Refining Fire Vs. Lake of Fire

by Brad Baker

Aug. 20/2021

1 Going through the refining fire all started with its type linked to the Feast of Un-leaven Bread as well as in the Outer Court there was the Brazen Alter where all the animal sacrifices were done.

Deuteronomy 4:20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.

2 This foreshadowed Jesus shedding His own blood which made all of the animal sacrifices obsolete.  3 Then there was the Laver for washing which foreshadowed water baptism and maybe this is what Apostle John saw as the Lake of Fire when you consider this that in what Ezekiel saw according to what people call Ezekiel’s Temple, there were kitchens where the ministers of the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people that surrounded the outer edges of the Outer Court.

 Ezekiel 46:21Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and in fact, in every corner of the court there was another court.

24And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where the ministers of the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

 4 It all adds up to what John may have saw and called the Lake of Fire with the Laver as a lake along with the boiling waters surrounding it.

5 The Outer Court ministry was all about what Revelation 21:4 said about death, sorrow, crying and pain.  6 The Outer Court ministry was where blood was shed for the sins people committed. 7 The New Heaven and Earth does not have the shedding of blood for sins but it does have fire and that is what we are save by nowadays in order to be in the image of Christ.  8 We go through the refining fire when we confess our sins. 9 We also go through the fire when others bring us into being accountable for our doings. 10 This fire is not a Hell Fire that people have been falsely taught where people get physically burned up roasted and toaster forever for not being a believer.

Revelation 11: 1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

11 The process of the refining fire can be seen in the type of the Temple’s outer courts with the Brazen Alter which animals were sacrificed by shedding their blood for the sins of the people of Israel. 12 The second place there was a process of the refining fire in type was within the Holy Place at the alter of Incense where the smoke which rose up representing the prayers of the saints.

13 Jesus fulfilled the sacrifices made in the outer courts and made them obsolete and in the new Age have been not measured according to the imagery in Revelation 11:2 while the rest of the Temple was to be measured as imagery for the New Heaven and Earth. 14 In the new age we live in, our prayers to God to forgive us when we sin, remain at the imagery of the Alter of Incense and are part of the process of refining fire whereas shedding of blood from the Brazen alter “preaching the Gospel” and water washing “ water baptism” does not.

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

15 The refining fire is a fulfillment of the Gospel which was preached and went to the whole world in the first century when they were being saved by the Gospel and water baptism as seen in the imagery of the Outer Courts. 16 In this new age mankind has been in since AD70 we are being saved by the refining fire which is God because God is a consuming fire and we are in Him as ministers of flames of fire. 17 The baptism of fire was not something that happened during so much with Pentecost, but it did happen at Pentecost with the outpour of the former rain with cloven tongues of fire and at the end that Age with the outpour of the latter rain being more so fire than anything else. 18 Offerings made by fire to the Lord foreshadowed in the Feast of First Fruits, Feast of Pentecost, Feast Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles were the things that were done that foreshadowed  the things made new and continues on for today is the Spiritual realm that are applied to our daily lives. 19 To say that it does not exist today would be saying that God does not exist but He is a consuming fire and He is the same today and forever. 20 So those things have a Spiritual meaning for us today after all things were made new.

1 Corinthians 3:12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Psalm 104:4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.

Hebrews 1:7

And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”

1Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Romans 12:20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
1 Corinthians 3:13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fireby hell.

1Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Jude 1:23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.


Revelation 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:

21  I don’t believe that we should be going around judging people and telling them to repent but we can be a flame of fire by the leading of the Holy Spirit and used as a vessel for God’s purpose to reveal truth that will set someone free.  22 Preaching the gospel came to an end once that full salvation came with the destruction of the city and Temple in AD70. 23 All thing were made new and the law of reaping and sowing while going through life’s journey as the process of the how refining fire does its job. 24 We should to some degree be letting others go through their journey and process as well and just let it be and leave things between to them and God go through it’s coarse of reaping and sowing. 25 The only things that carried on into this new Age we are in now are faith, hope and love but in a new setting which leaves everything in the old Age behind and forgotten. 26 We still need faith to believe in the things we hope for in God and those things that are in the Spiritual realm of Heaven that we benefit from in our faith, and according to 1 Corinthians 13 Faith, Hope and Love would remain after the perfect came.

