The Devil is Cast into the Lake of Fire

RV241-02

The release of Satan from the abyss at the end of the millennium enables him to raise a huge army of unbelievers to go to war against Christ the King. Multiplied millions born during the millennium remain unsaved and resentful of the reign of righteousness of Jesus Christ, the world ruler. These unbelievers readily join Satan to remove Jesus as king so that they can revise society to enable them to exercise freely the lust patterns of the sin nature. That, of course, is increasingly the kind of society in which we live today.

Evil does not come from a human being because of that person's environment or background, but it is that inherent nature of sin that he's born with. The rebel army of Satan surrounds Jerusalem for miles in all directions. The saints are gathered in their citadel at Jerusalem with Jesus. Jerusalem is dearly loved by God, and so His anger is intense against the surrounding rebel army. God sends fire from heaven suddenly on the army, and turns it into ashes. The rebel army disappears as something that one might eat. This ends the last effort of Satan to dethrone God, and it is the last rebellion ever to take place against the God of the universe.

Jesus Christ proves His justice in sending Satan and the demons into the lake of fire, and by taking believers into heaven, and sending unbelievers into the lake of fire. This settles the age old question of the angelic conflict, and the accusation of Satan – that God is not treating him fairly by not giving him a chance to have salvation. Salvation is not provided for the devil and the demons. Saving believing sinners shows God's justice because it does not compromise His righteousness, because Christ paid the penalty of death for the sins of mankind.

So, believers end up with full capacity for fellowship with God, the Holy One. Unbelievers end up joining their God Satan in the lake of fire.

Satan is the Slanderer

2 Timothy 2:26 points this out: "And they may come to their senses, and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do is will." We Christians are to try to keep people informed of the Word of God so that they may escape the snare of the devil.

Deception

Human reason is not to be trusted without the governing orientation of doctrine. The apostle Paul pointed this in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16. Paul says, "But the natural man (that is, the unsaved person) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they're spiritually appraised." One of the things that's called foolishness repeatedly in the Word of God is the biblical doctrine of salvation – a free gift salvation that is called foolishness: "But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is understood by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. Through doctrine, we have the very frame of reference of God Himself.

The truth of the matter is that the Bible makes it clear that the more an unbeliever thinks that he is in the know, the dumber he really is. Paul points this out in the very opening of the book of Romans in Romans 1:22: "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in a form of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed animals, and crawling creatures." Here are human beings who once had a full knowledge of God, and they drifted off. They were indifferent to feeding upon the principles of the Word of God. And in time, they became so confident. After all, they've learned these things before. They have so much knowledge, and they ignored guidance of Scripture, and went for reason. The result was that they became fools, and demonstrated that by the kinds of gods they created out of animals for themselves to worship.

Unbelievers simply never learn. So, to the very end of human history, they will listen to the devil's lies. It all began with a great lie to himself that he could replace God. Isaiah 14:14 tells us that that's what he wanted. He was going to be like God. Well, now it has come time for God's final judgment in dealing with Him. Revelation 20:10: "The devil who deceived them (the people who followed him in this final rebellion) was thrown." The word here means "unceremoniously heaved out." Here, at the destruction of the devil's army, he himself is taken by God and thrown out. This is a final humiliation before the demons who have been treating him as their God.

The Devil is Cast into the Lake of Fire

Brimstone

It is, of course, a place of excruciating conscious pain for its inhabitants. I don't think you can dismiss this simply as a mental pressure; a mental stress; or, a mental suffering. I think this is something that the resurrected bodies of unbelievers will feel, and even the spirit bodies of Satan and demons will feel.

This eternal punishment on Satan was fixed 7,000 years before it was executed. It was fixed at the point of Genesis 3:15, which promised that a God-man would come to act as the Messiah Savior, and to conquer Satan, and to destroy what he had done. So 6,000 years ago, from our point in time now, this judgment was passed by God upon Satan. It will take another 1,000+ years before it is finally executed. But whenever it comes about, it is going to be the lake of fire.

