The Revelation of Jesus Christ
“Judgment and Hell’s Fire” Rev 20: 11-15
Hell is not Satan’s domain; it is his eternal prison. This is not his headquarters; it is his confinement. It is not his home; it is his place of torment. Following the description of the final disposition of Satan, John recorded a grim scene. Hebrews solemnly states.
… it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment… Hebrews 9:27
There are many who never faced judgment on this earth. They seemed to get away with their wickedness. Even though many may escape the earthly courts, NO ONE will escape the heavenly court. God is a righteous judge. All must face judgment for righteous deeds neglected and sinful deeds committed. It is obvious from this Scripture that death does not end life.
There is judgment after death. It is not judgment and then death. It is death and after death judgment.
Scripture reveals two judgments; one for those who embrace Christ and another for those who don’t. The one who embraces Jesus and His work on their behalf will not face penalty for their sin. We anticipate purification and reward for faithful service. There is temporary judgment in this age for sin but there is no eternal judgment in the next. For the one who rejects Jesus, there is temporary judgment in this age AND everlasting judgment in the next.
John described what that final courtroom scene and judgment will look like.
4. The Great White Throne Judgment 20:11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it,
This is a white throne indicating judgment and rule of absolute purity and perfection.It is most likely Jesus sitting on the throne. As we have seen before, the Father commits all judgment to the Son.
"For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. John 5:22-23
The next phrase is somewhat problematic.
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
What is meant by earth and heaven? Usually it is a reference to the entire universe; either material or immaterial or both. Some see this as a reference to the creations of the new heaven and new earth as mentioned in the next chapter. If that is true, then there would be no “sea” left to give up their dead as mentioned in this same passage. Why would earth and heaven flea away from Jesus their Creator? God promised creation redemption and that it would be set free into the freedom and glory of the sons of God. This sounds more like annihilation. I tend to think that this is a reference to the inhabitants of earth and heaven.
It would make perfect sense in this context of facing judgment. John simply comments that there is no place to hide from this judge by humans or angels. There was no hiding place from final judgment.
The next phrase then details the extent to which the universe gives them over for judgment.
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;
First, we are dealing with those who have died from every walk of life. No one escapes.
Whether prominent or impotent, all will personally stand and give account before Jesus.
Those who have died previously, which at this point is all unbelievers, will be raised with a physical body in order to physically stand before Jesus.
Those who died at sea will not escape. Those put in graves will not escape. Those cremated will not escape. There will be a final resurrection.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
John 5:25-29
Let’s clarify some terms used here. “Hades” is a term often confused with the term hell.
The term that fits our normal view of fiery hell is actually “Gehenna” which pictured the perpetually burning garbage dump outside the city which had been the place where babies were sacrificed during the time of Ahab and Manasseh. “Hades” is similar to the Hebrew term “Sheol” which referred to the abode of the dead both wicked and righteous.
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.
Notice this is also the final demise of death when it gets tossed into the lake of fire. No more death!!! The final enemy will be forever conquered. No more sting. No more victory.
Since sin is not confined, death is illuminated.
Two sets of books will be consulted at this sentencing hearing.
The citizenship record (Book of life). Are you a registered citizen of God’s kingdom?
The rap sheet (book of deeds). What did you do with your life while on earth?
The book of life determines the destination.
Those whose names are written in the book of life will enjoy eternal bliss. Those whose names are NOT written will be thrown into the lake of fire. It is as simple as that.
How do you get on the citizenship rolls?
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…John 1:12
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1 John 5:11-12
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36
It is what we do with Jesus Christ that determines our eternal destination. Failure to embrace the only sufficient remedy for our sin against God will result in judgment based on our own deeds and actions which God says fall woefully short of the required qualifications for relationship with Him. It is only Jesus who can qualify us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Col 1
Embracing Jesus must grow beyond a fire insurance policy we put in the drawer until it is needed. It involves a voluntary relationship of endearment and love.
The book of life determines destination.
The books of deeds determine the degree of punishment.
Several Scriptures seem to indicate that there may be degrees of punishment.
Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city (that refuses to embrace the disciples). Matthew 10:15
"And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. Luke 12:47-48
Every thought, word, deed, attitude, motive we have ever done, good or bad is recorded.
Nothing is secret or hidden.
