Reconciliation or Rapture?

Do you know that the world is far from being reaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you aware that most people have had no opportunity to know Him? Let’s examine traditional religious teaching about the afterlife in light of considering the multitudes, young and old, who have had no opportunity to hear the good tidings.

There is a widely accepted teaching about a literal, eternal hell where all unbelievers will go when they die. Many Christians are taught that they will be raptured into a literal heaven in the actual clouds while unbelievers are left on earth to suffer eternal hellfire and damnation. This doctrine is deeply embedded in traditional Christian culture as a dominant Christian belief, popular in the broader society. Endless books and movies have been created about the rapture doctrine, including pictures of flames licking around the bodies of those condemned to eternal punishment while they scream in torment.

Many fear-based sermons are delivered, implanting fear of the rapture’s predicted outcome rather than for love of the Lord. In contrast to the agony sinners are suffering, the saints are depicted as sitting on clouds, playing their harps and walking on literal streets of gold, living in luxurious mansions in the sky. People who have had no opportunity to hear the gospel are condemned with unbelievers who willfully refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.

Are you willing to truly examine this teaching? To consider with God if He actually plans to condemn millions of people, the innocent babies to the elderly, the living as well as those who have died through the centuries, to an eternal hell just because they did not learn of Him in this life? Think about it. We have but a small portion of His love, and most of us would not desire even our worst enemy to live in eternal torment, let alone our unsaved loved ones. If we do imagine or even enjoy it, that surely is not the attitude of heart that God teaches us to have.

Many sincere believers live in fear that their loved ones who have refused faith in God are destined to this place of eternal torment. How does this doctrine fit with God’s redemptive love, which is so far beyond human love? Our God is love! God’s judgment is always redemptive, intimately connected to His mercy. What is redeeming about sinners in eternal torment? What benefit towards salvation does our loving God receive by allowing the great majority of the world to forever live in torturous punishment?

What about the rest of us, whom He knows and loves, terrified about the future of our unbelieving loved ones headed for everlasting damnation without hope? Do believers even view their suffering from the safety of our heavenly home? I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time enjoying heaven if I had to be aware of such suffering on earth for anyone, let alone people I dearly love. Fear of the future of unsaved loved ones drives many believers to desperately pursue a confession of faith before their loved ones die. Fear mixed with love provides no peace until this is accomplished. It becomes difficult to see anything good coming out of this teaching for sinners or believers.

It certainly adds zeal, if not desperation, for believers to minister the salvation message of Jesus Christ to loved ones before their lives on this earth end. Such hope for salvation for those we love becomes finite and without peace. Predicting the good are taken while the bad are abandoned to eternal damnation does not ring true with God’s nature of mercy and redemptive justice. God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus Christ. How could He plan to lose the majority of those for whom He died?

Let us recall that Jesus ministered to those in hell between His death and resurrection. After that, many of the dead were seen raised in the city. He cared about the dead who lived too early to know Him and His salvation. His love surely extends to the innocent who are too young to know Him when they die. He loves all sinners, not wishing any to perish. Is man’s will and the devil to triumph in the end?

“...Our Savior, God, who wills that all mankind be saved and come into the realization of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 CLV

The Concordant Literal is used here because this translation is directly from the original Hebrew and Greek words. Other translations use "want" or "desire .” If Almighty God wills, desires, or wants something, will He fail to have it? The Greek translation of this word will is strengthened to “to determine, take for oneself, or choose.” God is determined to save everyone! This is His choice. Is He forever facing massive defeat in what He desires, His complete plan, because of man’s will?

It is His will to save all mankind. He said so. Will He not accomplish everything that is His will? Where in the Word is there an account of God not accomplishing His will? He is not somehow ultimately unable to defeat the devil. Jesus has the keys to death and hell. Did He not defeat the devil when He arose, victorious? Our Lord and Savior already has this victory! This is the word of reconciliation of all men.

What is better news than our God triumphing over all, bringing all of His creation back into intimacy and fellowship with Him? If this is what God wants, it should be what we want: the ultimate reconciliation of all humans back to God. No power in heaven or earth can stand against the blood of Christ, no matter that it takes centuries. This word, reconciliation, appears fifteen times in twelve verses in the New Testament. The word rapture appears not at all.

