Fire can provide us with such things as warmth, light, and the means to prepare food, but it can also be the source of mass destruction of property, serious personal injury, and physical death.
Scripture (1) teaches that before God brings about the new heavens and Earth (2), the present heavens and Earth will melt away with intense heat.
Over the years, and especially with the development of modern-day weapons of warfare, there has been much speculation as to the nature and timing of this fiery event.
Some scientists promote the “red giant” theory that predict that in about 7.5 million years from now, the sun in the center of our solar system will expand and burn up some of its surrounding planets.
Many fear that it will be the use of nuclear weaponry in a future global war.
Will it be the result of a direct act of God, as in the days of Noah, or will it be an event that God allows as a result of the inevitable path of self-destruction that human nature seems to pursue?
Since the event involves the melting away of the heavens as well as the Earth, I believe it will be a direct act of God, eliminating the present heavens and Earth, before creating the new.
The Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty teaches that the timing for this fiery event is in the hands of God. It will not take place any sooner, nor any later, than what He has already decreed.
As we are about to note, we can be confident that the 2Pet. 3: 10 event is at least 1,007 years away. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be catastrophic events (3) on a global level, taking place before the final meltdown of 2Pet. 3: 10.
There is a relatively brief dispensation coming that would eliminate all life on planet Earth, if it were not cut short by the Second Advent (4). As devastating as this will be, it will not be the end of the world; yet.
Church Age believers will be Raptured away (5) before this future seven-year (some teach 3 ½ year) period begins, and will return with Christ to participate in the 1,000-year kingdom that follows the Second Advent. The 2Pet. 3: 10 meltdown does not take place until after the period of the future 1,000-year kingdom (6), has come to it’s end.
Scripture (7) provides a clear description of a type of fire presently being experienced by departed souls who are suffering in Hades.There will come a day (8) when the souls suffering in Hades will be summoned up to the Court of Heaven, but only to be later sent into the flames of the lake of fire (9).
Unlike the types of fire that did have a beginning and had, or will have, an end, the lake of fire that will be the experience of unbelievers will never come to an end!
It is not God’s desire that any human soul should find himself or herself being thrown into the lake of fire, but Rev. 20: 15 makes it perfectly clear that this is where the many (majority) spoken of in Matthew 7: 13 are headed.
There is only ONE way to be assured (10) of residency in Heaven, and not in the lake of fire. Life after physical death is not a matter of if, but where and how each and every soul IS going to experience it.
“Jesus said to him (and to each one of us), "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14: 6 NASB parenthesis mine).”
Through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, God made is possible for everyone (11) to live in Heaven.
Never-the-less, the same Bible that speaks of no condemnation (12) for born-again (13) believers, speaks of a lake of fire (14) eventually awaiting those who leave this world (15) having, “… not believed in the only begotten Son of God (John. 3: 18 NASB).”
_______
(1) 2Pet. 3: 10 (2) Rev. 21: 1 (3) Rev. 9: 5, 6, 10, 15, 18 (4) Matt. 24: 22 (5) 1Thess. 4: 17 (6) Rev. 20: 6, 7 (7) Luke 17: 24 (8) Rev. 20: 13 (9) Rev. 20: 15 (10) Rom. 8: 1 (11) 1John 2: 2 (12) Rom. 8: 1 (13) John 3: 7 (14) Rev. 20: 15 (15) John 8: 24
Scripture (1) teaches that before God brings about the new heavens and Earth (2), the present heavens and Earth will melt away with intense heat.
Over the years, and especially with the development of modern-day weapons of warfare, there has been much speculation as to the nature and timing of this fiery event.
Some scientists promote the “red giant” theory that predict that in about 7.5 million years from now, the sun in the center of our solar system will expand and burn up some of its surrounding planets.
Many fear that it will be the use of nuclear weaponry in a future global war.
Will it be the result of a direct act of God, as in the days of Noah, or will it be an event that God allows as a result of the inevitable path of self-destruction that human nature seems to pursue?
Since the event involves the melting away of the heavens as well as the Earth, I believe it will be a direct act of God, eliminating the present heavens and Earth, before creating the new.
The Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty teaches that the timing for this fiery event is in the hands of God. It will not take place any sooner, nor any later, than what He has already decreed.
As we are about to note, we can be confident that the 2Pet. 3: 10 event is at least 1,007 years away. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be catastrophic events (3) on a global level, taking place before the final meltdown of 2Pet. 3: 10.
There is a relatively brief dispensation coming that would eliminate all life on planet Earth, if it were not cut short by the Second Advent (4). As devastating as this will be, it will not be the end of the world; yet.
Church Age believers will be Raptured away (5) before this future seven-year (some teach 3 ½ year) period begins, and will return with Christ to participate in the 1,000-year kingdom that follows the Second Advent. The 2Pet. 3: 10 meltdown does not take place until after the period of the future 1,000-year kingdom (6), has come to it’s end.
Scripture (7) provides a clear description of a type of fire presently being experienced by departed souls who are suffering in Hades.There will come a day (8) when the souls suffering in Hades will be summoned up to the Court of Heaven, but only to be later sent into the flames of the lake of fire (9).
Unlike the types of fire that did have a beginning and had, or will have, an end, the lake of fire that will be the experience of unbelievers will never come to an end!
It is not God’s desire that any human soul should find himself or herself being thrown into the lake of fire, but Rev. 20: 15 makes it perfectly clear that this is where the many (majority) spoken of in Matthew 7: 13 are headed.
There is only ONE way to be assured (10) of residency in Heaven, and not in the lake of fire. Life after physical death is not a matter of if, but where and how each and every soul IS going to experience it.
“Jesus said to him (and to each one of us), "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14: 6 NASB parenthesis mine).”
Through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, God made is possible for everyone (11) to live in Heaven.
Never-the-less, the same Bible that speaks of no condemnation (12) for born-again (13) believers, speaks of a lake of fire (14) eventually awaiting those who leave this world (15) having, “… not believed in the only begotten Son of God (John. 3: 18 NASB).”
_______
(1) 2Pet. 3: 10 (2) Rev. 21: 1 (3) Rev. 9: 5, 6, 10, 15, 18 (4) Matt. 24: 22 (5) 1Thess. 4: 17 (6) Rev. 20: 6, 7 (7) Luke 17: 24 (8) Rev. 20: 13 (9) Rev. 20: 15 (10) Rom. 8: 1 (11) 1John 2: 2 (12) Rom. 8: 1 (13) John 3: 7 (14) Rev. 20: 15 (15) John 8: 24