The Lake That Burneth

THE LAKE THAT BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE

Many have preached, taught, warned and threatened for centuries about the Lake of Fire, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. It has been depicted as the place of eternal torment for the damned, a place of eternal grief and torture for they who obeyed not the gospel of Christ. Others have said it's only for the devil and his angels, others have said it is a place of annihilation and of a soul created by God coming to non-existence. The Lake of Fire has been idolized by some who involve themselves in Satanist practice and Witchcraft's, who seem to almost delight in the sulphuric content of such a place and who delight in its agonies. Man has from every place in time and from every quarter of denominational or secular stances, taken this lake as an interpretation based mostly in human carnality. But let us today investigate clearly this lake, and its purpose, and why God the creator of all things created it.

For He indeed prepared this lake for a reason, and that reason must be fully declared by the scriptures, not carnal injector. This is a huge subject, one that would take more than just a writing to declare. Indeed, entire books could be written about such a thing as the Judgement of God. Let us begin however by keeping it very simple and looking back to the origin of iniquity in the book of Genesis. From there we can see the light dawn on our understanding as we see the great plan of God for all His creation unfold in the pages of His Holy Book.

THE DAWN OF INIQUITY

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou are a man, and not God though thou set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel: there is no secret that they can hide from thee; With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it saith the Lord God. Ezekiel 28:1-10.

Was it not a man, tempted yes, but was it not just a man that was lifted up in pride? Adam was created in the image of God we are told. But here is a description of one who is called a "prince", who makes himself to be God. Please read verses 11 - 19. Tyrus, a place in Palestine, means, " a point of a rock pressed hard", a rock as it were under pressure. These verses describe a man, just a man, who gains for himself a standing in the earth, who gains great wealth and riches by his own hand. A man none the less, a man who is in an iniquitous state. What does the word "iniquity" mean? The Hebrew rendering means "perverseness, moral evil". How did man get that way? By an act of his own will. The instinct of Adam's will, his self will, led him to partake of the forbidden tree. So we could conclude a definition of iniquity by saying it is in very fact, "self will". Is not this the whole purpose of our present daily scourging by trial and cross bearing? To rid us of self will? And is not the daily desire in us to be as Christ was in Gethsemane when He said "Not my will, but thine be done"? So we are in a death to our own will, which will is established in the world as something of very great importance. When one walks in self will, then the description of the above scriptures fits perfectly. For we are in the day when men are admired because of advantage, wealth and power. The Prince of Tyrus, filled with self will, gaining a standing in the world thinking himself to be a prince in deed and in wisdom, is none other than our father Adam. Adam in his state of stance against all that was to be in obedience to his Creator. This is the same Adam that progenies each one of us. We are all born in sin, shapen in iniquity, for in sin did our mothers conceive us. Indeed, this is a sorry state. It is described in Revelation 13:1-9 and in vs 11, as a beast, or a lesser beast, a wild beast and a lesser beast. The Adamic nature in all of mankind as the wild beast, the Adamic nature in it's religiosity as God in the lesser beast. The origin of iniquity, is here, in the heart of Adam. The list of precious stones he had for a covering is listed in vs 13. Let us list them out here.

THE BREASTPLATE OF JUDGEMENT

1) Judah.....
The scepter bearer... whose name means PRAISE..
A scepter is the staff that is held by a KING or RULER. It is the SYMBOL of his authority... It shows sovereignty...
SARDIUS STONE....Judah's stone in the breastplate... The beginning of wisdom, the recognition of GOD as the SOURCE, the beginning of PRAISE to the CREATOR.
ELOHIM....The first NAME of GOD as revealed in the Scriptures. Used 2.570 times....This is a plural word. (It is used even by the heathen, for all men have an ELOHIM which they WORSHIP.)
EL.... Denotes His STRENGTH and sovereignty... Creator and Source of all... The FATHER-GOD. Creator of all the UNIVERSE.... Worthy of PRAISE, whose scepter never leaves His hand. The God of covenant.
Lucifer says : "I'm regenerated and re-created. I am spirit man. I can
reach into my own being and bring forth my own life. I do not need the covering of God (anointing). I continually dwell in Him. I am the source of my own life."
Gen 6:18.... Jeremiah 31:33.

