Chapters 27,28 Revelation 20:11-21:8
CHAPTER XXVII
Chapter 20.11-15: THE JUDGEMENT OF THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
This brings us almost to the last of the major controversial situations in connection with the conservative interpretation of the Apocalypse. When does the judgement represented by these verses take place? If the results accepted in the last few pages are correct, it would not seem that there can be much doubt. The earth by this stage will have enjoyed the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ for '1000 years'; the saints will have reigned with Him, and 'Satan' will have been bound, during the same period. The revolt will have taken place and will have been crushed; the power of sin will have been consigned to the Lake of Fire. The abolition of death and the grave are about to occur (20.14). Where else can this judgement be located than at the end of the Millennium, and therefore how can it fail to be additional to, and later than, the judgement of the saints who reign with Christ during the Millennium itself (20.4ff)?
It really does seem that these points are irresistible: and yet they should not be allowed to override completely the ones made by those who come to a different conclusion. Thus, the parallels between the language used here, and that used in some other places in Scripture, is too striking to be ignored:
20.11:7 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.
Daniel 7.9: 1 beheld till thrones •were placed, and One that was ancient of days did sit: His raiment was white as snow . . .
Daniel 2.35: The iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold, were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them.
20.12: Books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life.
Daniel 7.10: The judgement was set, and the books were opened.
19.20: The beast. . . was cast into the lake of fire.
Daniel 7.11: The beast was taken, and his body destroyed.
20.12: The dead were judged. . . according to their works.
Romans 2.5: God will render to every man according to his works.
There is thus a strong correspondence between the terms used in Revelation 20.11-12 for the judgement before the great white throne, and those used in Daniel and in Romans for the judgement at the return of the Lord, while Daniel's scene pictures the destruction of the Beast in terms used in Revelation 19, a scene which is certainly not postmillennial. This similarity has led one recent writer to express himself in this way:
The proposition submitted here is that the. . . judgement scene associated with the great white throne is, in fact, the judgement seat of Christ. The resurrection that is connected with this judgement is therefore the resurrection that takes place when the Lord returns to the earth. Here is a summary of the evidence:
1 The fact that sequences are sometimes reversed in the Apocalypse has already been established. A big step back in time would thus be introduced by the words "And I saw. .." in 20.11.
2 The words of 20.10 concerning the dead being tormented ... do not seem to lead on to the great white throne scene of 20.11. There is a break in the subject matter.
3 The words of 20.11, "... from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them" invite comparison with those of 6.14, "the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together..." The verbal link between the two passages, obviously designed, would be pointless if this were a post-millennial scene.
4 ... With Daniel 7.10, . . . An occasion of judgement in which "the books were opened" is common to both. The occasion is manifestly the same, and. . . Daniel 7. . . cannot be post-millennial— in terms of Revelation, this is the judgement of the Beast, and he is certainly destroyed before the end of the millennium. Observe that the rebels at the end of the millennium are cast into the lake of fire "where the beast and the false prophet are" (20.10). The(y). . . have been cast into the lake of fire earlier.
5 In... Revelation 20 the book of life is opened. . . concerned with the destiny of those whose probation will end with the Lord's return. It is unthinkable that the only reference to the opening of the book of destiny concerns the end of the p millennium. . . This is the judgement seat of Christ. It is a white throne, a symbol of righteous judgement.
Now the case is well-stated, but it is far from impregnable. There are, of course, movements back and forth in time in the Apocalypse, but the link between the great white throne and the
P.W., pages 187-193. The omissions made for brevity do not distort the evidence there offered, and the only other alterations made have been to bring the spelling and manner of representing Scripture-references into line with the system used in the present book.
destruction of the dragon, and between the casting of the latter into the lake of fire and the same fate for the rejected persons, and for "death and hell", most strongly suggests that this is not one of those dislocations. This deals with point 1. As to point 2, this is simply incorrect. There is the best possible connection between the destruction of the dragon and his followers in 20.10 and that of the dead rejected at this judgement in 20.14-15.
