1043. The Punishment of the Wicked As Set Forth in Revelation

The Punishment of the Wicked As Set Forth in Revelation

"He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty" (Rev_19:15, A. S. V.)

We are now coming to the last Book of the Bible. It is a summing up of many things. It is a final and authoritative word. In chapter Jdg_1:2 the Book of Revelation is called "the Word of God and the witness of Jesus Christ."

So, as we bring forth a few passages from this wonderful Book, let us not seek to add to them, nor to take away from them; because in so doing the very plagues and judgments which are written in this Book will be added unto us.

1. Our first passage–Rev_14:9-11 : "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall 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 ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Before the wicked in the days of tribulation there will be but two alternatives.

(1) One will be to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and as a result to meet the terrific hatred of the beast. These will be dark days for saints–days full of suffering and of sorrow. The one who refuses the mark of the beast and the number of his name can neither buy nor sell in those days of trial.

(2) On the other hand, the one who rejects Jesus Christ and follows after the beast will be under a darker woe. An angel from Heaven will cry with a loud voice, pronouncing the woe and the wrath of God against those who worship the beast. "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without measure." They shall taste of the cup of His indignation and shall be "tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb."

This will not be a transient punishment, for "the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." This will not be a light punishment "for they will have no rest day nor night."

2. Our second passage–Rev_19:20 : "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

This passage has to do pre-eminently with the false prophet and with the beast. We present it here to show that it is a literal lake of fire, and that those cast therein are alive, and not dead. Neither is there any suggestion that after they are cast in, they are asphyxiated. In the 20th chapter, 10th verse, after the period of the thousand-year reign, the devil is cast into the same lake of fire and brimstone, where "the beast and the false prophet are (not were), and he is tormented day and night for ever and ever."

The sorrow of these passages is augmented when we read in the 20th chapter Rev_20:14 and Rev_20:15, that both death and hades are cast into the same lake of fire; and that "whosoever is not written in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire."

3. Our final passage–Rev_21:8 : "But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

This passage offsets the glory of the redeemed. We love to dwell upon Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. They give us the vision of what happens after the thousand years. We delight in reading about the New Jerusalem which descends from God out of Heaven. We rejoice in its streets of gold and gates of pearl. We revel in every description of its marvelous beauty.

But, if all this is true, so also is our final passage, Rev_21:8, for it distinctly includes all unbelievers; and it says that their part is in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And then, in order to clinch this truth, in Rev_22:15 (after the message of the New Jerusalem is completed, and God has pronounced His "Blessed" upon those who have washed their robes and those who have the right to the Tree of Life and who have entered in through the gates into the City); He emphasizes that "without are the dogs and the sorcerers, and the fornicators and the murderers, and the idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

This is God's final word. If there was anywhere in the purpose and plan of God a suggestion of the final salvation of the wicked, it surely would have been put in here. But the last picture leaves the wicked still without, beyond the pale of all mercy and all life, beyond the gates of the City.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR