The Sixth “Last Thing”: The Last Judgment and the End of the World (Rev. 20:11-15)

By David J. MacLeod

David J. MacLeod is a member of the faculty of Emmaus Bible College, Dubuque, Iowa, and is associate editor of The Emmaus Journal.

This is article seven in an eight-part series, “Expositional Studies of the Seven ‘Last Things’ in the Book of Revelation.”

Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, had a slave to whom he gave a standing order. The man was to come in to the king every morning of his life, no matter what the king was doing, and say to him in a loud voice, “Philip, remember that you must die!”[1]

Death is the one certain fact in everyone’s life. Many things are probable; much is questionable; but nothing is certain, except ultimate death, sooner or later.[2] Death is the most “democratic institution” on earth.[3] “It comes to all men [and women], regardless of color, education, wealth, or rank. It allows no discrimination, tolerates no exceptions. The mortality rate of mankind is the same the world over: one death per person.”[4]

“It is appointed for men to die once” (Heb. 9:27). With that verdict there can be no dissent. “And after this comes judgment.” The idea of a final tribunal, a Great Assize before which all men must appear and at which they will be assigned their eternal destiny, did not originate in the ghoulish imaginations of medieval artists and writers. When the writer of the Book of Hebrews referred to a postmortem judgment, he was not introducing some novel idea. Earlier in his letter he listed “eternal judgment” as one of the elementary teachings of the Scriptures (6:1–2).

The idea that there will be a future judgment is found in the Old Testament (Ps. 96:13; Eccles. 12:14; Dan. 12:2) and the New Testament (e.g., Acts 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 9:27). It is significant that the most solemn and searching preacher of judgment was Jesus Christ Himself.[5] In twelve out of thirty-six of His parables He spoke of people being judged, condemned, and punished for their sins. In discussing the rich man and Lazarus He drew back the curtain on the existence of people in the afterlife to show the rich man in torment, suffering an anguish that has no relief and no end (Luke 16:19–31).[6]

As startling as it may seem, of the twelve uses of the term “hell”[7] (γέεννα) in the New Testament, in every case except one (James 3:6) the person who used it is the Lord Jesus Christ.[8] Commenting on the consequences of hatred, He spoke of the fact that the unregenerate go to a “fiery hell” (Matt. 5:22). He warned those who were His followers in name only that one day He will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (7:23). In His last public teaching He outlined the details of the judgment of the nations in His parable of the sheep and the goats. All humanity will be divided into two classes, believers (the sheep) and unbelievers (the goats). To the group on his left hand, He will say, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (25:41). He concluded His parable with this statement: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (v. 46).

In light of Jesus’ teaching, it is remarkable that Christian preachers and teachers are so reticent to talk about the last judgment and hell. There has been a modern resurgence in universalism, the belief that all people will ultimately be saved.[9] Even in Bible-believing circles, the view known as conditionalism[10] —the belief that hell means annihilation, not eternal punishment—has emerged.[11] As for the man on the street, the only references to hell he hears are glib ones in ordinary conversation, the media, and literature. A Russian writer rightly diagnosed the ailment: “It is remarkable how little people think about hell or trouble about it. This is the most striking evidence of human frivolity.”[12]

Revelation 20:11–15 is the central passage of Scripture on the doctrine of the last judgment of the wicked. These verses clearly state that after death people will face God in judgment, and if their names are not found in the register of the redeemed (“the book of life”), they will be thrown into the lake of fire.

The Vision of a Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11)

A Description Of The Throne

John introduced the next event in his survey of the last things with the expression “and I saw” (Καὶ εἶδον), a phrase that marks out the chronology of events at the end. Here he saw “a great white throne.” He had seen other thrones in his visions. This one differs from both the throne in heaven in 4:2[13] and the millennial throne on earth in 20:4, 6 (cf. 3:21).[14] The fact that the throne is “great,” that is, great in size conveys the grandeur of its authority.[15] Its size may also suggest that the occasion is great, for this is the final winding up of the affairs of this earth.[16] The whiteness of the throne points up the purity and complete and invincible justice of the One who sits on it.[17] That it is a “throne” suggests that sovereign decisions will be meted out.

