1,000 Years of Outer Darkness

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by byHismercy

Hi saints, I have not further studied Timothy or Revelation, but when I went to bed the other night, this is the word the Lord gave me. John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say to you, He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION; but is passed from death to life.

The condemnation here is God´s judgment on sinners that never believed on Him. Once we believe we are saved from that condemnation. But once saved, God desires that we live a life that is well pleasing to Him. Matthew 25:1-30 uses 2 different parables about how believers should live once we are saved, loving Him and serving Him. I encourage you to study these in detail. All 10 virgins are expecting to meet the Bridegroom, but 5 are foolish and 5 are wise. The slaves are entrusted to serve the Master, some serve faithfully, but one is lazy and does not.

They are clearly saved believers, but each get a reward or discipline accordingly: the foolish virgins miss the wedding feast and are not recognized by the Lord, and the lazy slave is called evil by the Lord and is punished into outer darkness. But look at the reward for being ready and faithful "....the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet", and "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!".

By His grace and mercy, we can choose to love Him, pursue Him, gain Him, serve Him faithfully and be well pleasing to Him at His coming!

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by Raptor

The condemnation here is God´s judgment on sinners that never believed on Him. Once we believe we are saved from that condemnation. But once saved, God desires that we live a life that is well pleasing to Him. Matthew 25:1-30 uses 2 different parables about how believers should live once we are saved, loving Him and serving Him. I encourage you to study these in detail. All 10 virgins are expecting to meet the Bridegroom, but 5 are foolish and 5 are wise. The slaves are entrusted to serve the Master, some serve faithfully, but one is lazy and does not.

They are clearly saved believers, but each get a reward or discipline accordingly: the foolish virgins miss the wedding feast and are not recognized by the Lord, and the lazy slave is called evil by the Lord and is punished into outer darkness. But look at the reward for being ready and faithful "....the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet", and "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!".

By His grace and mercy, we can choose to love Him, pursue Him, gain Him, serve Him faithfully and be well pleasing to Him at His coming!

In going through the first several books of the Old Testament, I'm struck by how severely the Lord held people accountable! So we shouldn't be too surprised that there is some level of accountability in the New Covenant too. God is love AND light. Praise the Lord that we are in a covenant of GRACE! But again, we need to be aware that there are cautions and warnings and admonitions in the NT to not get distracted or turn aside or fall in the practice of gross sin, etc. The encouragement in Hebrews is to look away to Him and be diligent to enter into His rest - all that He has done for us and all that he is in us! (But remember. . . the children of Israel were not allowed to enter because they didn't trust Him.)

Bottom-line to me is to be "faithful in a few things" as the Lord told the faithful servants in Matt 25 (and the "snapshots" of faith of those listed in Hebrews 11), then we'll hear, "Well done good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of the Lord!"