The Wrath of God - The Second Death

Since finite creatures are absolutely dependent on the Infinite Creator for

existence, then the Infinite Creator would have to do everything necessary

to maintain the life and well-being of finite creatures. If the Infinite Creator

leaves His creatures alone they will perish; they must perish.

To think that God must use some other method than withdrawal to get rid of

sin is to insult His power, wisdom and love; it is because He is infinite and

creatures are finite that His creatures need Him and cannot survive without

Him.

So when people say that God must do something, other than withdraw, to get

rid of Satan, sinners and sin, they are insulting God and showing their

ignorance of the issues in the Great Conflict between right and wrong.

If God has to do anything at all to destroy the sinner other than leave the

sinner alone then His power is less than infinite, He is less than God. The

proof that He is God, and no one else, is that just by His doing nothing

everything else would perish!

"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the

earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall

perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a

garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be

changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

Hebrews 1:10-12

"Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens

are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:

yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou

change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and

thy years shall have no end." Psalm 102:25-27.

The proof of the Infinite God is that He has to do everything to keep finite

creatures alive. If God should do nothing, i.e. withdraw his maintaining,

upholding power, creatures will perish, Col. 1:17. Since all things hold

together in Him when He lets go things fall apart. (Psalm 121)

To suggest that sinful creatures can survive when fully and ultimately

separated from God or that God has to do something else to destroy the

sinner other than complete separation is to suggest that creatures can survive

without God and that sin is harmless. This is a heresy as old as the Devil!

On the contrary God says:

"But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that

hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36

The Wrath of God -The Second Death Part 1

Our God, YAHWEH or JEHOVAH, has made it abundantly clear that He is

the One and only true God and His way is the only way of perfect life. The

Godhead (The Father, His Son and their Holy Spirit) is infinite in power,

wisdom, righteousness, truth and Agapé love.

"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I

girded thee, though thou hast not known me." Isaiah 45:5.

For any being to be God that being must be absolutely eternal (beginningless

and endless), self-existent and completely independent of anyone or anything

for life.

Now remember, YAHWEH God tells us there are no other Gods, He knows

of none.

"Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time,

and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God

beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." Isaiah 44:8.

Satan claims that creatures can have their own way, in opposition to God's

way, and NOT die. In fact he claims that such persons will be as gods.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For

God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be

opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis

3:4,5.

Whoever claims to be a god must (ultimately) be able to maintain himself

and his government without outside aid, must be able to have his own way,

must be able to maintain his freedom to assert his godhood and to prove his

godhood.

Satan contends that each creature can have his own way, the way of self, and

it will work.

When the creature's self becomes a god, the attitude is to reject the true God.

Job 22:15-18 (Notice verse 17).

Sin is putting one's own way before God's way, it is putting self before God.

Sin is the transgression of God's law, of God's way, 1John 3:4; Isaiah 53:6; 2

Cor. 5:15.

God has a very simple foolproof way of dealing with those who claim to be

gods, those who want their own way. Yes, He has a very simple way of

testing any so-called better way than His way. All He has to do is to leave

the person alone to his/her own way, and if they continue to exist on their

own, then that person would have to be a real god with a right way, but if

the person and the person's way collapse to destruction it would prove after

all, that the person was only a creature who needed God and God's way for

survival.

Will God Slay the Wicked?

Objective Number Eleven

Whatever may be the mechanism of destruction before the end of the world,

the final destruction will be personally inflicted by a direct act of God

because the Bible says that fire will come down from God out of heaven and

burn up Satan, his angels and all unrepentant sinners.

Answer

The state ment in Revelation 20:9 reads

"and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

To conclude that this statement means a direct and personal act of God to

send fire from heaven, is to ignore correct principles of exegesis or analytical

interpretation.

The term "the fire of God fallen from heaven" is also found in Job 1:16 and

the mechanism by which God "sent" that fire from "heaven" was the removal

of His protective hedge and allowing the sin-perverted forces of nature to

breakout into a destructive holocaust. That fire was obviously a massive

storm of thunder and lightning which struck when God's restraint was

removed. In fact the Today's English Version translates it as "lightning"

Job 1:16 (TEV).

Now what about the final fires of Revelation. 20:9?

When the final fires "come down from God out of heaven" at the end of the

millennial 1000-year reign, God will be in the Holy City New Jerusalem on

earth. And no fire will come out of the Holy City. As a matter of fact the

Holy City with the Godhead, the angels and all the saints will be untouched

by the fire and will neither be the source nor the victim of the fiery

destruction!

