How does someone even inherit hell? There is only one answer, and that is to reject the salvation offer of Jesus Christ, everything else is simply sin. Trust me, you want to avoid the Great White Throne Judgment!
Do you like scary movies? I used to, and it seems the main reason why is that scary now is all too real all the time as believers. I now want to see something that will lighten my day. Remember that when we began this study into the Book of Revelation, I stated that this is the least taught book of the New Testament because (1) few have taken the time to understand it, and (2) some churches have eliminated this portion that people would be encouraged who read it. That is just wrong. Well, it's this chapter, that is the reason why...there is a day coming, according to the Bible, when God will judge all of humanity. The Bible tells us that we have to preach the full counsel of God, not just the parts that make you feel good. The Book of Revelation is by far, my favorite book of the Bible. Its wonderful news to those that accept and believe in everything Jesus has done, heaven awaits us. But for those that reject Jesus, there is judgment, a price to be paid. There is a real hell waiting.
Revelation 20, picks up at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ with the coming Great White Throne Judgment.
For every one word that Jesus spoke about heaven, there are three words that He spoke about Hell. 1:3 ratio. He spoke more about it, than any of the 66 books of the Bible. Why would Jesus do that?
It was Jesus that would go to the cross.
It would be Jesus who would suffer.
It would be Jesus who was resurrected from the dead.
It will be Jesus, who at His name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is God.
If you die in this life, rejecting Jesus, shutting the door on His offer of salvation, the Bible promises that one day there will be a time to pay for that. A time when there will be a great courtroom, but no jury. There will be a prosecutor, but no public defender. There will be a Judge, but there will be no change to appeal. There will be a sentence, but no one will be able to pay the fine. It will be the Great White Throne Judgment of God and there will be no escape.
People chose to walk out whenever studies like this are preached from church pulpits, and in this portion of the Bible. They reject the fact that this is a real possibility, but they fight against the offer of Jesus' salvation every single day of their life.
Revelation 20:1-15 ~ " Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
"Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads of their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power; but they will be priest of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
"And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceived the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
"Then I saw a great white throne with him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Than another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades, were thrown into the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he as throne into the lake of fire."
Remember that the false prophet and the Anti-Christ were the first to be thrown into the lake of fire. They've have been suffering in there now for a 1000 years, during the Millennial reign of Jesus. An angel is dispatched from heaven, and takes Satan and finds him with a chain and puts
him into the pit. There is no argument, no struggle, no war from him when this happens. Did you consider this? He is absolutely removed from influencing the earth during the 1000 year Millennial Reign of Christ. He can't say or influence anyone who lives into the Millennium.
This will be a time according to the book of Isaiah when God will extend the lifetime of humans, when they turn 100, they will be like children. It will be like in the Old Testament when human longevity happened. People will die of old age, but they will be really, really old. Not like now.
There will come a time when Satan is loosened for a time, and don't you wonder why God released Satan at all from the very beginning not just now? We know the answer! When he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it was to be disobedient to God and he has been doing that ever since.
The Bible tells us that during the Millennial reign, even without Satan's influence, man's heart will still be filled with wickedness. They will turn on Christ at the end of the 1000 years. Hitler believed that by controlling man's race, he could obtain a perfect utopia. Karl Marx believed that by controlling man's social environment where everyone is treated the same, he could do the same thing and achieve perfection. Yet in all of it, man's heart is still depraved. It's not the environment and it's not the genes, the Bible says man is born with a sin nature. We sin because of our sin nature. It's in us!
Even if you've never committed one single sin, the Bible says if you even think about doing them, you're still sinning. God knows every thing we do, think and even what our motives are...He knows it all!!! There is nothing we can do to be sinless and impress God. Nothing we can do can fix that. We can NEVER be good enough or do enough to impress God and get to heaven on our own merits. Only Jesus can erase it all through our faith in HIM alone!!!
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