To deny that the bible teaches that at one point EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord, denies a very clear and basic teaching of scripture. It is not the evil “Universalism” in that all are “saved”, but the acknowledgment that all will stand in judgement in Heaven before God at the Resurrection. (Isaiah 45: 23-25; Romans 14:11)
All will “universally” be raised and judged, Muslim or Christian, male and female, slave and free… for there are none of these in “heaven” as all mankind has been found unrighteous… we are all wrong and only Jesus is right and our identity, be it male/female/slave/free/christian/Muslim/Hindi/Fundy/conservative/emergent/ODM or whatever matters nothing when we stand before Jesus. All that matters is what He did in and through us and we receive the reward of eternal life because He knew us. Otherwise we stand before Him with nothing but our own words to condemn us and we will be tossed into the eternal Lake of Fire and experience the second death. (Revelation 20)
The ones that have already been raised to Life in the “first resurrection” are those who were martyred. They received the “better resurrection” as stated in Hebrews 11. (Revelation 20 and Hebrew 11:35)
God will judge all of mankind equally regardless to our own view of our self. And at that time if a Muslim speaks “Christ” then his name is in the book of Life, if they do not speak “Christ” then they are tossed into Lake of Fire.
If a Christian speaks “Christ” then he will receive eternal life in the New Creation, if the Christian speaks of his own righteousness, it is the Lake of Fire.
I see this as pretty simple… I do not see why it is so complicated.
There is one caveat; I am not saying that all that bow and confess are saved, it is in the confess of where one's righteousness comes is where our salvation comes.
Blessings,
iggy
iggy
2 comments:
"If a Christian speaks “Christ” then he will receive eternal life in the New Creation, if the Christian speaks of his own righteousness, it is the Lake of Fire".
You sounded pretty orthodox until you got to this point. You disagree with Pagitt, who says we will all (regardless of confession of Christ) be reconciled and restored on that last day, which is good. However, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, but that does not mean salvation for all who bow. If we bow our knee before death, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and identified as sons- we don't confess anything on that day of judgement, for we will not be judged. We are already declared not guilty here on earth and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
John,
If you actually comprehended what Doug does believe, then you might be able to say whether I agree or disagree with him... since you do not, I see that you ahve no grounds for such a statement.
Now, I sounded 'pretty orthodox' until this point...
"If a Christian speaks “Christ” then he will receive eternal life in the New Creation, if the Christian speaks of his own righteousness, it is the Lake of Fire".
If your theology is about YOU and YOUR beliefs then I understand why you are confused. If it is about Jesus, then I see that you are missing that it is not in what we call ourselves but in that we speak of what Christ Jesus did in and through us. If we confess our own righteousness, we them are saying we are without sin and do not need Jesus. I guess, then, if i am only 'pretty orthodox' in that then I am confused as to what you consider 'orthodox'... more I think you are confused as to what 'orthodox' is.
If you read Hebrews it states that the "Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection." (Hebrews 11) So there is the understanding that ones martyred are to receive the reward of the first resurrection... to the one you speak of. They do not need "bow" as they are to "judge" with Christ... or witness to the words of the ones judged and stand there as proof of the works of Christ Jesus in and through them.
These are the ones spoken of in Revelation 20 as the.
"4. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection."
These are not the same ones as the ones at the GWT judgment who are judged by their own words...
Now by your statement:
"If we bow our knee before death, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and identified as sons- we don't confess anything on that day of judgement, for we will not be judged. We are already declared not guilty here on earth and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
You miss that there are some that go to the Lake of Fire and some that are written in the Lamb's book of Life... that go on to chapter 21 and receive the New Heaven and New Earth.
There is no condemnation for the first resurrected, and the for those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
I see that there is where you are confusing two different things and thus your understanding of the Resurrection is based on the "traditions of men" and not the Bible.
iggy
Post a Comment