"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
I like the image here of death and hell being cast into the lake of fire. We know that Christ overcame death, and getting rid of it is awesome, once the whole period of mortality is over. Hell getting thrown into the lake of fire is weirder though, because I think those two things have a lot of crossover in our traditional idea of what hell is. I don't know the answer, but my opinion is that the lake of fire is temporary, symbolic of the pain of separation from God, which is what the second death represents. I think when we're resurrected and we remember who we were, both in our lives and before that, it is going to be painful to feel the difference, and then if we're judged and we know that we aren't going to get to be with God, that is going to be even more painful. I don't think it lasts for eternity though, because only people who are basically as bad as Satan are going to be without a kingdom of glory, and that's outer darkness, not a lake of fire. I could be wrong though... I suppose symbolically they could mean the same thing.
Either way though, a good reminder that we want to make sure that we are written in the Book of Life, and that we are going to be judged based on our works--so if we have good desires, let's also jump in and act on them, and remember to stay in touch with God and listen to the Spirit, so we don't have to go through that pain in the end, but instead finally get to live in a place where we can be with all of our loved ones again, and get to feel the love of God all the time. Today, let's work to be the kind of people who don't need to worry about lakes of fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment