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The Lake of Fire and Salvation
by Mark A. Becker
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” - Matthew 25:41
The above verse is spoken to the goats by our Lord at the Separation of the Sheep and Goats which my article The Mystery of the Last Sheep covers in-depth.
The “… everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” is none other than the Lake of Fire.
There are at least two understandings we can derive from the statement, “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
- In God’s omniscience – and knowing the rebellion Satan would lead - the Lord prepared the Lake of Fire for the devil and his angels before He created them. Once they rebelled, after being in the presence of their Creator, there would be no remedy for them and their ultimate destiny would be in the Lake of Fire.
- The Lake of Fire was never intended for mankind, despite man’s rebellion, and that the Lord would supply humanity’s salvation through the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross. Every human being would have the opportunity to be saved, and that salvation was the Lord’s will for them. Though God knew in His sovereignty that many would spurn His love and free gift of salvation, The Lake of Fire was never intended for humanity that was created in the image of God.
When are the Devil and His Angels Thrown into the Lake of Fire?
We are told that right after Christ’s Second Coming, Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit:
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him [and presumably the fallen angels] a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” – Revelation 20:1-3
Satan, and presumably the fallen angels, will be cast into the Lake of Fire after the Millennial reign of Christ.
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan [and presumably the fallen angels] shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
“And the devil [and presumably the fallen angels] that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” – Revelation 20:7-10
Examining the Great White Throne Judgment and the ‘Second Death’ in the Lake of Fire
Let’s take a brief look into the Lake of Fire and the Second Death, found at the Great White Throne Judgment in the book of Revelation.
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.” – Revelation 20:11
Before God will create the new heavens and the new earth, the old heavens and the old earth will pass away, setting the stage for the Great White Throne Judgment.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” – Revelation 20:12
“The dead, small and great,” that “stand before God” are the spirits of those who have been spending their time in hell, or hades, in the center of the earth awaiting the final judgment – this judgment.
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” – Revelation 20:13
The bodies of the unsaved dead will be resurrected into spiritual bodies and united with their spirits and souls.
Notice that twice – in verses 12 and 13 – these people will be judged on their works, not on Christ’s works. Because they rejected God’s free gift of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, they will stand and fall on their works of unrighteousness.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” – Revelation 20:14-15
Death, hell, and all those “not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire,” which “is the second death.” Essentially, every person at this judgment is unsaved, rebelled against God, and would rather live an eternity apart from God. This is the Second Death – eternal separation from God.
For the remainder of this article, we would like to explore the relationship between The Lake of Fire and Salvation.
First Things First
The topic we are about to embark on has been known by many names, with even more competing definitions. It’s irrelevant to me what man’s definitions may be regarding what’s commonly known as “Penal Substitutionary Atonement.” Man tends to get in his own way when defining certain doctrines, and this particular issue is certainly no exception.
What matters to me is what the Scriptures teach and how logic, common sense, and rational thought play into what we can ascertain regarding what Christ accomplished for every human being on the cross.
I’ll be using the term “substitutionary punishment” in this study to depict what Christ did for every man and woman on the cross to free them from their own earned judgment from a holy and offended Creator. I’m a simple man, and this is a simple definition for the subject matter at hand.
The Lake of Fire and the Cross
When it comes to the Lake of Fire and the cross, there is a correlation to the two that must be understood.
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” - Hebrews 2:9 (emphasis mine)
This death is, obviously, not our physical death, as we pay for that ourselves. This death is the "Second Death" – the universal punishment for all rebels and sinners – which is eternal separation from God.
Note the wording of this verse: “… that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
The Greek word for “taste” is 1089 γεύομαι “geuomai” and means to eat, taste. A primary verb; to taste; by implication, to eat; figuratively, to experience (good or ill) -- eat, taste.
It’s this “tasting” or “experience” that Christ partook of for “every man.” Again, the physical death of Christ, in and of itself, is unable to satisfy the demands of God. It’s what Christ did on the cross before He died physically that procured our salvation.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” – 1 Timothy 2:5-6
Christ actually “taste[d] death for every man” on the cross as He ransomed mankind from their deserved fate. He tasted the Second Death that every man and woman deserves for their sin and rebellion against God.
