Revelation 21:8

Revelation 21:8

In Revelation 21:8 Jesus said, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Jesus told us very clearly what are the characteristics and attributes of those who will end up outside of the Kingdom of God and who will end up forever in the lake of fire. Without a doubt Jesus taught these things as a warning, hoping that people would take heed and turn from their sins before it was too late. The fearful are those who are afraid of persecution and tribulation, and who therefore will not follow Christ. The unbelieving are those who have chosen to not believe and to not trust in Christ as Savior.

Who are the "abominable?" Jesus said that the abominable will also have their part in the lake of fire. One key to understanding the significance of this word is to look at another passage where Jesus used the same word. In describing what will be perhaps the most unholy and ungodly act performed by the antichrist when he defiles the temple of God, Jesus called it the "abomination of desolation." The same basic Greek word used for abomination was also used for abominable. It means "detestable." It refers to doing the opposite of what God desires someone to do. It refers to taking the things of God and opposing them and attempting to defile them. Of course, anyone who would do such a thing has a tremendous opposition to God and has determined to despise the things of God. According to Jesus, such a person has also determined to make the lake of fire their final destiny.

We understand why Jesus added murderers to this list of those who burn forever. God is the life giver, and only God has the right to take anyone’s life. There are very few things that are more contrary to the Spirit of God than murder. When someone commits murder they have gone to a way of opposition to the very essence of who God is, they have taken from the earth a life that had every right to find its own destiny, and they have caused sorrow and tears beyond measure to those who are left behind. There is no punishment that this life can give that is enough to satisfy the blood that cries out from the very ground where it has been shed, and so God has spoken, and He has said that justice will be served because murderers will be cast into the lake of fire where they can feel as never before the torments that they caused others.

Jesus said that murderers will be cast into the lake of fire, and then in the next breath He said that whoremongers will be there also. A whoremonger is someone who is a client to prostitutes. There would be no prostitutes if there was no one to pursue them and pay them. It is obvious who Jesus thinks is the worse of the two. He does not mention the prostitutes, but He says that the whoremongers will be cast into the lake of fire. Those who visit prostitutes are like murderers. They also are destroying lives. As you would expect, some of the most miserable, lost, depressed, and debased people in the world are prostitutes. Those who visit the prostitutes have helped to make them this way. God designed sex for marriage. Sex outside of marriage in any form is a deviation from the will of God and is a great sin. Remember that the Bible says, "The bed in marriage is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

He will also judge those who abuse drugs. The word that is translated "sorcerers" comes from the Greek word pharmakois from which we get the word pharmacy and refers to the abuse of drugs, the abuse of drug-like substances, and the abuse of medicines. The abuse of alcohol probably comes under this category. Why is the abuse of drugs given such a strong condemnation by the Lord? For one thing the body was meant to be a temple, nurtured, and cared for. Someone who willingly takes foreign substances into his body, knowing that it might harm it, has committed a great sin against the will of God. Paul wrote in First Corinthians, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? If any man defile this temple, him shall God destroy."

We are fortunate to live in a day when medical science has discovered so many drugs that can help the body recover from various ailments, but to take in a drug or alcohol for any other reason is unwise to say the least. This kind of abuse can lead a human being to lose control of their own actions. It is critically important that you do the right thing. That is one reason the Ten Commandments were given. It is hard enough to do what is right when you have complete control of your own faculties. Many of the worst crimes are committed by those who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. No wonder that Jesus said that those who abuse drugs will be cast into the lake of fire.

Jesus also said that "idolaters" will be cast into the lake of fire. An idolater is someone who worships something or someone other than God. Idolatry can take many forms. To violate the first of the Ten Commandments is to commit idolatry and it says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thine heart." You had better be careful what you love, because you may love it all the way to the lake of fire. Some people love material things too much, and it keeps them from coming to God. "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Some people love their family or their family heritage too much, and their table becomes a snare unto them, and they will not come to Jesus because of family attachments. Idolatry is so easy to fall into that even Christians are warned in the First Epistle of John, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." To love anyone or anything more than God is idolatry, and Jesus said that idolaters will be cast into the lake of fire.

The last kind of person mentioned by Jesus in Revelation 21:8 that will be cast into the lake of fire are "liars." To lie is to commit a great sin. Over three thousand five hundred years ago when God gave the Ten Commandments He said, "Thou shalt not lie." God is true to His Word, and human beings should be also. No man is any better than his word. It is a shameful thing that we live in a day when people will say almost anything to get you to do what they want or to get your money; but then when you ask them to keep their side of the agreement, they conveniently forget what they said to you and they refer you instead to the fine print of some written document. Their word meant nothing. God is not like that. He will keep His promises, and Jesus has promised to save those who level with Him about their sins. Maybe that is why liars will go to hell. They lie so much that they cannot even tell the truth to Jesus about their own sins to find forgiveness. Maybe that is why they lie to their fellowman. They have never told the truth to God, therefore how can they tell the truth to man? Shakespeare understood the concept very well. He said, "To thine own self be true. Thou canst not then be false to any man." Or maybe we should also say, “To God be true, and you cannot then be false to any man.”

In Revelation 21:8 Jesus listed for us eight kinds of sins that will send people to hell. He said, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone." You might say to yourself, "At least I am not in that group." Are you sure? If you measure yourself by the high standards that Jesus set in the Sermon on the Mount, you might want to take another look. Jesus said that a person can be guilty before God of murder by having the wrong kind of anger towards their fellow man. Jesus also said that a person can be guilty of adultery just by what is in their heart. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Without the grace of God, we would all be cast into the lake of fire. Without the death of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world, we would all face an eternity without God. But God, who is rich in mercy, has provided salvation for those who are ashamed enough to ask for mercy. Those who are brave enough to give themselves to God, and those who are true enough to seek the truth will find their faith in Jesus to be a powerful force that will take them all the way to the kingdom of God. They will not deserve it, but it will be given to them as a free gift through believing in Jesus Christ.

We have spoken enough about what will happen to those who refuse God’s salvation through Jesus. In the rest of Revelation chapter 21 we will be told some great things about the Kingdom of God. Revelation 21: 9-21 says, "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass."

From this description we can see that several important things are emphasized. We are told about precious stones, crystal, pearls, and gold that will be in abundant supply in the construction of this great and beautiful city. There is nothing wrong with beauty and riches. These things come from God. They will be used by Him to build the best and the last of all human dwelling places. Money is not evil, but the inappropriate love of money is evil. If you take beauty and riches and build something to honor and glorify God, then you have in a small way done the same thing that God Himself will do when He builds a city for His children to dwell in. Notice in Revelation 21:10 that this new city is called "holy Jerusalem." We already learned about a new heaven and a new earth, and now we are being told about a new Jerusalem. Some people make pilgrimages to the old Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem will be far better.

We are told many things about the new Jerusalem, but the first thing that we are told is that it is "holy." To be holy means to be perfect and to be without sin. The problem with the old Jerusalem is the same problem that every other city in the world has: the sin problem. People keep looking for solutions to the problems of society: the problems of crime, and corruption, and inequality. But there will be no lasting or meaningful solutions to these problems without addressing the sin problem of mankind. Therefore, God tells us right away the most important thing that we need to know in order to realize that the new Jerusalem is the city that we seek and long for. This city will be unlike all other cities because it will be the first city where it can truly be said that it is "holy."

Paul wrote of Abraham in Hebrews 11:10 and said that he "looked for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God." That which is of the earth is earthy and has certain common characteristics with everything else that is of the earth. That which is of the earth has limitations built into it as a part of its very nature. That which is of the earth is prone to failure. That which is of the earth will pass away. But that which comes down from God out of heaven will be better in every way. Perhaps one of the reasons that humans are rarely satisfied in this life is because no matter how good things are, we know they can always be better. We seem to have a natural and innate awareness that there must be something better, and we strive for it. We reach out for it continually, and we always hope for it. Because of the grace of God, those who believe in Jesus will see their hopes fulfilled when they see this city as a gift coming down from God out of heaven.

The implication is that our hopes will not be entirely fulfilled until we enter the new Jerusalem. It may be that some Christians are trying too hard to use the methods of the world to change the world to the way they wish it was. Probably the best that we can do in this crazy world is to help save a few from the burning fires that await them if they continue to resist Jesus. We will not find a place that is everything we wish it to be until we enter the new Jerusalem "descending out of heaven from God." God wants you to be there. He sent His Son to die on the cross so that you could be. There is room to spare. Repent of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, and He will make you the same promise that He made to His disciples when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also."

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