ECCLESIASTES 12:14

Back in the RESURRECTION module, it was seen that all humans, when they die, continue in a conscious existence, awaiting their bodies' resurrection. It was also seen that after the resurrection of their bodies, all humans will have to stand judgment. The Lord has been gracious to tell us in the Scriptures that men will be judged, by what standards they will be judged, and what the verdicts and sentences will be. It is important to know how the Lord will judge humans; we do not want to construct our own view of how the Lord will judge us, only to be horrified on Judgment Day to find out that we were wrong and that we are condemned. If we are to prepare for this momentous day, we must prepare ourselves according to the facts rather than according to our preferences.

Hebrews 9:27 Here we learn that a man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment. This verse dispels the eastern idea of having many lives in which to find God. Each of us has just one life here on earth in which to accept or reject God's offer of forgiveness to us through Jesus Christ. After that, we will stand judgment.

His state during this period depends on whether or not he has accepted Jesus' finished work on the cross as the payment for his sins. (What follows is a brief summary of what has been covered in the RESURRECTION lesson.)

2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul writes to the Corinthians that for believers in Jesus Christ, to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

Luke 16:19-31. Notice verses 22-24, 26. There is a differentiation made between dead people while they await their bodies' resurrection and judgment. The beggar was taken to a place of comfort, the rich man to the place of torment. Again notice that once a person has died, there is no chance to cross over from torment to comfort, nor is there any fear of slipping from comfort to torment (verse 26). The only time that any person can pass from the living dead to one of the truly living is while his earthly body is alive. The only time that we can reason with our unsaved family members, friends, and acquaintances is while we are with them here on this earth. After that, their eternal future is to receive God's just wrath, not his mercy.

Revelation 20:13 After the sea and the grave give up the dead that are in them, then the dead are judged. Each man will stand before the Lord to be judged in his body. For believers, there bodies will be glorified bodies, imperishable. For unbelievers, there is no such blessed promise made. They will apparently receive again their reconstituted body as it was on this earth (cf. Galatians 6:7-8). The sick and the crippled will stand in their infirmities; the alcoholic and the drug addict will experience their cravings once more. There will be no comfort, nor rest, nor hope for the unbeliever after his death.

John 5:22-23 "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him."

Jesus will be doing all the judging on Judgment day. Anyone who does not honor the Son as God just as they honor the Father as God, does not honor the Father at all. Jews, Masons, 'Jehovah's Witnesses', people in 'The Way', and all others who claim to worship "God" without worshipping Jesus as God are in deadly trouble.

Acts 17:30-31 This passage teaches that God commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has set a day in which He will judge the world with justice by the one whom He has appointed. He has given proof as to who this one will be by raising Him from the dead. This is Jesus the Christ.

Matthew 25:31-46 Notice here in the beginning of the passage that Jesus mentions that when He comes with His angels and gathers the nations, He will sit on His throne. In the rest of the passage, "the King" does all the judgment and sentencing. Again, Jesus will do all judging.

Matthew 8:29 When Jesus cast demons (apostate angels) from the demoniac, they asked Him why He was tormenting them before the appointed time. Apparently, Jesus will even judge the angels and sentence them.

Matthew 7:21-23 Here is a warning given by Jesus to religious people: Jesus says that many will come to Him on Judgment Day and tell Him about all of the religious work that they have done in His name. Jesus comments, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers'" This is an especially good warning for those who call themselves Christians. Each man must know for sure that he is trusting only in what Jesus did on the cross to pay for sin to make him right with God. No work done before or after his conversion must be thought to purchase or merit for him any of his forgiveness from the Lord. The trust that Jesus commends here is that which results in that person doing the will of the Father in heaven. God's will is found objectively in the Scriptures, not in our emotional preferences or philosophical speculations.

Matthew 12:36 "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken."

Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

2 Corinthians 5:10-11 From the context it is clear that Paul is writing to Christians when he writes: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience."

Even Christians must stand before the Lord to receive what is due them for what they have done. It must be kept in mind, however, that the just condemnation that is due a Christian's sin has already been paid for by Christ on the cross. We will see more later on what will happen to Christians when they stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10, 12 ". . . we will all stand before God's judgment seat. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."

