Issued: 12/09/20 Updated: 6/17/21 Revised: 11/09/2023

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: http://www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only and Most High God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

LAST JUDGMENT: WHEN AND WHERE

   Of all the signal events in the Bible, the Last Judgment is the hardest to place exactly.  If we go by Matthew 25:31-34, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King [Jesus himself] will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world,’” ¹ we are led to believe that the Last Judgment takes place following the Second Coming.

   Matthew follows this scenario:  Prior to the Second Coming, the cosmos vanishes (Isaiah 13:10, 51:6; Joel 2:10-11; Matthew 24:35; Revelation 6:13-14).  In the ensuing darkness, Jesus’ rainbow appears (Genesis 9:13; Habakkuk 3:8-13; Matthew 24:30; Revelation 10:1).  Heaven opens and Jesus comes down with his angels (Matthew 25:31; Luke 21:27; 2Thessalonians 1:7). In death all souls go back to Father in a state of unconsciousness (Ecclesiastes 12:7), their remains “asleep in the dust of the earth” (Daniel 12:2: Acts 2:29; 2Timothy 1:12).  Father sends those souls back with Jesus (1Thessalonians 4:14); a trumpet [shofar?] is sounded [as at the Jubilee, or Year of Release, the end of seven Sabbatical years (Leviticus 25:8-9 [shadow]; 1Corinthians 15:52); and at Jesus’ command, righteous souls are reunited with their bones and brought back to life (1Thessalonians 4:16)—the established resurrection pattern (Genesis 25:7,17, 35:18; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Luke 8:52; John 19:30; Revelation 11:11). All the righteous since Abel come back to life made immortal, and thus ‘flesh-ready’ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (1Corinthians 15:50,53; Revelation 20:6).  These events are followed by a second resurrection, that of all the unrighteous since Cain.  They too hear Jesus’ voice [probably a second call (John 5:28-29)] and rise but not as immortal flesh.

   Appearance is compulsory:  “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (Revelation 20:13).  As well as definite places, symbols are also implied here.  The “sea” is the world, where Leviathan/Satan “swims and plays” in (Psalm 104:26; Ezekiel 32:2, 5-6)—his realm of death.  The word ‘hell’ derives from Sheol/Hades concepts;² it is there that the fallen angels are imprisoned (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 9:1-11) but not the souls of the evil departed : There is certainly no hell as the one posited by Roman Catholic dogma. The then living unrighteous cannot escape:  “Though they dig down to the depths below, from there my hand will take them.  Though they climb up to the heavens above, from there I will bring them down.  Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them.  Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea there I will command the serpent [Satan? (Revelation 12:9↔Genesis 3:1)] to bite them” (Amos 9:2-3).  “The kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.  They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him [Father] Who sits on the throne  and from the wrath of the Lamb [the returning Jesus—two distinct and separate persons]!  For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15-17) 

 With Father presiding from Heaven (Psalm 22:29; Daniel 7:9-11; Romans 14:10-11; Revelation 20:11-12), thrones are set up on whatever earth has become at that time (Isaiah 13:13, 24:19, 33:4; Revelation 20:11): Jesus, as Judge, sitting on his and twelve ‘jurors’ on theirs (Matthew 19:28; 1Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 20:4).  Paul talks about “judging angels” (1Corinthians 6:3), so he is either speaking metaphorically (1Corinthians 2:15); or suggesting their deserved indictment on grounds of righteous vs. unrighteous behavior (Romans 12:20); or implying evil angels’ actual presence before Jesus’ tribunal.  Tempting though personal conjectures might be, there is no corresponding evidence in Scripture to fully elucidate Paul’s statement; and confirming testimonies, not conjectures, are what settle all Biblical issues.  We will not go there.

 But when focusing on Satan himself, Jesus stated that Satan had already been judged (John 16:11); and Satan’s demotion from his exalted position (Isaiah 22:15-25) as well as his prophesied downfall (Isaiah 14:8; Ezekiel 28:19) bear witness to Father having passed judgment on Satan before Judgment Day. So that Satan’s fall was in fact imprisonment on earth pursuant to that judgement (John 12:31, 14:30), to be followed by his execution at Armageddon (Revelation 20:10,14).³ We do know that during the Millennium of rest, Satan will endure his one-thousand-year punishment chained on a dead world crawling with maggots (Isaiah 14:11; Revelation 20:2-3).

 In terms of human beings, those found innocent are placed to Jesus’ right and the guilty to his left.  The proceedings over, Jesus’ angels gather the redeemed and lead them into Heaven.  The unrighteous fall dead; remain unburied upon the earth throughout the Millennium of rest (Isaiah 34:2-3: Jeremiah 25:33; Ezekiel 32:2-8); and are revived to be burned at Armageddon (Revelation 20:5-9).

 But there is a problem here: The reference to a second death in Revelation 20:6. For the sake of simplicity, let us take Cain as an example. If we accept the above scenario, Cain, already dead, is brought back to life at Jesus’ second coming; judged and then falls dead again. If he is then resurrected one more time before Armageddon to be destroyed forever (Revelation 20:5), then he and all the dead unrighteous previously brought back to life would have to undergo a third death. Not so the living unrighteous at the time of Jesus’ coming: They would be judged; then fall dead; and resurrected only once to face their second death.

 We need to account for two things.  If by “the rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5) Scripture is referencing Cain et al, then we are in business: They were never present at the Last Judgment and were revived after the Millennium of rest to face their second deaths. If this is so, then Matthew’s scenario only references mortals living at the time of Jesus’ return; those already dead, like Satan himself, must have been judged by their actions during their lifetimes. This is not a very satisfying answer, because one purpose in human tribunals is to publicly expose what victimizers did against their victims; which in the Last Judgment would have been far more effective since the victims would be facing their victimizers and the latter shamed before the whole of humanity.

 If this second scenario is the case, then Revelation 20:5 is telling us that those who died following the Last Judgment will be resurrected along with “the rest of the [previously] dead” to face their second death; therefore no confrontation between previous generations of righteous victims and unrighteous victimizers. It may be that during Armageddon, those victims watching their victimizers being burned before then will be satisfied that Father did them justice (Psalms 58:10-11); and as far as Father is concerned, that should be enough for them. Who are we to judge Father‘s ways?

LAST JUDGMENT:  ON JURY SELECTION 

 Twelve ‘thrones’ [i.e., twelve jurors] are set up, the number comprising most juries, though that quorum is left to the court’s discretion—in this case Jesus’, Father’s appointed Judge of all Flesh (John 5:22; Acts 17:31).  When Jesus says these jurors are to judge the “twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28), ethnicity is not meant but Judeo-Christian worthiness in accordance with Scripture’s ‘potentiality’ argument: All men are sinners because they were potentially present in Adam’s loins; Levi paid tithes because that tribe was potentially present in Abraham’s loins when paying Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils (Hebrews 7:4 9-10); and we are all ‘true Jews’ because Jews and Gentiles were potentially present in Abraham, prior to his circumcision, when his faith was counted for righteousness (Romans 4:10-12).

That faith is the sole criterion for ‘spiritual ethnicity’ (Genesis 15:5-6, 16:4-11; Romans 2:28-29, 4:9-12,16; Galatians 3:7).  Similarly, Revelation’s 144,000 first-fruits are not exclusively ethnic Jews because 12,000 are chosen from each of the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8): Non-Jews must be present in these numbers as well.  Where non-believers are concerned, there are no mitigating factors; in fact, they keep transgressing until their bitter end (Revelation 9:20, 16:9,11).  Those who never knew Father will be judged on the merits of their earthly conduct (Romans 2:12-16).

