The fiery lake of burning sulfur

Revelation 21:8 (NLT)

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.”

I am writing this in the aftermath of the shocking massacre of 20 children and 6 adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT.  Like all other people I am grief-stricken, sickened, and angry that someone would be so deranged and evil that he would murder so many innocent people, especially little children.  I’m reminded of what Jesus said about little children in Matthew 18:6---“……but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and he be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  Jesus, with a child standing next to Him (Matt 18:2), was telling people that they must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Children represent Jesus Christ because of their innocence and humility.   He said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children (Matt 19:14).  The Lord condemns those who might do anything evil to little children.  Innocent murdered children as well as any child who dies, we have to trust in the mercy of God that they are with Him forever. 

Murderers are one of 8 descriptions of unsaved people in this verse.  These descriptions or labels of people refer to their basic characteristics while living on the earth, characteristics that were never confessed and forgiven.  Yes, sometimes saved people are guilty of committing some of these offenses, but made the sincere decision to give over their lives to Jesus Christ and through such faith, they availed themselves to the grace and forgiveness of God (Eph 2:8-9).  Believers cannot be labeled as one of these types of characters or else they are not real believers. 

Revelation 21:37 and 22:15 also list the characteristics of those who are judged as unclean and doomed to eternal damnation.  Being a murderer seems to be the worst offense, but according to God’s Word, being a coward, an unbeliever, corrupt, immoral, practicing witchcraft, being an idol worshipper, and a liar are as bad as being a murderer.  

Interestingly, the first characteristic listed is being a coward.  The Greek word used here is “delios” that means “fearful” or “timid”.  Why is being a coward as bad as being a murderer?  The only other part of Scripture that uses this word is found in Mark 4:40 (and Matt 8:26, the same story) where Jesus rebukes His disciples for being so fearful (delios) because they have no faith.  Obviously, those who have no faith in Christ as Savior will not be found in the book of life and will be thrown into the lake of fire at the final judgment (Rev 20:15).  You also can read in Rev 20:14 that the lake of fire is called the second death (first death is physical death, second death is spiritual death—eternal separation from God) that is written again at the end of Rev 21:8.  

Unbelievers are the same as cowards, spiritually, so perhaps this is a purposeful redundancy.  The word corrupt can also be translated as abominable or polluted.  People filled with sin and deliberately practice sinful things their whole lives fit these descriptions.  Murderers, Jesus said, have total disregard for human life (Matt 5:22).  The immoral (Greek: “pornos”) are those who indulge in sexual immoralities with “pornos” literally meaning “those who prostitute one’s body to another’s lust for hire”.  Those who practice witchcraft refers to sorcery, the Greek term being “pharmakeus”; referring to people who use drugs and indulge in pagan practices.  Idol worshipers are cultists who put other gods before the one true God, condemned in the first two of the Ten Commandments (Exo 20:3-5).  Liars (Greek: “pseudos”) are the deceitful, hypocritical and false witnesses who lead others against God.

These evil practices will be rampant during the Tribulation described in Rev chapters 4 through 19.  The world is so very evil today, and it will only get worse (II Tim 3:1-4) until Jesus returns to rule the earth.  All evil will someday be done away with by God (Revelation 20:14) as well as all evil people (Rev 20:14, 21:8).  Only those who are saved by a sincere believing faith in Jesus Christ will experience eternal life in heaven (John 3:16-18) because their names are listed in the book of life.  All others will be forever banished to the lake of fire and be eternally dead, separated from God.  You can only control your own eternity.  If you have not already, make that decision today to repent of your sins and ask Jesus Christ to take control of your life and lead you to eternal life.

Here is a poem by an unknown author that seems appropriate honoring the memories of the lost and murdered children of the earth:

We thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday, and days before that too.

We think of you in silence, we often speak your name.

All we have are memories, and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake, with which we will never part.

God has you in His keeping, we have you in our hearts.

A million times we've wanted you.  A million times we cried.

If love could only have saved you, you never would have died.

It broke our hearts to lose you. But you didn't go alone.

For a part of us went with you...the day God called you Home.