There is a danger in quoting verses out of context…..John 3 is a good example.
Lets look at the context and see what Jesus was saying here, and to whom he said it.
This is Jesus receiving a clandestine visit from one of the Pharisees who sought a private audience with Jesus. He came under cover of darkness so that he would not be seen by his fellow Jews, especially their leaders. Jesus had just told Nicodemus about being “born again” and the man was confused by this term.
Jesus explained….
John 3:12-21….
”If I tell you the earthly side and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you the heavenly side? 13 And nobody has gone up to heaven but he who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses raised the snake aloft in the desert, so the Son of Man must be raised aloft, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but in order to have the world saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not judged; he who does not believe is already judged because he has not believed in the name of God’s only son. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their doings were bad. 20 For anyone who is misbehaving hates the light and does not come to the light, that his doings may not be exposed; 21 but he who is doing as truth would have him comes to the light that his doings may be disclosed, because they are work done in God.”
Can we unpack this a bit? I know you love God and have faith in Jesus as the Christ, but here was a teacher among the Jewish Pharisees, (Nicodemus) who was asking some serious questions.
Jesus was speaking spiritually, but Nicodemus was comprehending only physically.
Jesus’ words needed to be interpreted spiritually. Being “born again“ was something his disciples had yet to understand. It wasn’t something that happened to them whilst they were still in the flesh, but something that would take place at their resurrection. They were given a “token” of their choosing to be one of Christ’s elect, (Eph 1:13-14) but that just gave them a strong desire to be where their Lord promised to take them….to heaven. No one can go to heaven in a physical body, so they must be transformed by being “born again” in a spirit body, in order to be in the presence of God in a spiritual realm. (1 Cor 15:50-54) Humans cannot exist outside of Earth’s atmosphere. We are confined to an enormous space ship with all life support systems fully operative. There was never any reason to leave what was created to be our eternal home.
Christ’s elect are a small body who were chosen by God to rule with his son in the coming Kingdom, (Matt 6:9) and also to take on the role of priests as Jesus said in his Revelation to John. (Rev 20:6)
Rulers need subjects, and priests need sinners for whom to perform their priestly duties…..these subjects are not in heaven, because there are no sinners in heaven and kings do not rule over each other.
God never created humans to live in heaven….he already had a large family of spirit sons who serve him there. But the way was opened for Christ’s elect to follow him once he had paid the ransom for the human race with the sacrifice of his own sinless life. Their resurrection takes place “first” and only when Christ returns to take them “home”. (1 Thess 4:13-17)
Jesus spoke of “Gehenna” which is not a fiery HELL of eternal torment, because the dead are not alive to suffer anything. (Eccl 9:5, 10)
There is no immortal soul that leaves the body to go to heaven (unless they are chosen by God as one of his elect) or to a hell of torture. None of the laws that God gave his people involved torture. There were capital crimes which incurred death, but none that included torture for the sake of it.
It is outside of God’s loving personality to to inflict pain unless it is to bring one to repentance….and only the unrepentant sinner was punished. God is foremost a “forgiver”…… NOT a “punisher”. Those deserving of death are judged so by Jesus, and sentence is carried out swiftly. Death ends life….period.
It is the incorrigibly wicked who will go to “Gehenna”….a place of eternal death. Nothing alive is in Gehenna. It is for the disposal of worthless things including “death and hades” or the grave. (Rev 20:13-14)
Gehenna is called the lake of fire…..but it is also called “the second death”…..a death that is permanent. No one returns from that place, which is also reserved for the devil and his minions. Anything cast into the lake of fire is “destroyed” never to be seen again. What purpose would everlasting torture serve?
I see such zeal in your posts but I also see a lot of misinterpretation of Scripture. The vindictive and cruel God you worship does not exist. Resurrection is God’s way of giving all those who lived and died without opportunity to get to know “the only true God and the one he sent”, (John 17:3) a second chance. Those who died in ignorance will not be held accountable. Only those alive at his return, who show no respect for him, his teachings or the laws of his Father, will perish at Armageddon….the final showdown between the King and his enemies. We already know who the winner is.
A thousand years will be spent under Christ’s rulership, bringing the entire redeemed human race back into reconciliation with their Creator….so that all can return to his original purpose for us here on an earth so lovingly prepared for us.…otherwise, why are we here Amigo?
