would have been imposed as well?

Think about our current justice system.

Don't we have thousands sitting on death row, awaiting the judgment imposed upon them?

We do, but even they continue to have rights. Since our worldly legal system is thought to be based upon God's moral values, then it makes sense that these, associated with the harlot, have a potential chance at mercy; and here is why.

"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. (Proverbs 8:22 NASB)

At the beginning is in reference to God's work in the creation of the heavens and humanity. Knowing full well that the man would take a destructive path God had a plan, with the purpose of purging Satan and his army of fallen angels, along with the method of redeeming those He has chosen before any of this cataclysmic damage took place.

Possessed is the Hebrew word qānāh and it means to purchase, to acquire, to possess. It is used with God as its subject to mean His buying back His people, redeeming them.

While it is true that forgiveness was purchased on the cross. So, everyone has been freed to follow Jesus, the Son of the Father, without regard for the punishment associated with following Satan.

But, do we do that?

Well, since we have free will, most choose to follow many other things besides God.

Now, as for judgment. All judgment will be given to the Son.

John 9:39 tells us distinctly that He came into this world to judge.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." (John 9:39 NASB)

But it is not the man Jesus that does the judging right now, it is His word that judges us. If I understand this to be true, and it is, then it would obviously be confusing to hear this next statement.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17 NASB)

Jesus had more to say about the Word being the judge.

"If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. (John 12:47-48 NASB)

Ah, it is the Word, in the last day, that will judge those that do not keep His Word.

But we do see judgment happening in scripture.

One of those moments is in Revelation 19.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. (Revelation 19:11 NASB)

Here we see Him judging through waging war. War, of course, to Jesus, happens rather quickly.

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 winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15 NASB)

Some assume there will be a complete annihilation of every person deemed the nations at this point, but that is not true. He only strikes down those who choose to fight against Him.

Ask yourself a question.

Did Russia send every breathing human to fight against Ukraine?

Of course not, but just because they are not on the front lines, does that mean the entrenched hatred of the foreigner does not burn in their hearts? Don't be foolish, prejudice is learned and may stay with you as long as you breathe and are a broken human. Thankfully, all that will be fixed in the twinkling of an eye.

The second judgment happens at the Bema seat of Christ. When this takes place, seems to be associated with the catching away of the church, just moments before the seven years of wrath begins. I see no fear associated with this judgment as it is primarily a time of rewards for God's saints.

And finally, the final judgment at the great white throne. For many, this will be final and complete separation from God. However, for others, whose names are found in the books of life. Matthew 25 spells this out plainly, but it is evidenced in Revelation 20.

“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.”(Revelation 20:12 NASB)

The assumption is that the Book of Life is only there to give those watching a chance to mock and laugh at those being sent off to the lake of fire for a permanent separation from God. Honestly, that is NOT funny, but abnormally cruel if you can think in this manner.

If you invested some time reading about the sheep and goat judgment that you find in Matthew 25, then you will know that God spent

time fervently looking to see if there was any reason to show them mercy. It is because of these actions that He is able to separate the crowd into what He deems sheep and goats, based upon their works. Those works boil down to the simplest of acts; bringing someone that is thirsty a drink of water; visiting Jesus in prison, even when it did not look like Jesus; and, feeding someone who was down on their luck. The reality of this is that you acted as God hoped you would if confronted by someone whose life was destroyed by circumstances beyond their control.

I have never been a good gambler so I have to go with the sure thing, God. God, through His Son, has proven Himself to me to be the sure thing. Because of those toward me I have given my life to Him and thrown myself upon His mercy.

I realize that this next little aspect will come across as facetious, I am telling you this because I did it, as Pastors and evangelists repeatedly chastened us to do so.

Having spent most of my life in the church, and, after repeatedly asking God to forgive me for my sins, I thought about some of the things I had heard in church, such as Jesus died once for all (sins.) Well, I decided to dive into my bible, set aside the traditional things I had shoved down my throat, and learn what the Bible had to say, for myself. I learned that God is NOT angry, that Jesus, His Son, demonstrated who God is and that once having given myself over to Him, there is no more reason to ask Jesus to forgive me. Recovery, all those years later, taught me the reality of what the Apostle Paul later trying to convey when he said, confess your sins to one another. 1. That other person has to be safe or this confession process will bring out the religious zealots and they will destroy you. 2. By confession, you are being open and honest about your own brokenness. This brokenness is a common trait among all of us, however, most will not admit they are messed up. 3. Confessing our sins to one another has nothing to do with your relationship with God; the relationship begins with handing your life over to Him.

Consider the thief on the cross. It would seem that he only had a few seconds of Jesus' time before they would both be dead, and yet in those few seconds, that guy gave his life to Jesus. The ABCs I have included is a path to this relationship with Jesus, and, security knowing that you are now His and have the guarantee of a permanent home with the Father.

A - Admit you're a sinner.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

B - Believe Jesus is Lord.

John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

C - Call upon His name.

Romans 10:13 "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."