The Occupant Of The Throne

Though the Judge on the throne is not named, surely He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.[18] Jesus said, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). And Jesus reaffirmed that He acts on behalf of the Father (v. 30). Paul said to the Athenians, that God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). The despised and crucified Nazarene is “to judge the living and the dead,” Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:1. Jesus will judge the living at His second advent just before the millennium (Matt. 25:31); now He will judge the dead.[19]

The Setting Of The Throne

At first the throne is the only thing John saw. He saw nothing of the glories either of heaven or of the millennial kingdom. The single focus of the universe will be God’s throne.[20] When he wrote that “earth and heaven fled away” from the presence of Him who sat on the throne, he meant that it is as if they fled in dismay before the moral grandeur of God the Son because they were unfit to be in His continual presence. The thought is that this present universe has been contaminated beyond the possibility of cleansing.[21]

Scientists debate how the world will end. Most agree that the universe is running down. Lincoln Barnett wrote the following:

The universe is thus progressing toward an ultimate “heat-death,” or as it is technically defined, a condition of “maximum entropy.” … No energy can be used because all of it will be uniformly distributed through the cosmos. There will be no light, no life, no warmth—nothing but perpetual and irrevocable stagnation. Time itself will come to an end. For entropy points the direction of time. Entropy is the measure of randomness. When all systems and order in the universe have vanished, when randomness is at its maximum, and entropy cannot be increased, when there no longer is any sequence of cause and effect, in short when the universe has run down, there will be no direction to time—there will be no time. And there is no way of avoiding this destiny. For the fateful principle known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which stands today as the principal pillar of classical physics left intact by the march of science, proclaims that the fundamental processes of nature are irreversible. Nature moves just one way.[22]

The Scriptures assert, however, that this present universe will be annihilated before the laws of physics are fulfilled. The universe will not run down. It will burn up.[23] The apostle Peter filled in some of the details when he wrote, “The heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up … the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” (2 Pet. 3:10, 12). And so the throne stands isolated, majestic and terrifying. None of the irrelevancies of this life are left to distract the eye from the spectacle of the Judge and His throne. Everything else will have passed away.[24]

Francis Schaeffer told that in his boyhood he would often take a short cut through the Philadelphia city dump. It was a place of junk, fire, and stench. It made a vivid impression as he saw all the things people had spent their money on. He went on to speak of the homes of some rich people, people who had spent their lifetimes accumulating possessions. He described one house where a non-Christian man had owned a large, gorgeous dining room table. He had it built inside the house, and he was very proud of it. When the house was sold and all his household goods were to be dispensed with, they could not get the table out the door. So they simply chopped it up and burned the pieces.[25]

At God’s throne all material possessions and human honors will be absent. All homes, furnishings, clothing, hobbies, books, and cars will be burned up. In that isolated moment people will be able to reflect on the things that really matter.

The Vision of the Judgment of the Unbelieving Dead (Rev. 20:12-15)

The Resurrection of Judgment

John then saw “the dead … standing before the throne.” Who are these people? To identify them correctly one must go back to verse 5 and the expressions “the rest of the dead” and “the first resurrection.” At the rapture believers will be resurrected and then evaluated for rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). The believing dead will participate in “the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:12–13 refers to a different resurrection, the resurrection of “the rest of the dead,” that is, the unbelieving wicked.[26]

These verses clearly imply a bodily resurrection.[27] Nowhere does the Bible say what kind of body these resurrected ones will have, but it is evidently a body suited to suffer in the torments of the lake of fire. The fact of two resurrections harmonizes with Jesus’ teaching in John 5:28–29. There He spoke of “a resurrection of life” for those who are righteous, and a “resurrection of judgment” for those who are wicked. Revelation shows that the two resurrections will be separated by one thousand years.

The Persons Of The Judgment

“The rest of the dead” are the unregenerate, that is, those who have never been born again, unbelievers destined for the lake of fire.[28] The judgment in verses 12–13, then, does not include the saved.[29]

In verse 13 John wrote that “the sea gave up the dead[30] which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.” In 6:7–8 “death and Hades” were agents of judgment.[31] Death was seen as a power stalking the land, and hades was personified as a monster opening its jaws to receive the dead. Hades is the abode of the unrighteous as they wait for the last judgment.[32] The “sea,”[33] too, is mentioned. Even those lost at sea will be raised. No one will escape the last judgment.

John said that “the great and the small” (v. 12) will stand before God: the important and the unimportant, the powerful and the weak, the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor, the old and the young. The wealthy Western nations and the third-world nations will all be represented.