I've had several questions today from people who want to know what the devil knows. They want to know whether he reads the Bible. You betcha. If he's here in our presence today, he brought his Bible. He does not come to church without the Bible. Only people who have never gotten with it walk into this place without a Bible. Obviously, without a Bible, you must all depend upon my words of wisdom. You have entrusted yourself to my high IQ. You have entrusted yourself to all the gems of knowledge that I will be dispensing. You don't know whether they're true or not. If you don't have that Bible in front of you, you don't know whether they're true. But for the people who do, I notice that they'll open that Bible, and pretty soon their eyes are roaming up and down the verse before and the verse underneath. They're getting the context of any frame of reference. I can see their eyes moving on the page, and I know what they're doing. They're checking me out, which is the way you should do it.

Why Doesn't the Devil Give up?

So, why does he do it? Well, in World War II, when one of the all-time great monsters of Satan, Adolf Hitler, realized, after the Battle of the Bulge especially, that it was all over. It was, of course, over within the few hours of the Normandy invasion. And Hitler's chief general, Rommel, very discerningly said, "If we don't stop the allies on the beach, we will not stop them until they come into Germany itself. They'll go all the way." Of course, he was right. Because of Hitler's own bumbling, the allies were able to make the landing; establish a beachhead; and, finally get a foothold in. Then it was all over. But it took time for that to happen. The devil knows that the outcome now is inevitable, as Rommel and Hitler knew that the outcome was inevitable. Germany was going to go down in defeat.

So, what Hitler did was say, "Fine." As long as the German people have proven themselves incapable of gaining this military victory, they have shown that they are inferior, and that they do not deserve to be able to continue. So, he actually gave the order to follow a scorched earth policy. Every place from which the German army retreated was to be left a pile of ashes: everything burned to the ground; and, nothing left behind. That included the city of Paris. The general there was given the order specifically by Hitler, because Hitler knew that this general always obeyed. No matter what he was told to do, he always obeyed. Hitler said, "I can count on you to burn this city to the ground." But this is one time the general could not get himself to do it. And he disobeyed. Even the closest friend of Hitler, who kept the war machine going, building as fast as the allies were destroying, could not get himself to execute Hitler's order of a scorched earth policy when it was issued to him.

Vengeance

I suspect that that's what Satan is doing now. He can't win. He knows he's not going to win. But now he wants vengeance. He wants to take as many people down with him as he possibly can. And that's what now motivates him in everything he does.

So, 7,000 years before it's executed, finally at the end of the millennium, the issue is already settled. And God will cast the most magnificent angel he ever made into the lake of fire. That, of course, brings no pleasure to God. It's like a parent who experiences the sadness of a child to whom he gave life, and who had so much promise to go astray into evil, and to have to condemn that child for what he's doing. That gives no pleasure to the parent. That's the relationship that God has to Satan. Lucifer, son of the morning, had such promise; such greatness; such potential; the highest IQ that has ever existed on the face of this earth; and, one of the most magnificent, handsome individuals that has ever come from the hand of God.

Hell is Constant Pain

Unbelievers like to say to one another, "Well, I'll see you in hell." It was a common phrase of men who go into combat, who know not God, and who don't understand the solemnity and the gravity of their situation. So, they try to make it light and pretend, "Well, yeah, we'll all end up in hell, but we'll have a party. We'll be there, and we'll just have a party. No, they won't. It'll be a place of constant pain. People in the hospital who are in great pain are not having a party.

No Joy

The Final Punishment for Satan – Conscious Suffering

How long will they be in the lake of fire? It's bad enough to be thrown into a lake of fire burning with the sulfurous flames that are there. But then the Holy Spirit adds the solemn information that it goes on day and night. This punishment is continuous. There will be no respite from the suffering in the lake of fire day or night. As the song we sang today, the peace that Jesus gives is like the relief that follows pain. There'll be no relief. There'll be no moments when the pain will subside. There'll be no moments when the suffering will be at a low ebb. Night and day, this will go on.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit puts in the most terrible nail of all. It will be forever and ever, which indicates that it will be eternal. In the Greek Bible, "forever and ever" actually literally says, "Unto the ages of the ages." It is the most intensive way in the Greek language of saying that something is never going to end. It is eternal.

