Hope of Our Calling
Session 5
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Hope of Our Calling: Session 5
The End of the End
After the thousand-year reign, next comes the end of the end.
Revelation 20:7–8 KJV:
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 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.
What? After a thousand years, he gets loosed for a little while, and the first thing he does is try to deceive the nations again! To gather them to battle again.
Revelation 20:9 KJV:
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.
The deceiver is unable to achieve what he wanted. This point in time is what is called in the Word “the Day of God Almighty.” Almighty means holder of all.
Revelation 20:10 KJV:
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.
Most people think and teach that this means that they will be burning and suffering forever in fire. Much of this common viewpoint comes not from the Bible but from Dante’s book, The Divine Comedy.
Up until this point in the Word, the only two people in the lake of fire are the anti-Christ and the false prophet.
Outside Jerusalem was a garbage dump called Gehenna. In this garbage dump, the fires were always burning to burn up the garbage that was dumped there. The description of the lake of fire and the brimstone is like this garbage dump. It is where everything evil will get burned up. It takes some time for the garbage to burn up, but it doesn’t take forever. By the time you get to the new heaven and new earth, there will no longer be a lake of fire because, at that point, the garbage will have already been burned up.
“For ever and ever” (verse 10) means “for the end of the age” or “for the age.” It is not torment forever and ever. We can read about what happens to Satan and how he will be destroyed in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 28:18–19 KJV:
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Now, what’s left is the telos, the final endpoint.
The Resurrection of the Unjust
This is called the Great White Throne Judgment. In total, there are three judgments:
- The church of the body (that’s us) is judged for rewards at the bema. Right after the gathering together, we will be judged only for rewards (our sins have already been punished on the cross in Jesus). Anything bad we’ve done will be burned up.
- The second judgment is the judgment of nations, which happens right after the battle. They will be judged on how they treated Israel.
- The third judgment is what we know as “The Day of Judgment.” This is when everyone, from Adam on down, who has not yet been raised, will be raised. They will be judged whether their names are written in the Book of Life. The Book of Life has nothing to do with us.
During this Great White Throne Judgment, when the Book of Life is examined, if their name is in the book, they get to go into the new heaven and earth. If their name is not in the book, they go into the lake of fire (“the second death”).
Revelation 20:11–15 KJV:
11 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. 12 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. 13 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. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The first death is when they die at the end of their life on earth. The second death is when they are cast into the lake of fire and cease to exist forever.
We get more information about this endpoint in Second Peter.
2 Peter 3:12–13 KJV:
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God [day of the Lord], wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Look back at verse 10.
2 Peter 3:10 KJV:
But 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.
God then ushers in a new heaven and a new earth.
There are many more prophecies throughout the Word about what happens after the gathering together. We’ve only touched on a fraction of them. But it’s very interesting that there is not very much information about the new heaven and earth.
Isaiah 65:17 KJV:
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
We know that the new heaven and earth will last for eternity, and there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, and no more death. Praise God!
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