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) wrote that all earthly distinctions will vanish before the reality of the last judgment:

Oh, East is East, and West is West,
and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently
at God’s great Judgment Seat.[34]

The Grounds For The Judgment

The evidence for judgment[35] will be supplied by “books.”[36] These “books” of deeds, that is, records of deeds performed, will be opened. The judgment of God is not arbitrary or capricious.[37] As Paul wrote, God “will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6). The point of the verse is not salvation by works. No one is saved by works. Rather, it is “damnation by works.”[38] People are responsible for what they have done.

The teaching of Scripture that there will be a judgment is based on two facts: (1) There is a God who created us. He is a loving God (Luke 11:42); yet He is also infinitely holy (John 17:11). (2) Man is a responsible creature, accountable to God (Gen. 2:16–17). People have a conscience and the commandments of God, and He will hold them responsible for these things.[39] It is sobering to realize that God has a record of the lives of all the billions of human beings who have ever lived, including every thought, every mean act, every dirty transaction, every dishonest moment, every foul word, every treacherous betrayal, every harsh feeling or remark.[40]

God the Judge, who is omniscient, will preside with perfect knowledge of the character and history of every person who stands before Him.[41] The last judgment will be more exacting than anything provided by modern technology. If mere humans can produce instant replay, computer printouts, and a disc capable of storing the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, or, if desired, 50,000 photographs, then it should not be surprising that the Creator of the universe should have data on all His creatures.

Jesus said that people will render account for “every careless word” they speak (Matt. 12:36), and Paul wrote that “God will judge the secrets of men” (Rom. 2:16). When he was thirty-five the writer’s father quit smoking cigarettes. When he was seventy-seven, forty-two years after quitting, he had a chest X-ray, and the doctor asked, “When did you quit smoking?” Dad asked him how he knew he had been a smoker. The physician answered, “I saw a few scars on the X-rays.” All people have little secrets—and some big secrets!—and they will all be known.

In Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, a young woman tells her brother of an incident in the life of another girl named Jane Crofut. Jane was sick, and her minister sent her a letter. On the envelope he had written: “Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover’s Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America.” But that’s not all; there was more: “the United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God.” The minister’s lesson, of course, is that no one anywhere is forgotten by God.[42]

Then John saw “another book” opened; it was “the book of life.” It is a list of those who are saved, those who have been forgiven for all their sins. When the writer was born, his mother was a member of a church whose minister told his congregation that God would place all of a person’s good deeds on one scale and all of his evil deeds on another scale. If there were more good deeds than evil, that person would go to heaven, and if there were more evil deeds than good he would go to hell.

That notion is utterly contrary to God’s Word, which teaches salvation by faith in Christ and not by religious works. No one will gain entrance into heaven by his or her good works. The books of deeds will prove the sinner’s unworthiness to enter God’s kingdom.

The “book of life” is a register of those who have been saved by Jesus Christ. Everyone listed in the book of life is a sinner. The difference between a saved person and a lost person is not the number or kinds of evil deeds. The difference is that a saved person has recognized his or her own sinfulness and has come to Christ for forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. When a person believes in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, that one may be confident that his or her name is written in the “book of life.”[43]

What is the relationship between the two sets of books at the last judgment of the unsaved? They bear independent witness that the people before the Judge are not saved. The one set of books demonstrates from the deeds of a person’s life that they are truly sinful. And when the book of life is opened and the person’s name is not found, this will prove that he or she is not saved. Since the name will not be found in the book of life, the books of deeds are again consulted. The books of deeds give supporting evidence that this person is lost.[44] Furthermore, his or her punishment will be based on the deeds done in this life.

The Justice Of The Judgment

The judgment will be perfectly just. It is twice asserted that all will be judged “according to their deeds” (Rev. 20:12–13). This would seem to suggest that there are levels of torment in the lake of fire.

This is also suggested in Matthew 10:15, when Jesus said that it will be “more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment” than for those who have heard and rejected the Savior.

Occasionally a man is released from prison after years of imprisonment because the authorities discover that he is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. Such an injustice, however, will never occur in God’s courtroom. No one will ever bear the penalty of another person’s guilt or be able to claim that he or she was treated unjustly. Perfect justice will be meted out by the Judge seated on the Great White Throne.