LAST JUDGMENT:  CORPUS JURIS

   Trials follow established sets of rules and regulations.  Decisions are based on established precedent, a corpus juris [body of the law] which is a compendium of all laws, cases and their varied interpretations.  Father’s corpus juris are the books that will be opened on Judgment Day, records of earthly deeds by which men will be judged (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 20:12); but let us not think that these deeds were written down in the course of history as men committed them.  Like everything else in Father’s plan, even Jesus’ sacrifice (1Peter 1:20), it was always foreknown who would and would not be saved (Romans 9:22-23).  How many books there are is unclear, but Scripture speaks of one Book of Life, listing the names/deeds of righteous people, and of “books” recording the names and deeds of the condemned (Revelation 20:12).  In Exodus 32:32, Moses asked that his name be stricken off the book Yahweh had written, [presumably, the Book of Life], confirming that book’s pre-existence.  In Psalm 69:28, David makes a new distinction among books:  “Let them [the unrighteous] be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written with the righteous,” which suggests a different book(s?) for the condemned (↔Daniel 7:10).  Revelation 3:5 further confirms David’s assessment of a “Book of Life.”

  This foreknowledge was misinterpreted and misconstrued by the theologian John Calvin in his erroneous and downright un-Christian concept of predestination.  Foreknowledge does not necessarily imply foreordainment, as Calvin thought; otherwise the concept of ‘free will/free choice’ to either accept or reject Father’s sovereignty would be meaningless.  It is that choice which condemns men:  the free choice to disobey, as Adam did (Genesis 2:17); as Saul did (1Samuel 15:22-23, 28:18); as Israel did and as we Christians are continuously doing (Romans 3:9-12).  Cain could have asked Abel for a lamb to offer to Yahweh Father; instead he chose to offer what he felt like and was rejected (Genesis 4:4).  In Calvin’s estimation, Cain had been ‘foreordained’ to kill his brother; but Yahweh Son proxy God [remember he was speaking to Cain] begged to differ:  “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7).  Cain had choices either to obey or not to kill.

   Cain was not predestined to kill Abel:  Out of envy, he choose to kill his brother; just as out of envy Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:4,11) and the Jewish priests betrayed Jesus (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10).  All that is required for evil to triumph is the human choice to be a vector for Satan.  Judas wished to betray Jesus for money (Mark 14:10-11); that free choice having been made, he was possessed by Satan (Luke 22:3) and was no longer master of his actions but slave to the latter’s will (Romans 6:16).  Thus given that evil can be overruled by individual/personal choice, a boon extended by Father to all men so that temptation no matter how powerful may be overcome and Satan thwarted (1Corinthians 10:13; James 4:7), Calvin’s ‘predestination’ discredits the impartiality and sense of justice Father prides Himself in (Deuteronomy 10:17; Romans 2:11).

   Neither can we stomach the concept of a ‘basket-case’ Deity unable to exert control between thoughts and deeds.  Once Father utters some command, it inevitably comes to pass:  “God is not man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change His mind.  Has he said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it”? (Numbers 23:19; Romans 11:29; Hebrews 6:13).  But to think about something is quite different.  In thinking about Creation, Father must have known that Lucifer would challenge His sovereignty, but that thought did not compel Lucifer to so act; otherwise he too would be blameless, “for who can make that straight which He has made crooked?”  (Ecclesiastes 7:13).  When Father talks about Satan, a distinction is made between how He conceived Satan to be (Ezekiel 29:12-14) and what Satan chose to become (Ezekiel 29:15-19).  Surely counted among the vessels slotted for destruction over whom He rules (Colossians 3:6; Ephesians 2:2), we can see too that Father made men upright but that men’s predilection for evil—as Lucifer’s—was a matter of personal choice (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

LAST JUDGMENT: HABEAS CORPORA

   In order for Satan to carry out his unholy agenda (Isaiah 14:20), he has needed human beings to do the legwork, bloody-minded leaders amongst the monarchies, tyrannies, democracies and religious institutions given him and ‘packed’ with his hand-picked cohorts (Luke 4:6).  Whatever suffering humanity has endured has been done with the help of these complicit enablers, abettors and supporters.  The most expendable commodity in this agenda has been human lives, perennially offered at the altars of national greatness, economic expediency, territorial expansions, scientific progress, and religious orthodoxy.   Wars and genocides could not have been committed without willing participants; nor pain inflicted without torturers; nor mass exterminations amongst animals [which, by the way, Solomon intimates do have souls (Ecclesiastes 3:21)] and plants without money-lusting, environmental despoilers.  Religious leaders have done no better:  Inquisitions; crusades; anti-Semitic rhetoric; and incalculable brutality against native populations deemed to be soulless animals.