According to Peter and Ezekiel the fire will have three (3) sources. Fire from

the skies (called heaven); fire from within the earth; and fire from within

Satan.

Not only will God's protection and restraint be withdrawn, His life sustaining

grace will also be withdrawn.

That will be the ultimate and total separation from God which sin, whenever

it is finished, causes and it will produce the irreversible destruction of sinners

in the second death.

"Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,

perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same

word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment

and perdition of ungodly men... But the day of the Lord will come as

a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a

great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth

also and the works th at are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then

that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons

ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." 2Peter

3:6,7,10,11

"Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine

iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a

fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee

to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."

Ezekiel 28:18

"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when

it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the

proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day

that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall

leave them neither root nor branch." Malachi 4:1

There are other passages in the Bible which describe the final destruction.

"Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be

desolate." Psalm 34:21

"And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them

off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them

off." Psalm 94:23

"But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that

hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36

(See also chapter 21).

By rejecting the righteousness of God in Christ, the unsaved will cut

themselves off from God Who is the only Source of Life.

(Dr. Elliot Douglin)

Wonderful Truths

 The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the [BEGIN P.36] destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who yield to his control. {GC 35.3}

We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy.

 Would that I could make plain to your beclouded senses, my brethren, the great peril you are in. Every action, good or bad, prepares the way for its repetition. How was it in the case of Pharaoh? The statement in Holy Writ is that God hardened his heart, and at every repetition of light in the manifestation of God's power the statement is repeated. Every time he refused to submit to God's will his heart became harder and less impressible by the Spirit of God. He sowed the seed of obstinacy, and God left it to vegetate. He might have prevented it by a miracle, but that was not His plan. He allowed it to grow and produce a harvest of its own kind, thus, proving the truthfulness of the scripture: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." When a man plants doubts, he will reap doubts. By rejecting the first light and every following ray, Pharaoh went from one degree of hardness of heart to another, until the cold, dead [BEGIN P.120] forms of the first-born only checked his unbelief and obstinacy for a moment. And then, determined not to yield to God's way, he continued his willful course until overwhelmed by the waters of the Red Sea. {5T 119.2}

This case is placed on record for our benefit. Just what took place in Pharaoh's heart will take place in every soul that neglects to cherish the light and walk promptly in its rays. God destroys no one. The sinner destroys himself by his own impenitence. When a person once neglects to heed the invitations, reproofs, and warnings of the Spirit of God, his conscience becomes seared, and the next time he is admonished, it will be more difficult to yield obedience than before. And thus with every repetition. Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved. {5T 120.1}

We want all to understand how the soul is destroyed. It is not that God sends out a decree that man shall not be saved. He does not throw a darkness before the eyes which cannot be penetrated. But man at first resists a motion of the Spirit of God, and, having once resisted, it is less difficult to do so the second time, less the third, and far less the fourth. Then comes the harvest to be reaped from the seed of unbelief and resistance. Oh what a harvest of sinful indulgences is preparing for the sickle! {5T 120.2}

God's Ways 2

These three are obvious alternatives, but there is another possibility

which is normally overlooked. Herein, the Lord recognizes

that He has failed to save them from taking the wrong turn,

and that therefore, the work calculated to save them from that is

now valueless. Because they have not yet tasted the bitter experience

of the consequences of their apostasy, they are not disposed

to come back. But they have not gone beyond the possibility of restoration.

So God, in His infinite love, will not abandon them and

thus cut off their opportunity to rectify their misdemeanors.

If no saving help is provided to draw them back from going into

the worst effects of their choice, then they would not survive

long enough to ever return to God. Therefore, the Lord works to

save them from those evil results both to make their sufferings

as mild as possible, and to extend the time in which they may

learn and repent. It is because this aspect of God's working has

not been understood that He has been so seriously misjudged in

the Old Testament.

God's Ways

When the Israelites took the sword, thus rejecting God's way

in favor of their own, the Lord was faced with several possible

courses.

Firstly, He could have simply abandoned them to their own devices.

This would have been perfectly just and righteous on His

part, though it would have been justice without mercy. The result

would have been the speedy disappearance of the household of Israel

from the face of the earth. Their enemies were multitudinous,

highly skilled, and well equipped in the business of war. Satan desired

nothing so much as the extermination of Israel, and he

would have quickly seized upon the opportunity.