But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:36-37
Some think they will take their chances. Many have a woefully inadequate view of the gravity of their sin against God and a highly inflated view of their own works.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Romans 3 is clear that all are under judgment; none righteous no not ONE! All continually fall short of God’s standard. Hebrews describes those rejecting Jesus as “trampling the Son of God under foot”, “regarding Him as unclean”, insulting the Spirit of grace. Heb 10:26-31
Such treatment of Jesus deserves severe punishment. All sin is a rebellious act against God at its core. All sin rejects God’s authority over us. Sin includes not only deeds that practice what He tells us not to do but also include failure to practice the things He instructs us to practice.
Matt 25:41 indicate that individuals will be judged for a failure to minister to Jesus by ministering to the needy. We tend to forget how awful such rebellion is the Creator.
AW Tozer puts it this way…
Uninformed and unreasoning sympathy tends to take sides with the fallen and rebellious race of men against the Most High God whose name is Holy. That He gave men life and intelligence, that He has been patient with them while they defied His laws, killed His only begotten Son and scorned His dying love, is overlooked completely. That men use their gift of free will to reject God, choose iniquity and with wide open eyes persistently work to prepare themselves for hell, seems not to matter to some people. In a welter of uncontrollable emotion they throw themselves on the side of God's enemies. This is unbelief masquerading as compassion. The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two.
Some are counting on the fact that they have not done any morally heinous deeds.
Apart from the fact that in our hearts all of us have broken the ten core divine instructions, we also fail to organize our lives around the things that matter most to God. Many might “do good” to their neighbor but ignore God. They give to the Red Cross disaster relief but withhold what is due God in tithes and offerings. People race through an exciting novel but leave God’s words untouched.
The books of deeds will expose every deed done or deserted. Judgment will be based on reality not intentions. Judgment will be drawn from the true record not the perceived record.
All will become open and clear. The unbeliever will give account for every deed before the one who can’t be fooled. What you do with Jesus is the most significant decision you will ever make. It will literally determine your eternal destiny.
Life in the Son or life in the Lake of Fire?
What will life be like in Hell?
This is a most difficult Biblical doctrine.
"The idea of hell was born of revenge and brutality on the one side, and cowardice on the other.... I have no respect for any human being who believes in it—I dislike this doctrine, I hate it, I despise it, I defy this doctrine.... This doctrine of hell is infamous beyond all power to express." Colonel Robert Ingersoll
If it were left up to us in our finite perception, we would do away with such a doctrine.
Even though there is not a great deal of detail about hell found in the Scriptures, it exists nonetheless and so we must embrace it; especially since most of the detail comes from Jesus Himself in the Gospel record. He had more to say about hell than heaven. Denial of a reality does not do away with a reality. To deny that there was a horrendous earthquake in Haiti does not change that fact it happened. Hell is a literal place. Jesus warned about the one who could cast both the soul and the body in Hades. In order for the body to go there it must be a literal place.
It is a place originally prepared for the devil and his sorry soldiers.
"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; Matthew 25:41
We can think about hell in terms of what will be lost as well as what will be experienced.
All the pleasures of the imagination are at an end. There is no grandeur in the infernal regions; there is nothing beautiful in those dark abodes; no light but that of livid flames. And nothing new, but one unvaried scene of horror upon horror! There is no music but that of groans and shrieks; of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; of curses and blasphemies against God, or cutting reproaches of one another. Nor is there anything to gratify the sense of honour: No; they are the heirs of shame and everlasting contempt. A Treasury of Great Preaching. Wesley
Goodness, love, mercy, warmth of relationship, beauty of a sunset, the pleasure travel, variety, color, creativity, working, living. – all absent from hell.
Here are some basic facts we can draw from the Scriptures we do have.
IT SEEMS TO BE UNDER THE EARTH
so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Philippians 2:10
UNDYING WORM AND UNQUENCHABLE FIRE AND UNBEARABLE SULFUR
"If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. Mark 9:42-48
This is an interesting picture.
Normally the destructive parasites following death bring an end to suffering and existence.
Normally the funeral fire brings an end to torment. Both would normally indicate destruction and annihilation and elimination. Yet in hell, neither brings relief. There will be an everlasting conscious sense of destruction and deterioration and loss. A horrifying eating away and decay without relief. A terrifying burning fire without end. An excruciating consciousness of loss will be forever present.
