JESUS promises: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness [that which is right, good and true]: for they [and no others] shall be filled"; "ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"; "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free [from sin, error, ignorance, superstition and the conflicting, and confusing man-made theories, creeds and religions]" Matt. 5:6; 7:7, 8; Luke 11:9, 10; John 8:32).
WHERE WILL WE FIND THE TRUTH?
There is an intelligent Creator, who gave man the capacity to understand a Truth-revelation. To find the Truth, the pure "wisdom that is from above," we must seek to God, "THE FATHER OF LIGHTS," who gives liberally to all, and upbraids not (James 1:5, 17; 3:17)—and not believe "THE FATHER OF LIES," "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world [and is worshiped more and more, even openly]," who as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," "the god of this world," who "is transformed into an angel of light," who "hath blinded the minds of them which believe not [the Word of God]," who "was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (Rev. 12:9; 1 Pet. 5:8; 2 Cor. 4:4; 11:14; John 8:44; 14:30; 16:11).
Therefore in seeking Divine Truth, none should turn to Satan-inspired and human theories, creeds and traditions—no matter how popular—which claim to be Truth but are not, but to the Bible (much internal and external evidence proves that it is God's Word, the Truth), of which Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth" (John 17:17; 6:63).
The Holy Scriptures can make us "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ"; for "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
To gain the Truth from the Bible, one needs honesty, humility and meekness, including willingness to discard preconceived ideas; one must "let God be true," though it make "every man a liar"; "if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them"; thus one's faith will stand, not in man's wisdom, but in God's power (Rom. 3:4; Isa. 8:20; 1 Cor. 2:5).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS told Adam: "In the day ['one day is with the Lord as a thousand years'—2 Pet. 3:8; Psa. 90:4—Adam died at 930] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die [margin, dying thou shalt die]" (Gen. 2:17)—but THE FATHER OF LIES openly contradicted God by telling Eve his first great, monumental lie, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS in sentencing Adam told him that at death he would "return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that Adam at death did not "return" at all to any former condition, but, still alive, went into an entirely new condition.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS has executed His death sentence upon mankind everywhere, as history proves—but THE FATHER OF LIES "deceived" Eve into believing that she, Adam and his race would live on and be "as gods [angels]" (Gen. 3:5; 1 Tim. 2 : 14).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS gave this truth plainly, and in its light told Christians through the Apostle Paul: "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3)—but THE FATHER OF LIES deceives many into believing that Adam, a human creature, never begotten of the Spirit, somehow died a spiritual death, and that he and all his race at death live on (in heaven, eternal torture, or some intermediate conscious state) and so need not wait for the resurrection day.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says: "That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast … all go unto one place [neither to heaven, nor to eternal torment]; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Eccles. 3:19, 20; Psa. 49:14, margin)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that after death most men are worse off than the beast—that at death the beast ceases to live and is therefore free from suffering, whereas mankind do not really die but live on—nearly all of them in eternal torment.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that "man became a living soul [Heb., nephesh, sentient being]," that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," that "none can keep alive his own soul" (Gen. 2:7; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Psa. 22:29; 30:3; 78:50)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that the human soul is not the sentient being, the person himself, but something infinitesimal, indivisible and invisible inside of him, which of necessity must exist forever.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life [death's antithesis] through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches the very opposite, claiming that the wages of sin is not death, but eternal life in torment, and that the wicked do not get their eternal life as a gift from God through Christ, but because of an immortal soul inside of them that God Himself cannot destroy; thus he contradicts also Jesus' statement that God "is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [not hades but gehenna is the Greek word used here, which refers to the Second Death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation]" (Matt. 10:28).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that "the dead know not anything"; "his sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them"; "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish"; "for in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Eccles. 9:5, 10; Job 14:21; Psa. 146:4; 6:5; 115:17)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches the very opposite, and—often through able teachers and artists—portrays dead parents still alive in the spirit world, guiding their little children on earth.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS referred to Jesus as the One "who [aside from Himself] only hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16), and He exhorted the Church to "seek for glory, honour and immortality," which He would "render" to them in the First Resurrection (and not before), in "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," here in the great Time of Trouble in the end of the Gospel Age, when as Christ's Bride they are made "like him" and "put on immortality" (Rom. 2:5-7; Rev. 20:6; Dan. 12:1-3; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:53, 54)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that the human soul is inherently immortal, that it is foolish to seek for and put on that which you already possess and have had ever since you came into existence.