Secondly, God had the physical power to force the Israelites to

continue in His way, but He could not do this from the moral point

of view. He had given them, along with the remainder of humanity,

the freedom to choose. Therefore, under no circumstances,

would He attempt to insist on His way in preference to theirs. It

was for them to choose how it would be, and when they made that

choice, God could do nothing except respect it, which He did.

Thirdly, God could have simply ignored the sin, pretended that

it did not exist. To do this would be to condone it, and this God

cannot do.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD

It is a principle of faith that belief in God's words must be maintained

in the face of evidences which declare the contrary is true.

Thus in the Old Testament, God's actions seem to say that He did

use compelling power to achieve His righteous ends, that He did

resort to force to put down rebellion, and that He did make an example

of some by crushing them with terrible punishments that

were often fatal.

The choice of belief between the declarations of God and the appearances

of what God did in the human arena, is before every person.

The greater proportion choose to believe what they think they

see rather than what God has said. Therefore, the almost universal

belief is that God does use force, that He exterminates whole

nations who have utterly rejected Him, and that He relies on compelling

power to put down rebellion.

But the true child of God will believe what God said despite any

evidences which at least appear to be contrary. God said that He

does not use force or compelling power, so he believes that, even

though he cannot rightly understand what God really did in those

Old Testament incidents. He will simply admit to the challenger

of his faith that he does not yet understand just what God did, nor

does he have to necessarily. In the meantime, he will assure the

doubting questioner that he has the plain utterances of the Word

of God, so that he can be assured that, even though he cannot explain

it in detail, God does not do what He appears to do. 

This is the way faith works. It is based on the Word of God, not on appearances.

In due time such a faithful one will discover, under God's

wise tutelage, just what God actually did in each varied incident.

When he does, he will find that God did not once act contrary to

His principles, but only in perfect harmony with them.

Behold your God (F.T.Wright)

The Constitution of the Government of God As It Was Before the Entrance of Sin.

"Such a study is an essential introduction to understanding God's government as it

was after the entrance of rebellion. While such an investigation is

proceeding, continually keep in mind "that tradition and misinterpretation

have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the

character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles

of His dealing with sin." The Great Controversy, 492.

Every one of these traditions and misinterpretations of God have

been authored by Satan. This explains why, when Christ came to

the earth, the representation of God which He gave was totally opposite

from that given by Satan, as it is written, "He presented to

men that which was exactly contrary to the representations of the

enemy in regard to the character of God .. ." Fundamentals of

Christian Education, 177.

Therefore, if we find the truth on this question as that truth is

written in the Holy Scriptures, then we will find that which is exactly

contrary to what is generally believed. This means we would

enter into a set of wholly revised and reversed concepts of God's

government and character. At the same time, there would be the

continual pressure of traditionally held theories seeking to drag

the mind back to the old ways again—a pressure which must be

consciously resisted in order to arrive at the pure truth

The Wrath of God Part 4

To suggest that sinful creatures can survive when fully and ultimately 

separated from God or that God has to do something else to destroy the 

sinner other than complete separation is to suggest that creatures can survive 

without God and that sin is harmless.  This is a heresy as old as the Devil!

On the contrary God says:

"But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that 

hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36"O Lord, the hope of Israel,  all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, 

and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because 

they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." Jeremiah 

17:13

"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."

Hosea 13:9

Since God is without beginning or end, then His way must be the only 

absolute way of life; the only absolutely right way.  When creatures reject 

God's way they are rejecting God's righteousness and therefore rejecting life.  

God has made us free to choose and He will respect our choice.  Ultimately 

those who reject God will be left alone to the gods of their choosing –

"ownwayness" is death!

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but 

they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be 

carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and 

peace." Rom. 8:5,6

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that 

believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth 

on him." John 3:36

To reject God's righteousness in any area or detail of our lives is to tell God 

that we can handle that area of our lives without Him.  It is to tell Him to 

leave us alone in that area. It is to tell Him that we are gods in that area of 

our lives.  (James 2:8-12).  Full surrender to God's will is eternal life.  (John 

5:30).   To sow the wind will be to reap the whirlwind.  Hosea 8:7.

In mercy God pleads with us to change our minds, to accept all of His 

righteousness in Christ.  Since God's righteousness is a whole unit, to reject 

any small part is to eventually reject all.  James 2:10.  If we persist in having 

our own way God will eventually have to say "Ephraim is joined to His idols 

leave him alone ."  Hosea 4:17.