Unquenchable fire is mentioned most often in relation to hell. It may be a literal fire although fire would probably not affect spirit beings. The figurative use of fire may refer to the literal pain inflicted by fire. The pain of a severe burn is indescribable. Its pain rages sharp and deep and unrelenting. It represents sweltering heat, difficult breathing, and energy zapping heat.
This fire does not stop. Revelation 14:11 mentions the fact that there is no rest. No break. No relief – EVER!
"And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." Revelation 14:11
Along with fire is the description of sulfur which burns perpetually and smells horribly.
DARKNESS
"I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 8:11-12
…wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 1:13
The pain of darkness is lack of color, loneliness, isolation, lack of purpose or direction, sense of loss, lack of insight or truth, lack of information, disorientation, and fear. People go crazy or die in isolation and darkness. God designed us for community. There will be no satisfying community in hell.
BOTTOMLESS PIT
and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Revelation 20:3
How many have had dreams for falling forever into a bottomless pit? It indicates inescapability. There is no way to climb out of the hole. It is an overwhelming sense of being trapped.
EVERLASTING ABHORRENCE AND TORMENT
"Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Daniel 12:2
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:12
The contempt here is a word for reproach, shame rebuke. It will be an everlasting sense of regret and rebuke. The sound of music will be replaced with the sound of weeping. The pleasures of life on earth will be replaced with agony of torment to the point of gnashing teeth. This torment last forever. There is no break. There is no end. The same word is used for everlasting heaven as is for everlasting hell. It literally means forever!
SEPARATION FROM GOD AND PEOPLE
"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; Matthew 25:41
For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
The glory of God and all He is will be hidden from those in hell. The part of God’s nature in man will be absent. They will only be left with the attributes of their father the devil.
ETERNAL THIRST AND LONGING
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus Jesus painted a pretty dismal picture. The rich man experienced deep regret. He carried remembrance and consciousness of what he had on earth and now lost. He felt continual torment and agony without relief. There was no possibility of “parole” or escape. No dreams, no plans for the future, no connection to true life. His mind raged with concern for his family not yet dead but headed to this dreadful place. He felt gut wrenching longing, hunger and thirst without relief.
CONSCIOUSNESS OF LOSS
"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
Luke 16:25
The mind, will and emotion will continue to exist in a physical body in the most awful conditions imaginable.
You begin to see hell’s nature as the exact opposite of all that is of God. He offers hope; hell writhes with despair. He gives peace; hell screams with pain. He wipes the tears from our eyes; hell is nothing but shrieks and weeping. He gives us His rest, water, food, and fulfillment; hell offers only thirst and hunger. He is light; hell is "blackest darkness" (Jude 13). Hell ultimately is complete and total deprivation of everything God created that people need, want, and enjoy. Thus, hell is nothing more than existing in a world totally bereft of God. The person in torment will have only what his own mind and powers can create. Discipleship Journal
To refuse God is to condemn your soul to hell.
There are only two kinds of people in the end:
those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,'
and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.' -CS Lewis-
Why is hell necessary?
Without a hell, there could be no eternal evil free existence. Without a separation of those who have a heart for God from those who don’t, we would only have a continuation of what we have now. Without a complete separation of the wicked from the righteous, God could not and would not want, to dwell among us. The Millennium will prove that a perfect environment and compelled compliance are not God’s plan for eternal community. He wants a people who embrace Him with their whole heart. He wants fellowship with those who enjoy fellowship with Him. If people refuse relationship with Him now, why would they want relationship with Him later? His justice requires that he deal with sin. His justice must exact a penalty for violation of His standard. Either we accept Jesus’ payment for our sin or we stand before Him later.
RESPONSE
• Embrace a greater urgency to choose Jesus today.
• Absolutely surrender to the sovereignty of God.
It is God’s word. It is God’s plan. Even if we are uncomfortable with its gravity we must purpose to accept it. Are we more concerned about a loved one who refuses to embrace Jesus or the one they rejected? Are we angrier at a God who enforces justice and holiness or the one who violates it? One day we will see with an eternal perspective.
• Embrace a greater passion for the lost
Paul expressed a powerful passion for his fellow Jews Rom 9:2-3
Jesus had a passion for the people of Jerusalem who refused to come to Him. Matt 23:37
It is not God’s desired will that any perish in hell.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
But some will.
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15
Don’t be one of them!!!!
Confess Jesus today -- Rom 10:8-13!!