We are in the middle of a cleaning-up operation. God has dealt with the rebels; He will now deal with any others who must be rejected, and then with death and hell themselves, casting all alike into the Lake of Fire. This argument is strongly in favour of a postmillennial judgement. As to 3, there is certainly a correspondence between the language of 20.11 and that of 6.14. But no one at all could claim that 6.14 was fulfilled immediately on the opening of the Sixth Seal: it was portended then, but the actual fulfilment had to wait at least until all the trumpets had been sounded and all the Vials poured out. This Seal tells us that the time when God will begin the abolition of earthly rule and authority is about to start. If its ultimate completion must await the perfection of the end of the Millennium — and surely it must — then this objection loses its force.
Turning to 4, it is certainly true that Daniel 7.10 with its destruction of the Beast cannot be postmillennial. But is also true that Revelation 19.20 and 20.10 conspire together to tell us that the destruction of the Beast had already occurred before the dragon was cast into the Lake of Fire. This point actually seems to have been conceded, and becomes rather evidence for the post-millennial view than otherwise.
Point 5 is the most telling. It would be surprising if the Book of Life had no relevance to the first judgement, or if no reference to its relevance were made. This point cannot, however be sufficient to override the fact that it is at this point that death and hell are finally abolished; for since the writer of the notes above did believe that there would be a postmillennial revolt, he could clearly not have believed that mortality would be abolished at the beginning of the millennial reign of the Lord.
A suggested reconciliation is this: There is no need to distinguish between the appearances of the throne of judgement, at the beginning and end of the 1000 years. It is the same Lord Who is judging on the same canons, and with the same glory and righteousness. There is no need, either, to distinguish between the 'books' used in record on the twooccasions. So what applies to one applies equally to the other. John has passed rather quickly over the judgement which leads to the enthronement of the saints at the beginning of the Millennium (20.4-6), the primary object
CHAPTER XXVIII
Chapter 21.1-8: THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH
21.1: / saw anew heaven and anew earth, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and the sea is no more. 21.2: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her Husband. 21.3: And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them and be their God; 21.4: and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more: the first things are passed away.
Up to the end of Revelation 20 we have been constantly concerned with a world in which the things of God exist side by side with the still-continuing things of man. While the Lord is at the right hand of His Father in heaven, His kingdom is represented on earth only by those "strangers and pilgrims" in a world ruled by the Gentiles who are faithful to their calling in Him (1 Peter 2.11); and as for the rest, "the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5.19; The Christian witness during this epoch is a minority witness in an unbelieving world. With such a world we are concerned in the Apocalypse up to the closing verses of chapter 19. Up to then we have only had glimpses of what the new world of God's glory would be like.
When the Lord Jesus returns the situation will be dramatically altered. He will Himself now rule, and the power of sin will be under crippling restraint. Thus the earth at that time will consist effectively of two camps. First there will be the Lord and His saints; and, second, there will be the mortal population of the earth. No doubt there will be intimate contact between the two, but the difference between immortality and mortality is fundamental, and complete intermingling there cannot be. Indeed, among the mortal population there will evidently be those who chafe at subordination to the divine rule, and, given the opportunity, would and will rebel against it, as we have seen.
When that rebellion has been suppressed, however, and all causes of such rebellions finally extinguished, righteousness and its associated deathlessness will be universal, and it is this picture which is introduced in 21.1-4.
But it is not something totally new. We met the Bride, the Lamb's wife, and her marriage to the Lamb Himself in 19.7.
Those for whom the Lord suffered and died, that He might present them to Himself collectively as "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5.27), will enjoy that experience of union with their Lord as soon as they are admitted to His kingdom. The promise, "he that overcometh shall eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (2.7), is fulfilled in the immortal saints at that point, even though we do not hear again of that tree until 22.2. Thus the New Jerusalem, of which we do not hear until 21.2,10, must nevertheless have been co-existing with the remaining sinful world, as representing those saints thus far glorified. It already exists in their aspirations, since they have already come to the "heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12.22; Gala-tians 4.26) by faith in Christ, and so John can write to all the faithful, and say, "Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie" (22.15).
21.9: There came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials, who were laden with the seven last plagues: and he spake with me saying, Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. 21.10: and he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
Thus there is a heavenly fellowship belonging to the disciple which begins with baptism; it survives in the record of the heavenly Book of Life even should the disciple die; it is restored to him at judgement when the Lord returns to the earth; it is enjoyed together with the Lord, and in the presence of the mortal people of the earth, during the Millennial period; and it triumphs and becomes universal when the last enemy is destroyed, and the earth is truly filled with the lasting glory of God among the now-universal immortal population of the world. Both the expressions, "new heaven and new earth" and "new Jerusalem" contribute to our understanding of this relationship, as we shall see.