Yet the scriptural truth of reconciliation for all men has been much maligned in traditional Christian circles, seen as false doctrine or even heresy. Some ministers admit that they know God will reconcile all to Himself, but will not teach it for fear of losing their audience, congregation, ordination, or income.

“Wherefore in all things, it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17 KJV

Jesus came to reconcile all to God, making a way for us to be holy and righteous. His ministry will succeed and the purpose of His calling fulfilled through the end of the ages, on into eternity. This wonderful truth, the doctrine of universal reconciliation, is vigorously attacked and rejected by many Christian leaders and their followers who embrace the traditional teaching of the rapture. The rapture doctrine has been passed down by traditional teachings without spiritual examination by many believers. It’s only about two hundred years old, but the way it has become foundational, one would think it was something Jesus Himself taught in His earthly ministry.

The rapture theory is part of dispensationalism, where theologians debate over whether the tribulation happens before, during, or after the Second Coming of Christ. Debate by men rarely results in the truth of God, no matter how much we might enjoy it or even make a living from the practice. The teaching of rapture and eternal hell was not foundational for early Christians. church. It is also puzzling that Christians who stand for the love of God are so comfortable with this condemning judgment of others who remain ignorant of our Lord.

Few Christians, including those who teach it, have diligently searched the teachings of the rapture doctrine. Why is it that so many believers are extremely invested in insisting that the majority of earth’s people be condemned to the fiery torment of hell for all eternity? When believers do search the scriptures to see if these things are true, the spirit reveals that the entire doctrine of the rapture is built on a few misunderstood or mistranslated scriptures.

Rapture theology was created in the 1830’s by the English Protestant minister John Nelson Darby. Darby created the rapture doctrine without a sound scriptural basis, despite having foundational Christian teaching. Though Darby did many wonderful things for the Lord during his years of ministry, the rapture theology he developed is far more popular and established than its scriptural basis warrants. It was also extensively promoted by 19th-century minister C.I. Scofield and rapidly accepted by many.

This doctrine is so well-entrenched in Christian culture that both Darby and Scofield have bible versions named after them. Those who resist or challenge it are considered heretics promoting false doctrine. While the rapture doctrine teaches that Christian believers will escape the coming end time of tribulation and judgment of sinners on earth, there is no place in the scriptures where God says His people will escape judgment. The word states, instead, that His saints will be judged first, which we will scripturally examine shortly.

The primary scriptural basis for the rapture doctrine is found in Darby’s interpretation of this scripture:

“By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.

After that, 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 will always be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:17 BSB

The phrase caught up in the air was translated by Darby as rapture, from a Latin derivative of these words, not from the original Greek. He further promotes the belief in a literal, rather than a spiritual, rising in the clouds to an actual place in the sky called heaven. Jesus was raised from the dead by the spirit and we, too, will be raised by the spirit to be where He is. The debate has been about who gets to go where He is and where we are actually going.

Teaching that God will take His people out of danger on this earth is in sharp contrast to God’s historical dealings with His own. We may wish that were the case when we are struggling, but Christians have been left on earth for centuries, suffering much for the kingdom of God. Can you name any Old Testament saints who were removed from rather than enduring suffering along the way? We, like all saints then and now, go through difficulties or tribulations right along with unbelievers, shining our light in the darkness.

God is with us during times of trouble, but where does it say that He will take us out of them? Even the example of Noah and the flood shows the righteous being left on earth while the wicked were destroyed. There is not one manmade, natural catastrophe, disaster, or global pandemic to which God’s people were not subject in some way, despite eventual deliverance. It remains so today.

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:39-42 BSB

The Lord’s coming is to be like the days of Noah. In Noah’s day, every living being was subject to the flood. No one escaped going through it. The rapture promoters are fond of showing cars becoming driverless as the believer is raptured into the clouds, but that is not what happened in Noah’s day. God provided a way for a remnant of the godly through Noah’s obedience to God, keeping them on the earth. It was not the righteous who were taken from the earth, but the evil doers who were destroyed from their earthly existence.