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2) ISSACHAR... The burden bearer, the healer; a servant bearing a double portion. Saw the land that it was pleasant.

TOPAZ STONE....Issachar's stone in the breastplate.... Pleasantness. (Most compatible with SILVER)

JEHOVAH.....(Translated LORD or MASTER over all existence). The ever-existent one....Eternal and unchangeable. The beginning and ending of CREATION.

To the Israelites, JEHOVAH was the true NAME of ELOHIM. ALL men had an ELOHIM, but only the chosen have JEHOVAH....He was the RESTORER of mankind to the righteousness of GOD.
It is used 6,823 times in the Scriptures.

Whenever man SINNED, it was JEHOVAH who came to speak to him. He is the ONE who was used in Leviticus, the first seven chapters where the SACRIFICE is spoken of. And on the day of Atonement.
Psalm 11:7.....JEHOVAH is righteousness. JEHOVAH is HOLINESS. JEHOVAH is our BURDEN-BEARER, our SACRIFICE.
Exodus 6:6....I AM JEHOVAH., I WILL BRING YOU OUT. Deliverer.
Genesis 6:18-49....Speaking to NOAH, (rest), ELOHIM spoke to take the animals into the ark two by two, for He wanted to spare His creation....
Genesis 7:1-2.....Jehovah spoke to take the clean animals for sacrifice.
Here we see the beginning of the revelation of the SON, the WORD, the HOLY SEED, the DELIVERER, the RIGHTEOUSNESS and ELOHIM.

Many nations will admit there is an ELOHIM, a CREATOR, but not all will recognize their need for a Savior. Few will see the need for someone to bear their burdens. We will praise GOD in our own fashion, but do not want to see our personal NEED for a personal JEHOVAH, a personal MASTER, a personal LORD OVER our LIVES.......

Genesis 4:3.....Just like CAIN, many men will see the reality of GOD, but expect their own WORKS to be acceptable, for they will not comprehend the need for a sacrifice.
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3) ZEBULIN.....A dwelling place.... A training ground. A haven in time of storms (troubles).... A harbor. A continuous light for the safety of ships.
CARBUNCLE.... A continuous revelation....(light or life)
El Shaddai... The third name of God that denotes His NATURE....
El.....Strength and sovereignty (might and power).
Shaddai....NOURISHER; supplier, satisfies....He who continually reveals Himself as a safe harbor. A nourisher and supplier of STRENGTH and courage, the power of FAITH which is our dwelling place.... the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD (Elohim). Used 200 times as He who gives strength in every situation.....
Genesis 21:1-2, Exodus 6:2-3. ABRAHAM received the strength of EL SHADDAI to bring forth ISAAC .....SARAH received strength to conceive.
God said to MOSES, "I AM JEHOVAH. I appeared to ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB as EL SHADDAI.... I am your Savior, and SUPPLIER of their STRENGTH......"
The third identity of the NATURE OF GOD, the HOLY SPIRIT..........
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4) REUBEN.... A SON, the seed of my loins..... The Son of his mother. Unstable as WATER..... Lost his birthright.
EMERALD.... Not always subject to the light.... Softest of the precious stones.... Green in color.

ADONI..... Meaning LORD, Master or SIR....not used for GOD alone, but always with the meaning of POSSESSION. Showing ownership; plural....
What do you call ADONI? Who is your master; who do you serve; to whom are you submissive? This is certainly REUBEN who was the firstborn of all the twelve tribes....Unstable as water.... Never sure who is master. Double minded.... Not always subject to Jehovah as LORD. Sometimes serving mammon.... Two masters. An unstable son......
This is when mankind enters a relationship with the Godhead. When man has been brought into full union with God through the mediator ship of the Son, then God will be Lord (Adoni) over all creation.