Have you ever felt relieved because no one else knows how rotten and sinful your thought life is? Consider this: on Judgment Day, you will have to stand before the Lord Himself and give account for such a corruption of your intellect.

John 5:28-29 Jesus teaches: "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."

Matthew 25:31-46 Again we see that men are judged on the basis of what they have done and on whether it is good or evil.

Revelation 20:12-13 "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books." Note verse 15 as well: "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Apparently, there are "books" in which the deeds of all men are recorded. There is the book of life, in which the names of the saved are recorded. Men are judged on the basis of their deeds as recorded in the "books." Men are sentenced, however, on the basis of whether or not their names are recorded in the book of life. It is important to note that the people who were thrown into the lake of fire were not so sentenced because "their deeds did not measure up," but because their "name was not found written in the book of life." There is no discrepancy here between salvation by grace and men being judged by their deeds. Let us review briefly how men are viewed by God to dispel any possible confusion here.

Romans 3:10-12 ". . . there is no one who does good, not even one."

Romans 8:1-14 There are two groups of people: the saved - those who live according to the Spirit; and the unsaved - who live according to the sinful nature. In verse 8 we read, "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

In both of these above passages, we see that men who are not saved cannot do good deeds in God's sight, for any man who does not have his sins covered by the blood of Christ cannot please God. As Jesus said in John 3:18, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." The sure destiny of any man who does not have faith in Jesus is that he will be condemned and sentenced to the lake of fire.

For Christians, how does the idea of judgment on the basis of deeds fit in with salvation by grace through faith? Let us look at two of the most powerful passages on salvation by grace through faith to see this.

Ephesians 2:8-10 While verses 8-9 make it abundantly clear that our works have nothing to do with earning any of our salvation, verse 10 states that the result of being saved is that God's workmanship within us changes the trend of our lives from evil to good. Again realize that even the good works done by a Christian do not contribute to his salvation, but they are the evidence that he has really been saved.

Titus 3:5,8 Again we are told that God did not save any of us on the basis of any righteous deed that we have done, but only according to His mercy. In the same context, in verse 8, Titus is exhorted to stress the graciousness and glory of our salvation so that "those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." The idea is repeated that our salvation is only according to God's generous mercy, yet as a result of the glory of our salvation, God's people will devote themselves, and not without effort, to good works.

Romans 4:4-8 We see here that a man who wants to work for what he would otherwise receive freely from the Lord will get only what he deserves, with no mercy. For the man who realizes the futility of working for what he gets from the Lord and who trusts God (throws himself on God's mercy, as God has revealed that He will extend mercy), his faith is credited to him as righteousness apart from works. The actual transaction between God and men through which men achieve right standing with God has no works involved in it. As a result of this transaction, God's work has its effect in them so that their lives are progressively made more clean and upright (see the SANCTIFICATION lesson notes).

God is pleased to take the filthy rags of a believer's righteous deeds (Isaiah 64:6) and cleanse them and make them into clean, white linen (Revelation 19:8). But we must be careful to remember that God has chosen to save us by grace (Romans 11:5-6) and undeserved mercy.

That God judges men on the basis of deeds (an evidence of faith) separates the true believers from the idle talkers:

Titus 1:16 "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good."

This is how the Lord looks at those who claim to be Christians, but in their lives they don't show it at all. This is a serious state to be in: it is a condition to be repented of, and left behind.

James 2:19 This whole passage, verses 14-26, shows the dynamic effect that saving faith will have in the life of the believer. In verse 19, it is said that even the demons believe that there is one God - and shudder. They fear the Lord, in a sense, but not in the Biblical sense. The difference between the mental attitude of accepting something as academically true, and trusting your own destiny to its being true, is shown in actions. Again, the actions flow from the kind of faith that saves. The actions are not part of procuring the salvation. An aphoristic way of saying this is:

FAITH ALONE SAVES, BUT THE FAITH THAT SAVES IS NOT ALONE.

We are not saved by works but we are saved to do good works.

Revelation 20:11-15 Christ's sentence on anyone whose name was not written in the book of life was that they were thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Those whose lives are characterized by a willful lingering in any of these things are not real believers. This does not apply to Christians who are struggling with these things and who are making progress in overcoming them.

Revelation 14:10-11 This passage describes the condemnation of anyone who receives the mark of the beast on his hand or forehead, or who worships the beast. "He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever."

In a large segment of fundamental Christianity, hell is defined as eternal separation from the Lord (from Isaiah 59:2 and 2 Thess. 1:9). Here we see that the torment of those in hell is in the presence of the Lamb. A contradiction? No, hell is not only separation from the mercy and blessings of the Lord, but hell is also the receiving of the wrath of God. This wrath is meted out in the

Matthew 25:41, 46 Jesus condemns the wicked to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The wicked "go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal and punished forever. Eternal life is not just eternal consciousness, because even the condemned are tormented forever. Eternal life is such a rich state of blessings that it can be said to be real life.

Revelation 21:4 "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Hebrews 10:17 "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

Matthew 25:21 "Well done, good and faithful servant] You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness]"

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Each believer, and particularly a pastor, will be judged for how well he has built up the church, which is on the foundation of Jesus Christ. If a man builds the church up with genuine converts, who then grow into well-trained, hearty Christians (gold, silver, precious stones), he will receive his reward. But if a man builds up the church with those who are not genuine believers (wood, hay, stubble), as his work is tested by the Judgment of the Lord (the consuming fire as in Heb. 12:29), it will be shown for what it is - worthless. That man will suffer loss, for what he has spent his life building was shown not to have been genuine fruit. Note that such a man will still be saved, but as one who has escaped through the flames. In other words, believers will be rewarded according to the genuine fruit they have borne in building up the church.

Is this passage a basis for a belief in purgatory? Notice in verse 15 that it is what the man has built up that is burned not the man himself.

Zechariah 3:1-5 Joshua stood before the Lord with Satan accusing him of wrongs he had done. But instead of listening, the LORD Himself rebuked Satan, and Joshua's filthy garments were removed from him and clean garments were put on him. Joshua the high priest was told, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." As with Joshua, the Lord removes our sin from us, and clothes us in righteousness because of our salvation.

Matthew 25:34 Here Jesus describes a believer's eternal inheritance as "the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him - but God has

revealed it to us by his Spirit." The full blown reality of heaven

is beyond what any man has ever known or thought, yet God has told us something of what it will be like. As says: the kingdom of God is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." We have already begun to enjoy these things because the Spirit lives in us.

Revelation 21:10-22:6 Here, the eternal home of the believer is described as the Holy City, Jerusalem. It is complete with brilliant and beautiful gems, gold, a river of the water of life, a tree of life, and most important: the Lord Himself is in the city, and its inhabitants shall see his face. The Lord Himself shall give that city its light, and what glorious light!!!

Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon] My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done."

Hebrews 12:28-29 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."

It is well worth the time invested to read and mull over the passages that describe the Holy City, since the result of our realization of what we will receive is thankfulness to the Lord and acceptable worship (service).

1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

This then is the basis for the Christian's motivation - he can see beyond the temporary and very imperfect pleasures of this life. He can see beyond the grave to the joys of eternal life and the rewards of faithful service. This is not "pie in the sky, by an' by," but a firm confidence based on the evidence of fulfilled prophecy and Jesus' resurrection.

He is not a fool, Who gives up what he cannot keep, To gain what he cannot lose.

By the final state is meant the state or condition of human beings following their resurrection and final judgment and continuing on unendingly.

In the Old Testament the final state of the unrighteous is difficult to distinguish from their intermediate state. In the case of the wicked, (SHEOL) would appear to include both states.

In the New Testament the final state of the unrighteous is represented mainly by the Greek word (GEHENNA ). It is used 12 times in the New Testament. The A.V. translates it nine times as "hell" and three times as "hell fire." The word GEHENNA is really a transliteration of the Aramaic word GEHINOM, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew GE-HINOM. GEHINOM is a localized word, and was given to the Wadi er-rababi on the south side of Jerusalem. Jeremiah had uttered threats of divine judgment over this valley in Jeremiah 7:32 and 19:6. In 7:32 he wrote: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place." And in 19:6 he wrote: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter."

Because of the judgment pronounced over the valley of Hinnom, the place came to be associated in apocryphal literature with the fire of the last judgment; thus GE-HINOM came to be associated with the eschatological fire of hell. Since the Greek word GEHENNA was a transliteration of a localized word used by the Jews, it is not found in classical Greek, nor in the Septuagint, nor in Josephus or Philo (these last two are a bit surprising).

