Untitled Document
WHO WILL GO INTO EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT?
Matt. 25:31-46 records the judgment of nations at the second coming of Christ. Some will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). It is about these that Christ said that the righteous shall enter into eternal life (verse 46).
But some will “go away into everlasting punishment” (Matt. 25:46). Of these Christ said, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (verse 41). In verse 46 we read that they “shall go away into everlasting punishment“.
The body of this paper is about those who will enter into “everlasting punishment”. We will discuss the following subjects in our search for the Scriptural truth as to who these people will be.
THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT OF MATT. 25
THE MEANING OF “AONIAN”
IS MAN ETERNAL?
WHY WILL THERE BE SUCH A DRASTIC PUNISHMENT?
“IN THE DAYS OF NOE”
A LOOK AT DANIEL NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM
APPENDIX: A CONSIDERATION OF THOSE WHO WENT INTO ETERNAL LIFE
THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT OF MATT. 25
As we seek an answer to our question as to who will be punished with an “everlasting fire” it is important to determine when this judgment will take place. We read in Matt. 25:31, When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all the nations….”. This tells us that the judgment of Matt. 25 will be at the second coming of Christ.
It is also important to bear in mind that there is no resurrection mentioned in this passage. That is to say that those to be judged will be those who will be alive at the time of the second coming of Christ, they are not the dead who are resurrected for judgment. This fact tells us that those who will be judged had lived through the end times which include the three and one-half years of the tribulation.
Now let us consider the criteria upon which the judgments are made. We read in verses 42-43, “I was a hungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not,:sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not”. To whom did those judged not afford these kindnesses? That question is answered in verse 40, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me”. That brings up the question: who are the Lord’s brethren?
There are two possible answers to the question of who are the Lord’s brethren. One is that Christ’s brethren are Israelites, His brethren after the flesh. Another answer is found in Mark 3:35, “…whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother”. Which did Christ mean in Matt. 25? Was He referring to His natural brethren, i.e. Israelites or was He referring to all believers? As we consider the timing of this judgment, I believe it will be clear that Christ was referring to His natural brethren, i.e. Israelites.
As mentioned above, those who will be judged as recorded in Matt. 25 are those who will live through the tribulation. The paper on this web-site The Tribulation Is Not World Wide proves that statement from Scripture, and will also show the reason for the tribulation. The reason for the tribulation is given quite specifically in Rev. 3:10, “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the inhabited world to test them that dwell in the Land“. (For the correctness of that translation please see the above mentioned paper.) In other words, the tribulation will be a time when God allows Satan to test Israel to see who will remain true to Him.
My point is that the tribulation is Israel centered. It is not centered on the entire world and those outside the inhabited world (the area of the old Roman empire) will not be tested. In other words, most of the Lord’s brethren in the sense of Mark 3, i.e. believers, will not be tested and will not be in need of food or drink and will not be imprisoned during the tribulation. Therefore, the context points to the conclusion that Christ was referring to His brethren after the flesh, i.e. Israelites. It was the Israelites in the tribulation who were in need of all these things, and those gathered for the judgment of Matt. 25 were judged on how they treated Israelites during the tribulation.
THE MEANING OF “AONIAN”, I.E. “EVERLASTING”
The Greek word translated “everlasting” in the phrase “everlasting punishment” is “aonian”. The Companion Bible defines “aonian” as, “belonging to an age”. Implied in the word “age” is a certain period of time. That period of time is not given exactly, but the context always provides us with an idea of the length of time implied. With that in mind, let us consider verse 46. That verse reads, “and these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal“. It is the same Greek word that is used of those who will be punished with an “everlasting punishment” and those who will enter into “life eternal“. When the righteous will go into “life eternal” they will “put on immortality” and will therefore, never die. They are contrasted with the others who will “go away into everlasting punishment”. Because the contrast is between “age long life” which will never end, and age long punishment, I believe that the “age” of punishment will also never end.
Let us also note that this everlasting fire was “prepared for the devil and his angels“. That takes us to Rev. 19:10 which reads, “And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone”. And in Rev. 20:10 we read, “And 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”.
My point is that those of Matthew 25 who will suffer this everlasting punishment will suffer it for the age, along with Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet.
IS MAN ETERNAL?
We have read in Matt. 25 of those who will be cast into a lake of fire and suffer punishment forever. But the unsaved man is not immortal. That is to say, how can the unsaved man suffer eternally unless he lived for eternity? One must be alive in order to suffer. If one suffers eternally, he must be alive eternally. But the unsaved man is not immortal and therefore, does not live eternally.
Let us also consider Is. 66:24: which speaks of the lake of fire. “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched: they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh”.
