Predestined For Hell?

Biblegems #247

Question: If God knows all things—past, present and future—before they happen, does this mean that He condemns people to hell before they are even born?

First, God is all knowing:

         Heb. 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Second, hell was created for Satan and his rebellious angels, not people, even though millions will end up there:

         Matt. 25:41  “Then he will say to those (people at the Judgment) on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Think of it this way—farmlands and cities were never intended to be a place for thousands of mutilated bodies, yet millions have ended up there as the result of war.

The word “cursed” Jesus used in the verse above is the Greek word kataraomai, meaning, “doomed”. The idea is that these people standing before God on Judgment Day are beyond the point of rescue. Like the last moment before impact in a car crash, when the time to turn the wheel or apply the break is passed, collision is inevitable—it is doomed to happen.

Third, although God knows everything in advance, He allows for human free will. The apostle Peter reminds followers of Jesus how choices in life-style are theirs to make:

         1Pet. 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

Some things, however, God does predetermine to take place to fulfill His purpose for creation. The apostles, for example, were specifically predestined by God for their role as apostles:

         Eph. 1:11  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…

God does not predetermine in advance who is going to hell because He desires that no one end up there. The time we have on this planet, individually and for the human race, is our opportunity to swerve out of its path. If our loyalties lie with living for self-interest rather than for God we will perish. If our loyalties lie with Jesus, who rescues us for life in His Kingdom, we will enjoy eternal life:

         2Pet. 3:9  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The entire human race is on a collision course with hell. Like children born in Hiroshima or Nagasaki before the A-bomb hit, we are born into a world doomed to destruction due to the choices of others made long before we were born. Because God sees all things, He sent His Son Jesus into the world to rescue us from certain destruction:

         John 3:16-17  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The “Shortened” Last Days, Part 2

Biblegems #220

Question: If the Bible predicts a 3 1/2 year tribulation then how can Jesus say the days will be shortened? Wouldn't that mean less than 3 1/2 years, thus nullifying the prophecy?

This is a great question, and it helps us dive deeper into God’s revealed Word concerning His timetable for the Lord’s Return. We will see how prophecy is not only fulfilled but also brought into sharper focus. Let’s take a look at the key events concluding The Last Days:

The Last Days conclude with a 7-year period known as Daniel’s 70^th Week (See Dan. 11:36-45; 12:1-2, 11-12). This 7-year period is then divided into three major segments.

Jesus described the first 31/2 years of this 7-year period as “the beginning of birth pains”—or “beginning of sorrows” (KJV)—(Matt. 24:5-8; Rev. 6:1-8). Following this comes “The Great Tribulation” (Matth 24:21). Concluding the third segment of this 7-year period is “the Day of the Lord,” also called the Day of God’s Wrath (Joel 1:15).

Let’s break this down a little more for clarity.

The term “the Day of the Lord” in Scripture always refers to God’s judgment and wrath upon rebellious, unrepentant mankind (Rev. 6:16-17; Is. 2:19). It is never used as a synonym for the Tribulation. It is described in the book of Revelation with the opening of the 7^th seal (Rev. 6:17). The Bible also teaches that a great cosmic upheaval will take place immediately before the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:11, 30-3), at the opening of the 6^th seal (Rev. 6:12-14).

Jesus taught that the Day of the Lord takes place at “the end of the age” (Matt. 24:14)—i.e., with the opening of the 7^th seal—and that the Rapture of the church also takes place at “the end of the age” (Matt. 13:39-40; 28:20). In fact, Jesus taught that the Day of the Lord begins the “same day” the rapture of the Church takes place (Lk. 17:26-30). That places these events in the final days of the 7-year period of Daniel’s 70^th Week.

This is why Paul writes that believers will not experience God’s wrath on the Day of the Lord:

         1Thess. 5:2 …for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. …9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s clear then that the onset of the Day of the Lord takes place somewhere in the final days of the last 31/2 years of Daniel’s 70^th Week. The only thing “shortened,” according to Jesus, is the Great Tribulation itself, not the final 31/2 years of Daniel’s prophecy.

Will Earth Exist After Christ’s Return?

Biblegems #214

Question: Will the earth exist after Christ’s return, since the Bible tells us that the earth will be destroyed?