Eternity

Revelation 10:6 does the same thing: "And swore by Him who lives forever and ever." Who is that? "Who created heaven, and the things in it, and the earth, and the things in it, and the sea, and the things in it, that there should be no longer delay." So, clearly this verse is talking about God Himself, and God Himself is eternal. He is described in that capacity by the words "unto the ages of the ages."

Revelation 15:7 also adds to this, and again describes God as the one who lives unto the ages of the ages.

The human mind, at best, you must understand I'm sure, cannot grasp the enormity of God's eternal judgment which is here described on the devil, and the contrast of this to the saving grace to believers who have been preserved from the lake of fire forever. It is hard for us to enter into that until we ourselves are in eternity. It is hard for us to understand the terrible thing that happens to unbelievers who follows Satan into the lake of fire, and the magnificent thing to believers who follow Christ into heaven. The pain of the inhabitants in the lake of fire is continuous and eternal, and they're conscious of it.

Having said that, it's still hard for us to be able to enter into an understanding, and to imagine that. But death is not an annihilation for unbelievers. The Jehovah's Witnesses are dead wrong about that. There is no escaping the suffering of hell. It is real, and it is forever. It is day and night. It is up to the ages of the ages. You cannot twist the Word of God and say that these people are annihilated. That's why I stress to you that the antichrist and the false prophets have been in this lake of fire for 1,000 years, and they're still conscious alive. They're ready to meet Satan when he comes in. It is clear from the Bible that suffering in hell does not annihilate the individual.

So, the great deceiver of mankind is finally gone for good. The rebel against God's authority; the blasphemer who called himself a god; the liar; the murderer; and, the filthy creature is eternally imprisoned in the lake of fire. All the saved people and angels loyal to God in the universe at that time will breathe a sigh of relief to be rid of the devil once and for all. Gone is the one who has caused so much suffering, misery, and death with his lies. And remember that his lies are transmitted through human beings. This includes all the lies transmitted through a Hitler. This includes all the lies transmitted through Joseph Stalin. This includes all the lies transmitted through ... (you add the names up in Washington, and there are a lot of them). All of these agents of Satan whose lies bring suffering, misery, and death to the very people they're supposedly trying to do something good for.

Pride

This is why the Bible warns us repeatedly as believers to be on guard against pride. James 4:6-7: "But he gives a greater grace (He gives super grace). Therefore," it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. To the Christian who is knowledgeable in doctrine, and positive to it comes super grace. He moves to super grace maturity.

Verse 7 says, "Submit therefore to God (go to super grace level). Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. God is opposed to the proud. There is so much grief that is in our lives (if you'll stop and think about it) that is because of your pride. So many stupid moves that people make (Christians) are because of their pride. It's because they got disoriented. Their pride has carried them away from their halcyon days in spiritual things. What a terrible thing it is to let your stupid old sin nature pride carry you away forever from the best that God had in store for you.

The apostle Peter was very careful to warn on the same subject. In 1 Peter 5:5-9, Peter says, "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." How simple! God gives grace to the humble. He's opposed to the proud. Those of you who are younger, take it easy when you think people who are older don't know what they're talking about. Take it easy when you give the back of your hand verbally and intellectually to your parents. The Word of God says, "Don't be proud. Be humble. Accept the possibility that you have something to learn, because if you're right, you're going to be proven right. Things are going to mesh in your direction. And then no matter who has criticized you, or who has challenged your views, they will be proven wrong. This is a great verse. It's only the agonizing pain that you inflict upon yourself because of your pride. That's exactly what the devil did.

1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." You should say, "God, I don't know what to do. I don't know if my parents are right. I don't know if my good friends are right. Sometimes I'm not even sure Dr. Danish is right. But I'll roll along with it, and I'll wait for confirmation from you." And you'll get it.

