The blessings of the earth during the Messiah’s reign, the fulfillment of the prophecies to Abraham and to David, the removal of the curse on creation, the new covenant with Israel and Judah; these and other subjects of deep interest are abundantly treated of in the prophets, and are alluded to in the New Testament. But they are all omitted here. The glories of the heavenly Jerusalem and the heavenly bride are recorded; those of the earthly Jerusalem and the earthly bride are passed over in silence. For in this book the earth is always a scene of judgment. And now a very solemn fact is mentioned. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan 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” (Rev. 20:7-97And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And 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. 9And 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. (Revelation 20:7‑9)).
Such is man, and such is Satan. A thousand years confinement in the bottomless pit has not changed the character of the deceiver. A thousand years’ blessedness under Christ’s rule has not changed the nature which greedily listens to the deceiver’s voice. Gog and Magog are here used in a wider sense than in Ezekiel, and their invasion differs in time and details, though agreeing in character and object, with that which he foretells. Ezekiel predicts an incursion by a great northern power called Gog, which, from certain geographical indications, is easily identified with Russia. In the Revelation, however, Gog and Magog are used to designate the nations, not merely from the north, but from all parts, “the four quarters of the earth.” Again, the invasion named by Ezekiel is at the beginning of Christ’s reign; that in the Revelation at the end. The hosts in Ezekiel, too, fall on the mountains, and their bodies are buried; whereas the forces assembled in the Revelation are devoured by fire from heaven.
The judgment is instantaneous. Christ’s reign is a reign of righteousness, during which evil is not tolerated as now, but promptly crushed. Fire from heaven here, as with Sodom and Gomorrah, overwhelms the gathered hordes, and thus in hideous and hopeless ruin ends the last vain attempt of man to act in independence of God.
The people of Israel are here owned as “the saints,” and Jerusalem as “the beloved city.” Taken in connection with Old Testament promises and prophecies this presents no difficulties. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psa. 48:22Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (Psalm 48:2)). “They shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations” (Isa. 60:14,1514The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. (Isaiah 60:14‑15)). “Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people” (Isa. 65:18, 1918But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. (Isaiah 65:18‑19)). It is only when these clear statements are discredited, and an interpretation contrary to their plain meaning adopted, that difficulties begin to appear.
This rebellion against Christ is Satan’s last triumph, and the last outbreak of man’s enmity to God. We have seen how the nations are at once swept away by the fiery tempest which bursts upon them. We now see the final doom of their malignant deceiver. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and [they] shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:1010And the devil 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 20:10)). He had previously been shut up in “the bottomless pit;” now he is cast into the “lake of fire “-that awful abode into which the beast and the false prophet were hurled a thousand years before; that “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” to which the “cursed” ones, placed on the left hand of the Son of Man in His judgment of the living nations, are hopelessly consigned.
There “they” (that is, the beast and the false prophet, as well as Satan) “shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” What do these words mean? Setting aside this book, the New Testament only uses them in ascribing praise to God in such texts as, “To whom be glory forever and ever.” In the Revelation they are applied to the reign of Christ, but their commonest use is to designate the eternal existence of God, who is repeatedly spoken of as the One “that liveth forever and ever.” Why is it so used? Clearly because Scripture language contains no phrase equally strong to describe continued, immutable existence. Now, if the strongest phrase that can be applied to the eternal existence of God Himself is here used with respect to the torments of Satan and the companions of his doom, it is surely meant that these sufferings are eternal in the fullest and largest sense of the word, everlasting, enduring without cessation and without end.
No doubt the phrase means “to the ages of ages,” and when applied, as in the Old Testament, or in reference to Christ’s kingdom, to the things of this world, it means, of course, during the ages of this world; that is, as long as the world lasts. But in the passage before us this application is impossible, since at this very time the world comes to an end, the punishment of Satan being at the close of the thousand years’ reign, which is the last stage in the world’s history. No limitation therefore to the term of this world’s existence is here possible. The words are spoken on the threshold of a boundless eternity over which no measuring line of dates and epochs is thrown. In that eternity the self-existent God is declared to live “forever and ever.” In that eternity the torment of the lost is said to endure “forever and ever.” Surely it becomes those saved by grace, instead of replying against God, silently to bow our heads before this unfathomable mystery, and adore the goodness which has delivered us by such a ransom from so fearful a doom.
