Curiously…
Like me, were you always taught to believe,
A sentence in hell will be forever,
An eternal sentence without reprieve,
With satan and ALL of his followers?!
Casually…
Have you ever read a text that was clear,
And immediately grasped what it meant,
But re-reading it many times, you hear,
‘Read it again! Grasp its hidden intent’?!
Poignantly…
Those times you wonder, ‘How did I ever missed that?
And then you’re so thankful for that still, quiet voice inside.
Thinking you were wise, you now feel like …a dingbat.
THANK GOD for His Holy Spirit Who with us is allied!
Pensively…
While deeply pondering the ‘nexus of the nexts’, 1
Including The Lord God’s plans for our death, contrived,
My perceptive eye was opened to this context:
Folks who were long dead, are suddenly made alive!
Perpetually…
Though in graves of various kinds across the Earth,
All the remains of their bodies for various times had lain,
Their spirits and souls hadn’t lost one bit of their worth!
In hades, their immortal twins were in agonizing pains! 2
Prophetically…
Now, suddenly they’re alive, in tripartite form once more!
Before The Lord God Almighty, they find themselves standing!
They had heard His voice, opening death’s tightly shut door.
And before Him are books that He is carefully scanning. 3
Festively…
In shock, as they all stand before His awesome judgment bar,
They realize, from their hellish pains, they have been relieved,
In brand new bodies with no death marks, not even a scar! ’ 4
‘Wasn’t hell supposed to be forever?’ That’s what most believed!
Finally…
When His books review is over, this is what they’ll hear:
‘DEPART FROM ME, you who are cursed. I never knew you!
DEPART FROM ME, you who in life held lawlessness dear.’
In the place I made for devils, there’s a place for you!!!’ 5
Their ends…
Into the eternal lake of fire, they will all be cast,
As suddenly as they were raised from their graves.
They’ll join Death and Hades, and by devils they’ll be aghast,
The ones by whom, in life, they were all enslaved.
So Friends…
With this insight, how would you answer this question:
‘When sinners die, in Hades will they forever be confined?’
On this point, I had to reshape my opinion,
So with The Lord’s strategic inferences, I re-align. 6
In this group, may you and anyone you love not be counted,
I know of only One Way this outcome can be assured:
Make sure in Christ and His Word, your lives are founded and grounded.
By faith, embrace ‘born-again Grace’ that, for you, Christ procured.
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1 In The Bible, the terms, hell and hades, are used interchangeably. Before Christ’s resurrection, hades comprised a protected upper region for the immortal spirits/souls of dead righteous saints from across the first two ages of human history, and a lower, hellish region for the immortal spirits/souls of dead sinners. After His resurrection, only the lower region remains operable for ALL sinners when they die. With His resurrection, Christ led all residents of the upper region (resurrected and raptured) into Heaven, just a predicted in the first two points of Psalm 68:18, confirmed in Ephesians 4:8, and strategically inferred in Matthew 27:51-53.
2 ‘Nexus of the nexts’ refers to the sequences of The Lord’s yet-fulfilled prophetic plans for humanity, as stated or inferred in The Bible, which iteratively confirms, in death, our immortal spirit and soul (our immortal, inner twins) remain cognizant. So in a very real sense, there is 'sentient life after bodily death!'
3 Spirit, soul and body, reunited in one immortal form, alive FOREVER. (See: Matthew 7:21-23, 25:41, and Revelation 20:11-15)
4 The Bible very clearly predicts every human being who will have ever lived (babies, children, saints and sinners alike) will be resurrected at various times, and then raptured into Heaven to face our Judge Ultimate, Jesus Christ. Uniquely, His body still had the deadly crucifixion scars when He was resurrected. The purpose may well be to fulfill prophecies that Jews will embrace Him as Messiah when they see Him and His crucifixion wounds. Perhaps this will be similar to when Joseph's family didn't initially believe he was Egypt's prime minister until he 'revealed' himself as their son/bother, a circumcised Jew. Zechariah 13:6 may give a cloaked hint of Jesus' revealing Himself to Jews who survive the 1st War of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38), and the Armageddon War at the end of the apocalyptic plagues in Revelation 19. (See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel) His being resurrected with deadly wounds does not necessarily indicate all humans will be resurrected with our old age and death scars. Some people die blown or chopped to bits, or chewed and digested by animals!! I imagine our promised NEW immortal bodies might be undamaged, and ready to endure throughout eternity, whether spent in the bliss of His presence, or in the lake of fire, both of which are indicated to be on the promised new Earth. Believe as you will since there are no clear Biblical indications.
5 The above verses poetically paraphrased
6 The Bible is choc full of strategic inferences, hidden not from, but for us who are studious enough to perceive them, and righteous in Christ to be led by His Spirit.
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