Thursday, November 27, 2008

And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, where also the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be Tormented Day And Night for ever and ever. Rev. 20:10.

A 10-year-old boy named Robert needed serious confrontation and ended up better for it. He was wild and uncontrollable. When a dentist ordered the boy into the dental chair, he refused reapeatedly, finally threatening to take his clothes off if the man made him get into the chair.

"Take'em off," the dentist replied. The boy took off everything but his pants.
"OK, son, get into the chair."
"You don't understand-if you make me, I'll take all my clothes off!" Robert insisted.

"Son, take'em off," the dentist ordered. The boy complied and got into the chair, naked as the day he was born. When the dentist finished the procedures, Robert asked for his clothes back.

"I'm sorry, but we'll be keeping them for the night. Your mother can pick them up tomorrow."

You can imagine the shock in the waiting room and the parking lot as the boy left with his mother. The next day the mother returned for the clothes and reported. 'Robert has been blackmailing me about his clothes for years. But you're the first person to call his bluff. You have no idea what an impact this has hd on him."

Our text for today contains strong and disturbing language. Some sincere Christian thinkers take it to mean that the lost will literally undergo torment for an eternity of time, never dying, never having a break, never released from their suffering. But this is a misunderstanding of the Hebraic concept of "for ever."

The language of fire and sulfur recalls the destruction of Sodom and Comorrah, which thoroughly destroyed the cities and their inhabitants but did not leave them endlessly twisting in the fire like a chicken in a rotisserie(Gen. 19:24). Jude 7 tells us that "forever" fire (same Greek word as Rev. 20:10) destroyed Sodom. The language also recalls the destruction of Edom, which was to be burned "forever"(Isa. 34:8-10), yet one finds no inferno there today. "Forever" in Hebrew is not so much an indicaton of time as it is an indication of thoroughness. When God confronts evil the last time, He will make a full end-it will never return.

Many people today would prefer that language like this didn't appear in the Bible. But evil will not go away quietly-it must be confronted. The universe will be a better place for its destruction.

Lord, I realize afresh that I can make no compromise with evil. Send the fire of Your Spirit to cleanse me today.

The Jews had been wearily toiling to reach perfection by their own efforts, and they had failed. Christ had already told them that their righteousness could never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now He points out to them the character of the righteousness that all who enter heaven will possess. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount He describes its fruits, and now in one sentence He points out its source and its nature: Be perfect as God is perfect. The law is but a transcript of the character of God. Behold in your heavenly Father a perfect manifestation of the principles which are the foundation of His government(TFMB 77).