The Execution Of The Judgment

The destruction of death and hades. The judgments will be executed immediately. “Death and hades,” personified in this passage, will be cast into the lake of fire. Death is humanity’s last enemy (1 Cor. 15:54–55), and hades is the grim receptacle of death’s prey, that is, the abode of the dead. The last vestiges of human rebellion against God will be destroyed.[45]

The punishment of unbelievers. The main test on the day of judgment will be whether one’s name is in the book of life. The names of all those who have embraced Christ as their Savior are listed in that book. The names of the people who will be raised at the second resurrection are not in that book, however, and so they will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the “second death.”

Death has three stages. First, there is spiritual death. All are born into this world spiritually dead, that is, “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). The remedy for this problem is the new birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). The second stage is physical death. All people, saved and unsaved, die physically. The remedy for this problem is the resurrection of the body at the first resurrection. Third, there is the second death, that is, conscious existence in the lake of fire. For this there is no remedy.46

The destiny of the lost is hell, here called “the lake of fire.” The Bible teaches that this is a place. The people who go there have a body, and bodily existence requires that there be a locality for them to exist. The Bible also teaches that it is a place of torment. The very description, “lake of fire,” suggests pain, anguish, and no hope for release.[47]

In Revelation 19:20 John spoke of “the lake of fire which burns with brimstone,” that is, sulfur. This speaks of its element (fire) and its fuel (sulfur). This passage teaches, furthermore, that it is a place of torment beyond this life.

In the terrible days of the German bombing of London in World War II, with fires raging in the city, an evangelist stood on the street, preaching the gospel. A heckler broke into his sermon and said, “Listen, preacher, this is hell, the bombing of London.” The Christian replied, “Sir, this is not hell. And I will give you three reasons why. One, I am a Christian, and there will be no Christians in hell. Second, there is a church building right around the corner, and there are no church houses in hell. Third, I am preaching the gospel of the Son of God, and there will be no preaching of the gospel in hell.” Three weeks later the same evangelist stood in Hyde Park, preaching the gospel of Christ. When he appealed for his listeners to come to the Savior, a man walked out from the crowd and took his hand. It was the heckler, who said that he now wanted to accept Christ as his Savior.[48]

The Bible also teaches that hell is a place of unending torment. In 20:10 John wrote that the inhabitants “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (cf. 14:11). This confirms that the lake of fire does not indicate annihilation. One thousand years after they have been thrown into the lake of fire the beast and the false prophet will still be there (Rev. 19:20).[49]

Many arguments have been raised against the doctrine of an eternal hell. C. S. Lewis responded to five of them in his book The Problem of Pain.[50]

First, some say the idea of retributive punishment is wrong in itself. No, says Lewis, it is actually wrong to punish for reformatory or deterrent purposes. Unless a man deserves to be punished, we ought not make him suffer. Lewis points out correctly that there are people who will not turn to Christ. If allowed to stay in that rebellious state unpunished, they will forever think God a fool. God can forgive sin, but He cannot condone it.

Second, others suggest that eternal punishment for transitory sin is a gross disproportion. However, a person’s life is always long enough for it to become set in its directions. The wicked have chosen their path. And, it might be added, time is unrelated to the character of sin. Guilt is endless unless forgiven.

Third, other people say that the language of the Bible—eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46), destruction (10:28), banishment (8:12)—is overly intense and should be taken symbolically. Lewis acknowledges that that is symbolical language, but he points out that symbols have referents, that is, they symbolize something actual. The Bible uses language that in the strongest way possible describes something “unspeakably horrible.”

Fourth, some ask, How can the saints in heaven have pleasure if there is a single soul in hell? This objection implies, Lewis suggests, that people are more merciful than God.

Fifth, some objectors argue, Is not God defeated in His purposes if a single soul is ultimately lost?[51] In response to this objection it can be argued that those in hell are there of their own volition. It can also be argued that God is expressing His holiness in retribution and His mercy in saving His own people. In both cases, punishment and salvation, He is true to His own nature.