Please note that Isaiah tells us that they shall ” look upon the carcasses“. Carcasses are not bodies of those who are alive, they are bodies of those who are dead. Note also the phrase, “their worm shall not die”. It is not the men who will not die, it is the worm that feeds on the dead. The note in the Companion Bible on the word “worm” reads, in part, “Heb. tola, the maggot bred from putrid substances”.
And yet those who are judged unworthy of eternal life in Matt. 25 will suffer eternally. How are we to solve this seeming contradiction? We will leave this question for now, but it will be answered as we continue in our study.
WHY WILL THERE BE SUCH A DRASTIC PUNISHMENT?
We have learned above that the false prophet, the beast, the devil and those of Matt. 25 will be cast into the lake of fire and be tormented for ever. But we know from Rev. 20: 4 that those who worshipped the beast will also be cast into the lake of fire. But they will suffer the second death. Obviously, if they will suffer the second death, they will not be alive in the lake of fire, they will be dead. In other words, their punishment will not be eternal. Let us consider their crime and their punishment.
We read in Rev. 20:4, “…..I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished“.
If we are to take the phrase “rest of the dead” in context, it refers to those who did worship the beast and received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands. Note that those who had worshipped the beast lived again after the end of the millennium. That puts them at the great white throne judgment. And we read in verse 15 in regard to those who were judged at the great white throne, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”.
In verse 14 we read, “and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death”. The note in the Companion Bible tells us that the texts add, “the lake of fire”. So this verse should read as the NASB has translated it, “”and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire”. In other words, those who worshipped the antichrist would not suffer everlasting punishment, they would suffer death as they were cast into the lake of fire.
We have learned that those who worshipped Satan and his antichrist would be cast into the lake of fire. But they would not suffer eternally, they would suffer the second death. Death is not life.
So those who lived through the tribulation and who worshipped Satan, who was God’s enemy through the ages, will suffer a second death. But those who did not care for Israelites during the tribulation will suffer eternally. I hope the reader will agree that this sounds a bit off. That is to say, does it seem that not caring for Israelites is a far worse sin than worshipping Satan? I do not for a moment mean to imply that God’s judgment is not just. What I am suggesting is only that this should give us pause, it should give us reason to look a bit further into the judgment of Matt. 25.
“AS THE DAYS OF NOE”
We have determined above that the judgment of Mat. 25 will be a judgment of those who had lived during the end times. Let us consider other passages from the Gospels about the end times.
We read in Matt. 24:36-39, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, unto the day that Noe entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be“.
I believe that the primary message of this passage is that just as the flood caught its victims by surprise, so too shall the coming of the Son of man be a surprise. But I believe I Peter 3:18-20, which also speaks of the days of Noe tells us a bit more of those days as it relates to our study. That passage reads, “For Christ……being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing…..”.
Who are those spirits in prison to whom Christ preached? II Peter 2:4-5 is another passage that connects spirits in prison with the days of Noah. “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly”.
There are several interesting things to note about this passage. For example, the word translated “hell” in the phrase “cast them down to hell” is not the usual word “hades” or even “Gehenna”, translated “hell”. The Greek word used in II Peter is “Tartarus” and is used just this one time. Who were these “angels that sinned”? For the answer to that question we will look at Jude 6.
Jude 6 reads, “and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day”. Note that like the angels of II Peter these are “reserved unto judgment”. Note also the Greek word translated “habitation” in the phrase, “left their own habitation” is “oiketerion”, it is used only here and II Cor. 5:2 where it is translated “house”, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven”. Just as in II Cor. 5:2 the Greek word is used of a certain kind of a body, so too in Jude 6 it is used of a certain kind of a body. So Jude tells us that these angels who are being reserved unto judgment had left “their own” bodies. I believe that it is significant that the Greek word “soma” (which means “body”) is not used for “body” in Jude 6, as angels did not really have a body. Because these angels are being reserved for judgment we may conclude that they acted against the will of God. We may refer to them therefore, as “fallen or rebellious angels“.
We have learned that in the days of Noah were angels who had sinned and were consequently cast into Tartarus and reserved unto judgment. We must ask in what way did these angels sin in the days of Noah? For the answer to that question we must turn to Gen. 6.
We read in Gen. 6:4, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown”. Let us determine from Scripture who were the “sons of God” who “came in unto the daughters of men”.
To begin with, let us note the rather strange wording in this verse, “the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men“. Let us not draw any conclusions from the wording alone, but the phrase should peak one’s interest in who these sons of God might be.
The exact phrase in the Hebrew translated “sons of God” occurs also in Job 1:6 and 2:1.
Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them”.
Job 2:1, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord”.