Verse 7: "Casting all your anxiety upon Him because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." And do you know who it is he can devour? You should be able to figure it out for yourself now. It is the proud believer. That's the one he eats up (or eats down, as we say in Greek). That's the one he'll eat down every time. It is the proud Christian. Oh, yes, your mind is spitting now, isn't it? You're thinking about this person; this person; and, this person in your past experience, and you're saying to yourself, "Dear God, how true that is." The only reason that person has moved himself out of the place of God's blessing, and the enlightenment of the Word of God is because of their arrogant pride. They never learned the lesson that brought the devil down.

Verse 9 says, "But resist Satan." Resist him, and be firm in your faith: "Knowing that the same experience of sufferings are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Just because you're suffering, don't yield to evil. Don't say, "I'll relieve my suffering in the world system by playing ball with the world." Peter says, "Look around you. Other Christians take it on the chin too."

Satan's Background

Cherub Angels

So, the cherub angels were looking down there, and what were they seeing? They would look through the top of that lid, and inside were the Ten Commandments – the stones, the moral law that people were guilty of breaking. There was the manna, symbolizing the Word of God, with which God had provided knowledge and understanding. There was Aaron's rod, and that almond blossom that had burst out of that stick that was dead, signifying the life that God brings to those who trust in Him. All of that in there symbolized the condemnation of man. The sprinkling of the blood of that perfect animal was the covering that erased all the moral guilt that those items represented.

So, these angels are related to the redemption of God, and to the honor of Christ the Savior. They symbolized, in fact, the holiness and absolute unapproachability of God by any sin and any sinner. They are the guards in the Bible, as we read about them here and there, of the righteousness of God. And they are the beings who are the enforcers of the government authority of God.

So, Satan was created in the highest class of all the angels.

The King of Tyre

"Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord. You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." When Satan was created, he was perfect. He had an enormously high IQ, the greatest ever. He was beautiful beyond anything you can imagine. What does the cartoonist do with this? Do you see Satan portrayed as a beauty, and as a handsome person? No, he's a red devil with a tail that has a triangle fork on it, and he has a pitchfork in his hand. And he's a hideous looking person. If that's what the devil was when he came to you, you wouldn't be so eager to embrace him. He was a terribly, fantastically beautiful person, and he was very smart. You enjoyed being with him.

The Archangel

A Guard

Satan was not Created Evil

Here is the result in verse 16 on: "By the abundance of your trade, you are internally filled with violence. Here, now gradually, Satan encases the king of Tyre. The king of Tyre was a cheater in his business. He was, like many businessmen today, a lawbreaker: "And you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God (from the third heaven). I have destroyed you, O covering (guarding) cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. I have thrown you out beyond the barrier of holiness (because you no longer qualify to be there). Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore, I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become terrified, and you will be no more." There, leaping over to the end of Satan's career in the lake of fire.

Now we can expand on what it was exactly that the pride of Satan led him to want to do, and what it was he was after. We have to move over to the other great passage about him in Isaiah 14:12-14. Here again, the overriding to judgment upon the king of Babylon, by the power behind him: Satan. "How you have fallen from heaven; O, star of the morning; O, Lucifer, son of the dawn. You have been cut down to the earth – you who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart long ago, 'I will ascend to heaven (to the third heaven). I will raise my throne above the stars of God." This is probably not only the interstellar stars, but the word "stars" used in the Bible means over God's angels:

"And I will sit on the mount of the assembly." I will sit in the authority presence of God: "In the recesses of the North." This is the suggestion that the third heaven is in the North: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High." He is saying, "I am going to take God's place." That was his pride, and that was his objective. There very clearly laid out is his five "I wills." Each one is worse than the previous one.

So, with this action on the part of Satan, sin entered the universe, and suddenly there was a second will in the creation of God opposing the will of God. The result was the casting out of his position, as an archangel, and his place in heaven at God's throne as His guardian. Satan now makes earth and its atmosphere the arena of his opposition to God. Yes, he can go to heaven to accuse believers, and sometimes God requires that he comes there, as in the book of Job, to report. But basically, the atmosphere (the first heaven – the earth) is his area of operation.

