Judgement: 4 Incorrect Views on Judgement
By Mark Farquharson
Unbelievers Punished When they Die, Before the Judgement?
Some people teach incorrectly, that people will get punished before the Great White Throne Judgement. They teach that when an unbeliever dies he goes to hell, a place that does not even exist. No unbeliever or believer will get punished in hell before the judgement or after the judgement. Those who are physically dead, can not get punished while they are physically dead, it is impossible. At death the spirit of the unbeliever goes to the same place as the spirit of the believer. At death the spirit returns to God. The body is usually burnt or decomposes in the ground. The person can not do anything when they are dead, and they certainly can not get punished. Before the unbeliever can be Judged, the unbeliever has to be resurrected from the dead.
For more on death refer: What is Death
After Judgement are Unbelievers & the Unfaithful annihilated or do they go to hell?
It is commonly taught that after the judgement unbelievers and the unfaithful will go to hell. Some teach incorrectly that unbelievers will be annihilated, that is they will be completely destroyed, after the judgement.
Annihilation is incorrect because at the Great White Throne Judgement those who don’t get into the kingdom go into the lake of fire. The Lake of Fire is not a place where the unbeliever is annihilated.
Revelation 22:14 Happy are those who are rinsing their robes, that it will be their license to the log of life, and they may be entering the portals into the city. 15 Outside are curs, and enchanters, and paramours, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone fabricating and fondling falsehood. {CLV}
In Revelation 22:15 those who did not make it into the city, the New Jerusalem, are outside. That is they still exist outside the Kingdom. This means after the judgement those who do not make it into the Kingdom continue to exist, they have not been annihilated.
The Hebrew “Sheol,” and the Greek words “Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna” have all been translated as the word “Hell” in the King James version of the bible and other versions. Some bibles do not translated these words. Hades {Greek}, and Sheol {Hebrew} both mean the unseen. This is where the soul, your sensations, goes, not the spirit, because when someone dies the soul does not exist, thus it is unseen.
Tartarus is a jail where some sinning angels were sent {2 Peter 2:4-5 & 1 Peter 3:18-20}. It is not a place for humans. Gehenna is the Lake of Fire, which is not hell.
Unbelievers don’t go to hell either, the place they go is the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is NOT hell. The commonly taught hell does not exist, God did not create it. They can not go to a place that does not exist. No one will be left in hell, since no one will be going there, it does not exist. Nether will anyone be left forever in the Lake of Fire. While people do go to the Lake of fire it is NOT forever, it is for a period time.
No unbeliever will get physically burnt in hell or in the lake of fire. It seems that in other places in the bible people can believe the fire could be spiritual, but when it comes to the lake of fire, it has to be physical fire that burns the body. Earlier in this article the point was covered that believers are test by fire, however when it comes to unbelievers, people want the fire to be physical fire that burns the body. There is no point in bring someone back from the dead, and burning there body continually, unless you are an evil torturer. Hell is an incorrect translation of four words, none of which mean this hell that is commonly taught.
For more on hell refer: What is Death
Eonian Life
A number of translations incorrectly translate Hebrew and Greek words.
John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. KJV
John 6:47 Verily, verily, I am saying to you that he who is believing in Me has life eonian." CLV
Luke 18:29-30 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. KJV
Luke 18:29-30 Now He said to them, "Verily, I am saying to you that there is no one who leaves house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children on account of the kingdom of God, who may not by all means be getting back manyfold in this era, and in the coming eon, life eonian." CLV
In the King James version, the word “everlasting” is incorrectly translated, it is actually correct in the Concordant Literal, where the word is “eonian.” That is those who believe in Christ have life eonian, meaning they have life in the eon to come, they will be resurrect and join those who are still alive when Christ returns. The rest of the dead stay dead until the resurrection of the rest of the dead. This advantage that believers get over unbelievers is life eonian, it is not everlasting life. This advantage will come to an end.
Some point out that the punishment can not be only for a period of time, but must be for eternity or must be everlasting because believes are a live for eternity. The advantage that believers have must be everlasting life, for believers live longer than one eon, they live forever.
Believers do live forever, for they will gain immortality, at the return of Christ. Thus they will be alive for the coming eon and beyond, they will never die. Just because it states life eonian, or for the eon, it does not mean that at the end of that eon there is nothing or that they cease to exist. It is something that last for the eon. Life eonian is an advantage that believers gain over unbelievers, the advantage is NOT everlasting.
The Judgement at the throne and in the Lake of Fire, is ultimately for the persons salvation, NOT for their damnation.
Once the people experiencing the Lake of Fire have finished their time they get to be part of the nations on the New Earth. These multitude of people among the nations have already gone through the Lake Of Fire, but they are not in the Kingdom. Over time they will became part of the Kingdom and gain immortality.
The End of Death
The Lake of Fire is known as the Second Death {Revelation 20:14}.
1Corinthians 15:25-26 For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy is being abolished: death. {CLV}
It is called the second death, because there are two kinds of death, the first one is physical and will have come to an end at the time of the judgement. The second kind of death is spiritual. Those in the Lake of fire are consider to be dead.
Death is being abolished, that means death will end, all forms of death will end. This means the second death comes to an end, like the first death will come to an end. When the second death is finally abolished all mankind will no longer be considered dead, for they will all be alive.
Isaiah 25:8 He swallows up death permanently. {CLV}
Death will end permanently, it will not return. Death will be swallowed up permanently for all time.
Unbelievers Condemned?
Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, "Go into all the world; herald the evangel to the entire creation." He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, yet he who disbelieves shall be condemned {katakrino}." {CLV}
That does not mean they are condemned forever or sentenced to hell or annihilated.
