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The story he shared was of a time when he had to go the the office of the school's loan officer to beg for a loan so he could stay in school after his wife lost her job. After he had sat for quite some time in the waiting room a teenage girl walked into the room, pointed to the closed door of the officer and after a nod from the secretary opened the door and walked into the inner office.
At first this did not seem fair at all. Jon had been sitting for a long time waiting to see the officer and this girl was barging right in without hardly waiting at all. But something immediately clued him in as to what was really going on. When the girl opened the door she looked in and said, “Daddy?” and then walked right in.
The point of this story became very clear. This girl had special privileges with the loan officer because of a very intimate relationship she had with him that Jon did not have. Because of her close relationship with him she was able to do things that were unthinkable to everyone else.
The exact same situation applies to our access to God. But I believe that it has to be much more than just a profession of the mind that gives us the real confidence necessary to boldly come before the throne of the Almighty. That kind of religion will quickly melt and disappear in the presence of the consuming fire which is the essence of this Source of all energy and life everywhere. We will never be able to have that assurance and confidence that we so much need and crave unless our heart somehow grasps the reality of our special relationship that has been provided to us through the mediation of the New Covenant by the firstborn Son of God.
As I think back over the many things that have come to my attention and moved my spirit in my extended examination of Hebrews 12 I realize that this is one of the most important points for my own heart to grasp and cling to. Early in this chapter there was discussion about discipline and the need to determine whether I am a legitimate son or not. That determination will be decided by my choice as to how I will accept or reject the discipline coming into my life from my Daddy in heaven.
But for me it is also very important to remind myself that my Heavenly Father does not discipline the way my earthly father did and that my picture or image of a father has to be continually challenged and realigned to the real truth about God that He has been increasingly revealing to me over the past few years. Whenever my heart becomes afraid that God is out to hurt me deliberately or has an attitude of punitive punishment I am reminded that God is not contaminated with the mixed passions and the selfish desire for control or revenge like human fathers often possess. The real truth about God as revealed in Jesus is setting me free from the law of sin and death.
This revelation to my heart also unlocks one by one the roots of bitterness that have wreaked so much damage in my life and poisoned my spirit for so long. The more I expose my heart to fresh revelations of beauty and truth brought to me by the Father of my spirit the more courage I have to be confident to knock on his door and say, “Daddy, can I come in for a visit?”
This really helps me to understand even better the two contrasting passages that I have been looking at for several days now. What I am being told here is that the room that I have come to to find God is not a room filled with external exhibitions of fire, darkness, gloom, tornadoes, intense noise and words – all of which tend to intimidate and make me afraid. God does not desire my obedience to be based on a heart full of fear and driven by a desire to appease so that I can survive another day. That is the kind of religion that nearly all the world promotes and that is all too familiar to me, but that is not the truth of the gospel.
I have come to the waiting room where I find myriads of joyful angels eager to excitedly introduce me to my Daddy that I have not known much about. I am coming to the very large family of all those who already have learned that this God is their Daddy and are my true siblings, whose names are already secured in the book of the Family of Heaven. I am coming to God Himself who is the one who knows the fears and lies that have so long distorted my concepts about Him and He so much longs to remove and replace those with the amazing truth about His love and passion that He wants me to experience in His presence. And I am coming to the place where I find Jesus, the firstborn Son of God who by His own sacrifice and demonstration of the Father's love for me on calvary has done everything possible to convince me that I really am a legitimate child of the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe.
But implicit in my option to knock on the door of the throne room of the universe there is a warning necessary. It is not a warning that emanates from any ill-will on the part of anyone involved in this room like I would assume in the other room previously described, but there is immense danger here that I need to be very aware of. For this God is so pure, so awesome, so powerful and literally “hot” that if I am not willing to be purified completely and abide securely under the transforming covering of the life and death of Jesus, that power will ignite any and all resistance to Him within my heart and mind and I will suffer intense torture instead of intense joy.
It is not God's desire in the slightest that I experience that torture and that is why He is so careful to remind me of its potential before I get too exposed to His glory. He is in the business of purifying many children and bringing them closer and closer to full holiness (cleanness) so that they will be able to ignite in glorious reflection of His own beauty and passion that will be fully exposed on the day of Final Judgment. He has to be extremely particular about the thoroughness of this cleansing not because He has a dark side that needs to punish or get revenge but because He knows the liability and importance of being in full synchronization with His immense power before being exposed to it.
That is what salvation is all about. Salvation is the means by which everyone who is willing to be changed and who will surrender their rights for their own management to Jesus and His assistant the Holy Spirit who has been appointed to prepare them, heart, soul and mind, for the ultimate experience of joy and power on the day of Judgment. Any other choice or dilution of that preparation will result in tragedy and total loss when the full voltage of God's glory is finally revealed and unleashed. Salvation is the process of rewiring our minds and hearts and habits until we are ready to be assembled into the incredible, unimaginable being called the Body of Christ which at this point we have almost no inkling of what that means.
