Jesus said in Mar 9:49 49 For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
– What does mean “salt in yourselves”? Why are people salted in the first place? In order that he would stay in faith. When a person is salted, his faith remains strong and evolves. However, you should not salt yourself too much; you might become a zealot).
Peter said 1 Pet 1:6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ-
1 Cor 3:13 says that “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is”.
– On the last day, the deeds of all men are examined; If there are shortcomings in them, God’s purifying fire burns the impurities. The Bible says that such a person is saved, but as if through fire. Revelation 20:13 emphasizes that “they were judged, each one according to his works”. – “Every man” means every person who is being judged. Not everybody, but almost everyone. A small number, the Saints of God, who have already been tested during their lives, and who were the participants of the first resurrection, will not be judged. But all the others: believers as those who believe in another god.
What about those who do not believe? One word is enough for the answer: pyr fire. Rev 21:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
STRONG’s Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, page 219, #4442, pyr; a primary word; “fire” (literally or figuratively). Pyr is used besides its ordinary natural significance:
(1) of the holiness of God, which consumes all that is inconsistent therewith, Heb. 10:27; 12:29; cf. Rev. 1:14; 2:18; 10:1; 15:2; 19:12;
(1a) similarly of the holy angels as His ministers, Heb. 1:7;
(1b) in Rev. 3:18 it is symbolic of that which tries the faith of saints, producing what will glorify the Lord;
(2) of the divine judgment, testing the deeds of believers, at the judgment seat of
(3) of the fire of divine judgment upon the rejecters of Christ, Matt. 3:11 (where a distinction is to be made between the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the “fire” of divine retribution; Acts 2:3 could not refer to baptism); Lk. 3:16.”
Pay particular attention to the interpretation in 3: The fire of God’s judgment for those who do not receive Christ. The fiery ‘tongues’ appearing in Act 2:3 are not the same as in the case of divine judgment: “They [the apostles at Pentecost] saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them”.
In hundreds of cases, the word pyr appears in the figurative, symbolic sense. How many people interpret almost everything, especially in the case of God’s punishment, literally! Symbolic fire can burn and produce pain just as literal.
Already Moses and Ezekiel gave instructions on salting of the offerings. Eze 43:24 And you shall bring them before Jehovah, and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them for a burnt offering to Jehovah.
– However, we are talking about salting every human being. Every! Mark said, “For everyone will be salted with fire…” (9:49) The salting of man cannot be concrete, it is clear. When the sacrificial offering is salted, salting gives the meat a taste and lastingness. However, the meat was sacrificed immediately after slaughter, so the salting of the meat sac is certainly not meant to preserve the meat. Salting with fire is to a large extent metaphor of fire as well as is cleansing with fire. Maybe together they describe bringing man worthy to God for eternal time.
When every human being has to be salted with fire, is not every person also refined in fire?
Rev 20:13 tells us how “The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works”. The Corinthian letter already said that everyone’s actions are being investigated with fire. So there should be nothing new here. In verse 15, however, it is said: “If anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” The end of this verse can be interpreted in different ways, but I tend to support the following interpretation: The Book of Life is considered for everyone, whether the name of the person is mentioned in the book. If it is, there is no need for further investigation – a man is saved outright. If there is no name in the Book of Life, man will have to receive the treatment of the cleansing fire in the ‘lake’.
It is important to understand that the fiery lake and all that is associated with it is a figurative expression, not literal. It does not mean that God’s punishment does not exist.
However, the punishment is true, but something other than linger on the fiery lake. God’s purifying fire can be very painful when one sees all his actions and their injustice and the pain they cause to other people.
Mar 9:49 For everyone will be salted with fire…
We have dealt with the fire of God, the cleansing fire, and the consuming fire. But what is salting with fire? Even Moses and Ezekiel gave instructions for the salting of offerings. Eze 43:24 And you shall bring them before Jehovah, and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them for a burnt offering to Jehovah. – Now, however, we talk about salting every human. Salting with fire is a commonly used figurative expression as well as cleansing fire or consuming fire. Perhaps they together describe how to make a human worthy of God for everlasting times.
Rev 20:13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades [i.e. the realm of the dead] gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to their works. – In the Corinthian letter, it was already stated that every act is being investigated by fire. So there should not be anything new here. In verse 15, however, it is said: “And who was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” This verse can be interpreted in different ways, but I support the next interpretation: In the Book of Life can be checked for everyone, whether the name of the human being is mentioned in the book. If so, no further investigation is needed – the man is saved. And he gets the reward he earns. If there is no name in the Book of Life, a man will have to receive the purging fire or fire in a ‘fiery lake’.
It is important to understand that the lake of fire and all that is related is a figurative expression, not literal. It does not mean that God’s punishment would not be. The punishment is true, but something other than languishing in fire. God’s cleansing fire may be very painful when a person sees all his deeds and their iniquity and the pain they cause to other people.