Condemned coming form the Greek word Katakrino. This word comes from two other Greek words, kata which means down, and krino which means judged. Which means katakrino means down judge. This then is adverse judgement against those who disbelieve. It does not mean never ending punishment in hell or annihilation.
Loads of people get sentenced to prison for crimes, but after they have done their time they get out. Instead of having favourable judgements where they get prizes for their crimes, they get condemn to prison, for a time.
Those who are condemned at the judgement go to the Lake of Fire for a time, instead of getting into the Kingdom of the Heavens, but after they have done their time they get out. If you remember believers are Judged at the same time and receive favourable judgement, getting into the kingdom. What is ever more amazing is that the people experiencing the Lake of Fire will get into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Fear The One that Can Destroy the Soul
Surely this verse shows unbelievers are destroyed, annihilated.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who are killing the body, yet are not able to kill the soul. Yet be fearing Him, rather, Who is able to destroy the soul as well as the body in Gehenna." {CLV}
There are many different views as to who Jesus was actually meaning. Many think that soul and spirit are the same thing. A person has a body, a soul and a spirit. The soul is made of the persons mind, emotions and will. The thoughts of the person including their beliefs, desires, and loyalties. This also includes the person’s beliefs, aspirations, passions and enjoyments.
Some people think Jesus was talking about satan destroying the spirit in hell. Jesus was not actually talking about satan and He was not talking about the spirit, but the soul.
Some translations have incorrectly use the word hell in this verse. The word hell in this verse is actually translated from the Greek word “gehenna” which was the city dump. He was talking about the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem in the first century A.D. There soul would be destroyed in gehenna, that is their aspirations and beliefs would be destroyed when they died and the city was destroyed. And He was actually talking about God, for God has the authority. The soul is no more, that is what happens to you soul when you die, it is no more. The unseen is not a place, it just means that you soul is unseen because you do not exist any more. You get a new soul when you are resurrected. It is only the spirit that survives death.
God is Love
It should be remembered that God is Love {1John 4:16}, he is not an evil torturer. He loves all that he has created, this includes unbelievers and evil spirits. Just because someone is an unbeliever it does not mean he does not love them, or that he loves them less than someone who is a believer. God’s love is the same for the believer and for the unbeliever, it does not change or go away, because someone is an unbeliever. God is the father of everybody and he wants the best for them.
God’s Plan
It is also important to remember God has a plan. This plan does not involve the destruction or never ending punishment of most of the human race. It involves the salvation of the whole human race. That is the plan involves saving all mankind, this includes unbelievers. All unbelievers will be saved, which means the end of the unbeliever can not be annihilation or never ending punishment in hell.
God’s plan involves reconciling all to Christ and conciliating all to Himself. This All, is the entire compliment, that is all that is in the heavens and on the earth, including all the visible, and all the invisible {Colossians 1:15-20}. The visible being all mankind, and all the animals, the invisible being all the spiritual beings, the demons and Satan. At the consummation God is All in All {1 Corinthians 15:21-28}. The part of the plan for mankind, involves four eons, in each eon Mankind moves closer to God.
For God to accomplish his plan, unbelievers must live on, and go to a different place other than hell. The unbeliever will not stay in this place forever, because if that happened, the unbeliever would not be saved. If they are saved, then it follows that they become a believer. Thus after spending some time in this place the unbeliever becomes a believer and gets out, move into the Kingdom of the Heavens. This place is called the Lake of Fire, it is not called hell.
Romans 8:20-22 For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation" that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God." For we are aware that the entire creation is groaning and travailing together until now. {CLV}
No one asked, no one volunteered to be subjected to the slavery of corruption. It was not by a choice that anyone made that they where subjected to the slavery of corruption. God subject the whole world to the slavery of corruption. He made the decision for everybody. All that has been created will be freed, from the slavery of corruption. All mankind has been subjected, and all mankind will be freed from this slavery.
It was part of God’s plan all along to subject the whole world to corruption. Satan did not do something that was beyond the control of God. It was God who subjected the world, not Satan.
All Mankind Saved:
1 Timothy 1:15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, {CLV}
1 Timothy 2:4 our Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. {CLV}
1 Timothy 4:9-11 Faithful is the saying and worthy of all welcome (for this are we toiling and being reproached), that we rely on the living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers. These things be charging and teaching. {CLV}
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since, in fact, through a man came death, through a Man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead." For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified." {CLV}
That is all mankind shall be vivified.
1 John 4:14 And we have gazed upon Him, and are testifying that the Father has dispatched the Son, the Saviour of the world." {CLV}
Jesus Christ is the Son, the saviour of all mankind. This is the truth, all mankind will be saved. This supported by numerous passages in the bible. This means no one is annihilated and no one goes to hell. Both these contradict the passages that teach that all mankind is saved.
Refer to my article: All Mankind Saved
The Blood of Christ Reconciles All to Christ
Colossians 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens." {CLV}
All is being reconciled to Jesus Christ, this includes all in the heavens, and all on the earth. All that is in the heavens includes Satan and his demons, these are being reconcile to Christ. Those on the earth include all mankind and all animals. He, Jesus Christ is making peace through the blood of His cross. This process does not stop at the Judgement, it continues on until every creature is reconcile to Christ.
Predestination
It is important to remember that God is in control. He has already decided who will be a believer and who will not be a believer. Thus it is not up to people to choose God or not chose God. God has already predetermined who will get into the kingdom and who will not get into the kingdom. You should not get endlessly punished or annihilated for something that was beyond your control. The ones who are predestine will be used to bring salvation to the rest of mankind in the eon that is to come.
For more refer to my article: Predestination
Copyright © Mark J Farquharson 2010-2011, 2021 & 2023
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