The last few verses of Hebrews 12 is a description of the final judgment and of hell. What is really amazing and comes as a shock to most people is when it is realized that everyone – yes everyone – is going to show up in hell. There is no way anyone can ever escape the fires of hell. Every human being who has every walked on this planet will all be exposed to the fires of hell and all at the same time according to Revelation. I realize that this sounds more than preposterous but it is the truth that I have been studying for several years now and that has so transformed my whole view of life, of God and of reality.
Verse 27 here says that there is going to be one last time when the voice of God – the revelation of His glory and awesomeness – is going to shake things. But this time it is not going to be the little light-and-sound show that was seen on Mount Sinai and that scared the Israelites half to death including even Moses. No, that was just a very tiny, measured and restricted leak of glory compared to what is coming next time. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN." This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:26-27)
This is the very real warning that all the world must become aware of in order to properly make their decision as to whether they will allow themselves to be transformed by the renewing of their minds and hearts or whether they will choose to trust in religion or even simply reject God's offer altogether in favor of getting all they can get right now. Reality is what God is trying to explain to us and we cannot really create our own reality apart from the truth He is showing us. We may think we have collectively produced an alternate viable reality in our political structures, our religious institutions, our self-medication attempts or any other number of alternative options. But there is only one true reality and that is the one known in heaven and soon to be exposed here on earth.
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. (Hebrews 12:25)
So why do I believe that every person is destined for the fires of hell? That sounds like an outrageous claim and many have challenged me to substantiate it from the Bible. I realize that it sounds outrageous at first glance but the more I have studied this the more I get very excited about going to hell. One of the most important texts that validate this new insight is found right here in Hebrews 12.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)
Please take careful note that this does not say that God is only a consuming fire to those who refuse Him and is very cool toward those who love Him. It simply states the ultimate and unavoidable fact that God is a consuming fire – period. That means that to be introduced into close proximity to God is to be exposed to the consuming fire. The Bible clearly teaches that God does not change. So if He never changes, never has and never will, then how are we to relate to this problem of needing to get close to our Daddy but not wanting to suffer from the intense fire?
That is one of the most important questions that people can ever have. Just being aware of the truth of this problem is a giant step toward discovering the real truth about God and about ourselves and salvation. God is not stirring around some cauldron of fire and fiendishly dangling lost sinners over the open flames to torture them for eternity for not choosing to love Him. That kind of teaching is Satanic to the core. But neither is He going thunder down sheets of fire in an outburst of anger at the last day to arbitrarily punish those who refused His love as an act of vengeance. That is nearly just as demonic as the first scenario. I realize that many texts can be strung together to justify that kind of thinking, but if a person is willing to release their preconceived notions and traditions and take a fresh look at what the Bible itself really reveals, it will be seen that the problem is never on God's side but on our need for preparation for exposure to this Source of all energy, power and life that is even more than fire.
I have dedicated a whole web site to exploring this topic and if anyone wishes to look into this more they can visit it. I have more material and a many dozens of Scripture references that I still need to add to that location. I am also eager myself to continue to learn more and unwrap the exciting elements of this truth that is so powerful and life-changing. When I came to realize for myself that God will never impose punishment on anyone arbitrarily but that the pain and torture suffered by the lost will be 100% caused by their own refusal to be re-outfitted for exposure to the fiery passion of love that is the essence of God's presence, my own heart melted with new love and respect for Him in response to this revelation about God and I exclaimed, “I believe I can really love a God like that!”
That is the response that I believe everyone will have who catches a glimpse of the real truth about Him. In addition they will become empowered and motivated to want to naturally respond in acts of love and service for a God who is not out to hurt them but wants to prepare them for the ultimate joys of total intimacy in His presence. That is the real message of verse 28 here that is the lead-in for chapter 13. ...let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe...
Chapter 13 launches into descriptions of what this spontaneous offering of service to God looks like. These are not lists of duties that must be performed or commands that we have to fulfill to please a stern God demanding our performances. These are opportunities and suggestions that are offered to anyone who has become enamored with the beauty of God's character, has accepted the mentoring and discipline of the perfect Daddy and is in great awe and reverence at the incredible magnitude of the fiery passion that powers this Being of unrestrainable love. What follows is simply a description of what our lives will look like when we become captivated by the transformational truth about God that the rest of the universe is eagerly waiting for us to catch on to.
Daddy, You have touched my heart, emotions and spirit this morning as You have shared so many of these things with me. Every time I explore these truths about You I feel even more energized and awed by Your perfect love, Your powerful passion and the real reasons behind Your warnings. I accept Your warnings of my need to be completely clean before I can enjoy full exposure to Your glory. Like Moses I am begging You to show me Your face even though I realize I can't handle a full view of it quite yet. I give You complete permission to finish the process of cleaning out all the lies about You that mess up and distort my mental picture of You. Fill me with the real truth about Your fiery glory, Your constant and never-changing love and Your perfect beauty. Make my life a better reflection of Your attractiveness and help me not to resist when the heat gets turned up. Because if You are a consuming fire then the heat I feel inside not only indicates that I have resistors that need to be removed and replaced but it also tells me You are getting closer to me and that is good news in disguise. I worship You as the only Source of life and joy and hope. Fill me with Your love right now for Your name's sake.
I think I know, but in case someone else is looking, what is the address of the other website you mentioned. (Or, did I miss it?)
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