The concept of a new heaven and earth is well-based in both the Testaments
1 Isaiah 65.17-19: I create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind ... I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice with Jerusalem, and joy in My people".
2 Isaiah 66.22: As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
3 2 Peter 3.7, 13: The heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men . . . According to His promise we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
So, in the New Testament, is the idea of heavenly fellowship, culminating in the picture of the heavenly Jerusalem.
4 Galatians 4.26: The Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother.
5 Ephesians 2.6: God hath raised us up with Jesus, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
6 Philippians 3.20-21: Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the image of His glory.
7 Colossians 3.3,4: Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
8 Hebrews 12.22,26: Ye are come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now He hath promised, saying: Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. And this word. . . signifieth the removing of those things which are shaken.
These, together with the anticipatory picture in the Apocalypse itself (14.1) of the Lamb on Mount Zion with the blessed, show us the saints in their present life, bodily on the earth, but in fellowship with God and His Son in heaven (compare John 14.1,23), where their treasure is, and where the Lord Jesus guards their lives. Then the heavenly Jerusalem, hitherto represented on earth only by these pilgrims, itself comes down for those who at His coming are admitted into the kingdom then established. Finally, when all rule and authority and power have been put down, the whole earth is comprehended within it. The passing of the old heavens and earth, and the advent of the new Jerusalem, are parallel concepts. Each takes place in the same stages, and as the old order disappears completely, so all that is left is the New Jerusalem, and the new heavens and earth of the perfect new creation.
Excursus XIII: WILL THE HEAVENLY BODIES BE ABOLISHED?
The recent powerful revival in the creationist approach to the creation-narratives of Genesis 1-2 and the subsequent accounts of the Flood in Genesis 6.9 have produced some interesting supplementary points. It is argued in the writings and talks of J. D. Whitcombe and H. M. Morris, on the most literal of interpretations of Genesis 1, that:
1 As a result of the work of the First Creation-Day, light directly from the Almighty Himself illuminated the earth, which was alone in space, and had its day and night simply by rotating around its own axis, presenting first one side and then another in the direction of God's light.
2 This situation was changed on the Fourth Creation-Day, when God created the heavenly bodies, so that the earth subsequently received its light from these, and the direct divine light no longer shone upon it.
3 The old situation will be restored during the post-Millennial period, for then the old heavens will have passed away (as in the passagesjust quoted), and the New Jerusalem will not be lit up by sun or moon, but once again by the direct light from God. This will now shine from the throne of God and Lamb, and therefore there will be no night. Once more the earth will be alone in space, and the heavenly bodies will cease to exist.
The view has been taken up nearer home, and while we must always acknowledge that our limited knowledge of the ways of God scarcely qualifies us to speak with assurance of what the situation will be like when God makes all things new, it does seem to be of interest to examine whether the views mentioned above are well-founded, for it affects our attitude to the interpretation of Scripture as a whole if such conclusions are adopted.
In the first place, the view is founded upon a very literal interpretation of highly symbolic books. If we assume the correctness of the view that Genesis 1.3,16 does tell us that the light which reached the earth on the First Day was not that of the sun, what we then have as simple facts are the following:
4 A number of Bible passages speak of the abolition of the present heavens and earth. They include Psalm 102.25-26 (cited in Hebrews 1.10-12); Isaiah 34.4; 51.6; 65.17; 66.22; Matthew 5.18; 24.35; Hebrews 12.26-27 (citing Haggai 2.6); 2 Peter 3.7-13; Revelation 21.1.
5 Revelation 21.23 does say that the New Jerusalem will have no need of sun or moon to give it light, which will come instead from the glory of God. The words are quoted from Isaiah 60.19. (see page 211). Neither of these passages, however, speaks of any abolition of sun or moon (still less of stars), nor do those cited under 4 specifically.
6 In Psalm 72.5,7 we read, "They shall fear Thee while the sun en-dureth, and so long as the moon throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth, n His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more"; and in 72.17, "His name shall
endure for ever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun". It is hard to see how these can in any way be reconciled with the notion that the heavenly bodies will be abolished and the earth be alone in space.