Ephesians 2:2: "In which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air; of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Also notice 1 Peter 5:8: "Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert, your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." What does he do that? He does that here on the earth, in the atmosphere of the earth.

After the creation of man, Satan entered into a serpent, as you know. He disguised himself as a serpent, and he caused Eve to sin (Genesis 3:1). With that act, sin entered into the human realm. Adam had been the authority over all of God's earthly creation. Now, man lost that authority, and Satan took over. The whole race, as a result of this act of Adam, was contaminated by sin so that every child thereafter born into the human race has a sin nature.

Romans 5:12-14: "Therefore, just as through one man, sin nature entered into the world, and death through the sin nature. So, death spread to all men because all sin..." "All sin where? A baby's sin? A baby who doesn't survive his infancy? He sinned in Adam. The whole race was guilty with him: "For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses." The point here that Paul says is that we all understand that when you break the law of God, the penalty is death. But death was reigning before the Mosaic Law – from Adam on. It was because everyone was guilty of the sin of Adam in the garden, because Adam was the father through whom we all came, and we bore his contamination:

"Even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is the type of Him who is to come." God promised Adam and Eve a redeemer in Genesis 3:15, who would pay for their sin, and provide a salvation to keep them from going into the lake of fire. Satan, as the ruler of this world, then took over, and he created a system of evil to fight against God, which we have described as the angelic conflict. The world system functions on his principles of greed; selfishness; evil sensuality; and, above all, power over people. This is the primary motivation of Satan's individuals. It is to have power over people – to be able to make decisions that people have to obey.

He tried to bribe Jesus Christ with the offer of giving Him the nations of the world if Christ would worship him (Matthew 4:8-9). He is indeed the ruler of this world. John 14:30 and John 16:11 describe him as the ruler of this world. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him the god of this world. Satan is indeed the head of a vast host of demons who serve as his emissaries (Matthew 7:22). To Satan, was committed the power of death, Hebrews 2:14 tells us. And with that power over those who are not covered by Christ, there is the guilt of death. Satan uses that to bring fear to them.

We're told, in Revelation 12:10, that day and night, he accuses believers of the church age before God when they sin. Such believers are defended by Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:1 and Luke 22:31-32 tell us that we are defended by Christ, our lawyer.

Satan is permitted to discipline carnal believers. In 1 Corinthians 5:5, the apostle Paul says, "I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." "The day of the Lord Jesus" is the rapture event. Here is a case of incest in the church in Corinth, and Paul says, "That person refuses to cease and desist, so I've handed him over to Satan." Have you ever handed anybody over to Satan to be dealt with relative to their sins? I do that, and it is very sobering business to see the consequences when the person does not cease and desist. The devil is allowed by God's grace to take Christians down who will not obey Him, and who will not repent, and restore their temporal fellowship.

1 Timothy 1:20 also says, "Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

We have already learned that at mid-tribulation, Satan's forces are defeated by Michael, who is now the new archangel. Satan, at that point, is cast out of any further access to heaven (Revelation 12:7-12). We've learned that. That is at mid-tribulation. Satan then, in a rage, returns to the earth to which he's restricted. He is aware that the Bible says that he has a short time. He knows the timetable of Daniel. He's got three-and-a-half years. He is bound during the millennium, we have found, in the abyss (Revelation 20:2). He is released at the end of the millennium for a short time (Revelation 20:7), where he mounts a final war against God to try to replace Him on the throne (Revelation 20:8-9). Then he is cast forever into the lake of fire where he does not reign as a monarch, but he suffers night and day forever as a rebel against God, as we have now read in Revelation 20:10.

So, this is a terrible judgment that comes upon the devil, and upon those who followed him over the centuries. But it is even more terrible when you go back, as we've done in this brief review, and see what a magnificent beginning he had; what great promise he had; what God intended for him; and, what was his opportunity. Instead, he blew it, and because of pride, brought himself down for all eternity.

Pride

Dr. John E. Danish, 1993

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