Any sin which we do not overcome will eventually overcome us and work 

our own ruin by separating us from God.  

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, 

that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the 

flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the 

Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for 

in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Galatians 6:7-9.

When men choose their own way, they place themselves in controversy with 

God.  They will have no place in the kingdom of heaven, for they are at war 

with the very principles of heaven.  In disregarding the will of God, they are 

placing themselves on the side of Satan, the enemy of God and man.  Not by 

one word, not by many words, but by every word that God has spoken, shall 

man live.  We cannot disregard one word, however trifling it may seem to us, and be safe.  

There is not a commandment of the law that is not for the good 

and happiness of man, both in this life and in the life to come.  In obedience 

to God's law, man is surrounded as with a hedge and kept from the evil.  He 

who breaks down this divinely erected barrier at any point has destroyed its 

power to protect him; for he has opened a way by which the enemy can enter 

to waste and ruin.

And remember, only in Christ is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in the 

believer's character through faith which works by love.

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor 

uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Galatians 5:6

"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk 

not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:4

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and 

his commandments are not grievous." 1John 5:3

The Wrath Of God; Part 3 - Absolute Principles

Our God, YAHWEH or JEHOVAH, has made it abundantly clear that He is 

the One and only true God and His way is the only way of perfect life.  The 

Godhead (The Father, His Son and their Holy Spirit) is infinite in power, 

wisdom, righteousness, truth and Agapé love.

"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I 

girded thee, though thou hast not known me." Isaiah 45:5.

For any being to be God that being must be absolutely eternal (beginningless 

and endless), self-existent and completely independent of anyone or anything 

for life.

Now remember, YAHWEH God tells us there are no other Gods, He knows 

of none.

"Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, 

and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God 

beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." Isaiah 44:8.

Satan claims that creatures can have their own way, in opposition to God's 

way, and NOT die.  In fact he claims that such persons will be as gods.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For 

God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be 

opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  Genesis 

3:4,5.

Whoever claims to be a god must (ultimately) be able to maintain himself 

and his government without outside aid, must be able to have his own way, 

must be able to maintain his freedom to assert his godhood and to prove his 

godhood.

Satan contends that each creature can have his own way, the way of self, and 

it will work.

When the creature's self becomes a god, the attitude is to reject the true God. 

Job 22:15-18 (Notice verse 17).

Sin is putting one's own way before God's way, it is putting self before God.  

Sin is the transgression of God's law, of God's way, 1John 3:4; Isaiah 53:6; 2 

Cor. 5:15.

God has a very simple foolproof way of dealing with those who claim to be 

gods, those who want their own way.  Yes, He has a very simple way of 

testing any so-called better way than His way.  All He has to do is to leave 

the person  alone to his/her  own way, and if they continue to exist on their 

own, then that person would have to be a  real god with a  right way, but if 

the person and the  person's way collapse to destruction it would prove after 

all, that the person was only a creature who needed God and God's way for 

survival.

Since finite creatures are absolutely dependent on the Infinite Creator for 

existence, then the Infinite Creator would have to do  everything necessary

to maintain the life and well-being of finite creatures.  If the Infinite Creator 

leaves His creatures alone they will perish; they must perish.

To think that God must use some other method than withdrawal to get rid of

sin is to insult His power, wisdom and love; it is because He is infinite and 

creatures are finite that His creatures need Him and cannot survive without 

Him.

So when people say that God must do something, other than withdraw, to get 

rid of Satan, sinners and sin, they are insulting God and showing their 

ignorance of the issues in the Great Conflict between right and wrong.

If God has to do anything at all to destroy the sinner other than leave the 

sinner alone then His power is less than infinite, He is less than God.  The 

proof that  He is God, and  no one else, is that just by His doing nothing 

everything else would perish! 

"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the 

earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall 

perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a 

garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be 

changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

Hebrews 1:10-12

"Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the  earth: and the heavens 

are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: 

yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou 

change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and 

thy years shall have no end." Psalm 102:25-27.

The proof of the Infinite God is that He has to do everything to keep finite 

creatures alive.  If God should do nothing, i.e. withdraw his maintaining, 

upholding power,  creatures will perish, Col. 1:17.  Since all things hold 

together in Him when He lets go things fall apart. (Psalm 121)