NOW WE HAVE FOUR PARTS TO THE FULLNESS OF GOD,
THE FATHER.....Who is LORD OVER all, CREATOR, ELOHIM.
THE SON....LORD, SAVIOR, and ANOINTED.... JEHOVAH.
THE HOLY SPIRIT.... A DWELLING PLACE, a NOURISHER... EL SHADDAI.
THE FIRST FLESHLY ISSUE.... A son, unstable as WATER. The one who serves two masters. One who must choose whom he will serve. One who will be submissive, for he was born subject to vanity.
ADONI....We will call someone LORD.... We will serve a master. We will either call the adversary master or we will serve JEHOVAH.

Now we will meet JEHOVAH in all of His manifestations to mankind.
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5) SIMEON.....Hearken, look and listen.... God has heard my cry........
SAPPHIRE.....Appeared......
JEHOVAH JIREH...... God will provide....Look, see, God has provided... To Abraham when Isaac asked, "Where is the SACRIFICE?" Abraham said: "JEHOVAH-JIREH, our Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice."
If we choose JEHOVAH as our LORD- we then can look to Him to provide our needs. He will be our burden-bearer. He will be our deliverer. He will be our WAY. He will provide the TRUTH. He will anoint us to fulfill our calling, even if our womb is barren, even if we are old and past the years of siring. If we choose Him, He will provide.
Those who come this far and then become their own providers have not walked in the fulness of what God is showing. They have stopped short of the high calling in CHRIST (JEHOVAH). For this calling is to become more intimately acquainted with God through the SON... JEHOVAH was His NAME long before He came in His earthly manifestation. He only came to bring this manifestation to the WORLD. He was the WORD (LOGOS) of GOD, the only issue ELOHIM (GOD) sent forth from His own person.....
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6) GAD.....A troop cometh... A COMPANY OF PEOPLE, a remnant. A strong people as the world has never known.
DIAMOND....The hardest of all stones; the grinder and polisher.
JEHOVAH ROPHE....The LORD our HEALER.... He who will RESTORE....God tests the people; He is not on trial, they are. I AM the GOD that healeth thee....
Numbers 12:13.
This is the place of the revealing of the REMNANT or troop of people that God will HEAL and RESTORE so that they may be as HARD as a diamond....But this is not the place of fulfillment of this call, only the revelation of the call. First, God mus HEAL them and restore them and test them for their faithfulness.
Here is where men put GOD on TRIAL. They test Him and challenge Him to "keep His promises" instead of yielding to the HARDNESS of God's nature and allowing Him to grind them down and restore them, for it takes a diamond to cut a diamond. It takes the diamond of God's nature to bring out His nature in us, to form us into a TROOP, a company of people.
No man shall bring unity among men, Only GOD, by HIS own nature, shall bring the restoration of His people.
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7) EPHRIAM.... The seventh manifestation of GOD as HIS names are revealed. This is a FRUITFUL BOW....(Son) whose BRANCHES (Daughters) run over the WALL....
He who does not sit in the confines of denominations, but as SONS and DAUGHTERS breaks free to become fruitful....He shall be the DOMINION of GOD.
LIGUIRE....Time and Dimension....(deep yellow). It attracts light particles.
JEHOVAH NISSI.... The LORD our BANNER....
A standard, a signal or warning.... To let the enemy know.... God will ADD time and dimension.... HIS banner will attract and draw men to it...
Isaiah 11, Numbers 27:1-11.
This manifestation is a BRANCH with SEVEN branches on it. It shall have a double portion; shall be of quick understanding, drawing light unto itself. Shall not judge by the SIGHT of its EYE (intellect), nor decide by the HEARING of the ear.
With RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUSTICE He shall judge....He shall smite the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth....
He shall stand as SIGNAL (ensign) to My people. In this DAY ADONAI shall deliver His people from the second time. He will raise up a BANNER, a sign, a signal, a warning, and assemble the outcasts of ISRAEL, gathering all those who have been scattered and bring EPHRIAM and JUDAH together to appoint one Head.
With this BANNER, God is going to bring JUDGEMENT and restoration.
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8) MANASSEH.... Means forgetfulness; to be restored; to have no part of the old nature left within....The putting together of many nations.
AGATE.... Even layers.... beauty of many colors. Where the river flows.....
