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Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190023A
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00:01 If the lake of fire is the second death,
00:05 how can it burn forever? 00:32 The subject of hell fire has been one that has had a 00:36 great deal of controversy. 00:38 People say, "How is it that a God of love 00:43 could burn people for a little tiny life here 00:48 forever and ever and ever, into eternity with no end? 00:54 How could that be? 00:56 It doesn't match this God of love we talk about. 01:00 How could Jesus do something like that? 01:04 It doesn't add up." 01:07 Well, let's go to the Scripture today and see 01:10 if it really says that. 01:13 So if you have your Bibles, if you're nearby and you have one, 01:17 maybe on your phone or something, 01:19 I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 12. 01:23 Now we're going to go back to the book of Revelation, 01:25 of course, in just a little bit because there's where 01:29 some of the language gets people very interested and confused. 01:34 And you can see why when you ready it sometimes. 01:37 So I want to go to Hebrews 12, 01:40 and we're looking at verses 28 and 29. 01:44 Now the apostle Paul is speaking here, and he's saying, 01:48 "For consider Him who endured such hostility 01:51 from sinners against Himself..." 01:53 So there's no question that Jesus has endured 01:56 a lot of hostility. 01:58 In fact, sin has caused a lot of hostility among human beings, 02:01 and trouble and sorrow and heartache. 02:04 "Therefore," he goes on to say, "since we are receiving 02:08 a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, 02:13 by which we may serve God acceptably 02:17 with reverence and godly fear." 02:20 Now the next thing I want you to notice about this, 02:24 first of all he's saying that Jesus 02:25 has received a lot of the hostility. 02:27 I suppose, if anybody deserves eternal punishment, 02:31 and we'll talk about that eternal business in a moment, 02:35 would be those who really created great problems for Jesus 02:38 who is so kind and so good. 02:40 I mean, you think about the crucifixion, 02:42 you think about Caiaphas and Annas and the Sanhedrin. 02:47 Think about all the mocking, and you think about all He 02:49 went through at the hand of sinners. 02:53 I mean, He could have some serious concerns 02:57 about the way He was treated. 02:58 If you want to put it that way. 03:00 But let's listen to this. 03:01 It says we should serve God with reverence and godly fear. 03:03 Godly fear. 03:05 Fear of a fire that burns forever? 03:09 No, no. Listen to what he says. 03:12 "...with reverence and godly fear. 03:14 For our God," says the apostle Paul, "is a consuming fire." 03:21 What does the word, "consume," mean? 03:26 Well, if you consume a nice Mexican meal, for instance, 03:32 at some nice restaurant, or Italian restaurant, 03:35 or something, what's left when you get done consuming it? 03:41 It's gone. 03:43 There's an old saying that says, 03:44 "You can't have you cake and eat it too." 03:46 You can't consume the cake and still have the cake. 03:52 God is a consuming fire. 03:56 So in other words, it burns things up. 04:00 He destroys things. Puts an end to things. 04:04 The apostle Paul borrows that expression, "a consuming fire," 04:09 "Our God is a consuming fire," he borrows that from Moses. 04:12 And he gets it from Deuteronomy 9:2-3 04:17 where the apostle, not the apostle Paul, but Moses says, 04:21 "...of whom you have heard it said," talking about God, 04:26 'Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?' 04:31 Therefore understand today that the LORD your God 04:36 is He who goes over before you..." 04:39 Now these were the giants, Anak, and he was saying, 04:42 "Your God is going to go before you." 04:46 He's going to fight against these people 04:49 as they were entering Israel. 04:50 Notice what he says, "He who goes over before you 04:54 as a consuming fire. 04:58 He will destroy them and bring them down before you." 05:04 So when God destroyed the enemies of Israel, 05:08 He destroyed them as a consuming fire. 05:11 And they weren't still living when He was done 05:14 with the consuming fire part. 05:17 So our God is a consuming fire. 05:20 Now that word again, "consuming," in the Greek 05:24 means to utterly destroy. 05:27 Utterly. 05:29 Were the giants that stood up against Israel, 05:31 were they utterly destroyed? 05:33 Of course they were. 05:34 How about their other enemies? 05:35 The Canaanites, were they utterly destroyed? 05:37 What about the people in Jericho? 05:39 Were they utterly destroyed? Of course they were? 05:43 Well at the end of the 1000 years we're brought face to face 05:46 with a great white throne judgment. 05:50 Now the last time, of course, we talked about the 1000 years. 05:53 And I'm going to review that a little bit 05:56 here so that we still have the setting, 05:59 because context is always important. 06:02 You've got to look at that context. 06:04 It's crucial. 06:06 So we want to look at that context again. 06:08 So I'm going to review that 1000 years. 06:11 Well that 1000 years, sometimes called the millennium, 06:13 which simply means 1000 years, that 1000 years starts 06:18 when Jesus comes back in glory. 06:21 Now the judgment that's going on in heaven right now 06:25 decides between the wheat and the tares. 06:27 But this white throne judgment judges the wicked 06:32 and gives them their sentence. 06:34 And that's what the judgment in heaven is about 06:37 during the 1000 years, is the righteous are the jury. 06:42 So this coming of the Lord Jesus starts this beginning. 06:47 And we have, of course, the saints, the resurrected saints 06:52 are resurrected, they're with Jesus in heaven. 06:54 And the righteous living are changed 06:57 and you get that new body. 06:59 Isn't that going to be a wonderful thing? 07:00 And we won't be old age. 07:01 Positive. That's going to be marvelous. 07:03 So we'll all be eternally young. 07:06 And all the righteous from all the ages 07:08 are going to be resurrected. 07:10 And the living righteous caught up with the Lord, 07:13 to the Lord to meet Him in the air. 07:15 The wicked who are alive on the earth, 07:17 the Bible says they're going to slain by the 07:19 brightness of His coming. 07:21 And of course, you've got that sober picture 07:24 in Revelation 19. 07:26 So during the 1000 years there is this judgment of the saints, 07:29 as I mentioned it earlier. 07:31 Deciding the severity of the punishment for the wicked. 07:34 And also getting all their questions answered 07:36 about God's justice. 07:38 They're going to have all the information when that's done. 07:40 Now at the end of the 1000 years, just doing this review, 07:45 at the end of the 1000 years, Revelation 20:7-8 says this, 07:50 "Now when the thousand years have expired, 07:52 Satan will be released from his prison 07:55 and will go out to deceive the nations 07:58 which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, 08:02 to gather them together to battle, 08:04 whose number is as the sand of the sea." 08:08 Now God and Magog was, I think, Ezekiel's code word 08:12 for Babylon. 08:14 And so the whole wicked dead that are resurrected 08:18 are kind of described as Babylon, 08:21 even though they come from all the ages. 08:24 And they're gathered now. 08:26 Now they're like the sand of the sea. 08:29 And the devil is back in business, if you please. 08:32 He's going to deceive them. 08:33 He's got somebody to deceive now. 08:35 Of course the question is, 08:37 what is he going to deceive them about? 08:39 Well first of all, they're coming from all over the earth. 08:42 And he has to deceive them into gathering together. 08:46 Now what are they going to gather together for? 08:49 Well, because the camp of the saints has come down. 08:53 The New Jerusalem has come down. 08:55 And it's there now on the earth. 08:58 Because the great white throne judgment, 09:00 everybody stand before God's great white throne; 09:03 the righteous and the wicked. 09:05 The nice thing about the righteous is 09:07 they've already been cleared. 09:09 They're covered with the blood of Christ. 09:11 So when the great white throne Judge looks at them, 09:14 all He sees is the Lord Jesus. 