Will God Punish?

      Part 2

 

      Jesus Christ’s powerful way of teaching and helping God’s people challenged the constricting, legalistic way of the ruling     religious system.  Feeling threatened, the religious leaders maliciously conspired to confront him with a question designed to     ensnare him. 

 

Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle [ensnare, entrap] him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying….                                                            MATTHEW 22:15-16

 

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?                           MATTHEW 22:18

 

      Later that same day the other ruling religious leaders confronted him with another question, also meant to ensnare him.

 

The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, … “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.”                                      MATTHEW 22:23,28

 

      The Sadducees who believed ‘that there is no resurrection’ asked him a question about the resurrection. Is there deceit and     hypocrisy in that? Certainly. But Jesus Christ responded with great love and instruction.

 

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.                                                                                                                                                  MATTHEW 22:29-32

 

      God is the God of the living, not of the dead. He can’t help the dead while they’re dead. He can only help the dead by giving     them life! He promises to raise the dead. That is the way He will give life to the dead, by resurrecting the dead. Abraham, Isaac     and Jacob believed God’s promise to raise the dead. The Sadducees did not believe that God will raise the dead. They erred, not     knowing and believing the Scriptures and the power of God.

 

      “The Scriptures” are the written record of what God will do. “The power of God” is the doing of His promises. That which He     says and that which He does are the same. In order to know the truth regarding that which God will do we must pay attention to     exactly what He says.

 

      Just as the Sadducees erred in their conclusions, so is it also today. There is great error in concluding that at the time of each     individual’s death God takes the action to reward each individual with “heaven”, or punish that individual in “hell”.  Even though     the words ‘heaven’, ‘hell’, ‘reward’ and ‘punish’ are found in the Bible, we must take great care in understanding their correct     meaning and application. Taking those words out of their context and making up a scenario is not honest or truthful, no matter     how persuasive the teaching might be.

 

     The record in the Gospel of John gives us some tremendous, specific instruction.

 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God: and they that hear shall live.                                                                                                                   JOHN 5:25

 

      The hour is comingwhen the dead shall hear.  It is a future reality, not presently available.

 

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [krisis = judgment].                                                                                                        JOHN 5:28-29

 

      The Scriptures teach us here and throughout the Old and New Testaments that God will raise “all that are in the graves” in one of     two resurrections. By “the power of God” this will be done in the time that is determined by God.

 

      Jesus Christ identified the second resurrection as “the resurrection of judgment”. In Acts 24:15 Paul describes those in the two     resurrections as “the just and unjust”. The first and the second resurrections are discussed in significant detail in chapter 20 of     Revelation:

 

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrectionBlessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.  REVELATION 20:5-6

 

      Those referred to as “the rest of the dead” in verse 5 are the “unjust” of the second resurrection. We learn here that following the     first resurrection of the just there will be a thousand years. Then, “the rest of the dead” are made alive in the second resurrection.     Details of this second resurrection are given in verse 13:

 

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged [krinō ] every man according to their works.                                                      REVELATION 20:13

 

      Does it say that they are judged? Yes. Didn’t Jesus Christ call it a “resurrection of judgment” in John 5? The word judged (krinō)     here is the verb form of the noun judgment (krisis) in John 5. Does it say that they are judged and then punished? Let’s keep     reading.

 

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.                                                                          REVELATION 20:14-15

 

      It clearly states that those in the second resurrection are “cast into the lake of fire”. Both words “lake” and “fire” are not literal,     but used figuratively to imply a comparison of certain specific characteristics. What is the lake of fire exactly? To give an answer     to that question would only be speculation. It will be what it will be. We can be certain about the result after being “cast into the     lake of fire”. What is that result? The second death.

 

      Is the second death punishment? No. It is the result of God’s perfectly just justice. There is no punishment with pain and     suffering involved. Why would God need to inflict pain and suffering? Every man in both resurrections will be judged “according     to their works”.  The names of those in the second resurrection are not written in the book of life. Therefore they are “cut off”     from the reward of life. This is not punishment. This is justice.

 

       The teaching that God will punish people after their natural death in a future time is simply not the truth. Those who preach     these things “err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God”.

 

      By the power of God the dead are made alive with a new body and a new life. What a God He is! He is both willing and able to     do this. He has promised to swallow up death in victory! The last enemy, death, will be destroyed. God shall perform all that He     has promised in full!