SUB-TOPIC: The Basic Doctrines Of Jesus Christ Bequeathed To His Church.
John 14:26; 1 John 2:27.
We are progressing into the 8th doctrinal teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ under the topic:
THE END OF THE WORLD AND GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM.
2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 21:1-5.
We rounded up the 7th doctrinal teaching of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God, by summarising the events that will lead to the second return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth, as follows:
- After the rapture, Jesus Christ will present the redeemed saints of all ages before His Father, Almighty God, in heaven, in a lavish celestial ceremony dubbed by Christians as THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. See Revelation 19:6-10.
- After this great ceremony in heaven, Jesus Christ will return to earth with His Bride (the Church of the redeemed of all ages, Hebrews 12:22-24 ) to take over the kingdoms of the whole earth (Daniel 7:9-14; Revelation 19:11-21) and reign with them in this present world for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6).
Today, we will pick up the train of events from where we left off last week, as follows:
- At the end of Jesus Christ’s millennial reign on earth, Satan will be released to tempt the nations yet again, so that the fate of the unsaved will be forever determined. This will be a sad and bitter ending for the unsaved souls who enjoyed Christ’s millennial reign! Being with Jesus Christ for a thousand years will not have altered the doomed souls. It is just as God’s Word says in Galatians 6:7-8:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
Revelation 20:7-8 shows that once Satan has regained his freedom from the bottomless pit, he will regain control over every soul that was not saved as at the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ, except, of course, for the 144,000 Jews who were specially sealed for God’s redemption at that time.
- Revelation 20:9 shows that Satan will mobilise them to battle against the government of Jesus Christ, but they will meet their sad and bitter end in a swift but decisive defeat.
- Revelation 20:10 shows that Satan (and, indeed, all demons!) will finally be judged and cast into the dreaded lake of fire and brimstone to face their everlasting punishment.
What will now become the eternal fate of all the unsaved of all ages? What will become the lot of all who endured to the end and overcame with Jesus Christ?
The following three doctrines will shed more light on that, namely:
- The Doctrine of the Great White Throne Judgment.
- The Doctrine of the Eternal Punishment of Lost Souls in Hell and the Lake of Fire.
- The Doctrine of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
1.THE DOCTRINE OF THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.
Revelation 20:11-15.
According to the teachings of the Holy Bible, there is going to be a day on which God Almighty will finally judge all those who refused or neglected to repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ, who is mankind’s only hope of salvation from the dominion of Satan and sin. Concerning this inevitable event, Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ wrote in Acts 24:15 that:
“…there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”
But before this time of the Great White Throne Judgment, the first resurrection, which is the resurrection of the just (as mentioned above), will already have taken place, as we have seen in Revelation 20:4-6 in our previous study.
In that study, the righteous (or “the just”) were resurrected and rewarded for their faithfulness to God and His Christ, Jesus the Son of God. They thereafter lived and reigned with Him on earth for a thousand years and will remain that way with Him in His eternal heavenly Kingdom.
However, at this point, our focus is on the souls of the dead who did not make it to the first resurrection: those who lived and died in their sins without genuine repentance. This second resurrection and judgment before the Great White Throne of God are, therefore, exclusively reserved for them.
“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 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 20:11-12.
The dead souls in the Scripture above encompass all those who ever lived but died in sin. They constitute the totality of all dead sinners, beginning from creation to the War of Armageddon in Revelation 20:7-9, when God finally destroyed the last sinners on earth, thus bringing to an end the unfortunate affinity between the kingdoms of fallen mankind and that of Satan and his fallen angels. This affinity between man and Satan is what (broadly speaking) the narrative in the Book of 1 Timothy 5:15 means when it says, “For some are already turned aside after Satan.”
It is quite interesting to know that Satan has several kingdoms spread across different planets in this universe, and that this is where some of those who joined affinity with him and died in their sins have been kept all along before the day of the Great White Throne Judgment.
As we teach now, there are souls of dead men and women, of the youth as well as of the aged, who are held captive by Satan and his demons in those kingdoms. But on the day of the Great White Throne Judgment, God will summon them all from those kingdoms to face their final judgment before Him.
Satan has habitually lied to his agents about giving them eternal life, riches, and wealth in his kingdoms if they died serving him here on earth. But, as we shall see from the Scripture below, those dead souls will not enjoy that kingdom forever. God will summon them out of each of those kingdoms to be judged for their rebellion against Him and His Christ, Jesus the Righteous.
“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 souls of dead loyal agents of Satan living in the marine kingdom of Satan (the sea), and those of sinners cast into Satan’s kingdom of hell because they did not consciously serve him, will all be forced to appear before God’s judgment throne. This will bring to an end Satan’s lies that his kingdom will continue forever.
“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.
This lake of fire, mentioned above, is the original place of eternal torment “…prepared for the devil and his angels..” Matthew 25:41.
The fire there is unlike the one in hell, which is harmless to Satan and his demons .
In this lake of fire, both the fallen angels (Satan being one of them) and the lost souls of dead sinners will cry and burn forever and ever without any respite.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead, or his hand, The 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: And 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 14:9-11.
We believe that God is holy and righteous, and that His final judgment on all unrepentant sinners will be in the spirit of fairness, justice, and equity. All of them will be “…judged every man according to their works.”
Revelation 20:13.
The only way of escape for the sinner today is to repent NOW and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Saviour, because life is uncertain: no one can guarantee that they will live to see another day!
“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.)”.
2 Corinthians 6:1-2.
TO BE CONTINUED.