You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#721
The Divine Mystery Revealed (28)
by Jim Mettenbrink
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Jesus shockingly startled the Jews,
revealing part of the mystery beyond the grave, that
the hour is coming
in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come
forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28, 29). This declaration
tells us a person simply does not die and become non-existent.
Who will be condemned?
Part of the mystery revealed in
the New Testament regarding how God redeemed the sinner who would
become a Christian, is what happens to those who will be resurrected for condemnation. The apostle Pauls
earliest epistles were to the newly established congregation
at Thessalonica. In them he revealed something of eternity. In
the first epistle, he referred to Jesus return to conduct judgment
day and admonished the Christians how to live in order to be
prepared (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
In the second epistle, he revealed
who will go to hell
when the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance
on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
(2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
In short, the condemned are folks who dont become Christians
or are unfaithful Christians when they die. What is the nature
of their suffering?
Previously, we considered their
eternal residence (hell) would be outer darkness (where God is not) (Matthew
8:12). That Paul refers to the punishment as flaming fire, and John, a lake of fire (2 Thessalonians 1:8; Rev 20:10)
indicates it is a place of perpetual unrelenting anguish of the
spirit. This eternal pain is further emphasized by Jesus
The
Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out
of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice
lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There
will be wailing and gnashing of teeth
(Matthew 13:41, 42). The mental anguish in the persons
spirit will be eternal. What is this anguish like?
The short description it
is a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, like being in a
deep, dark hole, seeing the way out, but cant. A friend
who was dying of cancer told me, she suffered many serious diseases
in life, but nothing compared to the anguish of depression
a taste of hell on earth. In hell one will not even see the way
out, because there is none! Total mental anguish forever.
The resurrection
of condemnation!
What is the resurrection
of life? The
mystery continues to unfold!
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