Were these “sons of God” men? For them to be men they would have to be sons of Adam, and Adam then must have been created as a son of God. I suggest that Adam was not created as a son of God. Let us search the Scriptures for the answer to the question, was Adam created as a son of God?
The KJV of Luke 3:38 reads, “…..which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God”. Please note that the phrase “the son” is in italics, indicating, of course, that the words are not in the original Greek texts. So this phrase should read, “Adam which was of God”.
Was Adam a son of God by virtue of the fact that he was created by God? If he was, then we would have to conclude that everything that was created was a son of God. I do not believe that there is any Scriptural evidence to conclude that animals, for example are sons of God. Nor are the creatures of the sea sons of God. That being the case, we may not conclude that Adam was a son of God because he was created by God.
Some men are sons of God, but not by virtue of creation. We read in John 1:12, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name”. It is clear that believers are the sons of God. If all men were sons of God, then believing in Christ would not give believers “power to become the sons of God”.
As we consider a few scriptures, I believe it will become more clear just how the believer becomes a son of God. We read in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. The contrast is made here between flesh and spirit. Man is born of the flesh, but he becomes the son of God through the spirit. In my opinion, this fits perfectly with the fact that, as we read in Jn. 4:24, “God is spirit” (not “a spirit”). I suggest that just as God is spirit, one is or becomes a son of God through the spirit. or, in the case of angels, because they were created as spirit.
One more note on Luke 3:38 is called for. I am told that the Greek does not allow for the words “the son” to be repeated. But the near context makes it clear that in the verses through verse 37 they are to be understood. But they cannot be understood in verse 38 because that contradicts the fact that not all men are children of God. In other words, the Greek may not allow for the repetition, but neither does it demand that it be included, especially when it contradicts other scriptures.
We learn in Ps. 104:4 (“Who maketh His angels spirits”) that angels were created as spirit beings. That is to say, they have no physical form of themselves unless they take on a physical form. I believe that the sons of God who came unto the daughters of men were angels, i.e. spirit beings who took on the physical form of man in order to come unto the daughters of man.
Let me try to pull this section together. We have learned that in the days of Noah fallen angels had married the “daughters of men”, and that these angels, i.e. spirits, are being held in chains until they are judged. Is there is a connection between the days of Noah and the days of the second coming of our Lord? I believe there is. I believe that Daniel two also implies fallen angels who mix with the seed of man. Let us consider that passage.
A LOOK AT DANIEL NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM
We have established the fact that the judgment of Matt. 25 concerns the judgment of those who will live in the end times. As we look at Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation in Dan. 2, we will see that part of that dream is also about the end times.
The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is recorded in Dan. 2:36-45. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of an image with a head of gold, a breast and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of brass, and legs of iron, and feet “part of iron and part of clay”. Nebuchadnezzar, as king of Babylon, was represented by the head of gold (vs. 37). The breast and arms of silver represented the kingdom that was to follow after Nebuchadnezzar. The belly and thighs of brass represented the kingdom after that. And the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay represent the kingdom after that. We read in verses 34-35, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. The iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, were broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth“.
We will now concentrate on the part of this dream that centers on the end times. We read in verse 44 that part of the interpretation that explains the kingdom that “filled the whole earth”, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdom and it shall stand for ever“.
It is clear that this is the kingdom of God that will be set up at the second coming of Jesus Christ when He reigns over the earth for a thousand years. So the kingdom represented by the iron and clay will be the kingdom that immediately precedes the millennial reign of Christ. It is what we learn of that kingdom that will tell us a great deal about who it is that will suffer everlasting punishment.
Let us consider for example Dan. 2:43 which tells us of the feet and toes of the image, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay”. The phrase, “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men” is, in my opinion, reminiscent of the phrase we read in Gen. 6:2, “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose”. Let us consider this verse in Dan. 2 more carefully.
This verse also tells us that even though those represented by the iron and clay mingled “with the seed of men”, they did not “cleave one to another”. That together with the fact that we read that they shall “mingle themselves with the seed of men” in my opinion, implies that like the days of Noah, the fallen angels of Satan will occupy the kingdom of Satan and his antichrist before it is destroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I believe that the ones judged in Matt. 25 who will suffer everlasting punishment are not men, in the truest sense of the word, but progeny of fallen angels. It cannot be men who suffer everlasting punishment, because the unsaved man does not live eternally. Note also that the fire into which those judged to merit everlasting punishment will be cast into the fire “prepared for devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). But we never read of Satan’s angels being cast into that fire. If however, we accept the implication of Dan. 2 that some in the end times will not be men in the truest sense, but progeny of Satan’s angels, then that prophecy will be fulfilled.