Nor are these words used of the three great offenders alone. Those who worship the beast and his image “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night” (Rev. 14:10, 1110The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:10‑11)). These, many of whom are “slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse,” are raised for judgment after the world has “fled away,” so that any limitation of the punishment by the ages of the world’s existence is, in their case as in the other, impossible. Their doom therefore, like that of the beast and the false prophet, is an eternity of suffering. And this surely removes all question as to the sense in which the other phrases used on this subject are to be interpreted. “These shall go away into eternal punishment” must mean the same punishment which others, cast into the same lake of fire, undergo, and this is, as we have seen, in the fullest sense of the words, “forever and ever.”
It is easy to quibble about phrases. “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” is, no doubt, a figure; but is it a figure of transient or of unending suffering? Does our Lord in thrice repeating these solemn words mean that, though the worm dies not, the people on whom the worm feeds do die? that, though the fire is not quenched, the people who are tormented in it cease to exist? Surely this is trifling with the words of God. What does a man sentenced to a limited term of imprisonment care whether the prison in which he is confined is a permanent or temporary structure? What does a man condemned to be stretched on the rack care whether the rack will last for an indefinite time, or will be destroyed immediately after he has been tortured? All they are concerned about is the time during which they suffer. So, if the worm and the fire are figures of punishment, how can it affect those doomed to a limited period of such suffering to know that after they have ceased to suffer the instruments of their torment will exist forever? If words are to be understood in their ordinary sense, the torment spoken of is eternal, unending, as the existence of God Himself.
This understanding of the words “forever and ever,” throws an appalling gloom over the scene which next rises before us. Christ “must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” The judgment of the quick has already been completed. It only remains that the dead should be summoned before His tribunal also. The believing dead have had their part in the resurrection to life a thousand years before the end of the world, but “the rest of the dead” are still, throughout the thousand years’ reign, in their graves, for they live not again until the thousand years are finished. Now, however, is come “the time of the dead that they should be judged.”
“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. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before [not “God,” but] the throne; 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. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and Death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death [even the lake of fire]. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:11-1511And 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. 12And 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. 13And 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. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15)).
The end of the world is now come. Before the face of Him that sits upon the great white throne, the earth and the heaven fled away. Nature is dissolved, the present order of creation disappears, to make way for that new creation which God will bring in upon the ruins of the old. The time has come when “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)). This is the last act in “the day of the Lord,” and at this supreme moment we have now arrived. All that man has been living for, the world and his own works in it, his riches, his greatness, the mighty monuments of his skill, the cities he has built, the empires he has founded, all on which his pride and his affections were fixed, vanish as a waking dream-”there was found no place for them.”
But though man’s works are gone, though the very earth has melted away, man himself has not perished. Those yet in their graves belong to Christ, not, alas! for salvation, but for judgment. “Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him” (John 17:22As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2):) Some are given to Him that He may bestow upon them eternal life; but He has power over all flesh; all is His. He has not redeemed all, but He has purchased all, the lost as well as the saved. Thus Peter speaks of false teachers, “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:11But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)). His rights, by virtue of the cross, extend to all, and all must bow the knee to Him “of things [or beings] in heaven, and beings in earth, and beings under the earth” — all, heavenly, earthly, and infernal, must own His lordship. The redeemed own it in grace; the rejecters of grace must own it in judgment.
He has bought their bodies as well as their souls, and now the hour is come in which all that are still in their graves must hear His voice and come forth to the resurrection of judgment, to be judged according to the stainless purity of the great white throne. On that throne Christ, not God, is seated; for though God is “the Judge of all” (Heb. 12:2323To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)), He “hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” and that “because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:22,2722For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22)
27And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)). It is God’s judgment, because Christ, as the perfect man, perfectly executes God’s righteousness; but it is before “the Son of Man” that “the dead, small and great,” are here arraigned.