As this scriptural passage states, we do not know the day of the coming of our Lord. Nonetheless, many have prophesied the exact time of the rapture, only to watch it pass. Millions of dollars have been made to promote the rapture theory through numerous books, movies, pictures, and promotions. The more income leaders receive for promoting a lie, the harder it is for them to accept the truth that this is not God’s word nor His way.

Another part of this teaching is a key error in the King James Bible translation of eon as “eternal.” The original Greek meaning of eon is “age-lasting, a lifetime.” That is quite different from eternal as in “everlasting, without end.” Translators do their best, but they are human and may see things through what they believe rather than the intent of the original Greek and Hebrew. We must rely on the holy spirit to teach us, comparing spiritual with spiritual while exploring Greek and Hebrew meanings and other valued translations. Yes, it is true that those who sin shall surely die, and then comes the judgment, as the Apostle Paul states in Hebrews:

“Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation [redemption, reconciliation] to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews 9:25-29 BSB

Jesus kept the appointment with judgment in dying for all of us sinners. He did it for all the world that His Father so loved. Mankind no longer has to look for a fearful, tormented, eternal ending where they are abandoned by God forever. God makes no mistakes. Humans are not a bad project that He started but is unable to complete. Jesus Christ has already made the way open to the Father, just as the Father is always with Him. He is coming again, but how and where are also points of contention.

He is coming again within His people to rule and reign, wherein dwells His kingdom not made with hands. He is descending into His prepared saints, bringing salvation beyond sin-consciousness, open for all. He has been coming within ever since His work on earth was complete. The words second and coming are not found together in the scriptures. His descent is in the great cloud of witnesses. He has been coming to take up His abode in His own, to be seen in us, just as those who saw Jesus saw the Father.

We are His habitation, the Kingdom of God. His kingdom isn’t far off, as Jesus said in Luke:

“Now being inquired of by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God is coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with scrutiny. Neither shall they be declaring, ‘Lo! Here! Or ‘Lo! There!’ for lo! The kingdom of God is inside of you.’” Luke 17:20-21 CLV

Do we see this truth, so long ago established by Jesus Christ? The kingdom of God does not come with critical observation or examination, nor by scrutiny. We’re not to say, “Look here! Look there! See the external location of the coming of the Kingdom!” It is not an externally observable place because it is inside of us, revealed by the spirit as God chooses. If we cannot point to it and say, “There it is,” it is not to be found in a concrete physical place on earth, such as Jerusalem, nor a literal place in the sky called heaven.

We are the kingdom in which God intends to rule and reign. His descent accomplishes the full tabernacling of God in man.

“And I hear a loud voice out of the throne saying, ‘Lo! the tabernacle of God is with mankind, and He will be tabernacling with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them.’” Revelation 21:3 CLV

God has a called, chosen, and faithful people who are being purified by Him, judged until we come forth as pure God-nature to reveal the Christ to others. The Greek word entos means “within,” from the root en meaning “a fixed position or place of rest.” Many translations use in the midst,” failing to convey the message the original language is saying: “The Kingdom is inside of you.”

The King James version translates it as within, and the Concordant Literal, quoted above, further clarifies it from the original Greek to inside of you. Without those spiritual eyes and ears of which Jesus often spoke, this kingdom scripture cannot be understood. God is a spirit, and it is our spirits that come alive in Him.

“We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 BSB

Some will not pass from this life to go directly into God’s presence, despite the myths, stories, and sermons about everyone who dies being immediately in heaven. We surely don’t hear ministers preaching at funerals that the deceased will be in hell rather than found immediately in the presence of God. The exception is the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, revealed in church history to have been invented to get more money for the Catholic church of the time.

That message is just not done at funerals, for obvious reasons, nor is the truth about the deceased unbeliever spoken of at that time. Yes, we will all be judged to be fully redeemed, but Paul states that those who do not know him sleep until their time of change comes. They remain unaware until the time of their rank being called up.