   The paramount goal in trials is to see justice done.  Once the defendant’s guilt is established, sentencing ensues.  We know that the overarching, guiding rule on Judgment Day will be “an eye for an eye.”   Retribution is directly proportional to transgression:  As one sows, so shall he/she reap (Galatians 6:7).  The “an eye for an eye” rule was given to Moses in his capacity as judge over Israel: It was never intended, as men often interpret/employ it, as justification for self-revenge.  If Moses prefigured Jesus as Judge, then Jesus was the intended Magistrate to use it as his sentencing standard.  When he separates the blessed from the damned, he states reasons supporting his judgments.  You killed, you die by the sword [both literally and metaphorically (Matthew 26:52; 2Thessalonians 2:8; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 1:16)].  You worked, you receive; you did not, you are not entitled to anything (Matthew 25:35-36, 42-43; Romans 8:17; 2Thessalonians 3:10).  You did not feed the needy, do not expect mercy (Luke 16:25).  Wrapped up in these behaviors is acting faith (James 2:17) expressed in love for one’s neighbors:  the Golden Rule which reconciles men with Father.  By not caring for others at large beyond the confines of family and friends—which is no criterion for merit (Luke 6:32), one denies faith and negates love; without either, it is impossible to please God (Galatians 5:6; Hebrews 11:6).

   Surely victims deserve their day in court.  Confronting plaintiffs with defendants not only vindicates victims, but publicly shames their victimizers.  Hence the need to resurrect the unrighteous:  To reveal the depth and breadth of their evil deeds for all to see.  The greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that Father kept His promise of avenging all His beloved—always a personal priority with Him (Psalm 17:8-9, 58:10-11;  Zechariah 2:8-9).

LAST JUDGMENT:  ENIGMAS

   With all the attendant changes (?) to our world at the Second Coming, what venue is capable of holding everyone in attendance on Judgment Day?  If this is mind-boggling, think of Noah’s Ark holding seven pairs of clean plus one pair of unclean animals out of all air-breathing creatures on the planet crammed into a finite space (Genesis 7:2-3, 21-22)! Surely the God Who set physical laws in motion to govern His Creation can subvert them to suit His needs? But consider further  ‘divine versus normal’ dimensions. Creation’s measurements were delimited by the Creator’s hand (Psalm 95:4-5: Isaiah 40:12, 48:13); our planet is Father‘s footstool (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 7:49); the cosmos cannot contain Him (1Kings 8:27); the fourth angel pours the cup of wrath over our Sun (Revelation 16:8)—do any of these match our experience of reality?  Once again, intimations of some ‘world reconfiguration’ superseding the one we now perceive.

   In terms of duration, considering everyone to be judged, will this trial take place within the constraints of time as men experience it or from the perspective of Father for Whom time is meaningless? (Psalm 90:4; 2Peter 3:8; Exodus 15:8; Revelation 10:6).  Was He not in fact, living in timelessness when He created time in Genesis 1:5?  Will Judgment go by in a flash?  It certainly cannot last as long as the one thousand actual years of Satan’s punishment, which is substance to shadow of Genesis 2:2-3.  For now, unanswered questions.

