Who ends up in the lake of fire?

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. 

Jesus came to serve others, not to be served

Mark 10:42-45 (NLT)

So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Our human nature demands selfishness.  You see this when an infant becomes a toddler and starts demanding that his/her needs get met immediately.  If not, the toddler throws a tantrum.  Yes, good parenting can minimize this selfish behavior, but the point is that it is natural for little children to act this way.  Unfortunately, some people never learn to be unselfish or, at least, never become truly selfless.  Therefore, as people become adults, they act in ways that show “me-first” attitudes and actions.  William Makepeace Thackery wrote that “next to the very young, the very old are the most selfish”.  Selfishness simply is a major characteristic of human nature.  Human nature is the result of original sin in the Garden of Eden where an act of selfishness separated human beings from God and His nature.   William Gladstone wrote that “selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race”.  Julio Cortazor wrote that “human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself”.   

When I read these words of Jesus, I am reminded of Isaiah 55:8 where God said that His ways and thoughts were not the same as man’s.  Jesus said here that while human leaders lord it over people and flaunt their authority, godly leaders will be different.  Selfishness and self-centeredness are not characteristics of godly leaders.  Godly leaders are servants first.  This is absolutely smack-dab opposite of what the world calls leadership.  Worldly leadership puts self before others.  Godly leadership puts others before self.

Many companies insist that management knows everything that their employees are doing……. everything.  This means micro-managing.  This means that employees are not empowered to make their own decisions, everything must come through management—several layers of management-- for approval.  This is not servant leadership, this is bullying leadership.  This is an example of leaders flaunting their authority over those under them.  Companies might be financially successful, but employee morale and is low and potential for even greater success is stifled.

Jesus’ model of leadership is servant leadership.   He made it clear in this passage and proved it with His actions that if you wish to be a leader in the Kingdom of God, you must serve others.  Jesus came to serve others and proved His service by not only His words and actions during His three-year ministry but also His willingness to humble Himself and suffer and die for the sins of others.  There is no greater example of leadership in world history.  Yet, blessed is the leader in any situation today, be it the church, the business world, the community, wherever, who demonstrates servant leadership by putting the needs of those he leaders above his own needs.  I love the quote from John C. Maxwell, “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader”. 

You may or may not be in some kind of leadership position.  If you are, you need to heed these teachings of Jesus and work on applying them in your leadership role.  If you are not, you can still help those who lead you by not only the servant’s attitude of your own heart, but also your courage and willingness to help leaders understand the example of Christ.          

"Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them."    -- Ken Blanchard in Servant Leadership, The Management Forum volume 4 number 3.

Don't waste the days of your life

James 4:13-15 (Message)

And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money." You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."

I don’t wish to depress you, but did you know that the Bible describes your life on earth as the equivalent of a “wisp of fog”?  Elsewhere the Bible describes your life on earth “like water spilled on the ground” (II Samuel 14:14), “like a shadow” (I Chronicles 29:15), “like a swooping eagle” (Job 9:26), “a wind that passes….” (Psalm 78:39), “like a sigh” (Psalm 90:9), “like grass…..when the wind has passed over it, it is no more” (Psalm 10:15-16), and “like a mere breath” (Psalm 39:5, Psalm 144:4).  The older you are, the more perspective you have as you look back on your life and how quickly it has passed by and you more easily agree with the truth of these descriptions.  To balance the seriousness of this writing with some humor, did you know that life is like a roll of toilet paper?  Yes, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes.

Humans freely think about others dying, but don’t like to think about your own dying.  One moment you want to believe that you will never die, then another moment you realize that you could die in moment.  Certainly you’ve known people, perhaps your greatest loved ones, who suddenly lost their lives so you have a sense of the tenuousness of life.  You also know that life is short, yes too short; to do everything you’d like to do.  Yet, you also make assumptions about doing things years from now without thinking that life could end at any moment.

It is very important that you remind yourself daily of the brevity of life and not to assume that you will be here tomorrow. Appreciate each day; take advantage of each day, especially to say things that need to be said to loved ones and friends and do things that have eternal value as much as possible.  Never assume that tomorrow will come and don’t procrastinate doing what you can do today.  Treat each day as if it were the last day of your life.  Paul said that “today is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2) knowing that tomorrow for many people might never come.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed for you, tomorrow is only for certain for God.  Live your today as the psalmist wrote in 90:12, “teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom”.  Indeed, I believe that one reason life is so short is to give you a greater sense of urgency to acquire wisdom through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Realizing the brevity of life also helps you to appreciate your blessings more, to love your loved ones more, and to be more aware of the reality of facing the Lord at Judgment Day.

You’ve probably heard the phrase from Ecclesiastes 1:2 “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.  The Hebrew word used for “vanity” or “vanities” means “vapor” or “breath”.  Life is vanity, a mere breath.  The context of these descriptions about life being like a breath or full of vanity is that without God, life is meaningless.  I like what A. Powell Davies is quoted as saying, “Life is just a chance to grow a soul”.  Compared to eternity, life is certainly like a mere breath, a vapor (read January 9 and December 29 mediations where eternity is defined.

One of the most popular movies of all time was “Titanic”.  You likely saw it.  Do you remember what Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jack Dawson, said?  “I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you... to make each day count.”  His character died soon after making that statement. 

Don’t waste the days of your life.  Make each day count.  Are you living your life foolishly by assuming that there’s always tomorrow, or are you living your life wisely, with the Lord at your side, not taking for granted that there will be tomorrow?  Be assured that you are saved in Christ, tell your loved ones how much you love them, and live your life today as if it truly were the last day of your life on earth.