When Time Stops and Judgment Doesn't

 

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison.  He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth.  He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore.  And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city.  But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.  Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet.  There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it.  The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.  I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne.  And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead.  And all were judged according to their deeds.  Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire.  This lake of fire is the second death.  And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:7-15

The apocalyptic prophecy of God, written in this final book of God’s Word, declares the eventual disposition of evil…forever punishment in the lake of fire, a buring torment, an image that ought to  produce jaw-dropping awe.  

For a human context I immediately recall Sadaam Hussein, a despotic madman visiting unchecked decades of evil on his own people, murder, arrogant imposition of poverty, the work of a man gone insane with absolute power.  Pursued by an army, Sadaam was ferreted out of a hole in the ground, and hanged.

Where this analogy breaks-down is the aftermath.  Sadaam is gone, his body buried in 2006 in a grave not far from where he was born in Tikrit.  In a hundred years most every work of his hand on this earth will be forgotten.  But what of his soul?  What of that part of his being, created in the image of God, which still exists.  And what is that like now?  And what will it be in 100, 1000, or 10-billion years?

The answer is fraught with some grey area, certainly, but God does not leave us without understanding that evil is punished, not simply for a brief season; it is eternal.  And the moment the word “eternal” is uttered, the game clock shatters, stopped by Divine fiat. 

In much the same way as those who live in the grace of God also mirror the image of their Creator, those who choose to reject God live in the image of the chief rejector, Lucifer.  And the fate that awaits their judgment is a shout from Heaven, pronouncing their eternal residence in the lake of fire.  Scripture calls this fate of those who separate themselves from worshipping God The Second Death. 

No human can look into the eyes of another human and declare lostness; that judgment is reserved for God alone.  But, the fact that we cannot judge each other does not negate the reality of that judgment.  Hear the word of God on this:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,  Hebrews 9:27

For You Today

Eternal judgment for sin means time stops, but we don’t.  The eternal day of those who live in the light is mirrored by the eternal night of those under judgment.  May we spend our lives pointing others to the light, the joy of Christ, Who is the only escape from the wrath to come.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

---

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©