“For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, the people of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:23 HCSB

Note the surety of Paul’s first statement. It is inevitable that in our Adamic, fleshly nature, we all die. There is no exception. So, then, is the certainty that in Christ all will be made alive. All. No exceptions. We don’t see it yet, as God has an order for each one. First, those with the fullness of the Christ nature, His first fruits company, then the people of Christ. This is a deep truth that takes much meditation to understand, as the holy spirit teaches the hungry heart desiring to know truth. The people of God are the first to be judged, just as Peter stated:

“For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17 NIV

Peter knew that judgment had already begun for believers who belong to God. The presence or coming of the Lord Jesus Christ within began that work long ago. Were not the one hundred twenty believers in the Upper Room continually changed by the holy spirit coming within? Gathered there were all the disciples except Judas, who had denied knowing Him upon His arrest. After Jesus came within as the holy spirit, these same disciples became bold leaders who persisted despite persecution and torture, dying as martyrs while turning the world upside-down.

Jesus came within to make it possible for us to be changed like they were, to restore the fellowship with God lost in that long-ago Eden. The great deceiver, satan, the enemy of our souls, surely gains advantages with the rapture theory. Complacency settles in while Christians are waiting for the rapture, limiting or stopping spiritual growth. Essential heart changes to be like Christ are postponed until death or the rapture. Many believers even become soulishly anxious for the rapture to be delayed so they have more time on earth to marry, have children, or experience other life events significant to them.

The rapture theory strengthens focus on this earth and its pleasures, rather than on essential character change to which Christians are called. The spiritual matters of the kingdom are tabled while waiting for this future dramatic event to occur. The Lord’s business is to change hearts but such believers die without having gained the nature of Christ that Paul so vigorously pursued and promoted. While many faithfully sit in the same pews listening to the same sermons, they are not becoming clothed with His nature. Because many do not go on to know Him intimately while on earth, they are unable to seek being perfect in Him

Look around and within at human nature and character. Has anyone experienced the fullness of Christ, showing forth His complete character, all the fruit of the spirit? The law cannot do it, and the faith of lukewarm Laodicean churches, seeing themselves as rich and in need of nothing, falls short as well. If this were not so, there would be a distinct, recognizable difference between Christians and unbelievers in their character and their walk. Some do show forth the Christ nature in their daily lives, but some unbelievers are good humans showing forth many qualities of character.

Added to this confusion of doctrine is the debate about literal vs. spiritual interpretations of scripture. There is fear that some will spiritualize the Word too much, actually, anything that the Bible says that is beyond their human comprehension. Insisting on a literal interpretation of every word in the Bible results in teachers and believers flip-flopping randomly from literal to spiritual understanding throughout the bible. They refuse to compare spiritual things with spiritual.

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments…” 1 Corinthians 2:12-15 NIV

A simple example is the many times Jesus repeated these words: “those who have ears to hear” in His ministry. We all have literal ears, so doesn’t He have to mean spiritual ears? If so, is this spiritualizing? If He is a spirit and His words are to be spiritually understood, how about the many parables He told the crowds? His teachings to the crowds were not in plain language and were difficult for even His disciples to comprehend. There was a deeper spiritual understanding they could not catch until they, themselves, had the Christ within to teach them.

“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’‘Lord,’ said Thomas, ‘we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?’

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’” John 14:1-7 NIV

Where was Jesus? Where is He now? Jesus said the Father is known to the disciples through seeing the Father in the Son. He showed them the Father by the spirit while He was yet on this earth. Why then would we only be able to see and dwell with the Father and the Son in a literal, visible place on this earth or in the actual clouds in the sky? The kingdom of God is within us. Our Lord has prepared a place where we can dwell with Him forever in the spirit.

Heaven is where God rules, His throne of spiritual authority. We are promised to be where our heavenly Father is, along with Jesus Christ our Lord and King. Yes, doubters or unbelievers may want to say the story of creation did not really happen or that Old Testament saints were not real people, but that’s not spiritualizing; that is unbelief. God said the natural man cannot understand the things of God. When our natural minds apply human understanding to the scriptures, it leads to confusion and division, not godly wisdom.

So, what and whom can we trust? God the Father sent His Holy Spirit so that we will be led into all truth. He is our great Teacher. He can provide discernment to any of His people who come to Him with sincere hearts, desiring to know the truth. It matters not to Him if we are great men and women of God or scholars of scriptural teachings. God graciously reveals truth to anyone who sincerely seeks it from Him by the spirit.