Lewis writes, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.”[52] He adds, “In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins, and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They [do not want to be] forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.”[53]

What is particularly troubling is the assumption by annihilationists that their sensitivity is superior to that of those who hold the biblical view. They use terms like “dreadful, awful, terrible, fearful, intolerable.” However, as J. I. Packer suggests, the annihilationists do not have a superior spiritual sensitivity, but rather a “secular sentimentalism.”[54]

Cynthia, a Christian young woman, was attending a small Baptist college. She took a job caring for Mrs. Payne, a woman who was dying of cancer of the pancreas. Mrs. Payne was a very moral person, but she was not a Christian. She was not afraid of death and did not believe she needed Christ. The young Christian cried to God, “What are you doing? This is a good woman. Will she really go to hell when she dies?”

She was so troubled that she spoke to one of her professors. He rolled up his sleeve and said, “I have ugly skin, see? The skin on my arm is dry, patchy, and scaly. I look like I might have a fatal disease, but I don’t. I just have a skin problem, a surface problem, you might say. Now, Mrs. Payne, might have nice, smooth skin. She might look much better on the surface than I do. But on the inside she’s got a disease so serious it’s killing her. It’s the same thing with her sin. She hasn’t dealt with it, and it’s killing her. The cancer will kill her physically, and her unforgiven sin will kill her spiritually.” That is an excellent analogy of what is happening in the hearts of all those who reject Jesus Christ.[55]

Conclusion

Several lessons—both theological and practical—are suggested by Revelation 20:11–15. First, death is the one certain fact of human existence. It compels people to make a choice between “eternal punishment”[56] and “eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).[57] Second, the doctrine of the last judgment helps people face the impermanence of this world (“earth and heaven fled away”). This is the only true evaluation of this world.[58] Third, the doctrine of the last judgment assures people that all the injustices of this life will eventually be set right. Every wrong will receive its appropriate penalty. Good will triumph over evil.[59] Fourth, the doctrine of the last judgment stresses accountability to God. One day every person in this world will give an account to God the Son.[60] Fifth, this doctrine warns people that many go to hell, for “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23).

Sixth, the passage teaches that each sinner will be evaluated. One’s relatives cannot help. It will be useless to say, “But my mother was a Christian. My dad prayed for me.” The question each person must ask is, “Have I believed in Jesus Christ?”

Seventh, there is an absoluteness and finality about the judgment of Revelation 20:11–15. This is truly the last judgment. The Great White Throne judgment will not be like any earthly courtroom. “There will be a Judge, but no jury; a Prosecutor, but no defender; a sentence, but no appeal. This is the final judgment of the world.”[61]

Eighth, true believers can face the end, not as cowards shrinking from it, but with anticipation in mingled joy and solemnity. For the Christian thinks of the last judgment as the dawn of the new heavens and the new earth more than the doom of this world.[62] Why do Christians think of the last judgment with confidence? Because their names are written in the “book of life.” Are their names there because they were better people than others? No, they were equally bad. But they are acquitted because of faith in Christ.

How can that be? The answer is because of the death of Christ. At the cross Jesus Christ bore the penalty deserved by sinners. He suffered in mankind’s place. God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). C. S. Lewis wrote, “I said glibly … that I would pay ‘any price’ to remove this doctrine. I lied. I could not pay one-thousandth part of the price that God has already paid to remove the fact. And here is the real problem: so much mercy, yet still there is hell.”[63] The person who believes in Christ, who embraces Christ as his or her Savior, is registered in the book of life and will not appear at the Great White Throne judgment.

In the early pioneer era of California there lived a wheat farmer, a Christian, whose field was next to the railroad tracks. One day when his grain was ready for harvest sparks from a passing locomotive set his field on fire. The farmer rushed toward the smoke, and part way to the fire he started another fire that he was able to control. This produced a break in his grain, so that when the blaze arrived it stopped at the break. He was dejected at losing half his crop. “Why did God allow this?” he asked. As he walked along he noticed the charred body of a hen that had been caught in the inferno. He turned over the dead hen with his foot, and five little chicks ran from underneath it. The man immediately thought of the blessing that was his in having a Savior who died for him. The Bible tells us that the wrath of God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The fire of wrath will come. Nevertheless it will not touch those who are protected by the Lord Jesus Christ.[64]

The full wrath of God is seen at two great moments in human history—at the Great White Throne judgment and at the cross of Christ, where it has already been poured out for those who trust Christ as their Savior. The message with which the preacher of the gospel needs to face his listeners is this: “At which point will you choose to face it? If you choose to come to Christ, then His substitutionary death will protect you from the last judgment.”

