What Verse or Passage of scripture do you find difficult to interpret?

The Grand Finale of God’s Judgment is at The Great White Throne of Judgment when ALL the dead appear and God still searches for their names to see if they are listed in the Book of Life…

Why is God still searching for their names?

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Revelation 20:11-15&version=KJV

Yes. Those that were disobedient while the Ark was preparing in the patience of God. They did not take advantage of that preaching from Noah and repent and so they were killed and reserved in prison of hell until the final judgment. They were preached to by Christ in the sense that Noah was inspired by the Spirit of Christ which was in him. They were preached to while they were still alive. Peter is saying that those who are in prison now were preached to by Noah before they were in that prison they are in now.

But not that Jesus went there to preach while he was in the grave.

This seems like what Peter was getting at based on the rest of his sayings. He is the one who said that holy men of God spake by the Spirit of Christ which was in them. He also spoke a lot about God judging those before the flood and reserving for judgment to come.

It seems that it was just a clumsy way to say it or translate it, and people have tripped over it and created a theory about Jesus going to preach to people in hell while he was in the grave. The problem is that hardly anyone ever has Jesus preaching to only those who were disobedient while the ark was preparing but instead they theorize Jesus preaching to all sorts of other folks that Peter does not mention. And with no scriptural support to theorize this stuff. They just make it up. And I have a problem with that.

Why do they look? Probably like what you expect in a courtroom judgment scene. A declaration that their works reveal they deserve this judgment and the fact that they rejected their opportunities to repent and be added to the book of life is made loud and clear that they missed that grace that was offered. They now have no excuse and no one should feel sorry for them on that day. They deserve the Lake of Fire.

It is like the legal proceedings of the heavenly courtroom where everything is done by the book and no one can claim ignorance.

We know that those in hell are not in the book of life or they would not go to hell. The place of torment that Jesus said we should fear God to avoid. This hell is delivered up and judged and it's people are cast into the Lake of Fire, but so is the place as it will no longer be needed after this. The people and the place. The people are judged found not to be in the book of Life even though we know that they wouldn't be. Why go through looking for them? Because it is a legal procedure declaring the righteous judgment of God and leaving all without excuse. Probably.

What are your thoughts?

Old Testament Survey and New Testament Survey books are very helpful in this regard. I used to think negative about them because of the name. I was ignorant and thought they were just giving people brief information about each book of the bible. Boy was I wrong. They bridge that gap of cultural context and help to reveal what was in the minds of the people at that time and where to find supportive information in ancient literature in extant. Now I have several of these books in my library and plan to read them all several times over.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY One given the keys of Hell/Hades. There is a great chasm between Heaven and Hell that ONLY Jesus Christ can cross.. Abraham cannot, neither could Lazarus….

Jesus Christ is the ONLY Savior… He is Lord of the Living and the Dead both physically and spiritually alive and dead.

God is able to save even to the uttermost! Hallelujah! Praise His Holy Name! Amen.

Oftentimes we think of God as a hard Judge but, He does delight in mercy and really desires to pardon and forgive….

It’s the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance…even in Hell.

Nothing is FINAL till The Great White Throne of Judgment. How great is God’s mercy and how looooong is God’s long suffering…

Yeah, here's an example: four living creatures that look like lion, calf, eagle and a man. It's easy to find the same living creatures in Ezekiel. 1 following the holy spirit wherever it goes, but what the hell are they? You still don't know. The secret is in Numbers 2 - the twelve tribes of Israel camped by their banners when they were in the wilderness, Judah, Reuben, Ephraim and Dan were settled at the east, south, west and north sides respectively, and two other tribes were assigned to each one, so three tribes at each side. Right in the middle was the tabernacle of meeting, God's holy temple. What's not explicitly recorded in the Scripture is that, what was on those banners were particular symbols, Judah's was a lion - hence Jesus's title, "Lion of Judah"; Reuben's a man, Ephraim's an ox, and Dan's an eagle. In the wilderness they all followed the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night as their guide. So those four living creatures were a symbolic picture of God's people. This is from a messianic fellowship. You'll never hear stuffs like that from any regular Christian sources.

From 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 6:13

glass eye? Is there a story behind that?

Which one looks like a glass eye to you? The one on our left?

I would guess the dark one because it doesn't appear to be looking at me. LOL

That sounds like good stuff.

Well if it is true we should be able to find evidence of it in ancient Rabbinical literature. Then we have to date it. I don't know about this but it sounds good.

I would want to know when was the first time it was recorded that these were the banners? If it showed up in a teaching in 800 AD I have to put it all on a shelf and say it is quite questionable. If it shows up in Rabbinical writings prior to the writing of the New Testament and was common knowledge at that time that John wrote Revelation then it is of great worth and I would consider it very helpful if one could establish a reasonable case that this was known in the first century.

As to who those living creatures represent in Rev 4 and 5 they actually sing a song and tell us. In the KJV the words they use when they sing the song with the elders tell us who they are and who the elders are.

They sing "you have redeemed us by your blood out of every tribe tongue people and nation. Which means they are not only Jewish redeemed but all kinds of races redeemed by the blood. They sing that song along with the 24 elders. Therefore we know that they are not just Jews and neither are the 24 elders. People miss it all the time. It's right there. That's who they are.