If leaders believe or teach error to His people, whether knowingly or not, God will deal with them more severely. God is no respecter of persons. We do not have to believe, without spiritual examination, all that many great teachers may want to teach us. The early martyrs died for just this cause when they rejected the teachings of the church realm that contradicted, even overlaid, what Jesus Christ had established and taught. They gave their lives so that the church of the time would not deceive the people by adding to what Jesus taught.

Read the accounts of these early martyrs who told the religious authorities who put them on trial to show where the teachings of the church were to be found in the Word. They could not do it, but put them to death anyway for the sake of their teachings rather than the word of the Lord. Our heavenly Father is our teacher, living in our hearts. God guides our understanding as we seek His wisdom and truth. We also learn from great men and women of God who worship Him in spirit and truth. He desires truth in our inward parts:

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.” Psalms 51:6 AMP

With revelation from God, we see that His word is spiritual because He is spirit. The events of the Old Testament did happen and are meant for our edification. Old Testament saints and their stories have a far deeper spiritual meaning as He sheds the Holy Spirit's light upon them. The Old Testament is filled with examples and patterns for our Christian walk, understood to be types and shadows of things to come. They teach and foreshadow much of God’s plan and God’s ways, including the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

The rapture doctrine relies on fear and condemnation to motivate change, rather than the ultimate power of God’s love, which no man can defeat. God does not want His people to fear, as the fearful and unbelieving cannot enter into His Kingdom. Jesus Christ is coming again, has been coming, and will continue to come. We all long to be with Him in the fullness of His coming. He will appear again, revealing who He is through saints who have become perfected, as He is perfect.

What is presently a matter of controversy and debate—the how, when, where, and to whom—is unprofitable for the heart, though it may swell the head with knowledge. One area of unity that most sincere Christian believers hold is the longing for and looking to the return of Jesus Christ to end the sufferings of our present age. Only God can sort this all out to bring His promised unity among His body of believers:

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:13 BSB

It is critical for this present age that we know there is a resurrection of the dead because Christ has been raised. Christians look to Jesus Christ in faith that He promised to come again. The minds and imaginations of men have clouded the understanding of His coming. God has allowed this truth to be hidden from many of His faithful followers, but now is the time to be ready, not to be caught unawares. Christ is in us, reconciling the world to Him:

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 BSB

Consider this statement that God was reconciling or restoring the world to Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus opened the door to the Father that was closed in Eden. If He does not count men’s trespasses against them, why would Father God condemn people to hell for all eternity? The purpose of His creation of man, the salvation through Christ, is for the world, not just a small portion of the billions of people, past and present, on this earth who had the opportunity to know Him.

God chooses to use His people to accomplish His plan. He always has a people ready for each phase of His eternal plan of redemption. There are people called to fulfill His directive about the message of reconciliation of all to Him. He has given the ministry of reconciliation to such believers. This is good news! Yes, there is judgment for all, and the people of God are the first to experience it. What a privilege! Our flesh is being judged every time God exposes it so He can burn it up in His passionate love. It’s good news!

This began on the earth in Jesus’ time. God’s judgment was already working within His called and chosen people to reconcile all to Him. It continues as He faithfully works within to change hearts of stone into a heart that He can write His truth upon.

“I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 11:19 ESV

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hebrews 8:10 ESV

Is this promise of a new heart and spirit available only after we die? Is it not something He begins to work within us here on this earth? To accomplish these necessary heart and spirit changes, God brings judgment. Those who resist Him in this life, the ungodly and sinners, are dealt with here or in the afterlife. God will not forego the judgment that all need and must face to bring us fully back to Him. Wisdom teaches believers to welcome His judgment, not to fear it.

We, His called, chosen, and faithful, are to be lights shining in the darkness of every age as He works within to change us into His likeness and image. Through the fall of Adam, God’s people lost an intimate relationship with Father God, the supreme privilege of walking and talking with God while resting in all of His provisions. Jesus Christ our Lord, the second Adam, is sent to bring us back, to reconcile and redeem us back to the Father. He made the way, and yes, it is a long, long way back to the Father, but all will be accomplished in God’s time.

“The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:46-48 BSB

Jesus Christ is the only man from heaven Who is preparing us to be like the heavenly man He is. His judgment is redemptive, always. We are promised to be with our Lord through eternity, with no fleshly barriers between God and man. Just because we have yet to see it does not make it less true. Isn’t that faith, believing His word over what we humans can see, hear, and understand? He is coming within us while we are living in these earthly tabernacles, giving us a new earth as He establishes new heavens within us.