We see this very concept in a conversation between Jesus and the Jews, as Jesus said to them:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.” – John 8:51-52 (emphasis mine)
As we can see, the death that Yeshua saves those who “keep [His] sayings” from is the Second Death, not physical death.
The Gospel According to the Scriptures
Paul summarizes what the gospel is:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
This is the gospel “according to the Scriptures.” Yes, Jesus “died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
We see this plainly in the Psalms and of course the great passage of Isaiah 53.
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:4-5
Here, in the Tanakh (Old Testament Scriptures), we see that it was the crucifixion that would supply our redemption, not His physical death. Though His physical death declared to us the scope of our depravity in crucifying and killing the Creator, it was the actual spilling of His blood and the price He lovingly and willingly paid for us as He took our place in substitutionary punishment.
Christ’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
Christ walked in the Garden of Eden looking for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-9) after they had sinned. Jesus was buried in a tomb within a garden after His death (John 19:41), and was the place of His resurrection. And there will be another garden, planted by God, within the New Jerusalem in the Eternal Kingdom.
“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” – Revelation 22:1-2
But in order for this garden to exist, there had to be another garden first; this garden that Christ went to, where He prayed in agony just before His crucifixion, was located in Gethsemane.
“When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.” – John 18:1
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” – Matthew 26:36
“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – Luke 22:41-44
What was it that the Lord was so distressed over? What was the cup that He asked the Father to remove? What cup would lead Him to “sweat… as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”?
While some would answer that Christ’s knowledge of the physical suffering of the cross that He was soon to endure was weighing heavy on His heart and mind, I believe this assumption falls dolefully short.
Our Lord was no coward. Many people had died the death of crucifixion – as excruciating as it was - and even when He went to the cross there were two other individuals enduring the same punishment as He was.
No, our Savior was in agony over what His sacrifice to pay for the sin of the world would entail, spiritually. That is, taking our just punishment upon Himself.
Substitutionary Punishment
When it comes to Israel’s substitutionary atonement from the blood of innocent animals, this covering for sin was temporary.
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” – Hebrews 10:4
Why? Because, even though the blood of bulls and goats was innocent blood, the substitutionary punishment could never be paid by them. This would have to be paid for by God, and God would have to become a man to do so.
Substitutionary atonement could only be fully obtained by substitutionary punishment of a sinless man. And only God in the flesh would be able to offer Himself as that perfect substitutional sacrifice.
When Was Christ’s Substitutionary Punishment Accomplished?
When Christ, after the three hours of darkness, was hanging from the cross, we read:
“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” – John 19:28-30 (emphasis mine)
First, notice that Christ thirsted. Yes, it is true that crucifixion caused intense thirst. But this thirst was more than the physical thirst caused by crucifixion, this was spiritual.
Notice also that Christ said, “It is finished,” before He “gave up the ghost.” This tells us that it wasn’t His physical death that conquered sin and paid for our just punishment, it was all paid by the shedding of His blood and enduring the substitutionary punishment for all of humanity while still upon the cross.
So, what was Yeshua’s physical death and resurrection for? It was to show the world that the Father had accepted His perfect sacrifice and that those who would believe in the Son of God by faith will be resurrected as He was. The price was paid on the cross, and that price was His enduring, spiritually, the Second Death on our behalf, thus satisfying the Father’s demand of justice.
What Exactly is This ‘Second Death’
First of all, the Second Death isn’t related to our physical death in as much as it is to our being spiritually dead at birth.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” – Ephesians 2:1-3
When we all are born, we are born dead spiritually, and it is because of this truth that we need to be born again spiritually.
“Jesus answered and said unto [Nicodemus], Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
If a person doesn’t come to Christ, he or she will face a spiritual Second Death.
While it is true that the precious sinless blood of Christ cleanses our sins and all unrighteousness for those who believe and have faith in Him, He still had to pay our just punishment on the cross. What is this punishment? It's eternal separation from God.
This "Second Death" is equated with "The Lake of Fire."
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” - Revelation 20:13-15 (emphasis mine)
Therefore:
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” - Matthew 27:46 (emphasis mine)
It was at this time that Christ was literally paying our just punishment as He "taste[d] death for every man" and was forsaken by the Father; that is, Yeshua was separated from God the Father, the very cup He earnestly desired to be taken from Him.
Can God Not Look Upon Sin?