Revelation 22:11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

27 What the refining fire is for the unrepentant, it is matched with the Laws of the Fruits of the Spirit, to everyone the refine fire would be having their faith tested by fire. 28 The refining fire is something we all are seasoned with while physically alive on Earth but if we do not get pulled out of it at the right time by confessing sin, then resting and abiding in Christ it continues on and becomes the Lake of Fire in the hereafter. 28 While Believers in the faith enter into an eternal bliss with no more refining, but resting in Christ forever in the Kingdom of Heaven in the hereafter. 29 I believe that the unrepentant Prodigal will be Spiritually tormented after their Spirit returns to God and are Judged, and then after a while they burn up to ashes and are gone forever. 30 I believe that everyones physical bodies return to the dust of the Earth and never gets resurrected like some people do but everyone gets a resurrected Spirited Beings body. 31 I believe there will be no physical torturing with fire in the hereafter to the unrepentant and non believers because it is only the Spirit that returns back to God while others believe that their physical bodies will. 32 The problem with that belief in physical bodies being resurrected from the grave is nowhere does it say in the scriptures that the physical body returns back to God, only the Spirit does.

34 The problem with the Universal Salvation theory is that they usually take their scriptures from passages that do not deal with eternal condemnation. 35 They usually take their scriptures where the context is something sweet and pleasant to hear instead of more serious things like treason with God. 36 If you are a Universalist I ask you to take a look at the scriptures that deal with the seriousness of eternal condemnation and look and see it there is any indication of a reconciliation with God in them like these scriptures here from Hebrews 6 & 10. 37 But James 5 & 1 John 5 see a difference in the degree of how serious sin can be. Hebrews 6 & 10 is obviously speaking of sin that leads to death.

Bring Back the Erring One

James 5:19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

1 John 5:15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

The Peril of Not Progressing

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

The Just Live by Faith

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

38 Then there is this sin which leaves no doubt as to there being no reconciliation with God at all. 39  It should make aware those who believe in Universalism that as wonderful as it could be to have all saved it just is not so according to the context where these scriptures are found. 40 They leave no hope at all for all to be saved from the Lake of Fire and you just can’t nullify these scriptures by pointing to other scriptures that are out of context.

The Unpardonable Sin

Mark 3:28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Conclusion about the Lake of Fire

41 I believe that both annihilation and conscious punishment could be true and lean toward annihilation as an end results after a time of conscious punishment or torment as what the scriptures say. 42 That time or torment maybe as long as it takes for the last person that they knew dies and has their eternal destiny determined by God after they face the judgment seat of Christ. 43 I believe that after that there is no reason I see for them to not face the second death and be as ashes under their feet according to:

Malachi 4:3 You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

44 I could be wrong here but to me it does not make sense that the unjust will ever have immortal life even in the Lake of Fire. 45 In order for them not to be immortal they must eventually face annihilation or in other words the second death. 46 Otherwise they would be tormented forever with immortality in the Lake of Fire in a Spiritual body. 

47 I agree that Malachi says that it was on that day God would do that and it made me consider that ashes under their feet could carry over into the Lake of Fire for the Age that was to come. 48 But with those unseen things in the Spiritual realm we will have to wait to see in the hereafter if that is the way it will be and not as something to make a solid stand on here in the present world we live in. 49 Somethings were not meant for us to know but okay to have a view of what could happen. 50 Malachi I believe was speaking figuratively of ashes under their feet which would mean that the unjust do not get to have a Spiritual body being tormented forever with immortal life. 51 The unjust’s Spiritual body would be mortal and subject toward annihilation I would assume.

