Friday, September 29, 2017

The Love and Fairness of God, Part 4 of 7 - In all His Dealings with Mankind

By John Foll, written 8/21/2017 to 9/06/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

God will reward every sinner according to the fruit of their doings:


The prophet Jeremiah gives a message from God saying, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:10 KJV. Therefore the punishment of the wicked is according to the fruit of their doings, as Jeremiah plainly states. Not all of the lost have the same level of sin or guilt; some may have been great sinners and committed great crimes against humanity, while others who were almost saved (the saddest of all), probably weren’t as bad as others. But each will get what they deserve, according to the fruit of their doings as Jeremiah says. Jeremiah furnishes us with more proof that God will not punish someone for what they don’t deserve. No one can sin so bad in this short life on earth to deserve an eternity of punishment for their sins! We know of sermons that have been preached claiming that the sinner goes on sinning eternally, since they are infuriated against God for all of their endless pain, thus their guilt can never be paid for by their death, because it gets worse and worse. What rubbish! But what kind of death would this be, if they go on suffering forever? In what way can it be referred to as death? The Bible declares that the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23. There is no place in the Bible that promises eternal life to the wicked, it is promised only as a reward to the true believer and to the righteous. But if sinners would suffer forever, then they would never die! This contradicts the Bible’s promise that the wicked will perish. So the doctrine of eternal punishment is a contradiction of Romans 6:23 and many other places in the Bible. The way some people tell it, God will never get done with His vengeance, but this is a contradiction of the Bible. God does not retain His anger forever, as we have previously shown, because He is a merciful God! When God gets done punishing all sinners, they will all be dead forever (in all forms), this includes the Devil and his angels. Satan, the evil angels and all unrepentant sinners will be punished and will be forever destroyed, both root and branch. There will be no more sin ever after this, because all of the sinners will have forever perished, never to return again. When God does something it is complete and perfect, unlike the works of man.

You can be sure that God is more fair and just than any judge or court system in this world, and He has perfect evidence against all sinners. He cannot make a mistake, but His justice is tempered with mercy towards those who want it. Jesus said regarding the things that are hidden: “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26 NASB. And Paul says, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5 KJV. Therefore be aware that there is nothing: no word, thought or deed that is hidden from God, it will all come out in the judgement. God gives people a choice, allowing them to decide. What they do with that choice will decide their destiny, whether they will live forever with Him in the Land of the Blessed, or perish in the Lake of Fire. There is no other alternative.

The prophet Malachi tells us what the future of the wicked is in this passage:
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 4:1-3 KJV. If the wicked are forever burning, how can the saints walk on their ashes? Even if this is taken figuratively, how can the saints walk on the ashes of the wicked if they are still alive and in endless anguish? This prophecy also states that this fire shall not leave so much as the root or any branches, but they will be as stubble! The wicked will not be able to curse God or commit any further sins after their destruction, because this passage says that they will be burned up, i.e. “stubble,” signifying that there will be nothing left of them; the destruction of the wicked will be complete. Sin shall not rise up a second time. Note: This text also states ‘the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven’ and ‘the day that cometh shall burn them up’, which is similar to our earlier passage from Zephaniah 2:3 KJV: ‘the day of the LORD’s anger’. Again ‘the day cometh’ means that the day will eventually come when the wicked will burn in the ‘oven’ and be ‘stubble’. The way this is worded it implies that it would happen in a day, or in a short time frame, although this isn’t proof, otherwise this expression would not adequately describe this event. In any case, these expressions, ‘Day of the Lord’, and ‘burn’ and ‘shall be stubble’ clearly do not mean an infinite amount of time, whether the wickeds' destruction really all transpires in one day, or a slightly longer period.


(To Be Continued!)




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