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that Jesus was "the firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5); that only those begotten of the Spirit by His Word (John 3:5; 1 Cor. 4:15; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23, 25) and later born of the Spirit from the dead — resurrected — as Jesus was, could enter the heavenly, spiritual, invisible phase of God's Kingdom; and therefore before Jesus' First Advent "no man" had ascended "up to heaven" (John 3:13); that at Pentecost, David had "not ascended into the heavens" (Acts 2:29-34); and that even the Apostles were to wait to be crowned with immortal life, their heavenly reward, until Jesus' Second Advent (Rev. 2:10; 1 Cor. 15:48-54; Col. 3:4; 1 Thes. 4:13-17; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5, 13; 5:4; John 14:2, 3; 1 John 3:2), when, at the resurrection of the just," in the Thousand-year Judgment Day (Acts 17:31; 2 Pet. 3:7, 8), Christ rewards all His people, including the prophets of old (Matt. 16:27; Luke 14:14; Rev. 11:18; 20:12; 22:12)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that none have to wait, but that at death all are judged and obtain life eternal either in heaven or in eternal torment in the fiery creedal hell adapted from heathen religions by Papacy and adopted by most Protestants.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that—in view of the resurrection—those who die in Adam are not extinct, "for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth"; for Christ "gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time"; and therefore God "will have all men to be saved [from Adamic condemnation and death] and to come unto the knowledge of the truth," and then to have one full and complete opportunity to gain everlasting life as a gift from Him (comparatively few have had an opportunity yet), accordingly, "concerning them which are asleep" in the unconscious sleep of death, "in the dust of the earth," we "sorrow not, even as others which have no hope"; for they "shall awake"—"for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (John 5:28, 29; 1 Tim. 2:4-6; 1 Thes. 4:13-17; Dan. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15:22)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that "ye shall not surely die"—you may appear to die, but it is only your body that goes to sleep in death and you (the soul) are quite awake, more alive than before, and the resurrection means only that your fleshly body, which you have not really needed at all, will be reunited with and fettered to you.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS promises that—after mankind by experience has learned the terrible results of sin—He in His wisdom, justice, love and power will purge the universe of all the incorrigibly wicked—"all the wicked will he destroy"; "they shall be as though they had not been"; "the wicked shall not be," "shall perish … consume away" (Psa. 145:20; 37:10, 20; Obad. 1:16); they "go away into everlasting punishment [Greek, kolasin, cutting off: not eternal torture, but everlasting cutting off from life, namely, everlasting death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation—'the second death,' for 'the wages of sin is death'—Rom. 6:23]: but [by contrast] the righteous into life eternal" (Matt. 25:46)—but THE FATHER OF LIES denies and discounts God's holy character attributes and blasphemes Him, portraying Him as vengeful and diabolical, fiendishly torturing eternally billions of His human creatures; and Satan has mistranslated, misapplied and misinterpreted the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek words hades and gehenna, giving them a false meaning, namely, a place where the majority of mankind are in torment.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS uses fire to symbolize destruction—"even as Sodom and Gomorrha [in their total destruction] … are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7)—not that the fire burns eternally, but that it destroyed them forever, and so represents destruction, even as it, the worm and hell do in Isa. 66:24 and Mark 9:43-48 (hell here is not hades, the unconscious sleep in Adamic death, but gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, a refuse-destroying place) and as the lake of fire and brimstone does in Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8 (for it "is [represents] the second death"—not life!)—but THE FATHER OF LIES, to support his original lie, teaches that fire symbolizes — not destruction but — preservation, and that the lake of fire is not the second death, but the second life, eternal existence in unspeakable torture by fireproof devils, etc.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS declares that "everlasting fire" (destruction) is "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41); that he will be "cast into the lake of fire ['the second death'—utter, complete and eternal annihilation] … and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [basanizo, the Greek word here for 'tormented,' means primarily to test; compare Isa. 14:16; 66:24, which show that the righteous will eternally 'consider,' 'go forth' and 'look upon,' that is, mentally consider, test, examine, the course of the incorrigibly wicked, and as a result of that testing or examination conclude that because they were linked so inseparably with evil, they rightly deserved annihilation]" (Rev. 20:10); that Christ will "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14); that Satan, who as Lucifer (light-bearer) was "in Eden the garden of God"—"perfect … till iniquity was found in thee," will be totally and eternally annihilated—"never shalt thou be any more" (Isa. 14:12-20; Ezek. 28:11-19)—but THE FATHER OF LIES obviously dislikes prophecies of his eventual destruction, so he deceives (1) some (Christian Scientists, etc.) into denying his personality (claiming he is merely an evil principle), (2) others (Universalists, etc.) into believing that "the lake of fire" represents purgation and preservation—that all will finally be saved to eternal life, and (3) still others into denying God's existence and/or the Bible's reliability and Divine inspiration.
Thus, eventually God, THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, who "is love" (1 John 4:8), will have a clean universe. With all the wicked annihilated, evil will forever become inactive—"all iniquity shall stop her mouth" (Psa. 107:42). Then every creature in heaven and on earth will join in the great eternal anthem of praise to God and Christ, saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Rev. 5:13, 14).