7 The same applies to Psalm 89.36; 113.1-3; 136.8-9; 148.1-6; perhaps Isaiah 59.19; Malachi 1.11.
8 The same passages which speak of the 'abolition' of the heavens speak of the earth in the same way. Yet this is not the view of those who tell us that sun and moon will be no more. The earth is to remain, on their teaching, and remain alone. It is true that it will be so transformed , particularly as the Millennium comes to its close, that it can rightly be called a "new earth", but it is unwarrantable to use the same language to convey the physical abolition of the heavenly bodies, and the mere transformation of a surviving earth.
9 It is, of course, right to preserve the earth from destruction. "God formed it not in vain: He formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45.18); He "hath given it to the children of men", in contradistinction to the heavens which He has reserved for Himself (Psalm 115.26).
10 If anything were needed to show that a literal interpretation of these passages about the abolition of the heavens and earth is not to be sought, it would be supplied in Peter's words that we look for a new heaven and earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3.13). For is it not written of the present heaven that God's will is done there, as a model for what shall be on the earth when the Lord has finished His work? "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6.10).
There is no escaping the drift of this evidence. The Bible does not teach the abolition of the heavens as we know them when God's righteousness is finally established on the earth.
On the contrary, the passages in the Scriptures which bear a literal interpretation rather teach their permanence. The symbolic writings in Isaiah, the Psalms, Revelation, 2 Peter, and elsewhere, speak of the total, abolition of the existing order of things, and of the establishment among the saints of God of so intimate a relationship that a light is theirs with which the light of the natural sun does not compare.
The holy city. We met this expression first in 11.2 where, because the angel is bidden measure the temple within it, we must again conclude that it represents the congreation of the saints: though in the state of affairs which then existed it was very much a city under siege, the saints of God under the thraldom of a wicked and persecuting world. The term recurs in 21.10 and 22.19 of this same "new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven". The combined thought of the Lord returning to reign literally in geographical Jerusalem, "the city of the great King" (Matthew 5.35; Psalm 48.2), and yet bringing with Him from heaven the symbolic New Jerusalem in which are preserved the lives of all His saints, can usefully be taken further by comparing the following passages, where 'holy', and 'Jerusalem', or cognate terms, occur together: Psalm 2.6; 15.1; 24-3; 43.3; 99.9; 138.2; Isaiah 52.1-23; 56.7; 65.25; 66.20; Daniel 9.16; Joel 3.17. It is remarkable that in Matthew 27.53 the expression 'holy city' is of the physical Jerusalem, which had already rejected the Lord and crucified Him, as the place into which the bodies of saints raised from the dead at the time of the resurrection of Jesus entered and made their appearance to many. Here we see how that firstfruits-resurrection typified the great rising from the dead which will occur at the Lord's second coming: the Jerusalem which witnessed this is typical of the true 'holy city' which was to be established when the harvest-resurrection should take place.
The tabernacle of God is with men. The tabernacle of God has been with men before: in the Wilderness (Exodus 25ff), and in Shiloh (Joshua 18.1), finishing up its chequered existence, deprived of its Ark, at Gibeon(l Kings 3.4; 1 Chronicles 16.39), and perhaps at last enjoying honourable retirement in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8.4) as Solomon built the Temple which was to replace it. But the presence of God among His people in Tabernacle or subsequent Temples was temporary, precarious, and dependent on His forbearance in the face of the constant backsliding of His people. In the days of Zedekiah the glory of God forsook Solomon's temple (Ezekiel 1; 3.23; 8.4; 10.4,18; 11.22-25), and was not fully to return until the time of the restored Temple of the future age (43.2-51; 44.4). God had been pleased to accept the temple of Zerubbabel (Haggai 2), and even to regard that built under the patronage of Herod the Great as "My house" (Matthew 21.13; John 2.16) until the Jews finally rejected Jesus, when it become necessary to pronounce sentence against it: "Your house is left to you desolate" (Luke 13.35).
Since that time God, Who could never in any case be contained within "temples made with hands" (Acts 7.48; 17.24; Isaiah 66.1-2), has for the time abandoned such temples completely. It was always necessary, even where a temple was authorized, to worship God in spirit and in truth, but from the time of the abandonment of the temple of Herod men must do so without the help of any temple on earth, whether in Gerizim (as the Samaritans had preferred), or in Jerusalem, or anywhere else (John 4.20-24).
