Jesus stated that the lukewarm members of the church of the Laodiceans would be vomited from His mouth. The destiny of the defeated believers, while it may not be to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire with the devil and his angels, may be extremely unpleasant and may endure for eternity.

"To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

In our natural, adamic sympathy we may recoil at the thought of someone spending eternity in shame and everlasting contempt. But please keep in mind that the sin of Adam and Eve may not be horrible from our point of view. Yet their single act of disobedience has resulted in six thousand years of nightmarish agony.

To bring one sinner into Paradise is to begin to turn Paradise into Hell.

After one thousand years of the rulership of Christ and His saints, Satan will be released from his prison. Then there will be a worldwide rebellion against Christ and His saints.

In the light of this understanding we realize eternity is not too long to keep sin and self-will confined securely in the strongest of prisons.

God gave His Son on the cross for our sin. Whosoever chooses to do so may turn from his or her sin and serve God. If the person is unwilling to come to God for cleansing, the consequences are severe!

The third possible destiny of those who refuse to be delivered or who are too weak to be delivered is salvation through fire.

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (I Corinthians 3:15)

Let us insert our synonym for being saved: he himself shall be delivered from sin by passing through fire.

The interpretation of what it means to be delivered from sin by passing through fire is found in the fourth chapter of I Peter:

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. (I Peter 4:1,2)

Being delivered from sin by passing through fire may be the same experience as the "lashes" the Lord mentioned.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47,48)

Ordinarily when one is whipped it is with a view to correction. Whether the lashes will be given now or will begin at the time of the resurrection we cannot say. Perhaps both! It may be noted that often the believer endures great suffering in the present world in order that his or her spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

To be continued.