WHERE WILL WE FIND THE TRUTH?
There is an intelligent Creator, who gave man the capacity to understand a Truth-revelation. To find the Truth, the pure "wisdom that is from above," we must seek to God, "THE FATHER OF LIGHTS," who gives liberally to all, and upbraids not (James 1:5, 17; 3:17)—and not believe "THE FATHER OF LIES," "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world [and is worshiped more and more, even openly]," who as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," "the god of this world," who "is transformed into an angel of light," who "hath blinded the minds of them which believe not [the Word of God]," who "was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (Rev. 12:9; 1 Pet. 5:8; 2 Cor. 4:4; 11:14; John 8:44; 14:30; 16:11).
Therefore in seeking Divine Truth, none should turn to Satan-inspired and human theories, creeds and traditions—no matter how popular—which claim to be Truth but are not, but to the Bible (much internal and external evidence proves that it is God's Word, the Truth), of which Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth" (John 17:17; 6:63).
The Holy Scriptures can make us "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ"; for "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
To gain the Truth from the Bible, one needs honesty, humility and meekness, including willingness to discard preconceived ideas; one must "let God be true," though it make "every man a liar"; "if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them"; thus one's faith will stand, not in man's wisdom, but in God's power (Rom. 3:4; Isa. 8:20; 1 Cor. 2:5).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS vs. THE FATHER OF LIES
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS told Adam: "In the day ['one day is with the Lord as a thousand years'—2 Pet. 3:8; Psa. 90:4—Adam died at 930] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die [margin, dying thou shalt die]" (Gen. 2:17)—but THE FATHER OF LIES openly contradicted God by telling Eve his first great, monumental lie, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS in sentencing Adam told him that at death he would "return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that Adam at death did not "return" at all to any former condition, but, still alive, went into an entirely new condition.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS has executed His death sentence upon mankind everywhere, as history proves—but THE FATHER OF LIES "deceived" Eve into believing that she, Adam and his race would live on and be "as gods [angels]" (Gen. 3:5; 1 Tim. 2 : 14).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS gave this truth plainly, and in its light told Christians through the Apostle Paul: "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3)—but THE FATHER OF LIES deceives many into believing that Adam, a human creature, never begotten of the Spirit, somehow died a spiritual death, and that he and all his race at death live on (in heaven, eternal torture, or some intermediate conscious state) and so need not wait for the resurrection day.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says: "That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast … all go unto one place [neither to heaven, nor to eternal torment]; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Eccles. 3:19, 20; Psa. 49:14, margin)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that after death most men are worse off than the beast—that at death the beast ceases to live and is therefore free from suffering, whereas mankind do not really die but live on—nearly all of them in eternal torment.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that "man became a living soul [Heb., nephesh, sentient being]," that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," that "none can keep alive his own soul" (Gen. 2:7; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Psa. 22:29; 30:3; 78:50)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that the human soul is not the sentient being, the person himself, but something infinitesimal, indivisible and invisible inside of him, which of necessity must exist forever.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life [death's antithesis] through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches the very opposite, claiming that the wages of sin is not death, but eternal life in torment, and that the wicked do not get their eternal life as a gift from God through Christ, but because of an immortal soul inside of them that God Himself cannot destroy; thus he contradicts also Jesus' statement that God "is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [not hades but gehenna is the Greek word used here, which refers to the Second Death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation]" (Matt. 10:28).