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

Notes

1. J. S. Whale, Christian Doctrine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941), 170–71.
2. Ibid., 172.
3. Whale quotes the last sentence of Sir Walter Raleigh’s unfinished History of the World: “O eloquent, just and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words: Hic Jacet!’” (ibid., 172–73).
4. Fred Carl Kuehner, Heaven or Hell? (Washington, DC: Christianity Today, n.d.), 24c. Kuehner does note the biblical exceptions of Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), who were taken into God’s presence without dying. Others should be added, of course, namely, the generation of believers who will be alive at the rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:17).
5. “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this [i.e., the doctrine of hell], if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words” (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain [New York: Macmillan, 1944], 106).
6. Kuehner, Heaven or Hell? 24d-e.
7. The English word “hell” is related to the Old English helen, meaning “to hide or cover” (Calvin D. Linton, “The Sorrows of Hell,” Christianity Today, November 19, 1971, 12).
8. The term γέεννα appears in Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; and James 3:6.
9. For responses see the essays by the Christianity Today Institute, “Universalism: Will Everyone Be Saved?” Christianity Today, March 20, 1987, 31–45.
10. In the contemporary debate over hell some writers distinguish between “conditional immortality” and “annihilationism.” They argue that a Platonic doctrine of the immortality of the soul more than biblical exegesis has led to the doctrine of an eternal hell. The soul of the unsaved person will cease to exist (Clark H. Pinnock, “The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent,” Criswell Theological Review 4 [spring 1990]: 252). The conditionalist viewpoint may sound more pleasant to the ear than annihilationism, but underlying annihilationism is the same belief, namely, the mortality of the soul. In either case, whether conditionalism or annihilationism, the end result is the same; the souls of the wicked will be condemned to extinction. See Alan W. Gomes, “Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell, part 1,” Christian Research Journal 13 (spring 1991): 16-17.
11. See J. I. Packer, “The Problem of Eternal Punishment,” Crux (September 1990): 18-25; and idem, “Evangelicals and the Way of Salvation,” in Evangelical Affirmations, ed. Kenneth Kantzer and Carl F. H. Henry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 107–36. Also see the five articles on hell by members of the Master’s Seminary faculty in Master’s Seminary Journal 9 (fall 1998): 127-217.
12. Nicholas Berdyaev, The Destiny of Man, trans. Natalie Duddington, 2d ed. (London: Centenary, 1945), 338.
13. A number of differences between the two thrones may be noted. (1) The throne in 4:2 had a rainbow around it, a sign of covenant promises; the throne in 20:11 offers no promises. It offers only justice and retribution. (2) Out of the first proceeded lightning, thunder, and voices threatening judgment on the earth; this one will be cold and austere with no further warnings. (3) The throne in chapter 4 is surrounded by other thrones that symbolize the varied duties of the glorified saints; this one will be established with one purpose in mind and with no associates. (4) Before the first throne there are seven lamps, symbolizing the gracious works of the Holy Spirit; here the purpose will be purely retributive. (5) Connected with the first throne there is singing and joyful exultation; here there will be only the administration of retributive justice (J. A. Seiss, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 9th ed. [New York: Charles C. Cook, 1906], 3:355–56; and W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on Revelation [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1969], 5:83–85).
14. The millennial throne on earth will be surrounded by Messiah’s assessors; this throne stands alone (R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, International Critical Commentary [Edinburgh: Clark, 1920], 2:192).
15. Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, New International Commentary on the New Testament, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 375.
16. Robert Govett, The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture (London, 1861; reprint, Miami Springs, FL: Conley & Schoettle, 1981), 4:290–91.
17. Seiss, Lectures on theApocalypse, 3:355.
18. William Kelly, Lectures on the Book of Revelation (London: Morrish, 1874), 449; Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, 4th ed. (London: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.), 411; Govett, The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture, 4:291; William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1939), 235; John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 305; David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance (Fort Worth: Dominion, 1987), 529–31. Not all commentators agree with this interpretation. Others have noted that elsewhere in the Book of Revelation the phrase ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου (4:2, 9; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5) refers to God the Father. Some also detect an allusion to Daniel 7:9–14. They conclude, therefore, that the Father has reserved the last judgment for Himself (Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2:192; Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John [New York: Macmillan, 1919; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979], 748; Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John [London: Macmillan, 1906], 267; G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, Harper New Testament Commentary [New York: Harper & Row, 1966], 258; Alan F. Johnson, “Revelation,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981], 12:589; and Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1995], 429). Caird suggests that at this time the Son will surrender the sovereignty to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24–28). On the basis of 22:1, 3 Johnson opines that Jesus may share the judgment with the Father. However, John saw only one person on the throne.