All 12 uses of GEHENNA follow.

Matthew 5:21-22 - "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery GEHENNA ."

The emphasis here appears to be on punishment consequent to God's judgment of wickedness.

Matthew 5:29-30 - "And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into  GEHENNA. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for you whole body to go into GEHENNA."

Here GEHENNA is portrayed as a place for offenders against God, a place that receives the whole person, including his or her physical body.

Matthew 10:28 - "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in GEHENNA."

Here again, GEHENNA is a place in which both soul and body are destroyed, a place which is more to be avoided than physical death itself!

Matthew 18:9 - "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery GEHENNA." ( )

This is quite similar to Matthew 5:29. It is interesting to note that Jesus repeated His teachings at times.

Matthew 23:15, 33 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of GEHENNA as yourselves."

"You serpents, you brood of vipers, you shall you escape the sentence of GEHENNA?"

In these two uses GEHENNA appears to have two related meanings. On the one hand, GEHENNA is associated with wickedness, with hypocrisy, insincerity, moral perversity, and self-righteousness. On the other hand, GEHENNA is associated with condemnatory judgment. Connecting the two ideas, GEHENNA means condemnatory judgment upon the wicked.

Mark 9:43, 45, 47 - "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into GEHENNA, into the unquenchable fire." ( )

"And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into GEHENNA."

"And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into GEHENNA."

These references are quite similar to Matthew 5:29-30 and 18:9. However, they add one idea: that of the fire which never shall be quenched. In view of the fact that both soul and body and cast into GEHENNA, this addition introduces a genuine element of terror into the meaning of GEHENNA!

Luke 12:4-5 - "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast intoGEHENNA ; yes, I tell you, fear Him!"

This usage appears to be a parallel to Matthew 10:28.

James 3:6 - "And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by GEHENNA."

Here the moral wickedness and perversity associated with GEHENNA appear to be in view, with Satan as the agent who with that perversity sets the tongue on fire. Of course, the association of fire with GEHENNA has already been noticed.

Having noted all of the uses of GEHENNA in the New Testament, what are we able to conclude from a study of its usage in context? It would appear that we can say that GEHENNA is a place of condemnation and terrible punishment, into which the wicked, following the reunion of their physical bodies and disembodied souls/spirits, will be cast, there to remain forever.

In addition to these instances of the use of GEHENNA, there are some other Scriptures and terms that speak of the final state of the unrighteous. Let us note the following:

Revelation 20:11-15 - "And 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. And 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."

Those who previously died, whose souls/spirits are released from HADES to be reunited to their resurrected physical bodies, are brought before God's great white throne, their names are found to be missing from the pages of the book of life, they are judged on the basis of their works (which suggests degrees of punishment commensurate with the heinousness of their sins), and are cast into the lake of fire, thus experiencing a living death, called the second death.

Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46 - "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . . 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; . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment ( ), but the righteous into eternal life."

On the basis of their response to Christ and His message, demonstrated by their attitude toward and treatment of His disciples, the wicked are sent into eternal punishment, characterized by eternal fire. Again, this is connected with God's throne of judgment.

Matthew 8:11-12 - "And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; ( ) in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." ( ) Expressions similar to these may be found in Matthew 22:13 and 25:30. But what do they imply?

"Outer darkness" seems to imply at least two things. First, the wicked will be cast outside, away from the center of blessedness and bliss, away from comfort and peace, away from joy and delight, far away from the realm where God manifests His presence in blessing and gracious favor and approval. Second, "darkness" implies the absence of light: the absence of righteousness and goodness and the presence of wickedness and evil. In this realm of outer darkness the wicked will weep in frustration and anger, and will clench and gnash and grind their teeth in remorse and pain and fury. What a horrible destiny!

Matthew 13:40-42 - "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; ( ) in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The place of punishment is here compared to a furnace of fire (or fiery furnace) in which counterfeit wheat is burned up. That his metaphor is to be taken seriously is shown by the mention of weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place on the part of the people represented by the figure of false wheat.

Matthew 13:47-50 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; ( ) there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Jude 4, 12-13 - "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. . . . These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wander-ing stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever."