He will continue coming until the day of Jesus Christ is fully revealed. In Revelation, this is referred to as Jesus Christ conquering and to conquer:

“I looked, and behold a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 NASB

The Concordant reads “He came forth conquering and to conquer.” Our Lord and King, crowned with spiritual authority, is on this white horse and is coming to achieve victory for all. His work of fulfilling the law and ending the curse was finished on the cross. The word shows that Jesus Christ has much more to accomplish following His resurrection. Has He not been coming forth to conquer within His people, taking His place as our Ruler and King now over every fleshly, soulish way in us, giving us His victory?

Has Jesus Christ our Lord ever stopped coming into the hearts of mankind since His days on the earth, and most particularly following the resurrection? He will conquer all flesh until all within is subdued and every person bows their knees to His victory in us. He comes to rule and reign, is always just, and will have a purified people.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 9-11 NIV

Jesus’ very name, His nature of love, mercy, and kindness, will cause every knee to bow, every tongue to confess. God has always given mankind a choice, each one with their free will to come to Him. He has never forced people to acknowledge Him as Lord, though He specifically draws specific ones needed for the age in which they are called. There are no exceptions to this outcome, neither in the celestial realms of heaven, nor the terrestrial realms of earth, nor the subterranean realms of those who died without submission to Him.

Jesus Christ will do what He has promised to do, drawing all to Him through his redemptive justice and mercy. Sovereign God has no joy in forcing people to bow their knees and externally confess He is Lord. He intends this to be worked out in the hearts of all. The truth of reconciliation of all things does not do away with expecting Jesus to come again. Instead, it shifts our focus from looking out there in a physical location or up there in the clouds, externally expecting His appearing. We begin to comprehend His great purpose in dwelling in His people, inside of us now, where He is descending already.

The rapture doctrine postpones our obedience to His directive to be perfect as He is perfect until after death. No added qualification for being made perfect is restricted to heaven. Jesus is coming again, bringing the complete salvation He has already obtained for us. His coming in a people is the process begun on the Day of Pentecost.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?’” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 BSB

The only imperishable things are those of the spirit of God. The spirit from God to every living thing is lasting, eternal, because it is Him. We must put on Christ, be fully clothed with our spiritual body, not appearing naked before our God. Many are held in sleep until the time of their change comes, each in his own rank or order as God chooses. Paul states that what happens in the afterlife is a deep mystery, a secret with much to be revealed by the holy spirit.

Though we all have more to learn, we do have some keys to understanding this mystery. He promised to reveal His secrets to those who love Him.

“The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death— the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 20:13-15; 21: 1-3 BSB

Many are taught that the lake of fire is hell, but why, then, is hell and death thrown into it? There is a hell, but it is neither a fiery deep hole in the earth nor a place of eternal torment. There is hell on this earth, absolutely, with many of God’s saints having lived through periods of hell in this life. We are promised a new earth as well as a new heaven, which is our spiritual dwelling place in God. We surely do not need a new earth if we are raptured out of it.

If the lake of fire represents where unbelievers are condemned, separated forever from the presence of God, what use does God have for it? They are forever cut off from Father God, unable to receive His redemptive love. Understand this: our God is a consuming fire.

“Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29-29 BSB

It is with the fiery presence of God that we are judged for change from the earthly to the heavenly, Consider the lake of fire in light of our God providing His fiery presence to the Israelites as they left the bondage of Egypt to journey forty years in the wilderness. He appeared to Moses as a fiery presence in a bush that was not consumed. Moses talked with God face to face and the glory of the Lord upon Him was like fire:

“When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Exodus 24:15-17 BSB

God is not described just as fire but as a devouring fire. His presence devours or consumes our flesh, our earthly selves, the dross of our humanity, so that eventually, we, too, can see Him face to face and not die. When all are changed, there is no more death and hell, no earth for satan to operate in. When we have overcome all, as Jesus did, when we are fully made like this Firstborn of many brethren, we will join Moses and others in seeing our Master and Savior face to face.

