The devil, who deceived [the nations], was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur…[to] be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “There will be hell to pay.” People use that phrase a lot. A colloquialism (saying that expresses something other than the literal meaning) that immeasurably misses the gravity of the saying. Of course, many people these days also dismiss the notion of a literal hell. Yet they might readily confess that if there was a literal devil (something also readily dismissed in today’s culture), he would certainly be deserving of a literal hell.
Yet the Bible (mostly sayings by Jesus) clearly describes a literal devil and a literal hell. And he is destined for it. Would that it was the end of the matter. But it is not. “Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:13–15, NIV 1984).
A horrible fate, to say the least. But only for those whose “name was not found written in the book of life.” The list of “Who’s Who” in another literal place. Heaven. “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:26–27, NIV 1984). A list all should want to be included.
My Advice – “Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21, NIV 1984). The keeper of the book. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31, NIV 1984). Believe and your name will be “written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
The Brew Is A Musing 