JEHOVAH KEDDESH....TO be sanctified or separated.... The LORD who separates us from our old nature. He will divide the words in our mind from the spirit that gives them life. (Even as the BONE which is a TYPE of the WORD or structure that houses the MARROW, a type of the source of our life....Marrow is the place of origin of our blood; the natural life is in the blood.)He shall make us forget our old nature and bind us together in a new nature.
Leviticus 20:7-8. Hebrews ch 4.
This is the manifestation of God that separates the source of our SPIRIT from the word itself. It exposes, sifts, analyzes and judges the THOUGHTS and PURPOSES of our HEART.....
Not a creature exists that is not exposed to His sight. All things are revealed that He may receive an immovable and impregnable Kingdom.... Put together by His own hand and not the hand of man.....
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9) BENJAMIN.... Son of the father's right hand.... His mother named him BENONI, meaning son of my sorrow. But his father called him Benjamin, son of my right hand, SON of my blessing. He who rests in Me.
There are two SAULS in the Bible that were Benjamites. King SAUL who forgot to rest in God and began to consort with familiar spirits. And SAUL who became the APOSTLE PAUL.... Who was so self-righteous, doing the "will of God" as he saw it....But came to a place of humbling where he rested in GOD and not in his own wisdom and knowledge.
AMETHYST.... Having powers of cure from intoxication. That is, to relieve from the influence of spirits.
JEHOVAH SHALOM....The LORD our PEACE....OUR RESTING PLACE....To be whole or complete is another translation of this word SHALOM....It also is used when VOWING a VOW unto the LORD (JEHOVAH-SHALOM). When we vow a vow, we expect peace, but it is only found in our abiding trust in the Father to fulfill HIS WILL in us.
Deuteronomy 23:21, Psalm 16:8
There is a promise given to us of a RESTING PLACE. It is still open to us today....Those who believe in and trust in GOD and not their own wisdom or knowledge, those who realize that they are in Him and their WEAKNESS is the place of His STRENGTH, these have entered into HIS REST at the right hand of GOD.
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10) DAN.... SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS judgment without UNDERSTANDING....To be ever learning, but never coming into the KNOWLEDGE of that TRUTH. To have the ability to apply TRUTH to the lives of others without the inward work being done in SELF. Dan was given land, but he never conquered it. He was not able to inherit it in the end (restoration order)....
DAN was RIGHTEOUS in his own eyes. He never applied judgement to himself. He did not conquer his own land. He sought his own place.... His life was not in God.
BERYL....Of EASTERN ORIGIN.... The stone of self-life....(In right standing with one's self).
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU....The Lord our RIGHTEOUSNESS....
Leviticus 35 - 36, Jeremiah 25:5-6, Job 31:6,
Where this name is used; You shall do no unrighteousness in judgement, in weights or in measure. JUST weights and balances shall ye have. FOR I AM JEHOVAH - TSIDKENU, your GOD.
Let me be weighed in an even balance that (JEHOVAH - TSIDKENU) God may know mine integrity....
There shall come a DAY when God shall raise up a righteous BRANCH. His NAME shall be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (JEHOVAH - TSIDKENU).
In the place of our righteousness, our supposed right standing with God, we will receive the name-nature of GOD and His righteousness through the BRANCH, JESUS CHRIST, the SON of DAVID....
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11) ASHER.... A happy heart.... SELF - ASSURANCE.... A place of CONTENTMENT; Without FEAR, A place of personal fulfillment....
ONYX....The NAIL.... that which is driven inwardly (or the SHELL; the personal image.)
JEHOVAH ROHI....THE LORD OUR SHEPHERD....
Psalm 23
I shall not want; I shall not fear....He who leads us to pasture. He who makes us content.
We want to make ourselves content, to determine our own PASTURE. But God is calling us to let HIM be our Shepherd. We find contentment within our being....
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12) NAPHTALI....Wrestling, trouble, temptation, tribulation....FRUSTRATION....
JASPER....That which is yet impure.
JEHOVAH SHAMMAH....Our LORD is there....He who is ever present in time of TROUBLE....HE is in His abode.....
Ezekiel 48:1
When Israel's spirit was broken and they were in captivity, the LORD was there.
In the midst of trouble, the VISION of what was to come made Ezekiel say, "The LORD is there...."
So we must know that our GOD is there in our most troublesome times. For He is an ever-present GOD who will not forsake us if we TRUST in HIM for our LIFE. If we trust in our own spirit, He will cast us into outer darkness in the day of judgement. If we trust Him, He is there in THAT darkness....

