The Lake of Fire

THE punishment of the wicked will be inflicted by means of fire. This fact is revealed in an immense number of passages. Ps. 11:6; 21:9, 10; 50:3; 68:2; 97:3; 140:11; Isa. 5:24; 9:18; 26:11; 30:33; 33:11, 12, 14; 47:14; 66:15, 16, 24; Eze. 38:22; Mal. 4:1, 3; Matt. 3:10, 11, 12; 5:22; 7:19; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8, 9; 25:41; Mark 9:43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48; Luke 3:9, 16, 17; 17:29, 30; 2 Thess. 1:8; Heb. 10:27; 2 Pet. 3:7, 12; Rev. 14:10; 19:20; 20: 9, 10, 14, 15; 21:8. According to some of these passages the fire will be rained upon the wicked. Ps. 11:6; 140:11; Eze. 38:22; Luke 17:29, 30; 2 Pet. 2:6; Rev. 20:9. One passage speaks of the place of their punishment as a fiery oven. Ps. 21:9, 10. Others represent it as a furnace of fire. Mal. 4:1; Matt. 13:42, 50. And several call it a lake of fire. Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8. There is no contradiction, however, between these declarations. The final punishment of the wicked is compared to that of Sodom (Luke 17:29, 30; 2 Pet. 2:6), and there God rained fire and brimstone and the city became a furnace of fire. Gen. 19:24, 28.

To this lake of fire Christ has eleven times given the name of Gehenna. Matt. 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5. Gehenna is once mentioned by James. Chap. 3:6. The everlasting fire into which the wicked will be cast is identified in Matt. 18:8, 9 as the fire of Gehenna. But this everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, and the wicked are to share it with them. Matt. 25:41. It will fall upon the wicked when they have encompassed the holy city with Satan and his angels at their head. Rev. 20:9, 10. The dreadful punishment described in Isa. 66:24 is to have its accomplishment in Gehenna according to Christ's words in Mark 9:43-48. The punishment of Sodom was with fire and brimstone. Gen. 19:24. This will be the portion of all the wicked in Gehenna. Ps. 11:6; Isa. 30:33; Eze. 38:22; Luke 17:29, 30; Rev. 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:28.

When the wicked are cast into Gehenna it will be after their resurrection, for they will be in possession of all their bodily members. Matt. 5:29, 30; 18:9; Mark 9:43-48. They will possess both soul and body when cast into Gehenna. Matt. 10:28. God is able to cast those into Gehenna who are already dead. Luke 12:5. To do this he must raise them from the dead. This is made very clear in Rev. 20. The resurrection of the just takes place at the commencement of the 1000 years. Verses 4-6. During the 1000 years the saints unite with Christ in the judgment of the unjust. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:3. At the end of the 1000 years all the unjust rise from the dead. Rev. 20:4, 5. Then Satan gathers them from the four quarters of the earth to make an assault upon the holy city. When they are thus assembled they hear the dreadful words of doom addressed to those on the left hand. Matt. 25:41. And then God rains upon them fire, as upon Sodom, which devours them. Rev. 20:9.

We have here several facts of great importance: First, the wicked are not to be punished till they have been judged. 2 Pet. 2:9. Second, they are not punished till after their resurrection. Third, they are judged during the 1000 years and raised from the dead at the close of that period. But that which is of still deeper interest to us is the fact that this punishment takes place upon our earth. The wicked have risen from the dead and come up on the breadth of the earth against the holy city when fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them.

That our earth is reserved unto fire by God with the special design that it shall constitute the lake of fire in which the wicked are to receive their punishment is evident from the testimony of Peter. "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7. The perdition of ungodly men will therefore be when the heavens and the earth shall burn in the day of Judgment. And Peter describes this dreadful lake in these words: "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Verse 10.

The fire which descends from heaven will unite with the fire now burning in the interior of our earth and the whole globe will be dissolved. This is the terrible Gehenna of fire and brimstone in which the wicked will be punished. Our earth will be burned by an unquenchable fire, for the streams will burn as pitch and the dust as brimstone and the whole land will be as burning pitch. Isa. 34. But though a long period will be requisite for this terrible conflagration the whole earth will be melted. The elements will be dissolved but not annihilated. Then God will create from these elements new heavens and a new earth. Peter tells us what will follow this lake of fire: "Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Pet. 3:13.

The same fact is shown in Rev. 20. and 21. The fire falls upon the unjust after their resurrection at the end of the 1000 years. But they are upon the earth when the fire descends upon them. This shows where their punishment takes place. The fire that devours them burns the earth. Thus the perdition of ungodly men is when the earth is burned. 2 Pet. 3:7. The next thing mentioned by John after the descent of the fire is the burning of the earth, and this he calls the lake of fire, and the punishment in this lake is the second death. Rev. 20:9, 10. But this lake will not exist eternally, for after it has devoured the wicked and dissolved the elements which compose our earth, it will be followed by the creation of new heavens and new earth from the ashes of the old. Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:1 Thus Peter and John agree that the lake of fire is caused by the burning of our earth in the day of Judgment, and that this terrible conflagration will finally give place to the new creation.

The testimony of Malachi is not less instructive than those testimonies already examined. "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts." Mal. 4:1-3. Here we have the same terrible conflagration that is described in 2 Pet. 3, and the same lake of fire that John several times mentions. Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8. Malachi says that all the wicked will have their part in this dreadful fire. Compare Mal. 4:1; Rev. 21:8. He says that it will consume them root and branch. John calls it the second death. Rev. 20:14; 21:8. But Malachi shows that the lake of fire will not exist eternally. He presents the same fact that we have learned from Peter and John that the new creation is to succeed the lake of fire and that the saints are to have their inheritance where once the devouring fire consumed the wicked. After the fire has burned them up root and branch, then they will be ashes in the new creation under the feet of the just. Mal. 4:3. Isaiah tells us that the wicked will be stubble in this fire and that they will not be able to deliver their souls from the power of the flame. But when this terrible Gehenna of fire has accomplished this work, then the fire itself will cease. There will not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Isa. 47:14. See also the margin. So when the fire shall have consumed the earth, and devoured the wicked, God will create the new earth from the ashes of the old; and the wicked will there be ashes under the feet of the just.

In the February number of our journal, Les Signes des Temps, are answered certain difficulties proposed by one of our contemporaries concerning the use of the word "eternal" as applied to the punishment of the wicked. As we quoted and explained every passage mentioned by our friend we hoped he would in like manner in his reply explain the passages which we presented. But he does nothing of the kind. He repeats his own argument without adding anything to it on this subject and he makes no attempt to show that our answer to his difficulties was not a just and proper answer. There is therefore no occasion to answer the second time the same arguments which we have already refuted.

But he makes some singular remarks upon the place of the dead, which, though not directly relating to the subject of this article, we will notice for a moment. He teaches that all the dead whether just or unjust are in hades. This is the truth. But he also teaches that the righteous while in hades are in Paradise and with the Lord. But Paradise is in the New Jerusalem as may be seen from the fact that the tree of life which is near the throne of God in the New Jerusalem is in Paradise. Rev. 22:1, 2, 14; 2:7. But if Paradise is in the New Jerusalem it cannot be in hades. Nor can the saints be with Christ while they are in hades for Christ left hades when he rose from the dead. Acts 2:27. We intend to speak at length upon this subject hereafter, but in the mean time we shall be glad to have our friend show how the saints can be with Christ in hades when Christ himself is not there.