This is far from meaning that, since 70, God has had no temple at all. The Lord's promise of abiding places in "My Father's house" for those who love God and keep His Commandments (John 14.1-23), shows this plainly. So does John's reference to "the temple of His body" which should be raised after the Jews had destroyed their own temple by murdering Him (John 2.19-21). So do the references to the disciples as constituting the temple of the living God in the Epistles (1 Corinthians 3.16-17; 6.19; 2 Corinthians' 6.16; Ephesians 2.21). The promised presence of God with the believer keeps alive the immanence of God in the world, however little it is recognized.
But, for all that, this witness to the present activity of God is local and limited. What is promised in 21.1 is a recognizable, personal, evident presence of God in the new world which the Lord Jesus will bring into being through His return. The words, "God Himself shall be with them and be their God" (21.3) are practically a repetition of 2 Corinthians 6.16, showing that the concern which God feels for the present wellbeing of His saints is the same in kind as, though much smaller in scale than, that which He will show to them when the Lord Jesus has returned.
21.3: He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there by mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.
This promise has already been made, in 7.17 (pages 143-145). It applies specially, in both places, to the weeping caused to the disciples by the suffering they have had to endure at the hands of the enemies of the gospel. Disciples have been sustained with spiritual food during their tribulations, and in their bodily sufferings the Lord's grace has been sufficient for them. Now the fulfilment of the promises of Isaiah 49.10 and Psalm 23.2 is theirs. But of course the promise goes as far back as the curse, when by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin (Genesis 2.17; 3.17-19; Romans 5.12); the travail which that transgression brought on the whole creation will be relieved permanently when the children of God are manifest in their fulness (Romans 8.18-22).
21.3: He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. And He saith, Write, for these words are faithful and true. And He said to me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to Him that is athirst of the fountain of life freely.
All things have already become new to the new creature in anticipation (2 Corinthians 5.17): but now in realization. For the saint of this age at the return of the Lord, and for the faithful of the Millennium at the last session of the great white throne, He that sitteth on the throne pronounces the passing of the past. The Lord is fulfilling for them all His own promise: those who ask drink of the Lord are given living water (John 4.10; 7.37) in the living things of the gospel. Now the promise is achieved that they shall never thirst (4.14). They that hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5.6) will now be filled never to want again. "Ho! everyone that thirsteth! Come ye to the waters!" (Isaiah 55.1), the prophet had called. Now they that heeded shall thirst no more. One sometimes hears of those who speak of their pleasure at being thirsty, for the joy it brings them in slaking their parched throats. And they are right: it is not so much that it is good to know no want that cannot be satisified; it is also good to feel an appetite that can, and this is the condition of the saint of God, now, and even then: "Like as the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul, thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42.1-2). So in that joy of wanting and receiving, the Apocalypse comes to its end with the words, "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! and he that heareth, let him say, Come! And he that is athirst, let him come; he that will, let him take the water of life freely" (22.17).
So runs the constant message of the New Testament. The Lord Jesus is to us not merely history and prophecy. He is for the present also. He died that we, crucified with Him, might live to God. He was raised from the dead that, by the issue from God through Him of the power which raised Him, His saints might grow in grace ready for the time when God would quicken their mortal bodies (Romans 8.11). Then, when that time comes, the Lord will make permanent His work of grace among His saints, purging out the last remnant of their unworthiness (1 Corinthians 3.10-15), and changing the body of their humiliation like to His own glorious body (Philippians 3.21).
"I am Alpha and Omega" has already been commented on (pages 32-35). It is spoken here by "Him that sitteth on the throne", which is the Father, but, as we showed, is in process of fulfilment through Him who has now been granted the name which is above every name, as is made very plain in 22.13.
21.7: He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
The expression "he that overcometh" is found in each of the Seven Letters (2.7,11,17,26; 3.5,12,21). In this Book the overcoming relates primarily to the evil forces in the world, but in 1 John the victory contemplated is over "the evil one" or "the world" (2.13,14; 4.4; 5.4,4,5), and though no doubt this also includes withstanding persecution, it is there first of all concerned with repelling the assaults of wickedness within. What is plain in all contexts, however, is that the victory is not that of the saint's own personal stamina against the forces of evil, for if "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5.4), the battle is transferred from the ground of our own self-reliance to that of our reliance on God: because the saint trusts in God, he is assured that he will not be tested above that which (in His strength) he is able to bear (1 Corinthians 10.13).
"I will be his God, and he shall be My son". The believer is a child of God because he believes: "As many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become children of God (John 1.12); and, "Now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him, even as He is (1 John 3.2). Even in the case of the Lord Jesus, Son of God by birth as He unquestionaly was, His Sonship was reaffirmed as His baptism and was given a final establishment at His resurrection, when He "was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by His resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1.4). It is even more essentially the case with His brethren in faith: for during the days of our pilgrimage we might prove false to our adoption as children, and it is only after the successful overcoming that it can finally be said, "They are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20.36). There are both present and future regenerations: already we have been begotten again through "the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3.5), but there is to come "the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory" (Matthew 19.28;. Then will membership of the family of God be confirmed for all who are worthy of it, permanently and inalienably.
21.8: But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
No doubt this fate awaits those rejected both at the beginning
and at the ending of the 1000 years. The second death is the inflicted death after condemnation at judgement. The list is not unlike the list of sins given in Gospels and Epistles which would exclude from the kingdom of God, such as:
1 Corinthians 6.9: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5.19: The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they which practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5.5: This ye know, of a surety, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no man deceive you with empty words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God on the children of disobedience.
Mark 7.21: From within, out of the heart of man, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.
All these categories except the last (and this, too, by implication), list offences which, if impenitently indulged in, will exclude from participation in the kingdom of God. All the categories give cause for anxious thought, for those in the Gospels and Epistles include offences (like covetousness, enmities, strife, envyings, pride, and foolishness — to name only a few) from which few of us could claim to be free. But the list before us varies from those which we might almost call obvious (like murder, fornication, and idolatry), through others which sound bad but are not easy to define (like being abominable, and sorcery), and on to one which though it might seem obvious (unbelieving) has far-reaching implications; and finally one which is very obvious indeed, and for which we might earnestly wish to see an exception made. This one is fearful, and, however reluctantly, must be faced.
Sorcerers might seem an outdated class, defined as they are as those "devoted to magical arts... especially using drugs, potions, spells, enchantments"; but having regard to the current plague of hallucinogenic drugs, and other forms of practice designed to promote escape from reality, the dangers are in fact particularly acute in our age. The word is pharmakeia, the origin of the term
used in the legitimate rather than the irregular drugs-industry nowadays, and it or its derivatives are found in 9.21; 18.23; 21.8; 22.15, and also among the sins listed in Galatians 5.20.
Abominable is derived from the verb bdelussomai, and, with related words, occurs in Romans 2.22 (thou that abhorrest idols); Matthew 24.15; Mark 13.14 (abomination of desolation); Luke 16.15 (abomination in the sight of God); Titus 1.16 (unruly disciples are abominable, disobedient and reprobate); and Revelation 17.4,5 (cup full of, and mother of, abominations), as well as in the present verse. It is not easy to attach a specific meaning to the offence: apart from revealing the existence of disgusting and detestable practices, associated with the nastier side of idolatry and, no doubt, public sexual abuses, we are left to our own imagination. But prevailing licentiousness, and the ail-too common delight in the filthy which goes with it, give a general idea of the frame of mind which, wallowing as it does in the revolting, is fundamentally unfitted for inheritance in the kingdom of God.
That the unbelieving have no place among the blessed might almost seem a truism. The word is apistos, and is found in Matthew 17.17; Mark 9.19; Luke 9.41; 12.46; John 20.27; Acts 26.8; 1 Corinthians 6.6; 7.12-15; 10.27; 14.22-24; 2 Corinthians 4.4; 6.14-15; 1 Timothy 5.8; Titus 1.15, and the present passage. In the Bible, to "believe not" is not invariably, perhaps not even commonly, to be unconvinced that something is true. It is rather to refuse belief, to decline to exercise faith, turning one's back on the evidence provided and refusing to entertain the credentials of the message. It is a kind of mental rebellion against God's way, and the related verb, apisteuo, in the famous "he that believeth not shall be condemned (Mark 16.16), plainly means that those who receive the message of the gospel, and wilfully refuse to submit themselves to it, come within the scope of the judgements of God.
