True or False: There are some people that don’t deserve any mercy and there are many people that do deserve mercy.
(WARNING: we’re heading into DEEP theological waters, so put your spiritual scuba gear on…or learn to breath GOD! The stakes? Your eternal fate.)
And before I give the answer to my little quiz, please consider this question: Does a man who’s spent his whole life as a “good person” (activist, philanthropist, humanitarian, etc.) deserve the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10-15) as much as a Stalin, Hitler or Amin? If not, then why does he still wind up there?
It may be that you–for some reason–disagree that “good” people could be fated for the Lake of Fire (or that the Lake of Fire even exists). I myself think and write according to a core set of axioms that define reality from a Biblical perspective; a perspective that, if true, needs to be brought to the attention of every human being alive on Planet Earth with the utmost urgency.
Salvation itself obtains its importance, value and urgency from That which humanity (in its entirety) must be saved from if it is to escape extinction: the Wrath of GOD as expressed in the Lake of Fire. And if the Bible is historically and prophetically accurate (and we have an overwhelming mountain of evidence that tells us it is), then The Lake of Fire is the Unavoidable Fate of every human soul–“good” or “bad”–WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
Why? For One Simple Reason: we are all incapable of doing what GOD created us to do, which is to LIVE, THINK AND FEEL THE WAY GOD DOES. GOD is SPIRIT; why else would He make a physical clone of Himself (Adam, Genesis 1:26-28) if not to fill that clone with His Fullness that it may rule and reign over the physical creation as He Himself would if He were in fact physical???
And since we have failed our Purpose, in the Eyes of GOD we have no real reason to exist. All of the philosophy, art, order, inventions and infrastructure we have produced at best only serves our own self-aggrandizement rather than succeeding in the least to impress GOD enough to spare us for our betrayal of His Nature and Goodness, which are more superior to our virtues than the largest star is to our sun.
The decision as to whether or not you are thrown into the Lake of Fire is not determined one wit by how “good” a person you are, but HOW WELL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU NEED GOD (Who is truly Good) WITH YOU AND INSIDE YOU.
This simple Truth wipes out with one Divine stroke the entire conventional concept of religion with its “knowledge” of good and evil and all the degrees of shades in between the two. No sinner (and every human IS a sinner) deserves Divine Mercy…not even a little; that’s what makes Mercy/Grace so precious and priceless. It’s no longer a matter of climbing into GOD’s Favor when you’re “good” and falling out of His Favor when you’re “bad.” The Object of your Faith is no longer YOURSELF, but GOD, Who out of infinite pity and compassion completed and perfected your Salvation (and YOU, for that matter) BEFORE YOU WERE EVEN BORN (Colossians 2:9, 10)!
You WILL be thrown into the Lake of Fire if in your heart you see GOD as anything other than the HIGHEST ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. Such a VIEW is impossible to achieve apart from Divine Revelation (through GOD’s Holy Spirit) because nothing in the universe is as valuable to a sinner as their own soul, least of all GOD.
So if–in spite of the mental, emotional and physical gyrations we put ourselves through to try and make GOD more important than ourselves–we spiritually are completely incapable of breaking the chains of self-worship that bind us to damnation, HOW IS ANYONE SAVED from the Lake of Fire???
It is accomplished by means of DIVINE, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
“When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” – Jesus Christ, Matthew 19:25, 26
First, GOD has to “re-inject” into the human spirit the absolute love for GOD that Adam threw away. This is accomplished in Jesus the Messiah, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit of GOD without a human father. Through Christ GOD not only restores His Image and Nature to the human race, but proves that a human CAN please GOD by means of the Fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Second, Christ becomes a Divine Sponge that not only draws away humanity’s sin and independent spirit, but its hatred of GOD as well.
Third, having become legally responsible for our failure to please GOD, Jesus drags our sin (not just our deeds, but our evil heart as well) into Death, destroying both Sin and Sin’s power over us.
Fourth Christ is raised (Spirit, Soul and Body) from the dead to demonstrate both GOD The Father’s acceptance of His Sacrifice and Christ’s ability to solve YOUR sin problem at every level.
Fifth, Jesus ascends to Heaven forty days later (1) as a proof of Heaven’s actual existence, (2) to reunite with The Father forever after the terrible trauma of The Cross and (3) to take His Place as humanity’s Eternal Intercessor. Yet in this Reunion mankind is placed “right smack” in the middle, for Jesus reunites with His Father IN THE FORM OF A MAN!!!!!!!!
Finally, when fallen mankind’s choices lead to their inevitable consequences and the homo sapiens race is brought to the edge of extinction, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to Plant Earth, all of Heaven in tow, to rescue His own and call every person who’s ever lived back from the dead to give an account to GOD; those that are unredeemed are condemned to the Lake of Fire, to burn forever.
(NOTE: I know that many have a problem with the idea of Eternal Punishment, but the clarity of the Scriptures leave little room for any other interpretation. In a future article I’ll state my case.)
And YOUR part in all of this? To confess (testify to everyone in your life) with your mouth the Deity of Jesus and to believe (trust) in your heart that His Death, Burial and Resurrection was in fact YOUR OWN.
Remember: you get neither credit nor merit for believing (Luke 17:7-10); there’s absolutely no reason nor excuse for any created being to doubt GOD, Who is TRUTH! Accepting a gift means you’re grateful; it doesn’t mean that you earned the gift or were in any way worthy of it.
In the end God gets ALL of the credit, merit and Glory for your Salvation, and you, due to GOD’s incomprehensible generosity, are clothed with that same Glory for all Eternity–FREE OF CHARGE!
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