WILL EVERY PERSON IN A NATION BE PROGENY OF FALLEN ANGELS?
Isaiah 2:2 reads, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it“.
It seems obvious to me that the nations will send representatives to worship at Jerusalem. That is to say, although Jerusalem will be much larger in the millennium than it is today, it will not be large enough for every person of every nation to come to Jerusalem. I believe therefore, that representatives of “all the families of the nations” will worship, thereby avoiding the apparent contradiction. (See also Ps. 86:9.) The note in the Companion Bible attests to that. It reads, “all nations. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Genus) =many from all nations“.
Ps. 22:27 reads, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee”. The NIV has “families” instead of “kindreds”. As mentioned above, it is not every person in every nation that will come to Jerusalem to worship God.
Ps. 72:11 reads, “Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him”. Here it is made clear that the kings represent the nations. That is to say, the parallel phrases tell us that the kings represent the nations that serve shall Him.
My point is that when Christ judges the nations as recorded in Matt. 25, it will be the leaders of those nations, not every person in them. Those leaders (political, financial and “spiritual”) who are fallen angels or progeny of fallen angels will be cast into everalsting punishment.
APPENDIX
A CONSIDERATION OF THOSE WHO WENT INTO ETERNAL LIFE
It seems to some that when Christ judges the nations at His coming that those who will enter into the kingdom of Heaven will have done so, not by faith, but by works. That is to say, because they will be saved by their good deeds to Israel in the tribulation, their salvation was given on the basis of works, rather than faith. I do not agree with that opinion, and will address that in this Appendix.
Let us first establish the fact that salvation by grace through faith is a universal truth, i.e. it has always, and will always be true.
We read in verse 14 of James 2:14, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” James continues this same thought for the next two verses and then in verse 17 explains quite succinctly the point of this passage, “Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone“. In other words, it is not enough to just say one believes, one must show that he is a child of God by his works.
Many, incorrectly in my opinion, see this passage as James saying that salvation is by faith plus works. But that cannot be what James is saying here because that would contradict what Paul wrote in Rom. 4:4, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt“. Paul is contrasting works which makes salvation a debt, with grace which makes salvation a gift. That is to say, on the one hand, if one works for his salvation that puts God in debt to give him salvation. (It is clear however that no man can be justified by works alone, but that does not change the argument of this verses, i.e. works is contrasted with grace.) But on the other hand, if one simply puts his faith in God, God, in His matchless grace, gives him the gift of salvation. The point is that to say that salvation is by faith plus works contradicts Rom. 4:4 which is clearly a contrast between faith and works. For the sake of clarity, let me put this concept in mundane terms
John would like to have a motorized bicycle, but his parents, by contrast, would like him to have a bicycle that is not motorized. John’s parents might say to him, “We will give you a bicycle of our choice or you may work for the money to get the bicycle you want”. This is a contrast between a gift and something toward which John will work. Both concepts cannot be in play for the same thing. That is to say, either John will work for his bicycle or he will receive it as a gift from his parents. So too salvation. In Rom. 4:4 Paul makes the contrast between that which may be received as a gift or that which may be gained by works. The two cannot be in play for the same thing.
Salvation is purely a gift of grace and works make perfect, or completes one’s faith (see James 2:22) . Let us come back to James 2 to confirm that truth from Scripture. We read in verse 21, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” But according to Romans 4 Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith. The only way to avoid a contradiction between James 2 and Romans 4 is to see that works complete one’s faith. In point of fact, James says this very thing in verse 22, “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” (The Greek word translated “perfect” is also translated “finish”, “fulfill” in other occurrences and is defined in the Companion Bible as “consummate”.) In verse 23 James completes his point, “and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness:’ …….Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone”. But this is not faith plus works, it is faith that is finished, completed by works.
In short, because no man has ever been justified by works, those of Matt. 25 were not saved unto eternal life by their works. But Matt. 25 does indeed seem to suggest that they were saved because of what they did. In order to understand this correctly, let us consider once again the tribulation, during which these good deeds were done.
As mentioned in the body of this paper, those who had done the good deeds had done so to a people that were being persecuted by the antichrist, the enemy of Christ. Let us also bear in mind that Christ Himself will tell them that they had done those good deeds unto Him. So those who will do these good deeds will have gone against the program of the antichrist, and in so doing have sided with Christ, the One true God, whether they are consciously aware of it or not.
My point is that even though those who will enter the kingdom when judged at Christ’s coming may not have done the good deeds ascribed to them unto Christ in their own minds, Christ Himself did see them as unto Him. Therefore, because those deeds were done unto Christ (as He saw it) those doing those deeds showed their faith in Him, even though not consciously.
This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. If you would like to respond, please e-mail me at: [email protected]
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