Jesus, as He paid for our sins, became sin for us:
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21
I’m sure everyone has heard something to the effect that it was because God could not look upon His Son as the Son became sin for us. But is this true? Can God not look upon sin?
We have gotten this idea from the following passage:
“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” – Habakkuk 1:13
A RaptureReady.com reader once asked me about this verse. Here was my reply:
Notice that Habakkuk, immediately after stating that God "canst not look on iniquity," asks God to do just that! The fact is that God saw all of the sin, evil, and destruction in His sovereignty before He even created! So, no, God does look on evil and sin. He would have to; He is God and sees all.
What Habakkuk is saying to God - if one reads the surrounding verses in context - is that God is so pure and good that Habakkuk is petitioning God to act upon those who are doing injustices to the righteous. This is something the righteous have been experiencing since creation. It is a petition of God to act on behalf of the righteous, and we see this all throughout the Scriptures and even in our own experiences.
I would also add that Satan himself – the epitome of sin, evil, and rebellion – has access to God in heaven!
So, when someone says that the Father couldn’t bear to look upon the Son because our sins were placed upon Jesus – and that this was the reason that the Father abandoned the Son – is not really justified by the Scriptures.
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” – Proverbs 15:3
What does make sense, though, is that because Christ was paying our substitutionary punishment of the Second Death, that there would have to be separation of Christ from the Father, because that’s what our just punishment for sin and rebellion deserves – separation from God!
It was because our sins were placed upon our Lord that He could then face the separation from the Father on our behalf, enduring our substitutionary punishment. This wasn’t due to the Father being unable to look upon His Son, it was because separation from God and the sinner – the Second Death – had to be paid for.
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” – 1 John 2:2
Remember, it pleased the Father to bruise Him:
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” – Isaiah 53:10-11
What an amazing, loving, and merciful God we have!
An Analogy and a Summary
I often like to use analogies in order for us to gain a little better understanding of something that is really beyond our comprehension; and the salvation that Christ procured for us on the cross is one of many aspects concerning our Lord that falls into this category.
The blood of Christ paid for our sins and the price that Christ paid by being separated from His Father paid for our deserved punishment. Even though a believer’s sins are covered and forgiven, this doesn’t free them from the punishment incurred from their past rebellion, which we are all guilty of as we are all born into sin and rebellion.
In order to give us an idea of what I mean, let us consider the often-used analogy of a judge and a criminal defendant, but take it just a little further.
Let’s say that you are found guilty of a crime and the judge sentenced you to a $5,000 fine and three years in prison. In this analogy, the $5,000 fine is our sin restitution, paid by Christ with His precious blood, and the three years in prison is our punishment for being guilty of committing the crime, represented by our punishment of being eternally separated from an offended Creator.
An amazing thing happens: Someone offers to pay our $5,000 fine of restitution to the harmed party of our crime. This frees us from the restitution, but it doesn’t free us from the penalty of the crime – we still have to serve the three years in prison. Of course, if this more than compassionate person offers to serve our punishment of three years in prison, in addition to paying our fine, we, in effect, have been freed from both – the restitution of those harmed by our crime and the deserved punishment for the crime we have committed, has all been paid by another.
Of course, all of this depends on the judge. And, in our case, the Judge is God.
This gives us an idea – though analogies are always deficient when it comes to the things of God – of what Christ did for us on the cross. His precious blood that was shed for our sins (restitution/remission of our sins) and His paying the penalty of our rebellion (second death/separation from God the Father), freed us from both!
When the Bible speaks of Yeshua’s death for our sins, it necessarily must include what He accomplished on the cross while He was still alive, because His physical death as a stand-alone – apart from His work on the cross while He was still alive – could never have satisfied the Father’s requirement of substitutionary atonement.
His physical death was the culmination of the debt payment and punishment, and is the easiest way for us to share the good news of what Christ did for humanity with unbelievers, as everyone understands physical death. But the sacrifice – the shedding of blood and enduring a substitutionary punishment on behalf of humanity – was paid on the cross while He was still alive. His physical death was just the result of the procurement of salvation, not the means.
The reason Christ’s physical death is the summary point in Scripture regarding what Yeshua accomplished at His First Coming, is that without His death, we wouldn’t have what He accomplished on the cross while He was still alive: the shedding of blood, our sins placed upon Him, and His suffering the separation from the Father, all of which obtained our salvation.
