Eternal, consuming fire – The face of God!

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The “everlasting fire that consumes sinners and the wicked” is not a kindled fire, like a lit match, but rather the face of God himself. No wicked person can see God. His turning away from the sinner is therefore to be understood as an act of grace. At the end of all things, God’s “great turning” will come, and all who cannot resist will be ashes in the end.

The “eternal fire” is fundamentally different in nature

The “eternal fire” or the “consuming fire.” A phrase that could, if one wanted, refer to an “eternally burning hell.” This, however, would require only using this description for argumentation and ignoring the large “rest” of the gospel. For the “eternal” is neither eternal, nor is the “consuming” for all time, nor is the fire what one presumes it is.

The term “hell,” which is used in the Bible, does not mean what it is commonly believed to mean or what is preached from pulpits. One only needs to consult the original text of the Bible, i.e., Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, to recognize the true meaning. More on this – here.

Sinners cannot stand before God

Sin cannot exist in the presence of God. Specifically, sinful people cannot stand before God. Yet sinful man (still) exists. Why? Because God turns away from the sinner. God’s turning away is equal to His separation from living creatures, and without God, no life can exist. For only God has life within Himself and bestows it upon His creatures.

This circumstance also undermines the theory of an “immortal soul” in humans. Along with the widespread image of hell, immortality is another erroneous doctrine (Info).

Sinner lives (still) only through Jesus Christ

The final separation from the sinner has not yet occurred for one reason alone, and this reason is Jesus Christ. He stands between the Father (in heaven) and sinful man, as mediator and also as intercessor. Since His ascension, Jesus Christ has been our High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary and does exactly what the earthly High Priest (according to Aaron) previously did in the tabernacle or temple.

He took the sin or guilt offering offered by the sinner and brought some of the blood of the sacrificial animal into the sanctuary. For forgiveness of sins can only come through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). But the earthly priest was only a symbol of what Jesus Christ has long since done “in the original” for us sinful people and continues to do to this day.

That sin causes God to turn away is recorded in Isaiah 59:1-2:
“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.“

Fate is determined before Jesus’ return

Separation from God is thus a consequence of sin and would actually lead to immediate death if God’s mercy and grace had not already intervened at that point. Therefore, anyone who has already sinned is solely dependent on the grace of Jesus Christ and can do nothing, absolutely nothing, to regain the necessary righteousness. This would be another widespread false teaching, namely that righteousness must be earned through “good works.”

It is known that at the end of time, God’s judgment will come. However, this is not a determination of guilt or innocence, but rather an “executive judgment.” For whether a person is saved or perishes is already determined at the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:12:
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.“

At the Second Coming of Jesus, the redeemed will be resurrected, or those still living will be transformed in an instant with a glorified body and lifted up to meet Jesus Christ in heaven. The lost will remain in their graves, or those still living will perish during the seventh plague at the latest. It is therefore logical that the judgment of guilt and the dignity of the bestowed righteousness of Jesus Christ must have been concluded long before Jesus Christ appears.

The “Consuming Fire” – The Second Death

After the desolate, desolate, and devoid of all life (except Satan and his fallen angels) earth has lain dormant for 1,000 years, the Final Judgment will take place (Revelation 20). At this time, all lost humanity will be resurrected, deceived again by Satan, and ultimately completely destroyed. It’s over. This is the “Second Death,” irrevocable death, non-existence, Revelation 20:5-6:

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.“

Revelation 20:13-15:
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.“

God’s face is the “eternal, consuming fire”

The consuming fire, the lake of fire, the eternal fire. It’s as if it were a fire kindled, “ignited” by God. But in fact, these “fires” describe the face of God Himself! A fire that only the righteous, that is, the sinless life, can endure. Sin cannot exist before God’s face; it is extinguished, destroyed. In a figurative sense, it can also be described as God turning to sinners, and they will be consumed by His face. The “Consuming Fire.”

The people of ancient Israel, or rather, Judea, already knew this, for Isaiah described the sorrows of people who had become aware of their own sins in Isaiah 33:14:
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”
Apparently none of them, for in their sinful state they cannot possibly see the face of God.

Logical and consistent, therefore, is the removal of the adversary, who was once the “protecting cherub,” the highest of all angels, and who was in the immediate vicinity of God’s throne. He fell into sin and therefore could not stand before God. Ezekiel 28:16 tells us this.:
“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.“

The gospel was activated

The fact that God did not destroy the adversary immediately is a sure sign that the immediate removal and unauthorized destruction of Satan was, first, an act of grace, and second, that it was necessary to dispel the lies and doubts already spread by the adversary by proving His own righteousness. This is the core of the gospel itself. God wants to manifest His righteousness as proven (Info) and not simply “brush away when something doesn’t fit.”

For the gospel, once a mystery, then the “good news” of the opened possibility of salvation for humanity, was already established before the foundation stone of this world was laid. Revelation 10:7:
“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

Colossians 1:26:
“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:“

Eternal fire as God is eternal

Further clear statements that God’s face is the “consuming fire” are:

Exodus 24:17:
“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.”

Deuteronomy 4:24:
“For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

Hebrews 12:29:
“For our God is a consuming fire.“

The “consuming fire” will therefore always be, as eternal as God himself is eternal. The real question was, who can withstand this fire? It is not sinners, but the righteous, or those who have received the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Symbolized by “wearing the pure, white linen garment given by Him.” Revelation 19:7-8:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.“

Until they turned to ashes

But the “eternal fire” will not cause the wicked to burn forever. Eternity is found in the consequences, not in an “eternal process of burning.” The fire will consume them for a certain time, until they are reduced to ashes. This applies to the adversary as well as to all the wicked.

Ezekiel 28:18:
“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.”

Malachi 4:3:
“And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.“

Likewise, the old earth and heaven will be burned down before a new earth and a new heaven come (Revelation 21). Sin will thus be eliminated from the world, along with sinners and all impurity. Everything will be made new, as it once was in the Garden of Eden, before the first fall into sin.

Gentile Doctrine – Not Gospel

The “immortal soul” within an “eternally burning hell” simply does not exist. The immortal soul, the morality of the human heart, and being like God—that is pagan doctrine, based on the lies of the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Info).

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)

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