My theory...
The 4 living creatures are a representation of what redeemed saints will inherit as it relates to their proximity to the throne and the song they are seen singing at first which is "holy holy holy.. " that song of the throne room seraphim of Isaiah 6. The reason to show them as the 4 faced creatures with the wings and singing the song of Is 6 is to remind us of those seraphim that were known by the Jews as the only ones allowed in the presence of God, man could not endure it. But here they are now. Taking the place of what was once reserved for holy seraphim and not getting burned up in the glory. Singing the song of the holy seraphim "holy, holy. holy" Look what we have inherited!

They are not seraphim because they sing the song that they are redeemed by the blood out of every people so that is who they are and we have it on good authority that is who they are. Because they told us that.

And the 24 elders are representative of the 24 elders that governed over the priesthood out of 1 Chron 24. They are representative of how the redeemed saints inherit the positions and proximity to the throne of God and step into offices once reserved for holy seraphim and they represent how we enter into offices and administrations of duties like that of the priesthood only we are reigning crowned priests on thrones. These 4 living creatures and the 24 elders are all the same people (not just 4 and 24 but multitudes) because they both sing the same lyrics at the same time. They are shown to John this way to represent a bigger picture about our inheritance in symbolic representation.

So the information about the banners would be interesting if it can be validated as having been known before John wrote this, but it is not necessary to understand the text. What they sang about who they are and knowing the scriptures about Is 6 and 1 Chron 24 would be sufficient to get the revelation that I am presenting.

But it is Revelation so the chance of getting anyone to agree with me is slim. I did not make this up. I first read it from Joseph A Seiss in his Apocalypse: Lectures in Revelation a verse by verse commentary about 800 pages written in the 1800s I believe. Maybe 1700s I forget.

Well, I'm not sure about Reuben's and Dan's banners, but Judah's and Joseph's are pretty reliable. Their symbols can be found in the Torah sections about the fates of the 12 tribes at the end of Genesis and Deuteronomy:

Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows own, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? (Gen 49:9)

His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox. (Deut 33:17)

And if it's in the Torah, the foundation of the whole bible, then that must be ancient teaching way before the NT, and that was definitely common knowledge at the time when sabbath service at the synagogue was the only education for them. In the shema prayer, it was specifically instructed to teach all the children of Israel about the Torah, and that was exactly what John and other disciples had learned and what they were familiar with. Also, before the temple was burned to the ground in 70AD, they had reliable track records of their family trees, and they still had their tribal identities, it would be reasonable to assume that they also kept the symbols of their tribes like the symbols of all those houses in Game of Throne.

1 Peter 4:

6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

The word 'dead' in this verse is referring to the spiritually dead and not the physically dead.

I think that the context would lead one to consider having been killed for their faith suffering from the judgments of the wicked men who put them to death. I could be wrong but that is what comes to my mine when I first read it.

Keep reading it - and, pay very close attention to the last part of the verse, after the last comma.

This verse is talking about people who are physically alive.

Yes, I would think there were specific banners related to their tribes that were recognizable.

But does the scripture record what they used on their banners? If we use Jacobs blessings and guess that is not authoritative to say that is what was on these banners.

If the first descriptions of what they might have looked like shows up in a Midrash in the 3rd century and it is used by Messianic churches as background information and then used to teach an interpretation in Revelation I would reject that sort of thing as this is an example of one of the problems I have with these Hebrew Roots movement congregations of gentiles trying to interpret scriptures with Midrash teachings and calling it cultural background.

It is not cultural background if it from the 3rd century.

I do value the background information and cultural context if we can establish it as reliable from credible sources.

I will keep my eyes open for more information about these banners in the camp of Israel. Very interesting.

Yeah, here's an example: four living creatures that look like lion, calf, eagle and a man. It's easy to find the same living creatures in Ezekiel. 1 following the holy spirit wherever it goes, but what the hell are they? You still don't know. The secret is in Numbers 2 - the twelve tribes of Israel camped by their banners when they were in the wilderness, Judah, Reuben, Ephraim and Dan were settled at the east, south, west and north sides respectively, and two other tribes were assigned to each one, so three tribes at each side. Right in the middle was the tabernacle of meeting, God's holy temple. What's not explicitly recorded in the Scripture is that, what was on those banners were particular symbols, Judah's was a lion - hence Jesus's title, "Lion of Judah"; Reuben's a man, Ephraim's an ox, and Dan's an eagle. In the wilderness they all followed the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night as their guide. So those four living creatures were a symbolic picture of God's people. This is from a messianic fellowship. You'll never hear stuffs like that from any regular Christian sources.

This is a actually a good verse to give to to the soul sleeper teachers. They are dead bodily but they live according to God in the spirit.

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

The Ezekiel 1 scripture shows that the four living creatures are associated with the Lord and are a picture of the Lord in his people : "And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. " Also, "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD " The gospel, which is the voice of the Almighty, does include four elements: Jesus as king (lion of Judah), Jesus as a man - "behold the man", Jesus as a powerful miracle worker - "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain" , and Jesus as transcendent far above all principalities - "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named" . These elements are represented in the four gospels (as elsewhere in the Bible), and a lion, man, ox and eagle are good representations of this.

When the Bible uses the term creatures, it is best to think of true believers, who are his creation. Particularly when we learn that the creatures are living, it means that they are spiritually alive in Christ.

Personally, I find the four winds of the gospel, mentioned in Ezekiel : "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” and in Rev 7: "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth " to be pictures of the gospel holding these four aspects (lion, man, ox, and eagle - king, suffering servant, strong deliverer, and far above all principality)