DO WE SEE THE CREATURE AND CALL IT THE IMAGE OF GOD OR DO WE SERVE GOD AND COME INTO HIS IMAGE?
When one believes he already has the mind of God, he does not know he needs "judgement" or separation from his own spirit of iniquity. If he rejects the separation he will be found to have "iniquity" in himself. If he believes he has the mind of God and his spirit is already regenerated and re-created. He will not know his need to rest in God for he will believe himself to be surrounded with God and that he is a part of God. This is the spirit of Blasphemy. Blasphemy in all its context described several times in Daniel and Revelation as a beast, or dragon (principality and power and spirits of wickedness in high places), who Blaspheme God. Lucifer in his exalted state blasphemes God. What is Blasphemy? To claim that what you are doing is coming forth from the Mind of God when it is your own mind that is conceiving and bringing forth. To claim God is the source or life of what you have conceived to do, when "iniquity" is the source. To claim for oneself the power of "creation". To claim to be as God. To claim oneness with God when you do not have His nature worked in you. Jesus was corporate with His Father; but He had all of God's nature worked in Him. He said.
"My Father and I are one". John 10:30
He was the fullness of the Godhead in one body. He had the full nature of God manifesting in His life. We have access to the nature of God through Him. When we have been tried and all iniquity is purged from our being, will be like Him. he cannot come (cannot make His appearance) until that man of sin be revealed The spirit of Iniquity, the son of perdition, sitting in the temple of God calling himself God saying I am the Mind of God.....

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High". Isaiah 14:13-14

This is nothing more than the wisdom of the flesh exalted above the highest sphere of God's divine light in the soul. Man in his egotistical, prideful self exalted religious state. The origin of Iniquity in the heart of Adam, proven and brought to light in scripture by an act of disobedient will, is now a beast, raging throughout all of mankind, rising as it were, above and beyond all that is called God. What has started as a germ of self will in Adam has grown in our day into a massive beast, with the mouth of the false prophet, and full of every unclean thing. This is the state in which our Lord saved us, and it is in this place and from here that we "overcome”. We overcome by dying to all of this. And all of this becomes dead in us by our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. This is the longing cry of our hearts, to be pure and holy, the saints of the Most High, without iniquity or guile, faultless before the throne of God.

So what does this lake the burns with fire and brimstone do? IT DESTROYS ALL THE VESTIGES OF SELF WILL. And if it be a lake of fire, the fire must be defined. To do this, I will add in here some quotes from J. Preston Eby's excellent book "What Do You Mean? The Lake Of Fire?" This will best conclude this study and cause it to be understood as to it's purpose and the fact that NONE OF US ARE EXEMPT FROM THE FIERY PROCESS TO RID US OF SELF WILL.
The Quote will be done in a frame with a link at the bottom to a printer friendly version of the entire book.
Bless you and thanks for reading. The frame with this quote is below.
Kenneth B Visscher
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