52 Those views on mine for the hereafter are just assumptions that I have based on how I see the dots connecting in scripture. 53 No one here alive today knows anything for sure on the hereafter but we can have faith in the things we hope for to be true based in God’s word. 54 I know when it comes to the non believers it would be nice if they got a second chance in the hereafter but I just don’t see that. 55 However I do not see a physical tormenting with literal fire according to how many think hell is or is taught by some either.

Annihilation Vs Torment Forever

56 I believe eternal is forever without end for both Life and damnation. 57 Revelation 20:10 says the Devil, Beast and False Prophet are tormented forever so that means they never get annihilated. 58 Most who have the CBV also believe Satan was annihilated in AD70 as well as anyone who was casted into the Lake of Fire. 59 I believe Satan or the Devil and his Angels will never be annihilated. 60 I believe Satan was created as an Angel who fell from the Kingdom of Heaven to the Earth before Adam and Eve were created, then to the Lake of Fire in AD70. 61 Because Satan or the Devil and his Angels are a Spirited beings therefore not human He can not be annihilated but He can stay in the Lake of Fire forever and ever without end in Eternal Condemnation.


62 The same greek word for eternal (αἰώνιον) in Matt 25:46 is used for eternal damnation and eternal life.  63 If eternal does not mean forever, then that means believers will neither inherit “eternal” life “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. 64 I definitely believe in eternal life is forever.

65 This topic seems debatable because Revelation 14:11 says torment ascends forever with no rest day or night but I’m not sure if we will ever find the answer here while alive on Earth.

Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

66 When it comes to annihilation you have to consider what is being annihilated. 67 Is it just their works that become ashes under their feet or the whole Spiritual body, soul and Spirit. 68 Or would be just the soul while the Spiritual body and Spirit are left in eternal conscience torment forever. I would think so yet refining fire while alive on Earth would be to save the soul.


1 Corinthians 3:15If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.


Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

1 Corinthians 3:13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

I have yet to see an answer for complete annihilation so I put that one on the back burner until I do.

69 I’m not sure if this verses is only speaking of the Judgment in AD70 or would it apply after a time of conscience torment in the Lake of Fire.

Malachi 4:3 You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Conclusion:

70 The death Adam died was to die was both a Spiritual and a physical death. God provided a substitute animal the day Adam and Eve sinned and covered them with its skin. 71 This was an act of God’s grace and mercy. 72 Notice here that God did not say Adam would not die physical if he never sinned but it was wheresoever day it was he would die. 73 Many people believed this meant that Adam would never physical die but that is not what it says.

74 If Adam was to have never died if he never had sinned he would have never been able to enter Heaven where flesh and blood can not enter. 75 If Adam physical death at the end of his years was what God meant then that would also mean that in the resurrection Everyone would have had a physical body which is not how it happened. 76 Paul clearly says that the resurrected body was a Spiritual body in 1 Corinthians 15:44-45.

77 Therefore when we connect all the dots from scripture it boils down to this. In the hereafter everyone post AD70 is raised with a Spiritual body. 78 Some will be immortal and other will be mortal because after judgment the Spiritual body and soul can be destroyed but the Spirit or conscience that connects with God and returns to God at physical death is never destroyed. 79 So this is what was to be tormented forever in the Lake of Fire. With the soul destroyed repentance is impossible for what Universalist would say when the unjust repent after they are in the Lake of Fire and get a free card out of the Lake of Fire. 80 With the soul destroyed repentance is impossible for what Universalist would say when the unjust repent after they are in the Lake of Fire and get a free card out of the Lake of Fire. 82 The soul is the mind, will and the emotions therefore no emotional pain. 83 Annihilationalist say everything gets annihilated but both of these views are not seeing the big picture.


Genesis 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—of it ye shall not eat, but in whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die.


Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.


Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

84 I believe that is what happens in the hereafter to the unjust but before they physically die. 85  They would be in the refining fire similar to what the Prodigal Son experienced before he repented. 86 That would be a time of being Spiritually dead and dwelling in Outer Darkness while he was in that state of existence but once the Prodigal Son repented he was restored back to Spiritual life.