Many say that since God is a loving God He won’t cast anyone into hell. Anyone that believes that should run for office.
Would it be okay with you if someone killed your child, or even just hurt them? What would you do?
Would you say, well, they’re not really mean, they were just having a bad day so we’ll ignore that little problem? And then you can invite them over for dinner.
People think that God is not a person, He’s just God. Remember, God created us to be just like Him:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26).
The emotions we have are the same ones that God has. The only difference between God and us is that we can’t handle the emotions.
Satan will either put an idea in our minds or just throw the idea out for the world to view and sure enough, our greedy little minds snatch it up as quick as possible.
So I ask you, “Would you trust a lying cheat babysit your child?”
Many people have this foolish idea that we have to go through hoops to please God in order to be saved.
Whoever started that ridiculous rumor must have been a democrat. I want to remove that lie from anyone’s mind so tomorrow we will look at…
Revelation 21
The New Jerusalem
Trust is faith, in this context believing is more like hoping.
Hoping that Jesus is real and He will take care of you, there is no faith and if you are without faith you are without salvation.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:1, 6).
If you willfully sin you cannot please God:
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb 10:26-27).
In other words, if you do not please God you are not saved.
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:2-22:5 – The “holy city combines elements of Jerusalem, the temple and the Garden of Eden.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
“He that overcometh” – cf. the emphasis on overcoming in the seven letters (2:17, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21).
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
“Sorcerers” – Cf. Acts 19:19. The magical tradition in ancient times called for the mixing of various herbs toward of evil, which includes today’s narcotics.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
“Twelve gates” – see Eze 48:30-35. The number 12 comes from the 12 tribes of Israel, the Old Testament people of God.
No church, no lodge, no good works can save you. Remember, God does the saving. All of it!
God’s simple plan of salvation is: You are a sinner.
Therefore, unless you believe on Jesus Who died in your place, you will spend eternity in Hell.
If you believe on Him as your crucified, buried, and risen Savior, you receive forgiveness for all of your sins and His gift of eternal salvation by faith.
See v. 14, where the 12 foundations bear the names of the 12 apostles. Twelve apostles were chose to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28).
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
“Measure the city” – Cf. Eze 40-41. In Rev 11 the measuring was to ensure protection; here it serves to show the size and symmetry of the eternal dwelling place of the faithful.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
“Twelve thousand furlongs” – this is a cube of about 1,500 miles square. This city may sit on the earth, in the earth, or be suspended in space near the earth.
“Length and the breadth of the height” – thus a perfect cube, as was the most holy place of the tabernacle and the temple.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the
city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
The precise identification of some of these precious ston
es is uncertain.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
Do you know all that He has done?
Do you know how much He has showed us His love for us?
Go Here.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
“Lamb’s book of life” – see note on 3:5.
Are You Saved?
This is not a theory or an ideal or a concept of some sort, but a very simple fact. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand this, but then again you must be smarter than the average fool (ouch, that leaves most politicians in the dark).
What a horrifying reality to think you will enter paradise on the day of your death, but then come to find out on that day you were actually deceived and you find yourself in hell.
Such is, and will be, the terror of most who call themselves Christians today.
Marduk’s symbol animal, the mušḫuššu or “snake-dragon” at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
This is a glazed brick relief from the city of Babylon itself, dating to the Neo-Babylonian period.
Marduk rose from an obscure deity in the third millennium B.C. to become one of the most important gods and the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in the first millennium.
He was the patron god of the city of Babylon, where his temple tower, the ziggurat TT Etemenanki (“Temple (that is) the foundation of the heavens and the earth”) served as the model for the famous “tower of Babel.”
In the first millennium, he was often referred to as Bel, the Akkadian word for “Lord.”
“Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt 7:21-23).
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt 7:13-14).
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Lk 13:24).
“And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:2).
They will find themselves weeping and gnashing their teeth (e.g. Matt 8:12; 22:1-14; 25;14-30; Lk 13:28).
All of the world’s religions (e.g. Protestantism, Catholicism, Mormonism, JW’s, Seventh Day Adventism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, most Christians, etc.) lead to nowhere but hell.
“Those involved in them are “unbelieving. . .idolaters” (Rev 21:8).
Every single last one of them reject the truth of the Bible.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
The relief probably dates to the late 12th century B.C.
Afterlife
The ancient Mesopotamians believed in an afterlife that was a land below our world.
It was this land, known alternately as Arallû, Ganzer or Irkallu, the latter of which meant “Great Below”, that it was believed everyone went to after death, irrespective of social status or the actions performed during life.
Unlike Christian Hell, the Mesopotamians considered the underworld neither a punishment nor a reward.
Nevertheless, the condition of the dead was hardly considered the same as the life previously enjoyed on earth: they were considered merely weak and powerless ghosts.
The myth of Ishtar’s descent into the underworld relates that “dust is their food and clay their nourishment, they see no light, where they dwell in darkness.”
Stories such as the Adapa myth resignedly relate that, due to a blunder, all men must die and that true everlasting life is the sole property of the gods.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom 1:18-25).
And thus, the Truth of the Bible, God (Jn 14:6), will burn them forever in the lake of fire for hating Him so (Deut 32:39-41; Rev 20:11-15).
If you are involved with the kind of “Christianity” that views Protestantism, or Catholicism, or the Orthodox church, or the “church of Christ,” or Billy Graham, or Rick Warren, or Oprah Winfrey, or Rhonda Byrne or any of the like as godly, you are not saved.
You cannot be a partial-Christian, it’s all or nothing with God.
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils” (1 Cor 10:21).
…If My People.