Daniel 12:2 “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
I find it interesting how an eternal existence in the Lake of Fire will be an existence of continual contempt. Being under contempt is to remain in a state of being despised, dishonored or disgraced. Imagine how difficult it would be to have God view you in this manner. What could possibly lead the One who loves unconditionally, the Creator of each life, come to a position of despising someone forever?
The magnitude of rejecting God’s love as expressed through His Son is much bigger than we could ever imagine.
We cannot fully understand the measure of God’s love and grace shown to us. We cannot understand it because we cannot comprehend the measure of His power, the magnitude of His glory, the prominence of His position, or the radiance of His love. We have clues as to who Jesus was before He came in the flesh and what it meant for Him to step out of His throne room of unapproachable light into a position of ridicule, scorn, and suffering, but we cannot grasp the fullness of Him.
Hebrews 1:1-5 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
Jesus is far more than what many have portrayed Him to be. The accusations against Jesus have been the totality of man’s failure to see and understand God’s splendor. When He walked the earth as a man He was accused of being a pawn of Satan, out of His mind, a friend of sinners, a fool, and a lawbreaker against God’s standard of righteousness. He has been labeled a lesser prophet, a good teacher, a wise sage, an angel in disguise, or the product of incest. The creativity of Satan gives a model for how to give people a menagerie of options yet leave them with any manner of ways of relating to Jesus apart from recognizing Him as Lord and Savior of all.
Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus will be exalted—Every knee will bow, every haughty, rebellious person who has ever lived will have to bow before His authority, they will recognize and see the measure of His glory.
In like manner, every faithful follower will bow down in loving devotion to the One who saved their souls. For one people the devouring fire of God will be to their destruction, for the other it will represent the purity of God’s love they’ve known all along.
Exodus 24:17 “Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”
This is a description of God’s glory. A fire so great that it consumes a mountain, holds back an army, and devours the sacrifice. The fires of Hell are consuming fires, looking to refine even when nothing good remains. What can we have to give to Christ that is of any value? Corrupt bodies are only good for the fire, lives given in devotion are the sacrifices of a people who recognize greatness.
When Jesus enters into a life submitted to Him, He imparts His goodness to them. He makes people good. He creates holy people, sanctified by His body and His blood, able to live the life He has prepared for them.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
This is the miracle of regeneration, how God in all His holiness is able to transform a destitute and sinful people into the image of His glory.
How important it is that His people continue to be transformed, day by day, until we reach the fullness of our position in Christ….the hope of glory.
Psalm 97:1-6 “The Lord reigns;
Let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of isles be glad!
Clouds and darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
A fire goes before Him,
And burns up His enemies roundabout.
His lightnings light the world;
The earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples see His glory.”
The glory of God is revealed in the Son. When someone rejects Him, they reject all that He is, all that He has done, and all that He will ever do. When a contemptuous person is condemned to an eternity in Hell, they receive the measure of their rebellion, pride, and haughtiness before the Lord of all glory. The sin of the unrepentant calls out for justice. The offenses against God are patiently waiting for the judgement that is to come and the reality that God will be glorified once again.
As believers, we must press on to maturity, revealing to a world in darkness that Christ is all in all. The world will blaspheme His name, His people must glorify Him. The world will continue to strive to discredit His worth, His people must live worthy of His call.
There are two different camps, those who live unto Christ and those who have rejected Him…decide which camp your in, stop trying to keep one foot in each, it just doesn’t work. One day, the Lord will recognize His people for their faithfulness and the reward will be great, for the rest the reward of rebellion will be everlasting disgrace.
The decision as to which camp to pursue seems clear.
U.T. 