This reference to the "blackness of darkness" ( ) suggests that the wicked will be a vast distance from the realm where all is light and beauty and joy. Think of it! Never a ray of sunshine (or even reflected sunshine) will ever pierce that gloom or illuminate the dark corners of that horrific place; the blackness of stygian darkness will forever fill that God-forsaken hell!

Revelation 14:9-11 - "And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his head, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he 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; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

Here we are told that those who receive the mark of this personage and worship him and his image will be "tormented with fire and sulphur" ( ). And the smoke of this just torment is said to go up day and night with rest or respite for ever and ever! Such a horrific scene of human suffering numbs out minds and stuns our sensibilities -- we are struck dumb as we contemplate it!

Revelation 19:20 - "And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which be deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." ( )

Notice that the two "beasts" of Revelation 13 (the first beast and his prophet) are thrown alive ( ) into the lake of fire and sulphur. This takes place before the thousand-year period of Revelation 20 begins.

Revelation 20:10 - "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

After the thousand-year period, the devil is thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur. How the spirit substance of Satan is affected by fire and sulphur is not explained, but the fact that he is tormented in that lake is clearly stated.

Notice that a thousand years after the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire, they are still being tormented. They have not been annihilated in the sense that they have ceased to exist. In fact, their torment (as well as that of Satan) is said to continue day and night forever and ever!

Revelation 20:14-15 - "And 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."

All who never repented of their sins and trusted in Christ and His atonement, whose names were never inscribed in the book of life, are reconstituted as souls/spirits united to bodies, and judged on the basis of their works, and are thrown alive into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:7-8 - "He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murders and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Those who overcome are those who are faithful to God in the warfare against sin and Satan. Their faith in Jesus Christ is the instrument God uses to make them alive and to give them the victory (I John 5:4-5). But those who fear the opinion of their fellow human beings or the malice of Satan more than God, who refuse to turn away from their wicked forms of sin and to trust in Christ, their destiny is to be thrown into the lake that burns with fire and sulphur.

The final state of the unrighteous is described as a lake and a furnace of everlasting fire and sulphur that will never be quenched, and as a gloomy blackness of outer darkness, into which both the soul/spirit and the body will be cast, in which there will be torment and punishment, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and no rest day or night for an extended period of time. Disclosure (editor's note)-- An unending hell is one among a couple of viewpoints among committed Christians. An alternate viewpoint is that the unrighteous will be punished for a period (proportional to the extent of their evil) and then they will cease to exist.

The final state of the righteous refers to their state or condition following their resurrection and judgment, and continuing on unendingly.

One problem with the final state of the righteous is peculiar to the Premillennial view. It concerns the time of the beginning of the eternal state relative to the occurrence of the Resurrection. In Premillennialism the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked occur at different times in the eschaton. This problem is further heightened in a Pretribulational Premillennial view, which sees a phase of the Resurrection of the righteous occurring at the Rapture, another phase at Christ's Return at the end of the Tribulation (for the Tribulation saints), and perhaps another phase for any who become believers during the Millennium. In this view the final state of the righteous, since it begins with the Resurrection and Judgment, beings at different times for the various groups of believers.

But aside from this peculiarity, the final state of all believers following the inauguration of the new heavens and new earth is described mainly in the book of Revelation. There are of course other Scriptures which speak of this state, such as John 14:2-3, in which our Lord speaks of "dwelling places" in His Father's house; and II Peter 3:13, in which Peter says that we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. But the bulk of the material is found in the last two chapters of Revelation.

In Revelation 21 and 22 John sees new heavens and a new earth. He also sees the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from the sky to the earth. In the holy city are located the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of the water of life, and the tree of life. Heaven will thus be in earth. The holy city is enormous (1500 miles square); has streets, high walls, twelve gates (which are never closed); and constantly lit with the glory of God. The saved of the earth go in and out and serve Him. He will dwell with them, be their God, and wipe away all tears from their eyes. In that eternal state there will be no more sin, no more crying or sorrowing , no more pain, and no more death. There will be only holiness and light and deep joy and life everlasting!

The Lord Jesus will be there, the saints (great and small) of all ages will be there, and our dear loved ones who have gone on before will be there. And we will see God's face, and serve Him for ever and ever in ways that will please Him. We will be completely delivered from the very presence of sin and totally conformed to the likeness of Christ. What a glorious prospect for every child of God!