Our Lord’s physical death is also the crux of redemption because, without His physical death, there could be no burial and His glorious resurrection; all of which confirms the Father’s acceptance of Christ’s once for all sacrifice for us and our future resurrection through Him.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” – 1 Peter 3:18
This is why Christ’s physical death is the central theme in Scripture concerning the gospel as, on the one side, you have our Savior procuring our salvation through His loving and intensive sacrifice, and on the other side, you have His eternal life-affirming resurrection - all accepted of the Father on our behalf.
Henry Morris in the Henry Morris Study Bible
Henry Morris in the Henry Morris Study Bible, when commenting on the “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” passage in Matthew 25:41 that began this article, stated:
Those who are offended by the idea of eternal hellfire as the abode of the lost must at least reckon with the fact that it was Jesus Christ Himself who set forth this doctrine most emphatically of all (see also Matthew 5:29-30; 10:28; 13:41-42,50; 18:8-9; 23:33). They should also recall that Christ so loved them that He Himself suffered the worst pangs of hell when He died for them on the cross, and they have thus far spurned His infinite love.
On the crucifixion of Christ, specifically in regard to the darkness that covered the land in Matthew 27:45, Henry Morris said:
Jesus was “the light of the world” (John 8:12), but during these three hours of supernatural darkness (the time frame would not allow this to be explained by a solar eclipse), the world’s light was extinguished, while He was being “made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This was the “night season” prophesied in Psalm 22:2. The Gospels reveal nothing of what took place during those three hours of the darkness of hell itself. Christ, hanged on a tree, was being made the Curse for us (Genesis 3:16-19; Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). In order for Christ to suffer the full punishment for sin, He had to suffer the infinite agony equivalent to “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).
Dave Hunt of The Berean Call
I pray that the reader by now has recognized that the doctrine we have presented here is Biblical, logical, and rational.
The first time, many years ago, that I first heard this teaching was from Dave Hunt of The Berean Call, whom I affectionately refer to as my earthly mentor. The subject matter, for me, was deeply profound and captivated me, to the point that I had a much clearer idea of what Christ did for each and every human being on the cross. I was awed by the depth of Christ’s love and sacrifice.
When challenged by a reader on this topic, Dave, in part, replied:
On the Cross [Jesus] paid the full penalty for sin, shouting in triumph, "Tetelestai" [paid in full!]. The KJV translates it as "It is finished!" Furthermore, redemption is through "the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20).
Scripture declares, that "he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). Being "cast into the lake of fire...is the second death" (Rev. 20:14).
How could Christ "taste death for every man" without suffering "the second death" that every sinner will endure eternally in the Lake of Fire? He couldn't. I believe what the Bible plainly says. But how could He suffer the torment of the Lake of Fire while on the Cross? Consider carefully:
- Physical death is not sin's full penalty: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment..."(Heb. 9:27). How can eternal punishment of the soul and spirit be physical? Death separates man from his body and opens the door to judgment and eternal punishment.
- Punishment in hell and the Lake of Fire cannot be physical but moral and spiritual. I've been accused of not believing in real flames in hell and the Lake of Fire by those who think that only physical flames could be real. Then neither God, who is "a spirit," nor Satan, angels, demons, or man's soul and spirit are real!
- Is the "water" of eternal life that Jesus offered to the woman at the well and that He offers to each repentant sinner not real because it isn't physical? Then why must the flames of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire be physical to be real? The rich man was tormented in the flames of hell, but only his soul and spirit were present—his physical body was rotting in the grave.
- Surely, the fire of God's holiness, justice, and judgment, by which "every man's work shall be made manifest...of what sort it is" (1 Cor. 3:13), cannot be physical but moral and spiritual. Real? Yes, far more real, terrifying, and tormenting than physical fire could ever be, as the conscience can find no more excuses but is confronted with the stark reality of what sin really is and the horror of its rebellion against God and rejection of Christ and the sacrifice He made on the Cross. I believe that is the horror Christ endured on the Cross for every person who would ever be born as He cried in agony, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"!
Thank you, Lord Jesus!
What more could Jesus do? How could it ever be possible for Yeshua to show humanity that He loves and cares for them, more than He already has?
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10
Nothing can be truer than when we say, “Christ did it all on the cross!” To this glorious truth, we should all bow our hearts to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
“To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen!” – Jude 1:25
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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