THE MILLENNIUM AND ITS FOCUS ON SATAN

^“Blessed and holy is he that has part in the First Resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

Revelation 20:6

   At the start of the Millennium, Jesus and the redeemed have entered Heaven leaving a dead earth behind.  In Heaven, having “washed their clothes” during their lifetimes in the blood of the Lamb, the redeemed are then dressed in resplendent, white linen (Revelation 7:9, 13-14).  We have seen white clothes associated with Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount (Matthew 17:2); with divine beings (Daniel 7:9; Matthew 28:3; John 20:12; Revelation 19:14); and treated as things to strive for (Ecclesiastes 9:8; Revelation 3:18).  The martyred in Jesus under the Heavenly Altar are given white robes and told to sleep a while longer (Revelation 6:11).  Taken together with the bridal gown of the Lamb’s wife, Heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-10), these linens symbolize the righteous acts of Father’s people (Revelation 19:7-8), befitting apparel for priests and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6).  When Satan objected to Moses’ “filthy” clothes following that prophet’s assumption into Heaven, [after his death (Deuteronomy 34:5) but unrelated to the First Resurrection], they were exchanged for similar ceremonial/priestly robes (Zechariah 3:4; Jude 9).⁴

   Revelation 20:4 tells us that during this Millennium, the redeemed will live and reign with Jesus in Heaven.  This reigning is not to be confused—as it usually is—with that of Revelation 5:10, which will take place under “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2Peter 2:9, 3:13); in other words, after Satan and his minions have been destroyed at Armageddon and creation as we know it no longer exists.  The proof lies in Revelation 20:2-3, which makes it abundantly clear that Satan will be chained on earth during the Millennium; only after these one thousand years elapse will Satan be “freed for a short time.”   We will come back to this in our discussion of Armageddon.

    It is precisely because the redeemed are in Heaven that they can look down upon earth and see the chained Satan:  “I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings (↔Revelation 5:10) that they might gaze at you” (Ezekiel 28:17), “[and ponder]: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world a [desert] and destroyed its cities; who did not allow his prisoners to go free?’” (Isaiah 14:16-17).

Here we run again into the double-meanings of Scripture.  Isaiah is speaking about the King of Babylon, who is erroneously equated here with Nebuchadnezzar.⁵   When specific historical rulers are alluded to in Scripture, they are mentioned by name; when a symbolic identifier is used, Satan is being referenced.  For example, in pop culture, the Pharaoh in Exodus is thought to have been Rameses II [disputed by scholars], but Scripture does not identify him as such.  Ezekiel 29:3, however, does:  “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams.’”  The “great dragon” is Satan (Revelation 12:9); the “streams” he lies on “are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” (Revelation 17:15),⁶ all of which flow into the oceans, symbol for humanity, where the great dragon “swims and plays” (Psalm 104:26; Ezekiel 32:2, 6).

This imagery helps us cross-reference “Leviathan” as Satan, not Moby Dick, not Megalodon, not the Kraken, but the powerful, terrifying being that Job 41 calls the “king over all the children of pride” (Job 41:34)—obviously not sea-life.   In Amos 9:3 Father proclaims no unrighteous can escape His judgments; even “in the bottom of the sea… I will command the serpent [to] bite them”; and during the bonfire at the end of time, the melting land “will wholly rise up like the Nile, and sink down as the river of Egypt” (Amos 9:5)—alluding to that river’s annual inundations.

   If Satan is Exodus’ Pharaoh, or rather the power behind the man on the throne Moses was addressing, why not Isaiah’s King of Babylon?  Have not all the kingdoms of the world past and present been given to Satan (Luke 4:6)?  Is not Isaiah’s King of Babylon called “Lucifer,” and is not Isaiah 14:5-20 a dissertation on him?  Is not Ezekiel’s King of Tyre another symbol for Satan, “guardian cherub” who walked on the Garden of Eden and on God’s Holy Mount, “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty… perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you”? (Ezekiel 28: 12-16).  If Satan is the real power behind every government of earth, why not call him by the specific title that best identifies the highest ruler in all such governments?