And now the great assize begins. “The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.” These are figures found in Daniel, and drawn from the proceedings of human tribunals. There are two books — one containing the works of the dead, for they were “judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works,” the other registering the names of those ordained to eternal life. The dead now raised may be divided into two classes, those who died before the reign of Christ, and those who died during that reign. As to the first, their fate is painfully evident. “They that are Christ’s” are raised at His coming for His saints. Those who die in the Lord between His coming for His saints and His coming to reign have also part in the first resurrection. All, therefore, that have died “in the Lord” from the beginning of the world to Christ’s reign, have already been raised a thousand years, and “the rest of the dead” consists of persons who were not “in the Lord.” These are judged according to their works. Their names cannot be in the book of life. Its silence can only witness against them. For them, therefore, there can be nothing but the second death; for “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
As to the other class, those who die during the reign of Christ, Scripture is not so explicit. We read in Isaiah “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursed.... For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isa. 65:19-2219And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (Isaiah 65:19‑22)). It is clear, then, that death during the millennium will, in certain cases, be inflicted as a judgment, and of course sinners thus cut off will be raised for condemnation. But is it equally clear that death will happen only as a judgment? Doubtless there will be great longevity in Israel, but we are not told that this extends to the Gentiles, or that even in Israel death is excluded except as a penalty. And if there is nothing in Isaiah conclusively proving that believers will not die during this period, neither is there anything in the Revelation showing that their names may not be found in the book of life when raised in the final resurrection.
It is thought indeed by some, that all, if judged according to their works, must be lost. But in the judgment of the quick described in Matthew 25 the Gentiles are judged according to their works, and yet some are saved. Indeed this is always the principle of God’s action, for it is said that the dead “shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.” Now how can any be said to “have done good,” and not to “have done evil “? Merely because their evil deeds are blotted out by the blood of Christ, and only the deeds wrought in them by the Spirit are reckoned. This principle would apply to believers dying — if any do die — during the millennium. Where Scripture says so little, one should speak cautiously; but it seems a somewhat strong inference to conclude that only the wicked die during Christ’s reign, or that, because the judgment is according to man’s works, none can be saved. The statement that “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” suggests, at least, a different conclusion.
We repeat, however, that if any are saved in this resurrection, it can only be believers dying during the millennial age. Its general, if not universal, character is, therefore, that of doom. It is the solemn knell of the second, the eternal, death. The countless millions of sinners who have perished in their sins, the millions who have heard the word of God’s salvation and rejected it, the millions who have been “almost persuaded,” but not quite; the millions who have said, “We will hear thee again of this matter,” and then turned away to indulge in their lusts; the amiable, the upright, the religious, the self-righteous, who have been too good for Christ — all will be there. Not one can escape. “The sea gave up the dead which were in it.” “Death and Hades,” the resting-place of the body and the home of the spirit, “delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works.” Nor are these merely the works seen by man, for in that day “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:1616In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:16)). To all, except, perhaps, the class already named, there is one fearful doom. “Death and Hades,” it says, “were cast into the lake of fire,” all their crowded vaults emptied into this gulf of endless woe. “This is the second death.”
It is strange that these words, which seem to, bid an eternal farewell to hope, should be urged as an argument against the eternity of punishment. True, fire is a symbol of destruction, but destruction does not necessarily involve annihilation. In this case it has not this force, for the beast and the false prophet, as well as Satan, were cast into the lake of fire, but instead of being annihilated, are there “tormented day and night forever and ever.” Again, there is nothing in the second death which implies annihilation. Where in Scripture is death used with this meaning? Does a man dead in trespasses and sins mean a man who does not exist? Does the first death put an end to conscious being? The rich man and Lazarus, to say nothing of the thief on the cross, are a sufficient answer to this question. On what ground, then, can it be argued, in spite of the plain declaration that the lost shall be tormented “forever and ever,” that the second death means annihilation? Alas that men should rather seek to blindfold themselves to the horrors of the coming wrath, than escape it by casting themselves on the infinite riches of divine grace!