Seeing someone face to face means we can see Who He is, having an intimate connection with our Father with Jesus Christ or Lord and King, joining them in the throne room. He is still consuming and destroying all of our enemies as we head for our promised land of His kingdom within. The Israelites’ enemies were external forces intent on robbing them of the land of milk and honey that God had promised. Our enemies are those within. Even if people come against us, the purpose of satan is to rob us of His kingdom of righteousness, peace, love, and joy. He burns up our human reactions to this as He teaches us to spiritually comprehend.

“But understand that today the Lord your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the Lord has promised you.” Deuteronomy 9:3 BSB

God’s fiery presence is in us to lead us out of fear of bondage and death to true freedom and rest in Him. He was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, destroying enemies before His people on their way to the Promised Land. When illuminated by the spirit, the light of His fiery presence leads us. When we are in the darkness of our own souls on our way to our homeland in Him, He is a consuming fire to burn up our fleshly ways that cannot enter in. When His Day is shining brightly, we see the light of His countenance.

The Kingdom of God within us is a land of righteousness, peace, joy, and love. We need His cloud covering our flesh in the light of day, and the presence of His fire in our darkness. Being raised up in the clouds as Jesus was in view of His disciples after appearing to them in the spirit represents a spiritual transformation. Jesus was transfigured before their eyes, leaving the earthly form of man, again fully dwelling in the spirit where His Father dwells.

Thus the called, chosen, and faithful who have passed to the other side are a great cloud of witnesses who await us on the other side. We are directed to be mindful that these saints on the other side surround us.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.” Hebrews 12:1-2 BSB

As we learn His spiritual language, we realize that our Father God is so thorough in what He uses to teach us. God is a consuming fire, and the lake of fire can be understood as the concentrated presence of God in His saints, chosen for this work. Have you not already felt a fiery burning within as you listen and learn from anointed ministry that works true change within you? In the end, what need is there for the destroyer when all has been consumed at last, in every person, by His fiery presence? There is a new earth as well as new heavens with only righteousness established in all.

This lake of fire is mentioned solely in the book of Revelation, found in five scriptures. It is symbolic language for the concentration of the fire of God’s presence in one place within His saints. If our God is a fire sent to consume, the lake of fire is a whole lot of fire, the collective presence of God in His holy people! When God brings judgment to each one of us, does it not burn in our hearts?

It wasn’t until over two hundred years after the coming of Christ to this earth that a Roman scholar began to link the lake of fire to the old Jewish concept of Gehenna, our modern-day concept of hell. It’s amazing how many of us Christians have no idea about the source of what we have come to believe. Many assume that it is all God’s truth because we are taught by our leaders that it is so. Yes, multiple teachings equate the lake of fire with an eternal hell where God puts the unsaved, but what is hell? Must we die to be in hell? Hell is separation from God.

All earth dwellers experience separation from God to some degree. All through the centuries, God’s people have existed in many hellish conditions. Many present hellish conditions are multiplying on the earth now. Many, many saints and sinners have and are experiencing hell on this earth. God has allowed humanity to go along, the just and the unjust growing together. Tormenting fears, deadly illnesses, famine and drought, hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons, war and conflict, all are increasing in frequency and severity.

“‘Still once more shall I be quaking, not only the earth, but heaven also.’ Now the ‘Still once more’ is making evident the transference of that which is being shaken, as of that having been made, that what is not being shaken should be remaining.” Hebrews 12:22-27 CLV

What can be shaken is being shaken. All that can be burned up is being consumed by the fiery presence of our Lord’s coming. God is burning up all that is not Him, which is indeed deserving of eternal destruction. It can and will be hell when God comes to conquer even that religious man in us, burning up all our fleshly religious works. It happens even now when unbelievers sense the fiery presence of God within us. We do not have to say a word to have others begin to be drawn by or resist the presence of God within us.

There is hope, there is redemption as we hear what the spirit is saying. We mustn’t put this off into a future time, but ready ourselves through submission to His truth. We must repent, be changed. We desire to be ready for His kingdom, being clothed with His nature established within, where restoration is unfolding now. Let us turn our eyes from the worldly events around us to the kingdom of righteousness, of peace, of joy, and His love ruling within.

It matters not that I believe this. What matters is what God reveals to you as you seek Him daily. May God bless your seeking.