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that "the dead know not anything"; "his sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them"; "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish"; "for in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Eccles. 9:5, 10; Job 14:21; Psa. 146:4; 6:5; 115:17)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches the very opposite, and—often through able teachers and artists—portrays dead parents still alive in the spirit world, guiding their little children on earth.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS referred to Jesus as the One "who [aside from Himself] only hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16), and He exhorted the Church to "seek for glory, honour and immortality," which He would "render" to them in the First Resurrection (and not before), in "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," here in the great Time of Trouble in the end of the Gospel Age, when as Christ's Bride they are made "like him" and "put on immortality" (Rom. 2:5-7; Rev. 20:6; Dan. 12:1-3; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:53, 54)—but THE FATHER OF LIES claims that the human soul is inherently immortal, that it is foolish to seek for and put on that which you already possess and have had ever since you came into existence.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that Jesus was "the firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5); that only those begotten of the Spirit by His Word (John 3:5; 1 Cor. 4:15; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23, 25) and later born of the Spirit from the dead — resurrected — as Jesus was, could enter the heavenly, spiritual, invisible phase of God's Kingdom; and therefore before Jesus' First Advent "no man" had ascended "up to heaven" (John 3:13); that at Pentecost, David had "not ascended into the heavens" (Acts 2:29-34); and that even the Apostles were to wait to be crowned with immortal life, their heavenly reward, until Jesus' Second Advent (Rev. 2:10; 1 Cor. 15:48-54; Col. 3:4; 1 Thes. 4:13-17; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5, 13; 5:4; John 14:2, 3; 1 John 3:2), when, at the resurrection of the just," in the Thousand-year Judgment Day (Acts 17:31; 2 Pet. 3:7, 8), Christ rewards all His people, including the prophets of old (Matt. 16:27; Luke 14:14; Rev. 11:18; 20:12; 22:12)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that none have to wait, but that at death all are judged and obtain life eternal either in heaven or in eternal torment in the fiery creedal hell adapted from heathen religions by Papacy and adopted by most Protestants.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS says that—in view of the resurrection—those who die in Adam are not extinct, "for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth"; for Christ "gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time"; and therefore God "will have all men to be saved [from Adamic condemnation and death] and to come unto the knowledge of the truth," and then to have one full and complete opportunity to gain everlasting life as a gift from Him (comparatively few have had an opportunity yet), accordingly, "concerning them which are asleep" in the unconscious sleep of death, "in the dust of the earth," we "sorrow not, even as others which have no hope"; for they "shall awake"—"for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (John 5:28, 29; 1 Tim. 2:4-6; 1 Thes. 4:13-17; Dan. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15:22)—but THE FATHER OF LIES teaches that "ye shall not surely die"—you may appear to die, but it is only your body that goes to sleep in death and you (the soul) are quite awake, more alive than before, and the resurrection means only that your fleshly body, which you have not really needed at all, will be reunited with and fettered to you.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS promises that—after mankind by experience has learned the terrible results of sin—He in His wisdom, justice, love and power will purge the universe of all the incorrigibly wicked—"all the wicked will he destroy"; "they shall be as though they had not been"; "the wicked shall not be," "shall perish … consume away" (Psa. 145:20; 37:10, 20; Obad. 1:16); they "go away into everlasting punishment [Greek, kolasin, cutting off: not eternal torture, but everlasting cutting off from life, namely, everlasting death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation—'the second death,' for 'the wages of sin is death'—Rom. 6:23]: but [by contrast] the righteous into life eternal" (Matt. 25:46)—but THE FATHER OF LIES denies and discounts God's holy character attributes and blasphemes Him, portraying Him as vengeful and diabolical, fiendishly torturing eternally billions of His human creatures; and Satan has mistranslated, misapplied and misinterpreted the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek words hades and gehenna, giving them a false meaning, namely, a place where the majority of mankind are in torment.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS uses fire to symbolize destruction—"even as Sodom and Gomorrha [in their total destruction] … are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7)—not that the fire burns eternally, but that it destroyed them forever, and so represents destruction, even as it, the worm and hell do in Isa. 66:24 and Mark 9:43-48 (hell here is not hades, the unconscious sleep in Adamic death, but gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, a refuse-destroying place) and as the lake of fire and brimstone does in Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8 (for it "is [represents] the second death"—not life!)—but THE FATHER OF LIES, to support his original lie, teaches that fire symbolizes — not destruction but — preservation, and that the lake of fire is not the second death, but the second life, eternal existence in unspeakable torture by fireproof devils, etc.
THE FATHER OF LIGHTS declares that "everlasting fire" (destruction) is "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41); that he will be "cast into the lake of fire ['the second death'—utter, complete and eternal annihilation] … and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [basanizo, the Greek word here for 'tormented,' means primarily to test; compare Isa. 14:16; 66:24, which show that the righteous will eternally 'consider,' 'go forth' and 'look upon,' that is, mentally consider, test, examine, the course of the incorrigibly wicked, and as a result of that testing or examination conclude that because they were linked so inseparably with evil, they rightly deserved annihilation]" (Rev. 20:10); that Christ will "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14); that Satan, who as Lucifer (light-bearer) was "in Eden the garden of God"—"perfect … till iniquity was found in thee," will be totally and eternally annihilated—"never shalt thou be any more" (Isa. 14:12-20; Ezek. 28:11-19)—but THE FATHER OF LIES obviously dislikes prophecies of his eventual destruction, so he deceives (1) some (Christian Scientists, etc.) into denying his personality (claiming he is merely an evil principle), (2) others (Universalists, etc.) into believing that "the lake of fire" represents purgation and preservation—that all will finally be saved to eternal life, and (3) still others into denying God's existence and/or the Bible's reliability and Divine inspiration.
Thus, eventually God, THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, who "is love" (1 John 4:8), will have a clean universe. With all the wicked annihilated, evil will forever become inactive—"all iniquity shall stop her mouth" (Psa. 107:42). Then every creature in heaven and on earth will join in the great eternal anthem of praise to God and Christ, saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Rev. 5:13, 14).
