Revelation 20:11-14 11 Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. 13 Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.15 And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. As our guest preacher was finishing his sermon this past weekend he said something along the lines of, “For the believer, their time on earth is the worst hell they will ever experience but for the unbeliever, their time on earth is the best heaven they will ever experience.” In other words, believers will NEVER experience hell and unbelievers will NEVER experience heaven. Those are some very comforting words to the believer but to an unbeliever they must be very disturbing to say the least. Some people, including some self-professing believers, refuse to believe there is such a thing as hell or as the Bible calls it, “the lake of fire”.
There is a distinction between Hell (the lake of fire) and Hades. Hades is a place of punishment but not permanent. It is like a jail where the unbeliever waits until his or her final judgement. In today’s passage we read of this final judgement which is referred to as the great white judgement. Here we read of multiple books but essentially on two groups that people will be judged in. We have “the book of life” which each believer’s name is in. They will be judged according to the finished and substitutionary (in place of) work of Jesus Christ. Then, there are all the other books of the unbelievers’ individual lives, they will be judged “according to their [own] works”. What are you expecting in the end? Will you be judged according the finished work of Jesus Christ or your own works which will be found lacking and not enough to save you? God would rather we live in anticipation of His presence rather than the fear of separation FOREVER from Him in the lake of fire. As a believer we should never live in fear and if you realize you are not a believer you don’t have to live in fear if you embrace the love of God found in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Have a great day Loved Ones and God bless you real good!
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