Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Little Season (3) - Fire from Heaven

The devil will succeed in building support, but he will not achieve his objective.

But fire came down from heaven and devoured them (Rev 20:9).
This fire from heaven is not literal. The event that follows the fire is the last judgment, so it must be a reference to the appearance of Jesus (Rev 20:11-15). This is confirmed in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels, he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thes 1:7-8).
The blazing fire is the second coming.
Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming/parousia (2 Thes 2:9).
The Man of Lawlessness and his followers will be destroyed by the splendour of Jesus appearance.

Judgment usually comes to produce repentance, but this time there is no hope of repentance, because the fate of every person on earth will be sealed. Each one will go to the last judgment and receive the consequences of his choices. The work of redemption will be complete and the Book of Life will be closed, forever. We should not speak of the appearance of Jesus lightly, as the fate of many people will be sealed with a certainty that is equalled only be death.

Jesus appearance marks the end of the Little Season and the end of history.

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