The Lake of Fire

When the lost at last "perish" in what the Bible calls "the Lake of Fire," will God still love them? Or will His once-present love have changed to hatred or indifference? This may seem like a silly question; but your answer may well spell the difference for you in your attitude toward God, whether you are happy in His love, or uncertain of it. There is a profound statement in Revelation that indicates that great sorrow will grip Heaven when the lost perish at last. Introducing the passage about final judgment is this statement: "And when He [the Lamb] had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven . . ." (8:1). We read that "God is love" (agape; 1 Jn 4:8), and that "agape never fails" (1 Cor 13:8). We read that when wicked men crucified the Savior, He prayed, "Father, forgive them." We read that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ez 18:32; 33:11). That means He takes severe pain in their death! God's love is different than ours; it never fails. When at last the wicked realize, like Esau, how they have sold their "birthright" to eternal life, they can find no place of repentance, though they seek it with tears (see Heb 12:16, 17) because they have burned all bridges behind themselves and rendered their own souls incapable of repentance. Their anguish will be indescribable, for at last they will be fully conscious. Most severe will be the pain of those who at one time rejoiced in "the knowledge of the truth" but who like Judas Iscariot betrayed their sacred trusts (see Heb 10:26-29). But does God love them unto the bitter end? Yes! Will He share their sorrow? Yes. Will the "righteous" inside the New Jerusalem gloat over their anguish? No; there will be "silence in heaven . . ." We can see how God will feel when we look at how He cried about ancient Israel going down to destruction. Hear Him weeping: "How can I give thee up?" (Hos 11:8). And we see Jesus (who revealed the Father to us) as He is convulsed with sobbing anguish as He looks on the temple one evening for the last time: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Mt 23:37). What's the point? Think seriously about that divine love for you. Beware lest you slip into that position of "ye would not!" Be gathered under those "wings."

Have you been blessed?