What happens when God comes to clean house? You can be sure that everything with a spot, stain, corruption, or corrosion will be purged immediately. We can correctly assume that Babylon was corrupt to the core, for God's "cleaning" left it with nothing (Isaiah 14:22). All that is not of God is scrubbed away at His presence, and you can bet that it will be a thorough cleaning.
All that is not of God cannot stand His presence. This is true of works (see I Corinthians 3:13-15) and judgment. God does not simply reject a work because He does not like it or is not in the right mood, but because it did not have any of Him in it. No matter how noble or good it may seem, if it was not done for Him by Him through your person, then it is all filthy rags. Everything that is not of God will not survive His presence. His presence is always as a great cleaning that taketh away the sin of the world.
Look at it this way: material things can only survive through a fire when they have more substance to them. Air and gases are consumed immediately. Wood has more substance and is burned less quickly. Stone is full of substance, and is only consumed if the fire gets hotter. The hotter the fire, the more substance of a thing is required to survive the heat. Likewise, God is the source of all things, and the perfection of all things. The only thing that can survive the presence of perfection is perfection. Therefore, the only way anything can survive the presence of God is if they have God as a part of them, i.e., their bodies have become the temple for His presence.
Likewise, in judgment, people do not go to hell because God was having a bad day, or did not like so-and-so very much. They go because they have not God within them, and therefore cannot abide in His presence. When once they cross the threshold of this life and discover that God's presence is everywhere, then they have only two choices: stay in the presence of God and be consumed, or be put somewhere where God is not. The latter is what hell is, and if we can assume that God's justice works hand in hand with His love (which it does), we can also assume that all the horrors of hell pale in comparison to the utter consummation of a lost soul at the presence of God's cleaning. Those who believe that the annihilation of the soul is a mercy have a very naive view of the soul.
All that is not of God cannot stand His presence. This is true of works (see I Corinthians 3:13-15) and judgment. God does not simply reject a work because He does not like it or is not in the right mood, but because it did not have any of Him in it. No matter how noble or good it may seem, if it was not done for Him by Him through your person, then it is all filthy rags. Everything that is not of God will not survive His presence. His presence is always as a great cleaning that taketh away the sin of the world.
Look at it this way: material things can only survive through a fire when they have more substance to them. Air and gases are consumed immediately. Wood has more substance and is burned less quickly. Stone is full of substance, and is only consumed if the fire gets hotter. The hotter the fire, the more substance of a thing is required to survive the heat. Likewise, God is the source of all things, and the perfection of all things. The only thing that can survive the presence of perfection is perfection. Therefore, the only way anything can survive the presence of God is if they have God as a part of them, i.e., their bodies have become the temple for His presence.
Likewise, in judgment, people do not go to hell because God was having a bad day, or did not like so-and-so very much. They go because they have not God within them, and therefore cannot abide in His presence. When once they cross the threshold of this life and discover that God's presence is everywhere, then they have only two choices: stay in the presence of God and be consumed, or be put somewhere where God is not. The latter is what hell is, and if we can assume that God's justice works hand in hand with His love (which it does), we can also assume that all the horrors of hell pale in comparison to the utter consummation of a lost soul at the presence of God's cleaning. Those who believe that the annihilation of the soul is a mercy have a very naive view of the soul.
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