09:17 It's that wonderful? 09:18 He sees that beautiful, powerful character, 09:21 that righteous character of the Lord Jesus. 09:25 But with the wicked who are not covered, 09:27 that's another story. 09:29 So at the end of this 1000 years, 09:31 Satan is released from his prison because 09:33 the wicked dead now are resurrected. 09:37 And as soon as he's got a crowd, he starts deceiving. 09:40 And he gathers them from all over the earth. 09:42 Now the Bible says in Revelation 20:9, 09:47 "And they went up on the breadth of the earth 09:49 and surrounded the camp of the saints, the beloved city." 09:55 The beloved city. The camp of the saints. 09:58 That's the New Jerusalem. 10:00 And John says in chapter 21 verse 2, 10:03 "I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem..." 10:08 Not old Babylon. Hallelujah. 10:11 The New Jerusalem. 10:13 Let me tell you this. 10:14 That there's nothing in Babylon, with all of its cities 10:17 and its electricity, and all of its comforts, 10:19 there's nothing that compares to the New Jerusalem. 10:22 We're going to talk about that in another session. 10:24 "I saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, 10:29 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 10:32 Now question and answer, where is now the New Jerusalem? 10:36 The New Jerusalem is on the earth. 10:39 Don't lose that. 10:40 The New Jerusalem is on the earth. 10:46 Keep that in mind. 10:47 So it comes down from heaven, and now it's sitting here. 10:52 And the wicked dead have been resurrected. 10:54 Satan has deceived them, that they can take the city. 10:59 Now obviously he would like to have the New Jerusalem. 11:01 Now he doesn't want the unselfish people who are 11:04 full of God's unselfish love who are in the city 11:07 and protected by its walls and its mighty gates. 11:11 He doesn't want them, but he wants the city. 11:15 So they're not going to blow this up with an atom bomb. 11:19 No, they want to take the city, they want to kill all the 11:23 righteous, and live in it themselves. 11:26 And Satan convinces them that he's their leader 11:30 and that he can lead them into it. 11:31 Now I don't know what kind of deception he uses, 11:34 but he uses some kind of fancy footwork, I suppose. 11:38 He's cunning. And they buy into it. 11:41 Well, they've been buying into Satan's lies all their life. 11:45 And they buy into it. 11:47 But let's go on with the story. 11:51 Revelation 20:9-10, and let's see what happens. 11:55 And the Bible says, "And fire came down from God 11:59 out of heaven and devoured them." 12:04 What? 12:06 Devoured them. 12:08 "Devoured," means to consume. 12:11 It goes back to that part that our God is a consuming fire. 12:15 Just like He destroyed the enemies of ancient Israel. 12:19 The consuming fire. 12:21 He devoured them. 12:23 They're over, they're finished, as it were. 12:27 He goes on to say, "And the devil who deceived them 12:31 was cast into the lake of fire 12:33 where the beast and the false prophet are." 12:36 The lake of fire is actually right there on the earth. 12:40 It's right there. 12:43 "And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." 12:48 Now that's the little phrase, and there's about three of 12:51 those phrases in the Scripture, particularly in the book 12:53 of Revelation, that describe this fire. 12:58 They'll be tormented day and night, 12:59 and their smoke goes up forever and ever. 13:03 So it sounds contradictory. 13:05 It sounds contradictory. 13:07 But let's finish the story before we get into that. 13:09 The next few verses give us a picture 13:12 of the final judgment. 13:14 Revelation 20:11-15 13:17 "Then I saw the great white throne and Him who sat on it, 13:22 from whose face heaven and earth fled away. 13:26 And there was no place found for them." 13:29 In other words, God didn't have any place 13:31 in His universe for the resurrected wicked. 13:34 They're now going to be judged. 13:36 There's not going to be any place for them. 13:40 Don't forget that as we go into that. 13:43 "And the books were opened." 13:46 And God has a record of absolutely everything. |
Revised 2019-10-15