   Adhering to the customary shadow/substance device of Scripture, the real Nebuchadnezzar went through a period of madness where he is portrayed as being “cast out from human society, [dwelling] with wild beasts… given grass to eat like an ox, and seven years [passing over him]” (Daniel 4:29).  Remembering that Father always announces His plans to men [His ways may be inscrutable but not His intentions (Amos 3:7)], Daniel 4:29 is the shadow part of prophecy, while Isaiah 14:4-5, 10-11, 15-20 is the substance; thus the mortal Nebuchadnezzar prefigures the supernatural King of Babylon.  To differentiate one from the other, while the mortal king’s punishment was to last seven years (Daniel 4:32), we know that Satan’s will last one thousand years (Revelation 20:2).

  So who are the “kings” that gaze upon Satan?  The redeemed.  “[The Lamb Jesus has] made us kings and priests to our God” (Revelation 5:10).  From Heaven the redeemed can look down [the cosmos then removed], and witness Satan’s imprisonment.  That the whole Judeo-Christian family is implied is obvious from Isaiah 14:1:  “For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. [Foreigners—i.e., Gentiles] will join…them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.”

   But unlike Nebuchadnezzar’s, Satan’s punishment is suited to his predilection for death.  His was an empire of death (Hebrews 2:14); he destroyed his realm, killed his people (Isaiah 14:20); so unlike his mortal minions either buried [those already dead before the First Resurrection] or rotting in the open air [following Judgment Day], he lies chained and unburied upon a bed of death, “like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain…[whose maggots are spread under him and crawl on him]” (Isaiah 14:11,19); a “bed” that had been described at length: “The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground” (Jeremiah 25:33); and, “I’ll cast you [Satan] into the desert [a lifeless earth], you and all the fish of your rivers [the unrighteous in Satan’s global empire]. You’ll fall on the open field. You won’t be brought together, nor gathered” (Ezekiel 29:5).

But more conclusively in Ezekiel 31:18:  “’To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? [Reference to angels in Eden:  Lucifer was the seal of perfection amongst them (Ezekiel 28:12-13)].  Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth [cast out of Heaven and condemned to the dark pit]. You shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, [everybody with uncircumcised ‘hearts’ (Jeremiah 4:4; Deuteronomy 10:16; Romans 2:29)] with those who are slain by the sword [God’s word out of Jesus’ mouth (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 1:16)].  This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord Yahweh’” [Satan and all his minions, both human and angelic].

   But what follows is a matter of record:  A collective bonfire at Armageddon, where “the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” will be (Matthew 25:30, 46).  In that moment, at the threshold of eternal oblivion, the unrighteous will have two belated realizations:  Awareness of culpability, “How I have hated instruction!  And my heart spurned reproof!  I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors!  I was almost in utter run in the midst of the assembly and congregation (Proverbs 5:11-14); and the frustrating revelation that Satan had never been a match against Father: “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?” (Isaiah 14:10).

   In Part V, we will discuss Armageddon and the Wedding of the Lamb.

¹ Proof that all had been foreknown and planned before human history.

² Numbers 16:27-33 relate why the earth opened under Korah’s followers feet and they “all went down alive into the Sheol.” From here perhaps concepts of a joyless, dark underworld like the Greek Hades evolved. In Hebrew thought, Sheol evolved from metaphor describing the grave, to an actual state of afterlife where righteous and wicked were compartmentalized, or to a place of punishment strictly for the wicked. The witch of Endor narrative in 1Samuel 28 suggests dead spirits could be summoned by the living from Sheol for consultation.

Solomon is very precise in his statement that souls go back to Father upon death (Ecclesiastes 12:7); and since he established no distinction between righteous and unrighteous souls, was speaking in general human terms [everybody returns to dust], and souls given by Father upon conception animate bodies (Psalms 139:13-16↔Genesis 35:18; 1Kings 17:22; John 6:63), we must assume both righteous and wicked souls go back to Him. Therefore in relation to Korah, he and his cronies may have fallen alive into the pit, but must have been killed in the fall and their souls returned to Father. We are definitely not told they remained alive down there.