19. Scott, Exposition of theRevelation of Jesus Christ, 411.
20. G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, New Century Bible (London: Oliphants, 1974), 299.
21. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 259.
22. Lincoln Barnett, The Universe and Dr. Einstein, 2d ed. (New York: Perennial Library, 1966), 102–3.
23. With many, the present writer understands John’s description to refer to the literal dissolution of the present universe. Others, however, see the action as less than complete destruction. They argue that there is continuity between the geophysical and astronomical material of the old and new earth; it is simply the corruption of the curse that is burned away. In other words Revelation 20:11 poetically describes the terror of the wicked in the face of judgment (Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 268; and Beasley-Murray, The Book ofRevelation, 300–301).
24. Martin Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John, Moffatt New Testament Commentary (New York: Harper, 1940), 401–3.
25. Francis A. Schaeffer, No Little People (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1974), 268–69.
26. Seiss, Lectures on theApocalypse, 3:358–59; Kelly, Lectures on the Book ofRevelation, 451; Scott, Exposition of theRevelation of Jesus Christ, 412; Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 306; Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, The Book of the Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 218; Chilton, Days of Vengeance, 532; and Mathias Rissi, The Future of the World (London: SCM, 1972), 36.
27. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 748; Govett, The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture, 4:295. Charles argues that elsewhere the Revelation presupposes that the wicked dead will rise as disembodied souls (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2:195).
28. Some interpreters, however, say that verses 12–13 describe a general resurrection (Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 268; Beasley-Murray, The Book ofRevelation, 301; and Mounce, The Book ofRevelation, 376).
29. As Walvoord notes, the Scriptures are silent concerning the judgment of saints who survive the millennium or die in the millennium (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 306–7). Erich Sauer, a premillennial scholar, argued that the converted nations of the millennial kingdom would also appear at the Great White Throne (The Triumph of the Crucified, trans. G. H. Lang [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951], 175). Govett, a partial-rapturist, also argued that church-age believers will be at the Great White Throne (Apocalypse, 4:296–97).
30. The Greeks and Romans attached great importance to burial. Many ancient peoples thought that they would be with their own people in the realm of the dead. If someone died by drowning, it was believed that person would not be able to reach the dwelling place of the dead. Such thoughts would not have concerned John, however (Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 749).
31. Beasley-Murray, The Book ofRevelation, 303.
32. “Death … appears … in the Revelation of John under the double aspect of ‘power’ and of ‘space’ ” (Rissi, The Future of the World, 36).
33. Charles felt the text made no sense as it now stands. How, he wondered, could the sea give up its dead (v. 13) when it had already vanished (v. 12; A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2:194–96). However, this presses John for a chronology of the judgment day that is not there. John’s point is that the material universe will vanish but not before its gloomy prisons have given up their dead (Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John, 406; and Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969], 241).
34. Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West,” quoted in Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment (London: Tyndale, 1960), 62, n. 3.
35. Beasley-Murray, The Book ofRevelation, 299.
36. “Literal books, or rolls, are, of course, out of [the] question” (Scott, Exposition of theRevelation of Jesus Christ, 413). While this may be true, the literal intent is obvious. There is a register or record in heaven of everything everyone has ever done (Thomas, Revelation 8–22, 431).
37. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 268; Mounce, The Book ofRevelation, 376; and George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 273.
38. Chilton, Days of Vengeance, 533.
39. John Gerstner, “The Bible and Hell, part 1,” His Magazine, January 1968, 34–35.
40. Seiss, Lectures on theApocalypse, 3:359.
41. E. A. Litton, Introduction to Dogmatic Theology, ed. Philip E. Hughes (London: James Clarke, 1960), 592.
