25.4 The End of All Things

© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute

The Roman doctrine of unending damnation in the fires of hopeless torment and punishment inserted into Christianity by Jerome and other Latin theologians is, in fact, based entirely on one obscure phrase, a Greek idiom, found one time only – in John’s mysterious vision, a Greek idiom that NO ONE today knows exactly what it might mean. That Greek idiom is aionos aionos, properly translated, ages ages (Revelation 14:11).

There is no question that the word aeon, a period of time, was falsely translated into the Latin word “eternal” by Jerome and thus given a further set of contradictory definitions in the mind of Nicene Christianity, more of which we will explore in the course Symmorphy II: Essence.

A Period of Time
Most of the time, when the Greek word aeon appears, it means specifically a distinct period of time that begins and ends and is followed by another period of time. And thus the early church believed and understood that the judgment of Hades, that is, individuals continuing in the torment of their own false story, was only for a specific period of time and for the purpose of hope. It was the fall into Roman darkness that brought in the concept of everlasting torture without hope.

What does the idiom “ages ages,” in Revelation 14:11, mean? I don’t know and neither does anyone else.

Paul’s Gospel
What I refuse to do is take some phrase I cannot know the meaning of and use it to rule over the CLEAR and unmistakable declarations of the Apostle Paul.

Paul’s gospel consisted of two primary things. The first is the absolute literalness of Christ Jesus in us and we in Christ Jesus – all the way through. But the second incredible part of Paul’s gospel is the wildly bold and overwhelmingly frequent use of the Greek word pas in all of its forms and in every possible direction. ALL – ALL – ALL – ALL

Endures for ALL – Believes for ALL – Hopes for ALL!

God All in All
The end of all things is absolute and clear. God ALL in ALL.

And the means of God by which God becomes ALL in ALL, not only by substance, but also by all the appearance of a new creation, flowing entirely out of the tree of life is one thing only – JESUS SENT. I am come to seek and to save what was lost.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

All Things Restored
Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

Paul’s gospel is absolute and it RULES all other concepts in the Bible. These two verses declare the end of all things, all creation drawn out from the old and living now in the new, all things restored back into the love of Father.

The Enemy’s Seed
These two verses, then, with all their many supporting verses, and with no other verses saying anything different, rule the gospel of Jesus Christ and all other things said in the Bible.

Yet Christianity has brought in the pagan concept of screaming torment, using Jerome’s clever device of changing the definition of one solitary Greek word, aeon, turning it from “a distinct period of time for a specific purpose” into “forever and ever and without purpose.” And Christianity has used this demonic hatred of the human to color and define all things, their definitions of God, of salvation, and even of the fabric of the gospel. May I suggest that Jesus was right, that the enemy has sown his seed all through Christian thinking.

Jesus Wins by Love
ALL that God has spoken returns to Him fulfilled. Jesus seeks and Jesus saves ALL that is lost. The word “ALL” has a very peculiar and specific meaning, however. All, in fact, means ALL.

I do not accept the idea that Jesus wins by causing persons to cease. Jesus wins all things by love, by bringing all things into the one death of Christ and then by living all things, one at a time, each in its season, into life, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

The Son of Man is come to seek and to save what was lost.
 
Our Focus
Yet we understand this, that the restoration of all things happens through specific ages of time, each in its season. Thus we do not think about the restoration of angels, not in the present time, except to know that angels must be inside of “all.” But that is a topic we cannot know now, a topic that the lying spirits would use to keep us from casting them down.

Right now our eyes are focused on one thing. The breaking and casting off of every fallen angel out of the cosmos, out of the present arrangement of heaven/earth. And the full elimination of the covenant Adam made with the devil and a complete end to the age of human folly.

The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ
All of these parts of the same one thing happen as we walk right now as if the new creation flowing out of the tree of life IS our only reality – by faith, that is, contrary to the sight of our eyes. And that walk of FAITH has a name in the Bible.

The APOCALYPSE. The manifestation of the sons of God. The revelation of Jesus Christ.

God is about to turn everything upside down and inside out on this planet – what He is doing will catch everyone unawares. And He is doing all of it as one person utterly together with you and with me – the apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

Addendum:

The reason aionos aionos, translated forever and ever, is  the only foundation for everlasting torture without hope is that this is the only time where the meaning of "aeon" is in question. In other words, does this refer to unending periods of time.

The answer for us, then, lies not in this Greek idiom, but in the context of the verse. "Tortured in the Presence of the Lamb?" The Lamb? What does that mean.

We turn to a brief and explicit explanation by J. Preston Eby, that gives us what I am convinced is the only Godly way by which we can understand this verse. I include that article here. 

Next Session: 26: Living in Christ

“Tormented with fire and brimstone…in the presence of the Lamb.” What an amazing divine paradox! The Lamb — precious embodiment of the very character of innocence, patience, meekness, gentleness, holiness, sacrifice, and redemption — being made TORMENT unto His people and to men for whom He died! The very thought seems incongruous. You see, dear ones, IT IS NOT THE NATURE OF A LAMB to torment anyone. It is simply not in the nature of the lamb to want to hurt in any way. Really! What could a lamb do to torture anyone? It has no capability for such a thing. And so it is with the LAMB OF GOD! The Lamb of God has no desire, no ability to inflict torture in any way — His desire is entirely redemptive — that men might have life and have it more abundantly!

I cannot imagine, as the churches teach, One with the nature of a lamb packing poor lost souls like brick into a kiln, standing there blowing the fires of hell through them forever. Yet that is how this passage is interpreted by almost every church on earth! No wonder the church systems of man are called “daughters of the harlot” in the book of Revelation! Where did such hideous ideas originate? They originated with the “mother of harlots,” the apostate church which began to form early in the centuries after Christ. The great apostasy actually began with the so-called “Church Fathers.” Some who read these lines are familiar with Tertullian’s words (around the year A.D. 200) concerning those in torment, “How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs…groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness.” Such a grotesque representation, if we say this reflects the attitude of our Lord, attributes to the Lamb of God the character of a monster worse than Adolph Eichmann!

Ah, the torment comes not from the Lamb. In our previous Study on this subject, we pointed out that the word “torment” comes from the Greek word basanizo which actually refers to the “touchstone” and the principle “to test, to examine the quality of a thing.” Jesus is our touchstone, the standard by which all men and their works are tested! Because of the ancient custom of testing persons by torture, as for instance, when the chief captain told one of his men to examine the apostle Paul by scourging (Acts 22:24), the word gradually took on a secondary meaning, testing by torture. In whatever measure that applies here, these are tormented “in the presence” of the Lamb, but the torment lies within the bosoms of the tormented. To be “rubbed against the touchstone” is not a pleasant experience! The scripture does not say that the Lamb torments them! If you think it does, you are mistaken. It states that they are tormented in the presence of the Lamb. What a thought! TORMENTED IN THE PRESENCE. The Lamb is merely present. He does not torment. The condition is within themselves…J Preston Eby