At first glance, 2 Peter 3:7, 10-13 appears to indicate that the earth will cease to exist and an entirely new planet will be created in an entirely new universe. A closer look reveals something a bit different.

Verse 7 says, “…the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

Notice first the timing: This fiery destruction of the heavens and the earth will take place as part of the Day of Judgment, which follows the Return of Christ and His one thousand year reign on the earth (Rev. 201-21).

Second, the word “destruction” translates the Greek term apoleia, meaning “ruin,” or “waste.” It does not mean, “cease to exist.” Not only so, but it is the “ungodly” who are said to be destroyed in this verse, not the heavens and the earth.

Verse 7, therefore, teaches that the “present heavens and earth” will be preserved until the Great White Throne Judgment.

On the other hand, verse 10 has the Day of the Lord in view—the Lord’s Return and the outpouring of God’s wrath upon sinful mankind. According to verse 10, “the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire;” and the earth “will be laid bare.” Since we already know from verse 7 that the “present heavens and earth” will be preserved until the Day of Judgment—a thousand years after Christ’s Return—what is meant by verse 10?

The word translated “disappear” in verse ten literally means to either “pass away” or to “pass by.” And the adverb translated “roar” or “great noise” “is especially used of the noise caused by a devouring flame.”[1] So a more contextually accurate translation of verse ten would read:

“But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass roaring by…”

This supports Scripture in general concerning the Return of the Son of Man:

         Mark 13:24   “…‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

And…

Rev. 6:14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Peter goes on to say that the “elements” will be “burned up” (not ‘cease to exist’) (v. 10) and “melted in the heat” (v. 12). In other words, Jesus’ appearing is accompanied by mountain-flattening earthquakes and worldwide darkness as the heavens almost instantaneously explode into flame with ear-shattering force, then seem to disappear in a rolling, broiling cloud of smoke (like a scroll being rolled up, cf. Is. 34:4) as giant meteors crash to the earth, setting the world aflame and ‘laying it bare’ (v. 10).

The “new heaven” and “new earth” (v. 12) are built on the remains of the original creation, purified by fire. It is still this earth where Jesus reigns during the Millennium:

         Rev. 11:15b “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

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[1] The Expositor’s Greek New Testament, vol. 5, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan.), 145

The Rapture and the Unsaved Dead

Biblegems #175

Question: If the dead in Christ rise first and those believers living at the time are caught up to join them in the sky (1 Thess. 4:16-17), what happens to the unsaved dead?  Do they stay buried, or join ones left behind on earth?

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is the classic New Testament passage describing the return of Jesus Christ and the rapture of the church. It is in these two verses where we learn that those who already died as believers in Jesus will receive their resurrection bodies at the moment of Christ’s physical return to earth, immediately followed by believers still living on the earth who likewise receive their resurrection bodies—people who will never experience death. This is what the church has called the “rapture.”

This climactic event in God’s timetable of the redemption of mankind triggers four more critical events that conclude God’s grand plan:

1) The outpouring of God’s Wrath, where Satan and the Antichrist

are defeated and the earth is laid waste (Rev. 11:18; Rev. 19:19-20).

2) The reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem for one thousand years (the Millennium), during which the earth is restored and its survivors live in peace, health and under the righteous judgment of Christ:

Rev. 20:4-5 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.

3) The temporary release of Satan, who instigates mankind’s final rebellion against God in a massive attack against Jesus’ seat of government in Jerusalem. Satan is defeated forever (Rev. 20:3, 10).

4) The Final Judgment (also called the Great White Throne Judgment), where all who have lived and died without Christ are bodily resurrected and condemned to an eternity in Hell (Rev. 20:11-15).

The Bible teaches that the souls of those who die without Christ spend their existence in Hades (Old Testament: Sheol) until the Final Judgment. Their bodies, of course, as with believers, decay until they are resurrected. For believers, the resurrection occurs at Christ’s return. For nonbelievers, their resurrection occurs at the Final Judgment following the millennial reign of Christ. Then, at last, death and Hades are both destroyed in Hell, “the Lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14) and God creates “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” (Rev. 21:1).

It is important to remember that all of mankind is condemned. It is not Jesus who condemns us but our own sinful condition. God wants no human being to suffer the torment of Hell (2Pet. 3:9).

         John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.