42. Thornton Wilder, Our Town (1938; reprint, New York: Avon, 1957), 60–61.
43. In Revelation 17:8 John wrote that the names in the book of life were there “from the foundation of the world” (cf. Eph. 1:4).
44. “The ‘books’ would be as it were the vouchers for the book of life” (Henry Alford, The Greek Testament, rev. ed. [Chicago: Moody, 1958], 735; cf. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2:194).
45. Mounce, The Book ofRevelation, 378.
46. Whale writes, “Death has been called the sacrament of sin because it is the effective sign of opportunities gone for ever. Death is tremendous because life is, and because in it life says its last word. Little wonder that James Denney, in protesting against the modern tendency to make light of human death, should have added that ‘it is the greatest thought of which we are capable, except the thought of God.’ The fact which is here inescapable is a dilemma. Either we despair, or we believe. There is no middle course, no razor-edge of non-committal on which to balance precariously. Only he who believes in God wins the victory over despair. Only the infinite mercy of the Eternal Love, incarnate, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, is big enough for the tragedy of human existence. The dilemma is inescapable. Either despair which is Hell, or faith in Him who giveth us the victory” (Christian Doctrine, 178).
47. Evangelicals recognize that phrases like “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12), “where their worm does not die” (Mark 9:46) and “lake of fire” are metaphorical. This is not to deny the reality of hell as a place of eternal retribution. Cf. John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, trans. A. W. Morrison (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 1:129; Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (New York: Scribners, 1876; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 3:868; and Harry Buis, The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1957), 128–31. As Hodge noted, the lake of fire was designed for the devil and his angels and they have no material bodies that could be harmed by elemental fire. As C. S. Lewis observed, all these descriptions agree that hell is “unspeakably horrible” (The Problem of Pain, 113). The writer would add that there is probably a close connection between the metaphor and the reality. After all, the present earth will be burned up in some kind of fire (2 Pet. 3:10, 12).
48. Criswell, Expository Sermons onRevelation, 5:97–98.
49. Commenting on Revelation 20:10, Clark Pinnock says, “John’s point seems to be that everything which has rebelled against God will come to an absolute end” (“The Destruction of the Impenitent,” 257). That, however, is not John’s point, if language means anything. John’s point is that the devil, the beast, and the false prophet “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Alan W. Gomes, “Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell, part 2,” Christian Research Journal 13 [summer 1991]: 12).
50. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 106–16; cf. Stott, “Response,” 316–19; and Packer, “Evangelicals and the Way of Salvation,” 124–26.
51. Lewis argues that this was the “chance” God took in creating beings with free will (The Problem of Pain, 115).
52. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 115 (italics his).
53. Ibid., 116.
54. Packer, “Evangelicals and the Way of Salvation,” 126.
55. Cynthia M. Stone, “Is Hell Necessary?” Alliance Life, July 31, 1991, 7, 9.
56. Annihilationists argue that the term eternal (αἰώνιος) in Matthew 25:46 refers to eternal results and not eternal existence (Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes, rev. ed. [Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 1994], 18–19). This claim, however, is unsubstantiated. Two observations concerning Matthew 25:41, 46 are in order: (1) Jesus clearly said that hell was created for the devil and his angels and that all the wicked will share the same fate as the devil and his hosts. (2) Annihilation and the extinction of consciousness do not fit the context. As Shedd wrote long ago, “The extinction of consciousness is not of the nature of punishment. The essence of punishment is suffering, and suffering [requires] consciousness.” Αἰώνιος must therefore refer in this context to future, conscious, unceasing existence. Shedd wrote, “In all the instances in which αἰώνιος refers to future duration [including Matt. 25:46], it denotes endless duration” (William G. T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment [New York: Scribner’s, 1886; reprint, Minneapolis: Klock & Klock, 1980], 88, 92). As Gomes has written, the adjective αἰώνιος (“eternal, unceasing, everlasting”) here describes the punishment itself, not merely the result of the punishment (“Annihilation, part 2,” 11). See Robert A. Peterson, “Does the Bible Teach Annihilationism?” Bibliotheca Sacra 156 (January-March 1999): 13-27.
57. Whale, Christian Doctrine, 177.
58. Ibid., 176.
59. Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 72.
60. Ibid.
61. David Jeremiah, Escape the Coming Night (Dallas: Word, 1990), 217.
62. Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 71; cf. P. T. Forsyth, The Justification of God, 2d ed. (London: Independent, 1948), 189–90.
63. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 108 (italics his).
64. James Montgomery Boice, The Last and Future World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), 122–23.