REv20
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Jesus
Matthew 5
1And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
So my question is, is it possible to escape the lake of fire, if for example a person is someone who mourns in this world.
Example, a mother in Sudan, who's entire life is nothing but pain and mourning. Who lived as a slave, then got married and her kids get killed by rebels. But she is not a Christian.
Now, is one of her works mourning?. Jesus said in Mathew
3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Now Jesus does not mention to believe on him in this section, like he does in other parts of the gospel. Maybe the people he was preaching to were general folk, or even slaves who did not have much of a say, no rights to be a christian, bullied etc.
Now the lake of fire is anything but comforting. So is it possible that some people such as the person ?I mentioned, will escape the judgment of the lake of fire, and instead be comforted.
This to me sounds like justice, where her tormenters are sent into the lake of fire to be "hurt", while she escapes the lake of fire and is comforted.
While we argue over what exactly the lake of fire is, my take is that is is a place of divine justice, where evil doers, will suffer for their own actions, as God is not mocked whatsoever a man sows, he shall reap. I don't see it as brutal torture, but something I cannot fully explain. I don't know whetehr the lake of fire is about justice or whether it is about purification, perhaps a bit of both, since the devil is thrown into it. But I see that by the time the lake of fire judgment comes to pass, God has already poured out the winepress of his anger upon the earth, so I know that the lake of fire is not about His anger or wrath.
So can a person escape the lake of fire by simply being the poor of this world?
I think someone can't be judged and escape LoF because LoF=law.
But everyone is judge on their works. If the works of the woman from sudan were good the judgement will be mild.
Who is given much is required much of. If she knows nothing about Jesus that will not be held against her.
But that judgment is just about works.
At some point the kneeling/believing/etc come into the picture.
So my view is nobody escapes judgement. Some recieve 40 hard hit stripes. Some 1 stripe with cotton candy
Deuteronomy 33:
2 And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them,
אשׁ
'êsh
BDB Definition:
1) fire
1a) fire, flames
1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)
1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching)
1d) altar-fire
1e) God's anger (figuratively)
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: a primitive word
Same Word by TWOT Number: 172
דּת
dâth
BDB Definition:
1) decree, law, edict, regulation, usage
1a) decree, edict, commission
1b) law, rule
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: of uncertain (perhaps foreign) derivation
Same Word by TWOT Number: 458
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
--1 Peter 4:8
:cloud9: My :2c:.......I was shown the books of a particular group of people I was with, in a dream/vision, one Sunday morning. The books appeared as red earthen tablets in a cave (cave = stony hearts of men). I brushed off the red dust, and saw raised solid gold symbols on them, which was what had been written in their hearts by the hand of the Spirit.
That this was real, was witnessed by what He did later that day, including a miraculous healing of one of the people whose "book was opened", where they stood. And they were not physically dead, but part of the "let the dead bury the dead", "dead", ie. dead in sins and tresspasses.
Only He can open the books and let us "read" what is written therein. It starts and ends, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Churchianity has had us always looking for another day (like the one thief on the cross, remember me WHEN you come into Your Kingdom), but HE IS the day we're looking for. Blessings....
Who is "He"?
Father or Son?
:cloud9: Son