The lake of fire

[Willie T]

I think we as humans are curious.The unknown is scary.Many want to speculate and put Scripture into their own human thinking.God is much bigger than that and what our human mind can fathom.We as Christians should not even want to wrap our minds around hades or hell.Why?We are not going there.As for those who are it is a tragedy.It is heart breaking but they are in God's hands.

Totally! I even have some friends that are almost morbidly focused upon end-times expectations and the rapture. I keep trying to get them to put all that stuff out of their minds, and live (and act) like they will have a hundred more years right here on Earth to do God's will and forward the Kingdom of God.

 

[agua.]

Absolutely. You see, gates are to keep the enemy out... Gates kept a city safe from those trying to siege it. Hades was the realm of the dead, and nothing was going to keep Jesus out. You do know Jesus preached to those in prison after his Crucifixion... This agrees with the Jewish idea of Gehenna were a good Rabbi can snatch bodies out and take them to paradise...and we can snatch those out of the fire because nothing can stop us from spreading the gospel.

In this instance the gates are seen to be holding people captive. ie. the enemy is death. Jesus was showing how these gates ( Hades/death ) would not hinder the building of His Church because of the resurrection. Basically physical death won't stop the development of the Church for a couple of reasons. 1. Jesus was resurrected 2. Believers will also be resurrected 3. Death will be destroyed ( ie. there will be no more death aka gates of Hades ) 4. Oh yeah I agree with you that Hades will also not hold captive those who respond to the Gospel.

 

[ezrider]

Just a thought: In the book of Deuteronomy God is called a consuming Fire (Deut 4:24), and we also know the that voice of God was heard from heaven through the fire. The lake of fire in the book of Revelation is associated with the second death, and the second death is the final Judgement. The scripture also tells us that they who are in Christ shall not be hurt of the second death, and that those who have part in the first resurrection, the second death hath no power. The scripture also tells us that those who are not in Christ, the son judges not, but the Judgement returns to the Father. So those whom it is said have prophesied in his name, and cast out demons in his name, and have done all of these wonderful works in his name, but in that day Jesus will say to them depart from me for I never knew you. They have not taken part in the first resurrection, so they face the second death. They face the lake of Fire. They face the Judgement seat of the Father, for God is a consuming fire. So ultimately when they go into the lake of fire, they are going back to God who created them.

Ex 3:2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Ex 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire:and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Ex 24:16-17 And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days:and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

 

[King Names]

I learned hell is where people inner consume from all natural wastes contributed by Man, God, Devil, Archangel, and 'who wasn't found written in the book of life' bodies.