As to the witch of Endor affair, Saul asked that a divining spirit be summoned for consultation (28:8). In Acts 16:16 we are told of a slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination [i.e., an unclean spirit]; so on this evidence, we may conclude that the witch of Endor could summon satanic spirits, ‘dead’ in the sense that they were factually alive but doomed by Father—unlike the righteous who even though dead are alive as far as Father is concerned (Luke 20:38).

We are told, however, that it was Samuel who came to Saul (28:14-15), though here we see that Samuel chides Saul for having awakened him, which suggests his soul had been asleep. Other than this, we can offer no explanation for this unusual event; still the witch’s comment in 28:13 suggests that she had a vision of the First Resurrection: “I see gods ascending out of the earth”; amongst which Samuel would certainly be one. Why gods? John 10:34-35 (↔Psalms 82:6): Those who receive Father’s word are candidates for immortality. [Go to http://www.biblehub.com and see how translations mangle the implied meaning].

³ Which applies to evil angels as well. They too were evicted from Heaven (Revelation 12:3-4) and imprisoned in darkness until Judgment Day (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). That prison may be the pit referenced in Revelation 9:1-11).

⁴ Like Enoch and Elijah, Moses is the third mortal man we know to be alive as conscious beings in Heaven. The first two were transposed there alive (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11).  Moses died and was buried (Deuteronomy 34:6).  He had been penalized with not entering Canaan (Numbers 20:5-13; Deuteronomy 3:23-27, 32:48-52).  Once dead, the decreed punishment was no longer binding, so Moses was revived and taken bodily into Heaven, a deserved boon for his exemplary service as Israel’s leader.  By way of proof, let us remember that both Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus during his transfiguration on the mount (Matthew 17:3).   

For those who believe Moses’ punishment was extreme; remember Jesus’ warning:  “To whoever much is given, of him will much be required” (Luke 12:48); and no one can say that Yahweh Son proxy God had behaved niggardly toward Moses.  The only thing Yahweh Son proxy God expected of Moses was accusing Aaron and Israel of lack of faith and ingratitude after everything he had done on their behalf.  By caving in to Israel’s hankering, Moses jumped the gun and so was shafted—the same behavior, incidentally, that doomed King Saul (1Samuel 13:8-13, 15:24).

⁵ The confusion may arise from Isaiah’s use of the word “man.”  But what is being referenced here is the gender of the entity; i.e., his maleness.  This should not stump us since throughout Scripture, angels are called “men” (Genesis 18:2; Joshua 5:13; Judges 13:6; Daniel 3:25, 10:5; Luke 24:4).  Jesus himself is called “Son of Man,” reaffirming Father‘s ‘maleness’ (Daniel 7:9, 13). None of this is surprising since Adam was made “in their image” [Father‘s and Son‘s (Genesis 1:26)].  Lucifer/Satan is also ‘male.’  It is no happenstance that Satan’s uses ‘female’ vectors to trap the souls of men:  Eve (Genesis 3:1-6); the “queen of heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-25)—to this day re-cast as ‘mediatrix of graces’ between Jesus and men; adulterous churches (Proverbs 6:26; Isaiah 27:11); and most notably, Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5-6, 18:13).

  Hence Paul’s prohibitions in 1Corinthians 14:33-35 and 1Timothy 2:14:  Females should not preach the Gospel should be the norm in “all the churches of the saints” (1Corinthians 14:33).  Those injunctions, needless to say, have fallen on deaf ears, paving the way for times when Scripture, probably proscribed (Amos 8:11-12; Ezekiel 7:26), will lead “seven women [to take hold] of one man, saying, ‘We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach’” (Isaiah 4:1).  Seven women = seven churches of Revelation in spiritual default and censured by Jesus.  Coincidence?

⁶ The Nile identifies Egyptians, just as the Thames identifies the British; the Seine, the French; the Volga, Russians; etc.