Because of your deeds and your extreme pride, you who are impure honor what is unclean, you will become as smoke, a fire ablaze, ignited by My wrath. We are to understand fury, forgetfulness, anger, and contrition in God as expressions that represent His relationship with us, not that these emotions operate as they do within humanity. Even wrath, which stems from a desire for vengeance, is not ascribed to God as it is to humans—its origin lies in our own vices rather than in the divine will. We draw wrath upon ourselves on the Day of Judgment, on the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, that our thorns, worms, and tares, which we have produced instead of the seed of God, along with the wood, hay, and stubble built upon Paul’s foundation, may be consumed by a discerning fire. Concerning this eternal flame, we read in the song of Moses: Fire ignited by My fury will burn to the depths; it shall lay waste the earth and all its riches, and it will topple the foundations of the mountains, and My arrows will strike them down. The meaning of this testimony is that God’s fire eternally burns, punishing sinners and relentlessly pursuing them into hell. Such was the rich man adorned in purple who suffered in everlasting flames, while Lazarus found rest in Abraham's bosom. Likewise, the earth, symbolizing our flesh, and its desires, will be consumed by this same fire, along with those foundations of pride that rebel against God’s will. Even the mountains will crumble under God’s arrows, humbled through discipline, vanishing as mountains. Behold, it is written before Me. For all our sins are exposed before God’s sight and inscribed in the books mentioned in Daniel, where it states that thrones are set and books are opened. It is also said in another passage that they should be recorded in the earth. And He who previously declared, I will be silent, I will be at ease, I will remain silent, says the Lord, yet He will render to everyone according to what they have done in their innermost selves, in the secret chambers of their hearts, causing them to be tormented by their own consciences. The prophet Hosea also foretold this, stating that their leaders will fall by the sword for failing to discipline their words. This signifies their decline in their innermost beings, deriving from each person’s heart. Something akin is written in Proverbs: There are consequences for the wicked in their own bosoms. This inner core, due to the primacy of the soul, is also referred to as the head: I will visit their ways upon their heads. And in another location it states: His affliction shall return to his head, and his wrongdoing shall fall upon his crown. Yet there is also a virtuous core which delights in a clear conscience, as expressed by the Psalmist: and my prayer shall return to my inmost being. The term in this context, resembling affection and love, is echoed when addressed to a husband: The wife that is in your bosom, and to a parent: they shall carry your sons in their bosom. Thus, all those who bear Abraham as their father and who share in his virtues find rest in his embrace. The iniquities and sins recompensed unto us by our ancestors do not solely pertain to those from whom our physical forms descended. Even Moses, after declaring that the sins of the fathers would be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who rejected God, clarified his point by stating that no one shall die for the sins of another; each shall face death for their own. Likewise, Ezekiel affirms this sentiment, declaring that the proverb will no longer be uttered: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Instead, only the one who partakes will face consequences, and the soul that sins shall perish, bearing its own weight of guilt. Therefore, we must interpret these principles as they pertain, whether for good or ill, to those with whom each person aligns upon departing this life. Israel offered sacrifices in the hills and mountains when he erected the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. In doing so, he derided God regarding His commandments, forsaking His rituals, and worshiping idols: the deeds of such will be repaid within them. Similarly, every heretic who scorns the simplicity of the church offers sacrifices on the mountains and derides God by disregarding His commandments.
THEOSIS