In the previous study, Part 1 of this series, we found in Matthew 13 that according to Jesus, those who practice lawlessness will be cast into a literal furnace of fire. The book of Revelation, which is a revelation of Jesus Christ given by Jesus Himself (Revelation 1:1), re-echoes the same words of Jesus, with further details on what this end of the age actually means: “When the thousand years are completed… Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:7-15). Here in Revelation, we are told that those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire at God’s white throne judgement, which takes place after Jesus’ millennial reign on the earth. This agrees with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 13, that it is at the end of the age (Greek “aion”: also means Messianic period) that those who practice lawlessness will be cast into a literal furnace, i.e. the lake of fire. The Bible describes this lake of fire as a place which burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 14:9-11), and those who will end up there will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night (Revelation 14:9-11). From Jesus’ own words, we know that this is very literal.
This is a sobering thought which should cause us to discipline ourselves daily, lest we become castaways (1 Corinthians 9:27). Let us not become darkened in our understanding and presume on the kindness of God to our own peril. For we are told not to only behold the kindness of God, but also His severity. And in His Severity, He cuts off those who willingly choose to practice sin without seeing the need to repent: Romans 11:20-22 – “Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off (Romans 11:20-22). Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Since sinners (except the anti-Christ and his false prophet who are thrown into the lake fire before the white throne judgment – Rev 19:20- Rev 20:1-3) will be cast into the lake of fire at the end of Jesus’ millennial reign, what happens to those who die before then? According to the Bible they go to a place called hell. This is a prison where the spirits of sinners are kept, and are tormented with pain and literal fire until the time comes when they are cast into the lake of fire. We shall address this in-depth in the next post.
-Kwadwo Omari, PhD
July 31, 2018.