Liars. Here, and in 2.2 and Acts 6.13, the word is the adjective pseudes; the corresponding noun, pseustes, occurs in John 8.44, 45; Romans 3.4; 1 Timothy 1.10; Titus 1.12; and 1 John 1.10; 2.4,22; 4.20; 5.10. The prefix pseudo - is used of anything counterfeiting the genuine article or office which follows (as in 'false prophet'), while the verb, pseudomai, found in Matthew 5.11; Acts 5.3, 4; Romans 9.1; 2 Corinthians 11.31; Galatians 1.20; Colossians 3.9; 1 Timothy 2.7; Hebrews 6.18; James 3.14; IJohn 1.6; Revelation 3.9, speaks of telling untruths with the intention of deliberately deceiving the hearers on matters of serious substance, as Paul's repeated defence of himself against the charge of lying in his relations with the churches he founded shows. Even false witness is not far from the meaning of the word, and general and deliberate insincerity underlies it.
The most painful of all the words to examine, though, is fearful. The other faults have about them the air of deliberate transgression, but this one pricks the hearts of any who must confess to physical or mental timidity. The adjective used, deilos, occurs here and (in connection with the disciples' fear of the storm on the lake) in Matthew 8.26; Mark 4.40; the related noun is found in 2 Timothy 1.7 ("God has not given us a spirit of fear"), and the related verb occurs in John 14.27 ("let not your heart be afraid"). This group of words is far less common than the ordinary word for fear, phobos, and its derivatives, and refers to a cravenness which will not bring itself to trust in God, but draws back from the path of salvation rather than face the harm that men might do. In days when, for a long period, we have been free from serious threats to our lives and liberties, it may well be that this is the peril which afficts many of us most, and which we should most earnestly pray for help to overcome. For it seems that the Lord provides no exemption for those who, through weakness of the flesh, deny His name in times of extreme trial. The promise is always there, as we have seen, that "God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10.13). This is coupled with a salutary warning to the self-confident, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (10.12), and it is painfully clear that it is not a merely human capacity to endure of which Paul is writing. The basic ingredient in the overcoming is trust in God, not trust in oneself. We are not told that God will adjust the hardships to the capacity of His servants, but that He will adjust His help to their need.
There is a startling transition in the list of faithful people in Hebrews II, which brings out this lesson disconcertingly well. Some by faith triumphed over their enemies and their adversities: such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah (11.32). Some were kept secure from raging lions (11.33; Daniel 6.22), or were uninjured by the fiery furnace (11.34; Daniel 3.25), or, among many other blessings, secured the resurrection from the dead of those they had lost (11.35; 1 Kings 17.22). And yet, in the middle of a verse, in the middle of a thought even, other faithful people are named who received no such deliverance, but were tortured (11.35), and endured unbelievable sufferings which they withstood in the same faith (11.35-38). There is no guarantee that faith will make life easy, and we could not understand the Apocalypse at all if we sustained such an illusion. The only guarantee is that faith will make the hardships, whatever they may be, endurable. "There shall not an hair of your head perish"; "He
that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 10.22; 24.13; Mark 13.13).
There has never been a harder passage for this writer to compose. A conviction that the Apocalypse speaks of a time of severe trial for saints before the Lord returns has been simply forced on him as he has read its pages with tremulous, but he hopes honest, gaze. Those silly people who suggest that such expositions as this one arise from a desire to temporize with apostacy simply do not understand the anguish with which timid and sensitive minds contemplate the possibility that they or others might be called on to witness with their safety, and even their lives; at stake; that they belong to the Lord Who redeemed them: and that all the hands of "the apostacy" itself.
BE STRONG IN THE LORD, AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS MIGHT. PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL . . . THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IN THE EVIL DAY AND, HAVING DONE ALL TO STAND, THEREFORE, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, AND HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND HAVING SHOD YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; WITHAL TAKING UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH WHEREWITH YE SHALL BE ABLE TO QUENCH ALL THE FIERY DARTS OF THE WICKED. AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION, AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD: WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION PRAYING AT ALL SEASONS IN THE SPIRIT, AND WATCHING THERETO IN ALL PERSERVERANCE AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL THE SAINTS. (Ephesians 6.10-18).
