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.”
Two years ago we all remember the shocking massacre of 20 children and 6 adults at the Sandy
Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT.
Like all other people I was 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 (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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 (Ephesians
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 Matthew 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 (Revelation 20:15). You also can read in Revelation 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 Revelation 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 (Matthew 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 (Exodus 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 Revelation chapters 4 through
19. The world is so very evil today, and
it will only get worse (II Timothy 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 (Revelation
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 honoring the memories of the lost and murdered children of the earth http://simplyspecialandmore.com/verses.html:
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.
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