Two Pictures

I wrote this as part of a discussion on facebook today, and I thought maybe it'd be good to update this blog. It's been a while.

Philippians 2:10-11 (CEV)....everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, "Jesus Christ is Lord!"

Two pictures come to mind:

In one, Jesus is standing behind an unrepentant sinner. Jesus whacks him in the back of the knees with a 2x4, and says, "Take that! I tried to warn you, you wouldn't listen, and now you're gonna pay." Jesus beats the sinner to his knees, and He forces him to confess that He is God. Then, all his "Christian" friends and family, along with all the Saints, look on and cheer as he goes away into the "eternal" fire.

In another scene, Jesus is standing beside the unrepentant sinner, and says to him, "I tried to reach out you, and you wouldn't listen." The sinner, who didn't "believe in" Jesus in his lifetime, is now face-to-face with God and sees Jesus standing right next to him. He realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, and he will suffer the consequences of his sins. He is tossed into the darkness outside the gates of God's holy city. There he weeps. He wails. He blames everyone but himself. He is confronted with all the sins he has ever committed. He experiences the "hell" of being fully exposed to all the evil that has been perpetrated by mankind, and it is unbearable. He knows he is unworthy of entering the gates of Zion, yet he longs to drink from the River of Life. The pain of KNOWING is excruciating. At some point, he wishes that he had "believed" and falls to his knees in despair. On his knees, he begs for forgiveness. He calls out to Jesus and says, "Jesus, I know. I know you are Lord. I'm sorry I didn't believe you." And Jesus, having the keys to the "hell" the sinner is imprisoned in, says to him, "Come..."


Which picture fits the verses?