"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7 KJV)
"And I saw a great white throne and one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11-15 NLT)
As we start wrapping up this Book, there are some very important things to be addressed about what we discovered in all of these passages, from start to finish. The main point in this, from whatever angle you might be looking at, is that God is merciful to those who desire mercy! As simple as that might appear to be, it requires the understanding of who God is and why we need mercy!
Several of the larger cults in the world have taken hell out of the story, as to try to convince people that it really doesn't exist, as if you just disappear or sink into eternal sleep; if that is, you have not been given eternal life. Well, if you think that is the case, you will end up being awakened by a very horrific truth, one that you most likely never expected, but somehow always have known about: Hell is Real!
As I have tried to express in several places during this journey, Solomon has written this book for those who don't truly believe; as well as those who might believe but refuse to allow God to rule and reign in their lives. As Zodhiates says, "This is a book for the secular humanist to read, because it shows how utterly meaningless and unjust life is in a closed system where God does not play an effective part. The author's solution is that happiness is found only when we revere God as the center of our lives."
Within this same condition, we have those who are, so called, believers, (those who say that they actually do believe in God,) who do not live as though they will one day answer to God, the One who will judge them on the great day of Judgment! As we should expect, everyone will be judged on that day, as the Book says, every book was open, including the Book of Life.
What that actually means, is the Book of Life is there to show that you name is either written in it or not written in it; if it is not, you are judged in the other open books; but if it is, you are not judged by anything that might show up in any other book...
"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:8-11 NLT)
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